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Uncle Tom's Cabin
"Uncle Tom's Cabin" is a famous piece of literature that was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. The purpose of the book was to demonstrate how bad slavery was and attempt to bring to light that abolition is needed. Many Northerners supported the book, however, Southerners wanted to get rid of it because it made them look bad and this in turn increased tension between the North and the South. -
Republican Party
The Republican Party was a large rising force against slavery and rapidly gained followers due to the opposition of slavery. It became a very well known party for advancing the separation of the North and South and created larger tensions between the two because of their antislavery ideals. -
Bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas began in 1854 and ended in 1861 and it was a very violent disagreement between the people within the Kansas territory and it was based on slavery. Both, parties of the proslavery and antislavery groups wanted this land with their ideals on slavery withheld in it and it became very violent. Inevitably, the antislavery party won. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act was originally deemed as good for both sides by the people because it was a legislation that allowed the people do determine which territories would be slave territories and which ones would not be. This repealed the Missouri Compromise, leading to an increase in tensions between the North and South after the debate of slavery in these new territories. -
Brooks-Sumner Incident
This was a very significant event in the history of the United States because it created a large split between Northern and Southerners. Preston Brooks was an advocate for South Carolina and he was proslavery, meanwhile, his opposition was Charles Sumner who was antislavery. Brooks attacked Sumner on the Senate floor, beating him unconscious with a cane and almost killing him. This was a huge increase in tensions that advanced the coming fo the Civil War. -
Election of 1856
This is an important event because it is the first time a new contending party, the Republican Party, joined the election as a major party. The largest ideal this party believed in was limiting slavery in the States and preventing it from spreading west. The largest population in this party were Northern Abolitionists. -
LeCompton Constitution
The purpose of the Lecompton Constitution was to attempt to legalize slavery within Kansas. Most of the Kansans who were against slavery decided to boycott the constitution. In the end the Lecompton Constitution was denied and not passed by congress which even greater increased tensions between the North and South. -
Dred Scott
Dred Scott was known for his case versus Sanford in which argued the ability for him to be a free man. This case also brought the topic of constitutionality of the Missouri Compromise into light. Scott was ruled as not free and the Supreme Court overturned the Missouri Compromise stating it was unconstitutional and this was a great upset for the abolitionists and it greatly increased the amount of tension between the North and the South. -
Lincoln Douglas Debates
The Lincoln Douglas debates were a series of 7 debates in which Abraham Lincoln (Republican) and Stephen Douglas (Democrat) debated over the issue of slavery. Lincoln believed in doing whatever it took to keep the Union together, but prevent slavery from spreading at all costs, and Douglas believed in popular sovereignty and letting the states decide for themselves. -
Lincoln's House Divided Speech
Abraham Lincoln presented his "House Divided" speech in which he stated "A house divided against itself cannot stand" which shows that if the nation were split against itself, the entirety of the United States would be doomed and fall. Lincoln also presented his perspective on slavery (abolitionist) and this caused many Southerners to be against him because if he did not want slavery but wanted unity they would not be able to have slavery and remain united. -
John Brown
John Brown was an abolitionist in which took violent actions to attempt to gain the freedom of slaves. The most known action he took, which led to his death, was the raiding of a federal armory in order to attempt to gain weapons for slaves in hope for a revolt. This took place during the Bleeding Kansas and greatly increased tensions between the North and South because of his execution. -
Harper's Ferry
John Brown led 12 men into the federal armory at Harpers Ferry in attempt to gain weapons to give to the slaves to revolt and become free. However, after two days him and his men were captured and sentenced to death due to treason and murder and this made the abolitionists mad because they wanted to be able to free the slaves as well so it also greatly increased tension between the North and the South. -
Election of 1860
The election of 1860 was one of the most crucial elections in our U.S. history. Whoever won this election controlled the result of the Union and what happens to it. Therefore, it controlled whether or not slavery would still exist and if we were to go into a civil war. There were four major candidates in this election and the winner was Abraham Lincoln whom was against slavery and this caused the South to want to secede. -
Secession
This was the very beginning to the Civil War. Due to a vast amount of tension that had built up over many years, mostly on the debate of slavery, the South decided to secede in order to keep slavery in their government. They also seceded for states' rights and economic purposes and it began with South Carolina and spread to Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. -
Abraham Lincoln's Inaugural Address
Abraham Lincoln's first Inaugural Address was originally intended to slow the tensions between the Northerners and the Southerners and hopefully prevent a civil war. His main ideal was that the Union was the key to succeeding and that seceding is illegal. However, even though Lincoln was against slavery, in attempts to keep the South part of the Union he ensured that he was not trying to abolish slavery, rather, prevent the spread to the western territories.