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Uncle Tom's Cabin
It's an anti-slavery novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It had an effect on the view of African Americans and slavery in the U.S. and is said to have helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War. -
Kansas Nebraska Act
It allowed people in Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders. This act reversed the Missouri Compromise and allowed slavery in the remaining states. -
Bloody Kansas
Kansans engaged in a violent war between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces in an event called Bleeding Kansas which significantly shaped American politics and contributed to the Civil War that was coming up. -
Election 1856
Democrats warned that a Republican victory would bring Civil War. The Republican party opposed the repeal of the Missouri Compromise through the Kansas Nebraska Act, which brought the policy of popular sovereignty, allowing settlers to decide whether a new state would come into the Union as a free or slave state. -
Brooks-Sumner Incident
The beating almost killed Sumner and it contributed significantly to the country's issue of slavery. It has been considered symbolic of the "breakdown of reasoned discourse" and the use of violence that eventually led to the Civil War. -
Dred Scott
Sandford was a long fight for freedom by Dred Scott. The case persisted through several courts and it reached the U.S. Supreme Court, whose decision incensed abolitionists, gave momentum to the anti-slavery movement, and served as a stepping stone to the Civil War. -
LeCompton Constitution
The Constitution was drafted by pro-slavery advocates and included provisions to protect slaveholding in the state and to exclude free blacks from its Bill of Rights. -
Lincoln Douglas Debates
It was multiple debates between Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham Lincoln during the 1858 Illinois senatorial campaign, largely concerning the issue of slavery extension into the territories. This would also be brought up in the 1860 election. -
House Divided Speech
Lincoln delivered the “House Divided” speech when he accepted the Illinois Republican nomination for Senate. The speech marked his entrance into national politics at a time when the nation was completely at odds over slavery. -
Harper's Ferry
John Brown's raid in 1859, in which he tried to use the town and the weapons in its Federal Armory as the base for a slave rebellion, to expand south into Virginia, but first, he tried to free the slaves. -
John Brown
He was a leading figure in the abolitionist movement. Unlike many anti-slavery activists, he was not a pacifist and believed in aggressive action against slaveholders and any government officials who enabled them, that's what led to the Civil War. -
Republican Party
With Abraham Lincoln being elected in 1860, the Party's success in guiding the Union to victory in the American Civil War, and the Party's role in the abolition of slavery, the Republican Party dominated the political scene until 1932. -
Election 1860
Lincoln won the election and had more electoral votes and popular votes than any candidate. Since the race had four main candidates, it allowed Lincoln to get more electoral votes than he would otherwise. -
Secession
The secession of Southern States led to the establishment of the Confederacy and ultimately the Civil War. One of the most serious secession movements in the United States and it was defeated when the Union armies defeated the Confederate armies in the Civil War. -
Lincoln's 1st Inaugural Address
The address focused on reassuring the Southern states that the president wouldn't try to strip them of their slaves. He would also try to find a way to help them secure slavery if it would make them happy.