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The California gold rush caused a large amount of migration to the western United States, this was driven by the discovery of gold in the area. This migration and settlement intensified debates on if California should enter the union as a free state or a slave state. (McPherson 45-47) -
The bill called Wilmot Proviso was proposed by Pennsylvania representative David Wilmot during the Mexican-American war. This bill would ban all slavery and indentured servitude in the annexed territories. The bill failed in the senate but it deepened the division in the government and it showed that slavery would expand westward. (McPherson 50-54) -
The end of the Mexican-American war and the Mexican Cession brought in territories to the United States. Democrats nominated Lewis Cass for the presidency which promoted the idea of popular sovereignty. This is the idea that the residents of the land can decide on the legality of slavery. This national conversation over slavery in the new territories deepened divisions between abolitionists and people who support slavery. (Varon 199-232) -
In response to fugitive slave acts northern states passed a set of personal liberty laws. These personal liberty laws which allowed runaway slaves protections in the north. This raised tensions between the north and the south, the southerners saw this as an attack on their personal property rights. (McPherson 40-42) -
Uncle Tom's cabin was an abolitionist book slavery written by a woman called Harriet Beecher Stowe. It was a story about an enslaved man called Uncle Tom. The book exposed the horrors of slavery to the Northerners which caused an increase in abolitionist sentiment and tension between the North and the South. -
Kansas was in the process of being organized into a territory. Stephen Douglas, a senator from Illinois, wanted “Popular Sovereignty" which is a vote on slavery in Kansas and also in Nebraska. The result is that Kansas goes into a small civil war. This regional civil war in Kansas heightened tensions between the North and the South. -
Representative Charles Sumner was one of the faces of the anti slavery cause in the senate. Preston Brooks, a member of the house of representatives, beats Sumner with a cane due to his speech against pro-slavery representatives. The caning left Charles Sumner with life long injuries. This symbolized the breakdown of civility between the North and the South. -
Abraham Lincoln a Republican and Stephen Douglas a Democrat were both running for a senate seat for the state of Illinois and they held a series of debates to try and persuade voters on their position. They both argued on the legality of slavery, Lincoln was an abolitionist and argued against the expansion of slavery while Douglas was in favor of slavery. These debates brought attention to Lincoln as a radical in the eyes of southerners. (McPherson 181-184) -
John Brown, A Dedicated abolitionist, believed words are not enough. He moves the family to Kansas to take part in the ongoing civil war there. He has a "conversation" with God who tells him to lead a slave revolt. The location of his revolt would be Harpers Ferry, a military armory in Virginia. He raids Harpers Ferry in 1859 which fails. The raid increased Southern fears of slave revolts and pushed the nation closer to the Civil War. -
The election of 1860 was one of the most consequential elections in United States history. The Republican party was founded just 6 years prior and really came out of nowhere and won the election with their candidate Abraham Lincoln becoming president. They ran as abolitionists and were viewed as radicals by the south. After the election and before Lincoln was even inaugurated southern states started seceding with South Carolina being the first.