-
Slavery
Southern slave owners held that restricting slavery would violate the principle of states’ rights, whereas many Northerners believed popular sovereignty should serve as a barometer for the expansion of slavery, and some even believed slavery should be abolished completely. -
Harriet Beecher
The fugitive slave act along with the publishing of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin helped expand the support for abolishing slavery nationwide. -
U.S. – Mexican War
U.S. – Mexican War: additional territories were gained, the slavery debate was heightened. -
Harper's Ferry
The federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry (Virginia) was seized, in what is believed to have been an attempt to arm a slave insurrection. -
Abraham Lincoln
The Republican Abraham Lincoln was elected president on an anti-slavery platform. Confederacy with a constitution based on slavery is formed but merely affirmed the constitutional right of the Union to determine the status of the new states. -
For Sumter
Three main theatres of action when the war broke out were the sea, the Mississippi Valley and the Eastern seaboard states. Confederate troops attack Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston to surrender. Lincoln called for volunteers to put down the Southern rebellion. -
Slavery's end.
End to the slavery with the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.