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Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin was a book written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, and it expressed the brutalities of slavery on African Americans. It did extremely well, it sold thousands of copies, and it was written in different languages. However, it got mixed reactions from the North and the South. The North fully supported it, and it inspired enthusiasm for antislavery. The South felt Stowe's portrayal of slavery was misleading, which caused them to feel threatened in the long run. This foreshadows violence. -
Kansas/Nebraska Act
Stephen A. Douglass proposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which states that slaves could be brought into the 2 states, and whether or not the states would be admitted into the union or not would be based on popular sovereignty (vote). This caused many proslavery and antislavery supporters to rush into the 2 territories, which caused more tensions and competition between the North and the South. It even led to violence, causing Kansas to be known as "Bleeding Kansas." -
Republican Party
By 1856 the Whig party had collapsed and the Republican Party took over. Early Republicans believed that slavery should be excluded from all territories, and they also promised to pass a tariff protecting the industry. Regarding expansion, they pledged to enact a law which gave settlers who helped open the West free homesteads. Lincoln was one of their first candidates for Senate and for President. Although he lost the Senate, he won the presidency, which showed how influential the party was. -
1856 Election
The election of 1856 was the most bitter election in America, and it was the first one in which voting was divided among rough sectional lines. The Democrats nominated John Buchanan because they wanted someone less controversial than Pierce. The Republicans nominated John C. Fremont. Buchanan won against Fremont 174 to 114. The Republicans platform denied Congress the right to give legal authority to slavery, but soon after the election, the opposite would happen. -
Bloody/Bleeding Kansas
After the Kansas/Nebraska Act, many antislavery and slavery supports rushed to the 2 states in order to vote in their favor. Tension turned into violence, and soon the South started attacking local houses, hotels, and printing presses in Lawrence, Kansas. Quite a few people were injured and killed in the process. Outsiders from England viewed this as surprising and alarming, seeing at the U.S. had fought so hard for their freedom just to end up fighting each other in the long run. -
Brooks Sumner Incident
Congressman Brooks, nephew to Senator Andrew Butler, charged at Senator Charles Sumner for disrespecting his uncle making fun of his disorder. He beat Sumner with a cane instead of challenging him because he wanted to show what slave-owners did to punish slaves. Sumner bled but still lived, and it took him 3 years to recover form the beating. The North saw Sumner as a martyr for freedom, and it caused John Brown to get revenge for Lawrence. War continued, foreshadowing a bigger war ahead. -
LeCompton Constitution
The LeCompton Constitution was written by southerners in Kansas, who wanted to protect slaveholding and exclude blacks from the Bill of Rights. The South felt that since Congress was not allowed to prohibit slavery in territories, they could to make Kansas a slave state. Although their constitution was rejected, President Buchanan supported it and vouched for Kansas to become a state under the South's provisions. The North saw this as a threat, which intensified their fight for freedom. -
Dred Scott/Decision
Scott was a slave who sued for his freedom. He had been taken from a slave state to a free state by his owner, and then back to the slave state years after. Scott had become a resident of the free state and claimed he was no longer a slave, then decided to sue. The Supreme Court denied his freedom because slaves were not considered citizens, but property, and claimed Congress had no right to prohibit slavery in territories, which benefitted the South but angered the North, thus raising tension. -
Lincoln/Douglas Debates
The Lincoln/Douglass debates discussed the issue of slavery, popular sovereignty, and the status of black people in America. Republican nominee Lincoln believed that slavery was just an excuse to expand territory, while Douglass believed slavery needed new land in order to thrive. Lincoln outsmarted Douglas by getting him to reveal his true colors regarding the Dred Scot decision. He won the reelection but outraged both the North and the South, and Lincoln ended up becoming a political hero. -
House Divided Speech
Lincoln gave his "House Divided" speech while running for Senate against Stephen Douglas. In his speech, he explained how a house divided would not stand, and although he did not believe it would divide or fall, it would cease to be divided. This foreshadows one of 2 things: either the Union will work out their problems and get back together, or the union will split. His speech and debate strategies were not enough to win the election, but did catapult him into the presidency. -
John Brown (during decade of crisis)
John Brown was a antislavery fanatic whose goal was to free slaves. He captured and killed 3 proslavery settlers in Kansas and led a raid to capture a federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry. His duty to be the "instrument in the hands of Providence" eventually led him to be hanged in court. His actions also split the opinions of the North and the South. The South started discussing possible disunion from the U.S. in order to form their own confederate (proslavery) union. -
Harper's Ferry
On October 16, 1859, James Brown led a group of 21 men to a capture a federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia. His plan was to arm slaves with the arsenal's weapons and spark a slave uprising. His intention was to help free slaves, yet his plan failed when he and his men were caught and imprisoned by Robert E. Lee and J.E.B. Stuart. Brown was tried and hanged, but his legacy lives on. His raid deepened tensions between the union, which caused the South to start violently attacking the North. -
1860 Election
In the 1860 election, Republican nominee Abraham Lincoln ran against Northern Democrat nominee Stephen A. Douglas. John C. Breckenridge was also nominated on behalf of the Southern Democrats, and John C. Bell was nominated by the Constitutional Union Party. Lincoln won a clear majority of 180 electoral votes, making him the president. This election is important because not only was it the last election before the war, it foreshadowed war. It also confirmed the split of the union. -
Secession
The secession into the Confederate Union started after the 1860 election. South Carolina, the first to secede, had been waiting for an event to unite the proslavery states. Lincoln winning the presidency was the last straw, and soon several states seceded from the Union. This is one of the shirt term causes for the Civil War, and it firmly distinguished the 2 sides that would be fighting in it: proslavery verses antislavery. -
Lincoln's 1st Inaugural Address
When Lincoln became president, he gave a speech discussing secession, slavery, and the tension within America. His speech was mostly directed to the seceding states; he did this to try to extend an olive branch towards them in hopes that they will rejoin the union. He also explained that any use of arms against he U.S. would be considered an act of rebellion and will be dealt with using force. His speech was empowering, yet it did not stop the war that came the day after his speech.