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Underground Railroad
Some abolitionists helped runaway slaves to escape via “the Underground Railroad,” and there were instances in which men sent to retrieve runaways were attacked and beaten by abolitionist mobs. To the slave holding states, this meant Northerners wanted to choose which parts of the Constitution they would enforce, while expecting the South to honor the entire document. -
The Missouri Compromise
This decision made Missouri a slave state, Maine a free state, and created a line that divided America into slave states and free states. Its goal was to keep a balance between the North and South, but only caused more trouble. -
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Abolitionist movement
By the early 1830s, those who wanted to see slavery abolished in the United States were becoming more influential. They claimed obedience to “higher law” over obedience to the Constitution’s guarantee that a fugitive from one state would be considered a fugitive in all states. There were many events that were caused by Abolitionists and turned out to be a big contribution to the start of the Civil War. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
Nat Turner was a slave who was taught to read and write, he eventually wanted freedom after reading the bible. This inspired Turner, he and other men made a plan for violent rebellion. They first attacked a wealthy family with hatchets. They marched into a nearby town and had a bloody battle with the military that killed many innocent citizens. The rebellion was so violent that it caused tougher slave restrictions. -
Fugitive Slave Act
The Act declared that all escaped slaves be caught by authorities and returned to their masters. Law enforcement could face a fine if they let a runaway slave go free. It stated that even if a slave had crossed the border into a free state, they could still be brought back into slavery if they were captured. The Act made it nearly impossible for slaves to escape and caused a lot of outrage from the North. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin, it was published in in an anti-slavery newspaper in 1851 and in book format in 1852. In two years it was a nationwide and worldwide bestseller. Depicting the evils of slavery, it told a vision of slavery that few in the nation had seen before. Its goal was to start a wave of anti-slavery sentiment across the nation, it succeeded. -
The Dred Scott Decision
Dred Scott, a slave, wanted American citizenship. When this case came to the Supreme Court. They denied his request and said that any man who's African American can not become a U.S. citizen. -
John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry
John Brown led an attack with 21 other men including slaves, in an attempt to start a slave uprising in the south. Brown was an abolitionist and saw himself as God's tool to free slaves. It sent a message to many slaves and abolitionists. -
Election of Abraham Lincoln
When Lincoln was elected president 7 states seceded from the Union. Lincoln's views on slavery were in the middle at the time so South Carolina said they would secede if he won the election. The South seemed to powerful so Abraham made a rule that any state in or joining the Union had to be antislavery. -
South Carolina Secession
With the secession of South Carolina from the Union in 1860, almost all hope of getting through the conflict without a battle vanished. The president at the time, James Buchanan, let them go with little resistance and shortly after, six other states seceded setting the stage for war to start.
