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Pre-1820: The Institution of Slavery in the US 

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Pre-1820: The Institution of Slavery in the US 

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Slavery in the US was the institution that ignited sectional tensions and caused the eventual Civil War. Slavery had long been a foundation for conflict between the North and the South. The North had long opposed the institution and advocated for the end of it's expansion, and even abolition of it; the livelihood of the South was completely dependent on it, and Southerners even tried to excuse it as an institution that benefited everyone, including the slaves and the slaveowners. This long-established conflict between the North and South regarding slavery would become the root that would eventually blossom into the Civil War.

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The Missouri Compromise established a line on the 36°30' parallel that would ban slavery in the territories North of it, and allow slavery South of it. It did not solve sectional tensions, but merely pushed them aside in hopes that compromise would quell the tension. In actuality, the Missouri Compromise compounded the problem and only deepened the division between the North and South.

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The Compromise of 1850 helped the North as it admitted California as a free state, and ended the slave trade in the DC capital. However, it was also beneficial for the South as it imposed the Fugitive Slave Act more strictly. Again, the Compromise of 1850 did not solve deepening sectional tensions, but only made it worse by trying to appease both the North and South. Both the North and South suffered losses with the Compromise of 1850, which exacerbated their conflict.

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Harriet Beecher Stowe put a spotlight on the horrors of slavery with her novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin. Americans who had previously remained neutral on slavery were now moved towards advocating for abolition thanks to the novel. Now, even more people were involved in the fight between the North and South.

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Under the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, the new territories of Kansas and Nebraska would have popular sovereignty, in which the people of Kansas and Nebraska would decide the status of slavery within their territories. Numbers of Northerners and Southerners migrated to Kansas in hopes of influencing the status of slavery there. Violence and guerrilla warfare ensues as opposing forces battle the other's ideologies.

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In October 1859, staunch, yet violent abolitionist John Brown launches a raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Brown hoped to free the slaves there and inspire more slave uprisings across the Union. Yet, the insurrection was shut down by the local citizens and the US Marines. Southerners were convinced that they could no longer remain in the Union safely, and talks of secession rises.

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Abraham Lincoln wins the election of 1860. As an anti-slavery Republican, most Southern states do not even put his name on the ballot. Following his election, Southern states begin secession.

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Confederate leaders fire at Fort Sumter in South Carolina, starting the Civil War.