Road to Civil War

By 25dwilson

  • Compromise of 1850

    The Compromise of 1850 was a series of laws passed to settle disputes between free and slave states. It allowed California to enter as a free state and included the Fugitive Slave Act. It temporarily eased tensions, but ultimately contributed to the buildup of tensions that led to the Civil War.

  • Fugitive Slave Act

    The Fugitive Slave Act was part of the Compromise of 1850. This act required the return of escaped slaves to their owners, even in free states. This angered abolitionists and increased tensions between North and South, ultimately contributing to the outbreak of the Civil War. It was a controversial and diverse issue at the time.

  • Uncle Tom's Cabin

    Uncle Tom's Cabin was an anti-slavery novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Harriet depicted the harsh realities of slavery. It stirred strong anti-slavery sentiments in the North and outrage in the South, further fueling the tensions that led to the Civil War.

  • The Kansas-Nebraska Act

    This act was a law that allowed settlers in those territories to decide whether they would allow slavery. This led to violent clashes between pro-slavery and anti-slavery groups, known as "Bleeding Kansas." The act intensified sectional tensions and contributed to the division between North and South, ultimately leading to the Civil War. This was a very significant event.

  • The Pottawatomie Massacre

    This was an incident led by abolitionist John Brown during the Bleeding Kansas period. Brown and his followers killed five pro-slavery settlers in retaliation for the sack of Lawrence. This violent act further depended on the divide between the North and South, worsening the tensions that eventually led to the Civil War.

  • The election of 1860

    The election of 1860 was a crucial event that played a significant role in the lead-up to the Civil War. It was a highly contentious presidential election where Abraham Lincoln, a Republican who opposed the expansion of slavery, won against multiple candidates. The southern states, fearing that Lincoln's election would threaten their way of life, began succeeding from the Union, forming the Confederate States of America. The election heightened tensions between the North and South.

  • The Mexican Cession

    The Mexican Cession was the territory that Mexico ceded to the US In 1848 after the Mexican-American War, as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. This big land acquisition included parts of present-day California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming. The acquisition raised the contentious issue of whether slavery would be allowed in these new territories, exacerbating the sectional conflict between North and South.