Timeline 1850-1861

Uncle Tom's cabin

Mar 20, 1852

Uncle Tom's Cabin written by Harriet helped open the eyes to humanity about the problems and inhumanities of slavery. This contributed to the growing divide between the South and North because it helped strengthen northern abolitionists and weakened the South. It influenced public opinion, especially later on with the election of 1860.

Republican Party

May 30, 1854

The Republican Party emerged to fight the expansion of slavery into American territories after the passing of the Kansas–Nebraska Act. The early Republican Party consisted of northern Protestants, factory workers, professionals, businessmen, prosperous farmers, and after the Civil War, former black slaves.

Kansas Nebraska Act

May 30, 1854

The Kansas-Nebraska Act was where it repealed the Missouri Compromise as a result it created two new territories known as Kansas and Nebraska. This also resulted in the creation of popular sovereignty. This later on created "bleeding Kansas" due to the activists going into the new territories in order to sway votes.

Bloody Kansas

1855

Bloody Kansas was where there was a continuous outbreak between the pro-slavery and the anti-slavery people fighting for keeping slavery out of the new territories or expanding slavery into those new territories. This led to the North opening slavery which infuriated the north and the south was overjoyed. In addition, this highlighted the failure to find a compromise democratically in the new state which also led to the civil war.

Brooks-Sumner lncident

May 22, 1856

This was the caning of Charles Sumner, in the U.S Senate chamber, when Representative Preston Brooks, a pro-slavery Democrat from South Carolina, used a walking cane to attack Senator Charles Sumner, an abolitionist Republican from Massachusetts. This contributed to the split between the issue of slavery which was seen as the violence that led to the civil war.

Election 1856

Nov 4, 1856

In a competitive campaign, Buchanan triumphed, although the Republicans came close. Which if the Republicans had won two more states, they would have won the election. This set the stage for the election of 1860, which the Republicans would win, setting off the Civil War.

LeCompton Constitution

1857

The LeCompton Constitution contained clauses protecting slaveholding and a bill of rights excluding free blacks, and it added to the tension which also led up to the Civil War.

Dred Scott 1857

Mar 6, 1857

The Dred Scott case of 1857 was where the Court stated that no African American could be a citizen. The court also said that the Missouri Compromise of 1820 was unconstitutional. As a result of this, the divide between North and South over slavery grew and added up to the secession of southern states from the Union.

House Divided Speech

Jun 16, 1858

This is where Lincoln had stated that a house couldn't stand and progress if it had half slaves and half free. Lincoln argues that if they wanted to see the change they had to do something before it was too late (get rid of slavery) this led to the civil war and the division between the north and south because it angered people (southerners).

Lincoln Douglas Debates

Aug 21, 1858

The Lincoln Douglas Debates was a series of formal political debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas, in a campaign for one of Illinois' two United States Senate seats. Douglas wanted slavery determined by popular sovereignty while Lincoln accepted slavery how it was but didn't want it to expand which led to tension.

Harper's Ferry

Oct 16, 1859

The raid on Harpers Ferry was intended to be the first stage in an elaborate plan to establish an independent stronghold of freed slaves. Brown's raid helped make any further accommodation between North and South impossible.

John Brown

Dec 22, 1859

When Brown was hanged in for his raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia, many saw him as a major change in the future. For Southerners, he was all their fears because he was a white man willing to die to end slavery and the most potent symbol yet of aggressive Northern antislavery sentiment.

Election 1860

Nov 6, 1860

The election of 1860 brought issues concerning secession, the relationship between the federal government, states, territories, slavery, and abolition. This led to Lincoln winning and as a result the South no longer felt like it had a voice in politics and a number of states seceded from the Union.

Secession

Dec 20, 1860

The secession was the withdrawal of 11 slave states, states in which slaveholding was legal from the Union. This led to the precipitating of the Civil War.

Lincoln's 1st lnaugural Address

Mar 4, 1861

Lincoln appealed for the preservation of the Union. To retain his support in the North without further alienating the South, he suggested a compromise. He promised he would not initiate force to maintain the Union or interfere with slavery in the states in which it already existed.