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In the weeks following the election, senators formed a committee to search for yet another compromise that might hold the nation together. However, on December 20, 1860, South Carolina seceded from the union, leading six more Southern states in doing the same.

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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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Because Lincoln's opposition in the presidential race was divided three ways, Lincoln was the clear victor in office. It sent the South the clear message that the North was no longer the minority, and the South could no longer shape national events or policies.

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Lincoln, representing the Republic Party, challenged Stephen Douglas to a debate on the issue of slavery. Lincoln lost the debate, but brought the moral issue of slaver into sharp focus, gaining support from almost all anti-slavery citizens.

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In 1857, the slavery controversy moved from Congress to the Supreme Court, where an African American slave argued that he had acquired freedom by passing through Wisconsin with his owner. The official ruling was that Scott could not sue for his freedom because he was not a citizen, and he was not a free man because the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional.

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In 1856, Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts game a passionate speech called "The Crime Against Kansas." Two days later, South Caroline representative Preston Brooks attacked Sumner and beat him with his metal-tipped cane until it broke.

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As people rushed to Nebraska and Kansas territories to vote for or against slavery, the struggle over slavery soon turned violent. Pro-slavery settlers called "border ruffians" and anti-slavery settlers called "Jay hawkers" constantly attacked members of the opposing ideals, most armed.

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When this act was passed in 1854, Northerners were outraged because it abolished the Missouri Compromise by allowing settlers to determine whether slavery would be allowed in the new territories.

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Through the outrage of slaveholders in the South, the Fugitive Slave Act was passed. Under this, a person arrested as a runaway slave had almost no legal rights. This outraged Southerners because it depended on an honor system with the North.

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In 1850, three new states had requested statehood; California, Utah, and New Mexico. A senator from Kentucky, Henry Clay, proposed a new compromise: California would be admitted as a free state, and New Mexico and Utah would decide whether or not they wanted to be slave states or free states.

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After Nat Turner's rebellion, slaves continued to revolt by escaping to sympathetic Northerners. Southern slaveholders were outraged, as they saw this as a burglary of their property.

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Although the Missouri Compromise held together the Union, it failed to hold the country together. A Second Great Awakening was underway, and Congress was flooded with anti-slavery letters, showing the clear division of the North and South.

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The Missouri Compromise included two key propositions : (1) Missouri would be admitted as a slave state, but (2) a new boundary would be established across the remainder of the Louisiana Territory, preventing the spread of slavery to any other states north of the 36th parallel. This was one of the first of many events that catalyzed the Civil war.