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Dred Scott v. Sanford
Dred Scott who was living in Illinois, was taken there by his owners and then claimed he was a free slave due to Illinois being a free state; but when he moved back to the slave state Missouri, his freedom was taken away. He sued for his freedom, when the vote came back from the Court, it was 7-2 against Scott. Dred Scott was to return as a slave back to his Master. This was a catalyst for the Civil War because it was the "Worst decision by the Supreme Court." -
The Election of 1856
The Election of 1856 was an unusually heated elections. The Republican Party opposed the extension of slavery into the territories and had it unintentionally destroy replublican values. The Republicans opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act and also blamed the staff of Franklin Pierce of using a phony government imposed upon the citizens in the Kansas territoy. Democrats warned if a Republican won, a Civil War would be sure to occur. This increased tensions between slave owning South and the free North -
The Drafting of the Lecompton Constitution
The Lecompton Constitution was the second of four proposed documents for the state of Kansas. It was written to counteract the anti-slavery Topeka Constitution. Free-state supporters, who comprised a large majority of actual settlers, boycotted the vote to produce a rival document. The Topeka and Lecompton Consitutions were sent to Congress to decide because they were over 6,000 fraudulent votes. This increased tensions because the South wanted slavery and the North did not. -
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The Lincoln-Douglas Debates
These debates were between Republic Senate candidate, Abraham Lincoln and Democrat Senate candidate, Stephen Douglas. There were 7 debates in this series, all of them about slavery. Lincoln and Douglas decided to hold one debate in each of the seven districts in Illinois left to vote. Lincoln lost the debates due to coverage editing the text in favor of Douglas. Lincoln published a book with all original debates in it. The North and South could not trust each other because of text editing. -
John Brown's Raid at Harpers Ferry
This raid was an attempt by the abolotionist named John Brown to start a slave revolt at a Unite State's weapon cache. They left the 16th of October and attack the cache on the 17th. During the attack on the cache, On the 18th, Robert E. Lee led a group of Virginia and Maryland militants and the U.S. Marines. They were able to take the fort back. Southeners believed that the North would continue the uprisings, this pushed many southeners to vote for secession. -
The Election of 1860
The U.S. was divided during the 1850s and there were factions among the parties that formed. One being the Republican party which Lincoln was part of. The election was Lincoln v. Brckinridge v. Bell v. Douglas. Lincoln won the election with little to no support from the south. The nominees during this election did not give many speeches as the elctions before. The election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 was the cause of southern secession. He was a anti-slavery and Republican and denied secession.
