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The Uncle Tom's Cabin was written by Harriet Stowe. The book was in response to the Fugitive Slave Law from the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act, move people toward abolishment of slavery, and to create a deeper understanding of those in enslavement, humanizing the enslaved. This book became a renowned bestseller, bringing uproar from the South and support from the North, strengthening the North-South division. -
The modern-day Republican Party was founded primarily to oppose the expansion of slavery into new U.S. territories. It was formed by a sum of anti-slavery activists, Democrats, and former Whig Party members who disliked their parties' views toward slavery. This influenced the North-South divide by bringing a population of like-minded abolitionists into one, strong political party.
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The Kansas-Nebraska Act organized two new territories, Kansas and Nebraska. This act also repealed the Missouri Compromise, allowing settlers to decide the issue of slavery with popular sovereignty.
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The Secession was the formal withdrawal of Southern states from the Union in order to form the Confederate States of America. This grew the divide between the North-South and led to the eventual war because states were leaving the Union in order to conserve their lifestyle of slavery, politics, and rights.
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The Bloody Kansas was a political conflict in Kansas, triggered by the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which allowed settlers to decide whether Kansas would enter the Union as a slave or free state. The violence between the parties set a clear divide between the North and South.
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The Brooks-Sumner incident was a physical attack on Senator Charles Sumner by Representative Preston Brooks on the Senate floor due to the tense debate over slavery.
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Republican John Fremont lost, but strong Northern support alarmed the South. The party’s anti-slavery platform signaled rising Northern opposition to slavery’s spread.
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The Supreme Court ruled that black people weren’t citizens and Congress couldn’t ban slavery in territories. Northerners did not support the decision as Southerners celebrated the pro-slavery decision.
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LeCompton Constitution is a pro-slavery Kansas constitution backed by Buchanan, but was rejected by most settlers. It showed that the federal government supported slavery, which angered the North.
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Lincoln warned that the U.S. couldn’t survive the "half slave and half free" dynamic. The South saw this as a direct threat to their lifestyle.
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The Lincoln-Douglas Debates were a series of 7 debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas for the Illinois Senate seat. The debate was primarily on slavery’s expansion into new territories.
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Abolitionist John Brown led a raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia, hoping to start an uprising using freed slaves. The raid failed, and Brown was captured, later being executed. The South saw it as proof that Northerners would use violence to end slavery.
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John Brown was executed for treason. In the North, many saw him as a hero and martyr. The South saw his death as justice.
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Lincoln's Address aimed to calm the South, saying he wouldn’t end slavery where it existed. His rejection to secession in order to preserve the Union pushed more states into secession.
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Lincoln won the Election of 1860 against Douglas, Breckinridge, and Bell. The Southern states seceded, seeing no future in the Union.