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People have been talking about Missouri for a long time, unable to decide weather or not it should become a free or slave state. Then, Maine was asking to join the Union as a free state. In order to prevent the Union from breaking up once again, Rep. Henry Clay from Kentucky came up with a compromise that everyone finally agreed to called the "Missouri Compromise". Since Congress wanted to maintain a balance between slave and free states, when Maine requested to be a free state, Missouri became a slave state. During that time, Congress created a line on the latitude 36'30'. Any state that is north of this line (except for Missouri) would be a free state, and any state that is south of the line would be a slave state.

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John Quincy Adams declared that the argument over slaver was settled. But he was wrong. There was another powerful force called "The Great Awakening" where leaders of the religious revival promised God would bless those who did Lord's work. Abolitionists for anti-slavery put up so many petitions that Congress had no power with slavery in the states. What about the District of Columbia (Washington DC)? One Abolitionists asked. Congress didn't allow slavery at the Capitol. Congress later voted in 1839 to stop all anti-slavery petitions. Angry abolitionists called this the "Gag Rule" because it "gaged" or silenced the talk over slavery.

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Nat Turner's Rebellion was the last large slave revolt.  After that, slaves were still being rebellious for their freedom. The Fugitive slaves from the south were often helped by the sympathetic Northerners. The slave owners in the south took this to be offensive and claimed that the northerners are just as bad as the Fugitive slaves. Trying to ban slavery all together was not the greatest idea because the Southerners wanted slavery and would not agree.

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Henry Clay made a promise to please everyone. It started by making California a free state instead of a slave state. It only pleased the states of the north. This compromise allowed the Utah and New Mexico territories to decide for themselves whether or not they should join the Union a slave state or a free state, which would please the south. Congress debated about the Compromise of 1850 for nine long months, and still could not agree. Nobody wanted to start a war over slavery.

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Both the North and the South were unhappy with the Fugitive Slave Act, but they had different reasons for it. The Northerners did not want it to continue, the Southerners thought that this could not ensure to bring back their runaway slaves. The Fugitive Slave Act states that an arrested runaway slave has no rights. Some salves ran all the way to Canada rather than being caught. Some who were brave fought for their freedom. This law also states that anyone who tried to help a slave escape will be put in jail. This made the Northerners very angry. They knew what they were doing was the right thing.

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A Senator named Douglass created a bill in Congress that made everyone angry. Douglass wanted to create a railroad that would get them to California. Douglass thought that this would happen only if the Great Plains was part of the Kansas Territory. This territory was north of the Missouri Compromise, so there should not be slaves there. The Southerners agreed if Douglass made a few changes. The new version of the bill would be called the Kansas-Nebraska Act. This act created two territories, Kansas and Nebraska. These territories did not follow the Missouri Compromise, instead, they would let the people in the territories deicide whether or not they should be a slave state. The Northerners were scared that there would be slaves near their territory. Douglass said that the Nebraska-Kansas territory did not work well for slave labor.

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After the Nebraska-Kansas Act, people started to live in Kansas. Some settlers neither supported or opposed slavery. Southerners sent their young men to Kansas, while the Northerners sent weapons to the antislavery people. Kansas now had to groups of people. One group wanted slavery, and another opposed slavery. The debate over slavery got wild and turned violent. The group of people who wanted slavery invade a city in Kansas called Lawrence, a town were antislavery people lived. They burnt down homes, hotels and ruined  many other things. The proslavery people thought that this was the best way to show off their anger.

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The Bloodshed in Kansas disturbed Senator Charles Sumner. He suspected that Douglass always wanted Kansas to become a slave state. Sumner later made a speech called "The Crime Against Kansas", which stated his suspicion. He also called Douglass harsh and rude names. Sumner also abused many Southerners, one which was Andrew P. Butler. Sumner's speech made most of the Northerners angry, and wanted to do something. A few days after Sumner's speech, Butler's nephew attacked Sumner in senate using is wooden cane. Southerners were glad that Brooks defeated the honor of Sumner's family. Southerners sent Brooks a new cane because he broke the one that he used to hit Sumner. The Northerners thought of this as another "Southern brutality". They also think that Brooks was no better than the Southerners who attacked Lawrence, Kansas.

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The court want to decide what to do with a slave named Dred Scott. Scott and his slaveowner went to Wisconsin, a free state based on the Missouri Compromise. When he came back, Scott wanted to win his freedom, so he went to court. He said that because he went to Wisconsin, he is now a free man. There are two questions that arose. First, was Scott allowed to ask to be a free man? Second  was that did spending time in Wisconsin actually make him a free man? There was a man named Justice Taney who is about 80 years old, and was antislavery. He wanted to free Scott. Taney wasn't sure that his justices would also free Scott.

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The Illinois Senate could understand why the nation could not go half slave state and half free state. Douglass agreed when Lincoln asked to debate this issue. During the debate, Douglass argued that the Dred-Scott decision had stopped the talk over slavery. Lincoln didn't agree. He thought slavery, in general, was wrong. Even though Lincoln lost the election, but his debate was famous. His debate with Douglass made everyone have a new perspective over slavery. People cannot agree to slavery anymore. Lincoln fought to stop slavery. John Brown had an more extreme idea. He used weapons to slaves and rebel, hoping that slavery would end. This act is called John Brown's Raid.

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11. Abraham Lincoln is Elected as President

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11. Abraham Lincoln is Elected as President

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Lincoln won victory, an odd victory. Lincoln won the presidential election, but only 40% of the people voted for him. Every vote was from the north. Not even a single vote was from the south. Since most of the population was in the south, they no longer have the ability to to create and change national events and politics. Southerners disliked that Lincoln was against slavery. Later, Southerners feared that Congress under, Lincoln's rules, will abolish slavery forever.

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Senators created a committee to hold the nation together. They knew it would be difficult. When asking Lincoln his thoughts on supporting a slavery compromise, everybody knew his answer well. He simply would not interact with the slavery and the south. Lincoln would also support the Fugitive Slave Act. Lincoln allowed slavery in some territories. South Carolina soon said that "The Union is Dissolved!" Then, more states joined. These states are called the Confederate States of America. (They are not called United States of America because the states were not united at that time).