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Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a secretive, risky and beneficial system that assisted runaway slaves. This extensive group of people, blacks and whites, helped slaves travel to the Northern states and into parts of Canada. Along the Underground Railroad, safe houses and businesses provided food and shelter for the runaways. The South felt as if the North’s actions involving runaway slaves were not strict enough, thus they believed the North was not on their side. -
Missouri Compromise
In 1819, Missouri requested to join the union as a slave state, causing great animosity and divide between pro- and anti-slavery groups. In order to keep balance throughout the nation, Congress accepted Missouri’s request while also declaring Maine as a free state. During this time, a boundary line was constructed between slave and free domains across prior Louisiana Territory. Pro-slavery groups worried that the power of slaveholding states would dissolve if they did not populate new regions. -
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Abolitionist Movement
The fight to abolish slavery intensified during the 1830s and gained an influential following. Abolitionist ideas sparked the interest of the North and advocates began to approach the idea through religious means. Congress began to oversee the western expansion of slavery in new territories that were to be added to the union. As support spread, Southern states panicked at the thought of emancipation due to their direct dependence on the business. Therefore, sectional feelings arose. -
Fugitive Slave Act
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was a federal law that permitted the capture of runaway slaves in the United States. All blacks, despite being free, were at risk of capture. Anyone who interfered with the arrests would be subject to a fine or possible imprisonment.The Northern states were enraged with this law, thus adding to the tension and disagreement between the North and the South. While the South clung to the institution of slavery, the North began to incorporate low wage laborers. -
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
The anti-slavery novel by Harriet Beecher directly contributed to the advocacy for the emancipation of slavery, providing a perspective that shocked the nation. The North began to understand the horrors of slavery in a personal manner however the South was enraged, claiming that it was a great overstatment. Uncle Tom’s Cabin sold over 300,00 copies in the North, creating a abolitionist epidemic. The reaction to to the novel was what Harriet Beecher had hoped for and the regional divide deepened. -
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John Brown and Bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas refers to the violent deaths and battles that occurred in Kansas between anti- and pro-slavery advocates. In 1856, John Brown, a deeply religious man who was fiercely against slavery, carried out a massacre against pro-slavery settlers in Kansas. Three years later, John Brown organized an armed slave insurrection with the support of wealthy Northern abolitionists in which he seized Harpers Ferry; a federal arsenal. Brown’s plans inspired an outbreak of rebellions among slaves. -
Dred Scott Decision
Dred Scott was a slave who sought freedom and legal citizenship later resulting in a prominent Supreme Court case. In 1857, the Supreme court renounced his appeal confirming that no one of African blood, no matter if they were not a slave, could become a legal U.S. citizen. This decision thus overruled the Missouri compromise and greatly enraged abolitionists. The Dred Scott decision was utilized as a tool for motivation thus leading to the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860. -
The Election of 1860
Abraham Lincoln was the first president of the newly formed political group, the Republican Party. During the year of 1860, the Republican Party was established by those who opposed slavery. Lincoln gained popularity among Northerners thus he held the vote of all of the free states and not one of the slave states. After the election of President Lincoln, southern states such as South Carolina began talk of secession. In 1860, South Carolina seceded from the Union and ripped the nation in two. -
Southern Secession
Following South Carolina’s secession in 1860, Southern delegates held a convention to discuss the possibility of truly separating from the Union. The delegates overwhelmingly voted for the secession and the Confederacy was born. The anger of the Southern states had been boiling for years since controversial tariffs in the 1830s increased the cost of goods in the South and not the North. By 1861, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas negated their contract with the U.S. -
Nat Turner’s Rebellion
A slave and religious leader named Nat Turner instigated a powerful uprising in southern Virginia in which sixty white people were killed on multiple plantations. The rebellion proved to be one of the bloodiest and most violent slave insurrections. Nat Turner, along with many other followers, was put on trial and later executed. Unfortunately, the rights of free blacks and slaves became even more restrictive. Turner’s rebellion became a justification for the Civil War; establishing fear.
