-
Period: to
The Road to the Civil War
-
Bleeding Kansas
Following the proposal by Senator Stephen Douglass often referred to as as the Kansas-Nebraska Act, an election in this territory determined whether or not Kansas would enter the Union as a free state or a slave state. The popular sovereignty election concept devised by Senator Douglas led to individuals on both sides of the political spectrum to flood the state resulting effectively in a Civil War with extensive bloodshed. Violence became the norm in Kansas. (McPherson, 145-57). -
John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry
On October 12, anti-slavery zealot John Brown led his long-planned attack on the US Army arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Originally conceived of as an assault that would trigger massive slave revolts in the South, the raid failed as US military forces converged on the town. Ultimately Brown would be executed, and it led to further division between North and South. Southerners perceived of Brown as representing the entire North while some in the North saw Brown as a martyr. (Varon, 326-35).