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Dred Scott
Dred Scott was a slave who sued his masters widow because he travelled with his master to free states, so he felt that he should be considered free. This case led to many other questions such as whether he had a right or not to sue. Dred Scott lost the case which led to outrage in the North and the disagreement over slavery grew between the South and the North. -
John Brown
John Brown was an abolitionist who hated slavery and attempted to cause a slave uprising. The North saw John Brown as a hero, but the South saw him as awful. The South was mad that the North idolized Brown, which only furthered the South's desire to secede from the Union. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin was a very popular novel that depicted the evils that slaves had to go through. This book inspired many Northerners to continue to work towards ending slavery. However, in the South, people felt like this book misinterpreted slavery. The Sough did not like how this book promoted the North's goal of ending slavery because they felt like the end of slavery would be taking their rights away. This lead to the North and South arguing more and creating more separation between them. -
Republican Party
The Republican party disliked slavery and wanted it to stop. The Republicans made it clear that they would do what they could to prevent slavery from spreading. The Republicans were mainly Northerners, and they angered the South because the South supported slavery. The growing arguments between the Republicans in the North with the South over the issue of slavery caused a lot of uneasiness and pushed the South to want to leave the Union. -
Kansas Nebraska Act
This act made it to where Kansas and Nebraska could use popular sovereignty to decide whether they want slavery or not. This lead to the growing divide between the North and the South because they fought over whether these territories would be a slave state or not. This eventually lead to violence between Northerners and Southerners which made the divide between the North and the South worse. -
Bloody Kansas
Bloody Kanas was the result of people in Kansas fighting over whether it should be a free or slave state. The violence due to this was heavy, and the North and South were fighting all of the time which worsened their relationship. Kansas eventually became a free state which deeply angered the South and worried them that the North would try to take slavery away. -
Brooks-Sumner Incident
This affair was when pro slavery Preston Brooks attacked Charles Sumner who was an abolitionist with a walking cane. This made many of pro slavery supporters happy and they heavily supported his actions. However, abolitionists were furious over this fight and the disagreements between slavery only increased after this. The support of Brooks use of violence was high in the South and the North was very mad about it. -
Election of 1856
James Buchanan won the election of 1856. James Buchanan did not take any action to try and ease the tensions between the North and the South which caused the argument of slavery to grow even more. Buchanan also did nothing to try and convince the South not to secede, so the South's desire to leave the Union only grew more. -
LeCompton Constitution
This was created by pro slavery supporters in the South who wanted Kansas to be a slave state. This caused many people to go to Kansas to try and get it admitted as either a free or slave state. Abolitionists began boycotting the registration and delegate election process. Arguments over whether or not Kansas should have been a free or slave state were high and made tensions high between the South and North. -
House Divided Speech
This was a speech by Abraham Lincoln where he stated that he believed that the country could not function properly with some states being free states and some states being slave states. This led to many Southern states wanting to secede from the Union because this speech made them fear that slavery would be taken away, and they would rather leave the Union then not have slavery. -
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates were debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephan Douglas for position of senator. These debates made Douglas look bad because he said that territories could refuse to grant slavery legal protection. The Freeport Doctrine was created by Stephan Douglas and it essentially stated that a Supreme Court ruling did not mean much if everyone refused to do something. This made the South demand a Federal Slave Code. The South felt betrayed by Douglas, so tensions grew. -
Harper's Ferry
The Harper's Ferry raid was an attempt made by John Brown to start a slave uprising, but his plan failed and he was hung for his crimes. Many well known Northerners condemned Brown's actions, but the South thought that they were lying and that most Northerners were pleased by the Harper Ferry raid. This lead Southerners to believe that more raids were going to happen until slavery was abolished, so the South felt that their only option was to secede from the Union. -
Election of 1860
Abraham Lincoln won the election of 1860 which scared the South. The South was afraid that Lincoln was going to try to end slavery. Despite Lincoln trying to reassure the South that he would not end slavery, the South decided to secede anyways because they did not trust him. The South seceding then led to the Civil War. -
Secession
The South seceded from the Union because they thought the North would try and end slavery, and so they felt like they had no other choice but to leave the Union. This led to the Civil War because the South could not legally leave the Union because the Constitution binds them together, so the Union felt that since the South refused to stay with the Union, war was necessary. -
Lincoln's 1st Inaugural Address
This was a speech given by Abraham Lincoln to try and convince the South to not secede from the Union. Lincoln also said that he would not try to end slavery, but the South continued to go through with leaving the Union, which ultimately led to the Civil War.