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Underground railroad
This referred to a network of secret tunnels and routes to transport southern slaves to safety. It was started by Quakers and continued by the abolitionists. The northern willingness to violate federal law to protect southern slaves showed the profound differences in regional morality, and was a precursor for the conflicts to come.
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=rbpe&fileName=rbpe33/rbpe337/33700200/rbpe33700200.db&recNum=0 -
Invention of the Cotton Gin
Prior to this invention, cotton production involved the cumbersome task of hand picking seeds out of the cotton. This invention circumvented the issue, doing it automatically. This created a potential abundance in supply, providing more impetus for slave ownership, further entrenching the south into a plantation/slave economy.
http://www.history.com/topics/inventions/cotton-gin-and-eli-whitney -
Missouri Compromise
Prior to this, the number of slave states and free states had been equal, ensuring a balance of regional power. With the introduction of Missouri as a potential slave state, it seemed like the balance of power would tip, Henry Clay proposed entering Maine in as a free state to maintain the balance, regardless, this epitomized the regional tensions of the time.
http://www.history.com/topics/missouri-compromise -
Nullification Crisis
The tariff of 1828 disproportionately favored the Northern manufacturing economy, and in turn hurt southern farmers by decreasing British demand for textile material. States rights activists like John C. Calhoun declared a given states authority to nullify federal law if it is deemed unconstitutional, eventually the issue was resolved, but the south's willingness to disregard the federal government foreshadowed the impeding secession.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/nullification-crisis -
Nat Turner's rebellion
In one of the only successful slave rebellions in history, Nat Turner, born a slave, led a revolt in a Virginian town. Killing nearly 55-65 people, the rebellion strengthened the Southern anti-abolitionist cause, and further fueled tensions between the regions.
http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/nat-turner -
The Liberator is published
William Lloyd Garrisons abolitionist newspaper was used to spread the idea of an uncompromising abolitionist movement, focused on permanently ending slavery. With distribution worldwide, Garrison spread his views on the moral repugnance inherent in slavery. The notion angered Southerners, but made him a hero among many Americans.
http://www.bartleby.com/71/0507.html -
Wilmot Proviso
With the acquisition of new land through the victory in the Mexican-American war, the U.S now had access to a significant amount of new land. David Wilmot, feared further expansion of slavery and proposed banning it in the new territory. Though the southern dominated legislature quickly rejected the idea, it served to further inflame tensions, as the south began to see legitimate threats to slavery.
https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/wilmot.htm -
Compromise of 1850
With the acquisition of a plethora of new land through the Mexican-American war, regional conflicts and questions of slavery were raised. California was entered into the union as a free state and with regards to the New Mexican and Utah territories, the question of slavery was to be decided by popular sovereignty.
https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/Compromise1850.html -
Uncle Toms Cabin
Published in 1852, the novel came out in vehement opposition to slavery, and fueled Northern outrage towards the Southern practice. Many consider this the spark that lit the popularization of the anti-slavery movement in the North, thus fueling more tensions fore the regions.
https://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/SAYLOR-ENGL405-7.3-UNCLETOM.pdf -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Proposed by Fredrick Douglas, this act overturned the latitude system with regards to which states were free or slave. The new act mandated popular sovereignty as the decider for a states status.The resulting conflicts within each states populations sparked periods such as bleeding Kansas, which served as a precursor to the violence of the civil war.
https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llcg&fileName=033/llcg033.db&recNum=240 -
Bleeding-Kansas
With the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska act, the Kansas territory found itself flooded by both pro and anti slavery activists, each of them trying to influence the decision. The resulting tension eventually broke out into violence, further escalating with the establishment of rival state governments. This violence served as a significant indication that the tensions between the regions would inevitably break out into war.
http://www.history.com/topics/bleeding-kansas -
Caning of Sumner
With the tensions regarding the Kansas territory, a South Carolinian senator, Charles Sumner came out in opposition to slavery, Andrew Butler, a relative and fellow senator, viciously attacked him in response to his stance on slavery expansion.
https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/The_Caning_of_Senator_Charles_Sumner.htm -
Dred Scott decision
A runaway slave took his plight all the way to the supreme court, where they declared that a runaway slave was not entitled to their freedom just because they resided in Northern territory. The decision also declared that slaves could and would never be citizens and were not entitled to the rights therein, finally, it declared the Missouri compromise unconstitutional
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/dred-scott-decision -
Lincon Douglas Debates
The Lincoln–Douglas debates were a series of debates. And every news station in the USA had written about the debates . They discussed issues of critical importance such as the sectional conflict over slavery and states’ -
John Browns Raid on Harpers Ferry
John Brown, a radical aboltionist for the time, and his sons began fighting pro-slavery forces in Kansas. The tensions culiminated in Brown and his men raiding a federal armory on Harpers Ferry. Although they were soon overrun by General Lee, and Brown was subsequently executed, the display of violence signified that the regional tensions were likely to boil into a war.
http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/johnbrown.html -
Election of 1860
With northern Republican Abraham Lincolns victory over the proposed Southern democrat the southern population began to legitimately fear the preservation of slavery. With the election as a predominant factor, several southern states seceded in the time before Lincolns inauguration, laying the groundwork for the civil war.
https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mal&fileName=mal1/026/0269400/malpage.db&recNum=0 -
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Secession of Southern States
With Lincolns election serving as a predominant factor, several states began seceeding over the following few months, ultimately sparking the civil war. -
Firing on Sumter
Following South Carolina's secession, an island occupied by union forces was surrounded by South Carolina state militia. When Abraham Lincoln ordered the fort to be resupplied, a Confederate general began to fire upon it, starting the civil war
.http://www.accessible-archives.com/2011/04/fort-sumter-under-attack-the-april-13th-telegrams/
