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Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe published a novel on June 5th, 1851 that contained a contreversial anti slavery story. It helped further the abolitionist movement because it showed how creul and inhumane slavery really was. -
The Dred Scott Case
Dred Scott's owner traveled with Dred Scott, a slave, out of a slave state and into a free one with the intention of heading back. Dred Scott thought that the venture made hijm a free man, and went to the supreme court on March 5th, 1857. The court ruled that Scott was property, and that he was to be returned to his owner as a slave. This event not only denied African-Americans of citizenship, but also contradicted the Missouri Compromise of 1820. -
The Raid on Harpers Ferry
On October 16th, 1859, John Brown and followers raided Harpers Ferry, Virginia in order to start a slave uprising. Brown was dismissed by U.S. Marines and Robert E. Lee. Brown was hanged for treason shortly after. This was an important event that devided more of the U.S., because abolitionists made a martyr of John Brown. -
The Election of Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln, a republican cantidate, and his follwers were anti slavery. Abraham beat John C. Breckinridge of the Southern Democrats, and John Bell in the election of 1860. When Lincoln was elected, southern fears of slavery being abolished was at an all time high. -
Secession of South Carolina and other Southern States
South Carolina seceded from the United States on December 20th, 1860 becuase they were afraid of the anti-slavery movement applying to the Southern States. Many Southern States followed South Carolina with their secessions in 1860 and 1861. This secession movement that shattered the Union and angered the Republicans and Northeners. -
Battle of Fort Sumter
Commander of the Confederate Army near the Charelston Harbor, General Beauregard, shot at the garrison near Fort Sumter. One day later, General Anderson surrendered at the garrison. This skirmish at Fort Sumter is the event that started the Civil War.
