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Invention of the Cotton Gin
Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, which was a machine that easily and quickly removed seeds from the cotton. This made growing cotton a lot more profitable and efficient. Up until this point slavery on the south had been slow dying out, just as the founders envisioned, but with this new machine cotton and in turn slavery was turning a larger profit. -
Missouri Compromise/compromise of 1820
The compromise of 1820 created the 36 30 line which meant that any state below was a slave sate including Missouri and any state above was a free state. Also Maine is added as a free state and Missouri is added as a slave state, so ensure that delicate balance of slave to free states. This worked fine until the US gained more westward land, the south believed the 36 30 line should simply continue west the north did not agree. This led to a lot of conflict and the idea of popular sovereignty. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin was a book written by Harriet Beecher Stowe in Brunswick Maine. Stowe based Uncle Tom's Cabin on Josiah Henson a run away slave as well as her own observations. This book became the best selling book in the North, after the bible of course, and opened many peoples eyes to the horrors of slavery, creating many abolitionist. While the south called it lies and that Harriet was slandering them. -
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Bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas arose from the conflict caused by Kansas using popular sovereignty to decide if they would be a free or slave state. This did not go well and ended in two different altercations. One in Lawrence causes brought on by the pro-slave they burned Kansas though they purposely killed no one. Then Pottawatomie Creak, where John Brown took a broad sword and beheaded five men on main street, cause God told him to. Brown was then hailed a hero by the North, and a murder by the south -
Dred Scott V. Sanford
Dred Scott was Sanford's slave they both moved to Minnesota where Sanford became a abolitionist. After living in the free state for year Sanford payed for Dred Scott to sue him with the goal of getting the supreme court to set a precedent and use it to free slaves. This backfired and the court ruled that Scott was property and could not sue, for the south this meant that slaves were indeed property. This case backfired setting the opposite precedent they wanted and even made the situation worse. -
John Brown's Raid
Brown being the abolitionists he was wanted to free all slaves to do this he needed any army of freed slaves, and for that he needs guns. Brown led his sons and some men into Harper's Field VA and took the armory and thousands of guns. This lasted till the military showed up and slaughtered the men taking Brown prisoner. Brown was then given a trial, found guilty and hanged. The North viewed Brown as a hero and once the south killed him he became a martyr. -
Abraham Lincoln wins election
Lincoln ran for president with the goal of uniting the Union either all slave or all free, "A house divided..." The South saw this as Lincoln planned on abolishing slavery, his personal opinion, and the North saw it as all slave states. And thanks to third parties Lincoln won. This was the last straw for the South and as soon as he won the South began to secede, to the point that by the time Lincoln was sworn in seven of the eleven states had already seceded.