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Fugitive Slave Act
When the fugitive slave act was put into place and proposed a few things happened. It made life even harder for a slave and especially hard to escape the slave trade. With this act brought the funding of the government for the enforcement of these laws. In these laws included the right to arrest any black person that is suspected to be a runaway or fugitive slave. They would then be brought to a federal court for trial in which the judge would have been paid double to convict the suspected... -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
The book Uncle Tom’s Cabin was one of the most popular books at the time and even came close to being as popular as the bible. The wildly successful book was written by Harriet Beecher and held first hand accounts of what the slaves in the south were going through. She had been there many times and had seen first hand what people were going through and had to live through. With this book came outrage in the south. The book helped the northerners connect to the slaves on an emotional level... -
Kansas Nebraska Act
Like the others, the Kansas Nebraska Act was very controversial. One of the biggest things this act did was repeal the Missouri compromise which was to prohibit slavery in the north. It acted against one of the longest standing compromises. This was in attempt to stop the addition of free states because they would soon outnumber the slave states and out vote them in congress and the government. In this act it proposed two things. It allowed the citizens in Kansas and Nebraska to become open... -
Bleeding Kansas
Due to the new kansas Nebraska Act, Kansas was put into a state of frantic and chaos. In an attempt to make the state either pro or anti slavery, the north and the south were sending many people down to live in the state so when it finally came time to vote on the status of the state, they would have more than the opposing side due to popular sovereignty. Northerners were outraged this while southerners were ecstatic. The heavy influence in the neighboring state Missouri would also play a... -
Crime Against Kansas (Sumner vs. Brooks)
This is one of the most extreme events in civil war history and proved how far the south was willing to go to win. Charles Sumner had given a very strong and opinionated speech on anti-slavery speech, other wise known as the Crime Against Kansas, that held strong effects particularly on the south. A southern congressman named Preston Brooks decided to act upon these feelings of range in anger. In the days following the speech, Brooks had found a way to meet with Sumner and beat him nearly to... -
Dred Scott vs. Sandford
This is one of the biggest events leading up to the civil war. It originated when a man living in the north inherited his uncles slaves when the uncle passed away. The northerner then brought the slave back up with him to the north to come work for him as his new slave. This caused controversy because the northerners believed that any slaves that was brought into the north is seen as free and should be set free. In this court case they ruled that since slaves were seen as property and not... -
Panic of 1857
This event occurred right on the verge of the civil war. During this time the nation went into a deep economic depression. The tension between the north and south was the highest it has ever been. Due to poor investments, they nation becomes divided. However the south becomes less affected by this crisis. One of the biggest things affected in this was the tariffs and the taxes. The government was at the point of declaring bankruptcy and was being crippled by the nation. Due to the funding...