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Uncle Tom's Cabin
A book written by Harriet Beecher Stowe describing the life of a slave, her most famous book; gained more sympathy for slaves. Many people suspected her of writing inaccurate things, and the South thought it was too brutal. -
Republican Party
The anti-slavery Whigs Party started forming a new party, and it was officially formed Mar. 20, 1854. It is generally remembered as the founding meeting the the Republican Party of the North. They were the biggest anti-slavery party of the U.S. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
It allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their boarders. It served to repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1820, and infuriated the North and the pro-slavery South strongly supported it. -
Bloody Kansas
Violence that erupted in Kansas with John Brown leading anti-slavery forces. The territory earned the name "bleeding Kansas" due to its growing death toll. In support of the pro-slavery settlers, President Franklin Pierce sent in Federal troops to stop the violence and disperse the anti-slavery legislature. Another election was called and the pro-slavery supporters won, and once again were charged with election fraud. It was a mini civil war. Ended in 1861. -
Brooks-Sumner Incident
Preston Brooks beat Charles Sumner, who was a vowed abolitionist and leader of the Republican Party, with a cane. After the sack of Lawrence, Sumner gave a two-day long speech. Also after this violence between the North and the South grew and the physical damage grew worse, anger was a given. -
Election of 1856
It was between James Buchanan(Democrat), John C. Fremont(Republican), and American Party"Know-Nothings"(anti-emigrant party) nominee Millard Fillmore. The result was that Buchanan won putting a pro-slavery man into presidency. Tensions between North and South grew with this new Democratic president. -
LeComption Constitution
It was a pro-slavery constitution for Kansas that was based from popular sovereignty, which then made Kansas a slave state. It caused protective slave holding and a bill of rights excluding free blacks. -
House Divided Speech
More than 1,000 delegates met in the Springfield, Illinois statehouse for the Republican State Convention. At 5:00 p.m. they chose Abraham Lincoln as their candidate for the U.S. Senate running against Stephen A. Douglas. In the speech Lincoln addressed how the growing tensions between the North and South would cause a war, because the government couldn't continue with a half-free and half slave union. -
Lincoln Douglas Debates
Happened between Aug 21, 1858 to Oct 15, 1858. Series of seven debates between democratic senator Stephen A. Douglas and republican challenger Abraham Lincoln during the 1858 Illinois senatorial campaign. All of these debates largely concerned the issue of slavery expansion into other territories. This raises tensions between the North and the South. -
Dred Scott
He was an enslaved African American man who was involved in a supreme Court case which ruled that a slave who had resided in a free state and territory(where slavery was prohibited) was not entitled to his freedom. It also proved that African Americans were not and could never be citizens of the United States. Another effect of this case was that the Missouri Compromise was voided which made slavery legal in all U.S. territories. Congress has no right to control the spread of slavery. -
Harper's Ferry
In October 1859, the U.S. military arsenal at Harper's Ferry was the target of an assault by an armed band of abolitionists led by John Brown. The raid was intended to be the first stage in an elaborate plan to establish an independent stronghold of freed slaves in the mountains of Maryland and Virginia. During the raid John Brown was captured and convicted for treason and was hanged. This prompted the Civil War. -
John Brown
He was an American abolitionist who lead the raid on the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry who was later hanged. After his death he became a martyr to the anti-slavery forces and was instrumental in heightening sectional animosities that lead to the Civil War. -
Election of 1860
Between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas for who would be the 16th president of the U.S. April–May 1860 in Charleston, S.C., where a disagreement over the official party policy on slavery prompted dozens of delegates from Southern states to withdraw. In the end Douglas received a majority of the delegates’ support but could not amass the required two-thirds majority needed for nomination. This further exposed sectional differences between those in the North and South. -
Secession
Stared with SC on Dec 20th 1860, then Mississippi on Jan 9th 1861, FL on Jan 10th 1861, and AL on Jan 11th 1861. The seceded states became the Confederacy(South) in the Civil War; they also claimed the Territory of Arizona, roughly the southern halves of modern Arizona, and New Mexico. They were the opposing force of the union in the Civil War. -
Lincoln’s 1st Inaugural Address
In it Lincoln promised not to interfere with the institution of slavery where it existed, and pledged to suspend the activities of the federal government temporarily in areas of hostility. However, he also took a firm stance against secession and the seizure of federal property. He pleaded for the union to not separate. After his inauguration seven states seceded the union worried that the election of a Republican would threaten their rights, and it left the air heavy with the threat of war.