EVENTS LEADING TO THE CIVIL WAR

1850-1860

Compromise of 1850 Admits California as a free state Abolishes slave trade in Washington, D.C. Popular sovereignty in western territories Fugitive slave law

Popular Sovereignty in the West

Let the people decide if they want slavery or not in the western territories

Started by Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois

Sectionalism and States Rights

Uncle Tom’s Cabin Novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe Focuses on slave life in Kentucky and

Louisiana Uncle Tom is a good and complacent soul Simon Legree is the evil slavedriver Eliza flees to freedom by crossing the icy

Ohio River Lincoln called Stowe the “little lady who

started the Civil War”

Published in 1852

Underground Railroad and Fugitive Slave Law

Fugitive slave law—federal violation for aiding runaway slaves

Secret escape routes to northern free states

Harriet Tubman— “Moses” Quakers

Dred Scott v. Sanford Supreme Court Decision

Kansas-Nebraska Act-1854 Popular sovereignty in Kansas and

Nebraska territories (let the people decide through voting for or against slavery)

Led to “Bleeding Kansas” Abolitionists led by John Brown

Abolitionist Activity

Brooks-Sumner Incident

John Brown and Harpers Ferry

The Republican Party

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates

Election of 1860

Presidents Zachery Taylor--Whig Millard Fillmore--Whig Franklin Pierce James Buchanan--Democrat Abraham Lincoln--Republican