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Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise paved the road to succession because it attempted to keep a balance of free and enslaved states. It admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. -
Abolitionists
Abolitionists were people who wanted to get rid of slavery. They influenced secession because they opposed those who wanted to obtain slaves, mainly Southerners. -
Nat Turner (and his rebellion)
Nat Turner was a slave who led the Nat Turner rebellion, the only successful rebellion in which slaves and free blacks revolted in Southhampton County, Virginia. This rebellion ended the emancipation movement in the area and led to even harsher laws against slaves. -
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a network of people, African American and White, who helped escaped slaves, providing shelter and aid. The first reported use of the Underground Railroad was a slave, Tice Davis, who escaped from Kentucky to Ohio. -
Tariffs
The North wanted high tariffs to protect its industry and the south opposed tariffs because it felt tariffs would hurt its foreign trade. This caused conflicts between North and South. Tariffs caused the Nullification Crisis, bringing sectional interests of the North and South into open conflict. -
Compromise of 1850
This compromise prevented slavery to expand further and strengthened the Fugitive Slave Act. This reduced tension between the North and South for a period of time but questions regarding slavery and the rights of slave owners were still present and the North and South still considered themselves separate. -
Fugitive Slave Act
The refusal of northern states to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act was alleged by South Carolina as one reason for its secession from the Union prior to the onset of the Civil War. -
States' Rights Vs. Federal Government
This was the struggle over political power in the Union between the individual states and the federal government which further supported secession. Some supported states' rights because states existed before the country did. Others supported a stronger federal government for a stronger Union. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom’s Cabin was a novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe which depicted all of the horrors of southern slavery. This offended the southerners causing conflicts with the Northerners because they were involved with emphasizing the spread of the novel. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
This introduced popular sovereignty. Slavery in the borders of Kansas and Nebraska would be decided by the people of the region. The fight over slavery rushed into the territory; those who were pro slavery and those who were antislavery were determined to win the state. This further supports the secession of Northerners and Southerners over slavery. -
Bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas influenced secession because abolitionists and pro-slavery forces clashed in Kansas, claiming 56 lives. This was due to the Kansas-Nebraska Act. -
Dred Scott Vs. Sandford
The Supreme Court ruled colored people as property rather than citizens which angered abolitionists and sparked more conflict between them and pro-slavery forces. -
John Brown’s Raid on Harper Ferry
Brown and his followers violently raided Harper Ferry of weapons, planning to later distribute them to slaves and spark slavery uprisings. Some of those who were pro-slavery lost their lives. This further influenced secession by carrying Kansas a step closer to becoming free. When John Brown was caught and brought back to Virginia to be hung, the Northerners saluted him while the Southerners were furious about what he had done, and about the North's reaction.