There was six main events that lead up to the Civil War were Missouri Compromise, Compromise of 1850, Bleeding Kansas, the Lincoln-Douglas debates, Dred Scott, and Fort Sumter being attacked.
Missouri and Maine were added to make each side even for the senate for the north and south. 36 degree 30 minutes North Latitude was supposed to be a mark to say everything below it, slavery would be legal and everything above it slavery would be illegal. The Southerners did not like that idea. Sectionalism was used by the North and the South. They used it to shut out the other idea. For example the South shut out the idea of getting rid of slavery and the North tried to stop slavery altogether. Therefore it meant the North and South would have fight to see if slavery would stay or not.
The new compromise had five key components. They were stronger fugitive slave law, no slave trade in Washington D.C, slavery not banned in Washington D.C., California becomes a free state, and no limits on slavery. Both, North and South, have benefited from the new compromise. President Taylor suddenly died, Fillmore had told many Whigs to abstain so the compromise could be passed. Congress passed the five bills for the Compromise could come into action
Kansas and Nebraska wanted to be part of the Union, so Douglas just pushed away the Missouri Compromise. Therefore, Douglas let the new states use popular sovereignty to choose whether it wanted to become a slave state or a free state. When Missouri herd that Kansas was becoming a state, Missouri sent border ruffians to vote in the election for Kansas to become a slave state. This issue started to become violent and both sides began to fight against each other and ruined buildings and homes. Newspapers called this sudden outbreak in violence "Bleeding Kansas."
Dred Scott was a slave who moved to a free state, free territory, and then back Missouri where the doctor that owned him died. Scott then decided to try and sue for his freedom. The case reached to Supreme Court where Supreme Court Chief Justice Rodger B. Taney told Scott that he could not sue because he was still property even if he lived in free territory. The Dred Scott case divided the country even more. The Dred Scott decision was called a wicked and false judgment and the "greatest crime" ever committed in the nation's courts.
Lincoln was a man who showed up and was not very known. Lincoln decided to challenge Douglas with a series of debates, which the topic was slavery. Lincoln chose to debate against Douglas was to see what Douglas knew about the subject. Although Lincoln had lost the election, he ended up with a national reputation as a man who can think clearly and could argue with force and persuasion. After that series of debates Lincoln also gained some political credit too.
Southerners were thinking of the idea of secession. While the leaders in Congress worked to make a compromise. Southerners wanted to prove their point by using the theory of states' rights. The South had seceded, but the North said the Union should be preserved. The issue for Lincoln was "whether in a free government the minority have the right to break up the government whenever they choose."
We'd love to hear from you. Please send questions or feedback to the below email addresses.
Before contacting us, you may wish to visit our FAQs page which has lots of useful info on Tiki-Toki.
We can be contacted by email at: hello@tiki-toki.com.
You can also follow us on twitter at twitter.com/tiki_toki.
If you are having any problems with Tiki-Toki, please contact us as at: help@tiki-toki.com
Close