-
The invention of the Cotton gin
In 1793 Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin making it easier for workers to unravel cotton. This lead to the sudden increase of slavery in the south due to the increase production of cotton, this eventually lead to the Civil War. -
The Missouri Compromise
A compromise that was proposed by Henry Clay that said, that Missouri would be allowed to be a slave state and Maine a free state to maintain balance. Later on Jesse B. Thomas said that no other place from the Lousiana Purchase is allowed to be a slave state. This compromise solved problems at the moment but later on it caused major problems when other states wanted to be admitted as free or slave state creating the division even larger that then lead the Civil War. -
Manifest Destiny
John L. O'Sullivan created the idea of "Manifest Destiny" where God gives the right to white americans to claim all land. This inspired expansion towards the west. The expansion that later added new states to the U.S making an unbalance of representation later on between free and slave states, which eventually caused the Civil War. -
Compromse of 1850 (Focusing on 2/4)
Henry Clay proposed seperate bills that said that California should be a free state making the north have an advantage by having more free states. Another thing was a more stricter Fugitive Slave Act (meaning that if a slave escapes to the north the northern citizens HAD to bring them back to the owner). For these reasons the northerners got angrier since they were against slavery and the south because the north had more representation because of California, this leading to the Civil War. -
"Uncle Tom's Cabin"
After Harriet Beecher Stowe published the book "Uncle Tom's cabin" it quickly became popular. Northerners then started gaining feelings of anti slavery because of the book's cruel portrayal of slavery this lead to the Civil War. -
Bleeding Kansas
After the Kansas Nebraska Act was passed people started going to Kansas in order to cast their votes for kansas to be either a slave or free state. As time passed tensions rose between these two sides. Leading to horrible events like Potawatomie massacre where John brown and his followers killed 5 people, this chaos led to the Civil War -
Dred Scott v Sandford
Dred Scott was a slave in Missouri and then his owner died. Later Dred Scott said he was a free slave because he was in free slave states, but John Sanford said Scott was still his property, the court decided the Dred Scott was not free because he was not a U.S citizen he was only property. So the laws don't apply to him. This created outrage in some of the northern states mostly because of it's unfair outcome, which only divided the north and south morals even more leading up to the Civil War. -
Harpers Ferry, Virginia
John Brown and his followers attacked the Harpers Feery arsenal and took people hostage. This lead to a lot of commotion in the south. The people did not feel safe because of his actions while the north praised what he did for slavery. His contradictory actions lead to the Civil War -
Election of 1860
Abraham Lincoln won the election (by 180 electoral votes) and became president, this only made it clearer that the southern states decisions did no make as much impact as the North when it came to voting. Southern states then started to secede and this lead to the Civil War. -
Secession of South Carolina
South Carolina was among the first state to secede after the election. This set the example that a state can secede so following this the other southern slave states (Mississippi, Florida , Texas, etc) started seceding, this lead to the Civil War.
