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California was added as a free state in 1850 but to balance power between the North and South, the Fugitive Slave Act was added as well. This act allowed landowners to recapture any runaway slaves. But the North didn't listen and actually helped the slaves instead, increasing a sense of abolitionism.

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YerOldFarmer: We finally got a law that helps us keep track of our slaves! This is going to be so helpful.

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Kansas was turned into a free sovereign state that could vote to become a free or slave state. At the time of the election, people from other states came in to rig the votes. It turned out to be violent battle between people from the South and North.

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YerOldFarmer: My brother-in-law was there that day, he was ready to make Kansas a slave state. But of course, the Northerners had to attack.

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Angered by what happened in Lawrence, Kansas, John Brown (an abolitionist) rallied up an army and attacked an enemy's house, and killed 5 people. This angered the South and soon Brown was being hunted and his house was burned by pro-slavery people.

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YerOldFarmer: That John Brown guy is too dangerous, he needs to be taken DOWN!

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Dred Scott was a slave whose owner moved from Missouri to Illinois and then Wisconsin. Scott issued a lawsuit for freedom because he moved to a free state, leading to the Dred Scott v. Sanford case. In the end, he lost because the court believed slaves were only merchandise that can be moved around.

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YerOldFarmer: That boy thought he could gain his freedom? Oh no no no, the world is cruel, son.

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Missouri was part of the land bought from France in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. It wanted to become the first state west of the Mississippi River, allowing slavery. This would destroy the balance of the 11 slave states and 11 non-slave states in America, which set a huge debate in Congress, considering it would allow the Southerners to gain more representation in Congress. The creation of the Missouri Compromise (1820) would allow Missouri to enter as a slave state, and Maine as a non-slave state to reinstate the balance.

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As South Carolina seceded from the Union in Dec, 1860, other states followed suit. These states became the Confederate States of America, and Jefferson Davis was their first president. The Confederacy started taking forts and territory in the South, which the Union hated. The first official battle of the Civil War would be at Fort Sumpter, SC, where the Confederacy won their first battle.

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YerOldFarmer: YEAHH!! THAT'S MY COUNTRY! Watch out Northerners, we're taking you down! 😎

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Brunswick, Maine, is te hometown of abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe. She is the famous author of the novel, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, which displays the evils of slavery. Although it was a hug success, it was denounced in the South as an evil book due to their heavy support for slavery.

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Charles Sumner was a senator, abolitionist, and leader of the Republican Party. Sumner gave a speech titled “The Crime Against Kansas” which was a two-day speech, highlighting the crimes of slavery in vivid words. He called slavery supporters “murderous robbers” and “imbecile”. As a result of his views, Preston Brooks, a representative from South Carolina, severely beat him with a cane, to the point where he was so injured he had to pause his senate duties for three months.

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John Brown believed in violent resistance to combat slavery. Three years following the Pottawatomie Massacre, Brown planned a raid on the federal armory so he could get saves to arm themselves and break free from their masters. This attack failed, resulting in the killing of brown’s men, and Brown being trialied for treason, and hanged.

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Abraham Lincoln was a candidate for the Republican Party, which wanted to limit slavery expansion. Although he didn’t agree with slavery, he didn’t totally oppose t, which created further disagreements; he wasn’t radical enough for the northerners, while he was too radical for the southerners. After months of his election, eleven states had removed themselves (seceded) from the Union.