Timeline: 1850-1861

  • Uncle Tom's Cabin

    Uncle Tom's Cabin
    "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was a novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe and was written to promote anti-slavery. By writing this book, Stowe encouraged readers to speak out about the harsh reality of slavery. This increased the tensions between the North and South because the South was in favor of slavery and the North used this book to fight against slavery. With this being said, because of the split and tensions between the North and the South, the Civil War was rapidly approaching.
  • Republican Party

    Republican Party
    The Republican Party during this time, consisted of people, mostly Northerners, who were against slavery. After the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed, the Republican party favored against slavery and moved to new territories. This increased the tensions between North and South because the party was mainly the North against the South.
  • Kansas-Nebraska Act

    Kansas-Nebraska Act
    The Kansas-Nebraska Act was an act that allowed people to debate the slavery conflict by popular sovereignty. This led to people moving to new territories depending on their view of slavery, which ended in territories split between North and South.
  • Bleeding Kansas

    Bleeding Kansas
    Bleeding Kansas was a violent argument between the pro and anti-slavery advocates. This violent event was caused by the burning a newspaper building in Lawrence, due to the Kansas-Nebraska Act. This event was a huge event that led to the Civil War.
  • Brooks- Sumner Incident

    Brooks- Sumner Incident
    The Brooks-Sumner Incident occurred when Sumner was talking poorly about the Democratic senators, Stephan Douglas and Andrew Butler. Because of this, a fellow representative, Brooks, found Sumner after his speech and beat him violently. Because of the poor talk about democrats, this increased the tensions between North and South.
  • Election 1856

    Election 1856
    The election of 1856 was between Millard Fillmore, James Buchanan, and John C. Fremont. James Buchanan won this election. This increased tensions between the North and South because Buchanan was apart of the democratic party was held disagreements.
  • Dred Scott

    Dred Scott
    Dred Scott was a former slave who encountered his owner and tried to sue. But Because he was in a southern state, and because of the Missouri Compromise, Scott was not considered to be a free African American. After taking it to the Supreme Court, the Missouri Compromise was seen as unconstitutional but Scott did not win the case. This increased tensions between the North and South because they did not see it as fair.
  • House Divided Speech

    House Divided Speech
    The House Divided Speech was made by Lincoln in which he addressed the conflict of the tension in the country because of slavery. Lincoln believed that these tensions would eventually destroy the country and a decision needed to be made.
  • LeCompton Constitution

    LeCompton Constitution
    The Lecompton Constitution would allow the act of Slavery to be allowed in Kansas. The rose tensions between the North and South because the North did not agree while the South did agree with the Constitution.
  • Lincoln Douglas Debates

    Lincoln Douglas Debates
    The Lincoln Douglas Debates were debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephan Douglas in which were directed towards if the states should be allowed to make their own decisions on slavery. There were a total of seven debates and the decisions were hard to agree on. This increased tensions because of the difficulty of the debates.
  • Harpers Ferry

    Harpers Ferry
    Harpers Ferry was a federal arsenal, which was raided by John Brown in order to act against slavery. Brown did this in order to provide weapons to the slaves. This contributed to the tensions between North and South because the North agreed with Browns actions, while the South did not.
  • John Brown

    John Brown
    John Brown was an abolitionist who took part in violent action against pro-slavery advocates. Brown was eventually caught and was taken to prison after raiding Harper's Ferry. He was held for treason, and put to death. His actions encouraged more people to act out against slavery.
  • Election 1860

    Election 1860
    The Election of 1860 was between the candidates, Abraham Lincoln, Stephan Douglas, John Breckinridge, and John Bell. Abraham Lincoln won this election, which caused many states to leave the union, and led to tensions rising.
  • Lincoln's 1st Inaugural Address

    Lincoln's 1st Inaugural Address
    Lincoln's 1st Inaugural Address was an attempt to compromise which allowed the South the keep their slaves. Lincoln did this to create peace in the states but failed.
  • Secession

    Secession
    The Secession was a way to protect state rights, during this the southern states withdrew from the union. This was the beginning of the Civil War.