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The Missouri Compromise
In order to balance power in congress between free and slave states, Missouri was admitted as a slave state and Maine was admitted as a free state. This decreased tensions between the North and South because it gave them equal representation in Congress. -
Nat Turner Slave Revolt
Nat Turner led a group of slaves to revolt against slave owners. In this rebellion, approximately sixty people were killed, including women and children. This definitely increased tensions for the civil war for obvious reasons. -
Publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin was an anti-slavery book written by abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe. This book increased tensions between the North and the South because it was a very public way of advocating for abolition of slavery. -
Dredd Scott Supreme Court Decision
The Dredd Scott Supreme Court decision gave slave owners the right to take their slaves into free states and still retain ownership of them. This is because slaves were not considered people, but rather property. This increased tensions because it allowed slave owners from the South to take their slaves to the North, where it was not technically allowed. -
Presidential Election of 1860
The election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 caused 11 Southern states to secede from the US because Southerners had been president for almost a century and Lincoln's presidency could put their right to ownership of slaves in jeopardy. This increased tensions and directly led to the civil war because the South was no longer part of the United States. -
Underground Railroad
Led by Harriet Tubman, many slaves were able to escape and be free by going through an underground railroad. This railroad had safehouses that slaves could exit the railroad into. This slightly increased tensions because slave owners noticed that their slaves had gone missing.
