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#15- Subsequent to Lincoln’s triumph in the presidential election, the suggestion of secession in the South permeated over the Union. To appease the South, alarmed senators began to search for yet another compromise, but halted when Lincoln expressed his disapproval for a compromise for slavery. In Charleston, South Carolina, on December 20, 1860, delegates voted to leave the Union along with six other states. Ultimately, these newly seceded states joined to form the Confederate States of America.
➪ Source: The Election of 1860 & the Road to Disunion, CrashCourse

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The Election of 1860 & the Road to Disunion: Crash Course US History #18

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 ● Abraham Lincoln is Elected as President ●

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 ● Abraham Lincoln is Elected as President ●

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#14- In the election of 1860, Lincoln won the role of the president with 40 percent of the votes, all cast from the North. In ten Southern states, his name was not even mentioned on the ballot. Lincoln’s victory concerned Southerners however, for they realized they were now a minority and no longer possessed a strong influence on national events nor policies. They worried that this would lead to the abolishing of slavery, which would result in their economic demise.
➪ Source: Photograph of Abraham Lincoln, Mathew Brady, britannica.com

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#13- Unlike Abraham Lincoln who strived the cease the practice of slavery through politics and through his passionate words, abolitionist John Brown fostered the belief that slavery could only end through bloodshed and violence. Consequently, Brown planned to raid a arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia to arm slaves for a rebellion through which he intended to end slavery. However, the raid Brown led in 1859 merely resulted in all of his men being captured or executed and led to his own sentence to death. Brown’s rebellion forced Southerners to visualize their tragic fate if there was to be another bloody slave rebellion.
➪ Source: The U.S. Marines Storming the Engine House, Library of Congress, nps.gov

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#12- In the Lincoln-Douglas debates, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas-who were both candidates for the U.S. senator-expressed their opinions on controversial and political topics, but especially on the fragile and profound topic: slavery. Lincoln viewed slavery as an immoral and inhumane practice and declared that slavery was the sole issue that was dividing the Union. Douglas simply stated that the Dred Scott Decision had been a resolution to the issue of slavery. Though Lincoln lost the election, his arguments with Douglas brought much attention to the moral issue of slavery and made him a prominent, national figure.
➪ Source: Douglas Expected to Crush his Untried Opponent in the Enormously Crowd-pleasing Debates, Granger Collection, New York, smithsonianmag.com

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#11- In 1857, Dred Scott, a Missouri slave who had traveled to Wisconsin with his owner, asserted in court-when he returned to Missouri-that his momentary stay in Wisconsin, in which slavery had been abolished due to the Missouri Compromise, had transformed him into a free man. On March 6, 1857, Chief Justice Taney-who desired to end controversy regarding slavery through Scott’s case-created the Dred Scott Decision which stated that African Americans could never be citizens of the United States and announced that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional. Therefore, because of these two reasons, Scott’s argument was rejected and he was kept a slave.
➪ Source: Photograph of Dred Scott, Public Domain, blackpast.org

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#10- In his profound and vehement speech named “The Crime Against Kansas”, Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts expressed his deep disapproval of the violence that had permeated the “innocent territory” and spoke especially harshly of the Southerners, including Senator Andrew P. Butler of South California. Some agreed and praised the speech while others showed deep abhorrence for the speech. Preston Brooks, for example, beat Sumner continuously until he fell unconscious and began to bleed profusely. Southerners praised Brooks for defending the South; however, Northerners viewed the beating merely as yet another demonstration of the South’s brutality.
➪ Source: Illustration of Southern Chivalry – Argument Versus Club's, John L. Magee, 1856, bostonmagazine.com

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#9- Although the vast majority of the pouring settlers in Kansas were farmers merely in pursue of rich farmland, some of the settlers were abolitionists or proslavery supporters who desired to express their opinions. Eventually, in Kansas, there were two opposing governments-one, a vehement abolitionist government, and the other, a proslavery government. Unfortunately, the dispute regarding slavery began to result in brutal violence: on May 21, 1856, a horde of proslavery settlers from Missouri invaded Lawrence, Kansas and decimated a hotel, looted homes, and destroyed two abolitionist printing presses into the water. As a fiery response to the hostile attack, John Brown and his sons dragged five men they suspected were proslavery supporters and killed them brutally.
➪ Source: Portrait of John Brown, civilwar.org

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#8- Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois proposed and successfully passed the Nebraska-Kansas Act of 1854, which established Kansas and Nebraska territories and permitted settlers to decide themselves whether to permit slavery or to permanently abolish slavery. This act worried Northerners, however, for they believed that slavery-due to the act-would commence in permeating across the plains.
➪ Source: Photograph of Stephen A. Douglas, biography.com

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#7- The Fugitive Slave Act stated that any person who had aided a slave in their escape or any person who simply refused to help a slave catcher could be jailed. The Northerners simply refused to support this act-which ultimately forced the act to become useless-and the Southerners were not satisfied for they believed that the act was not firm enough to ensure the return of their slaves.
➪ Source: Sound Smart: The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, history.com

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Sound Smart: The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 | History

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#6- In 1850, Henry Clay-the creator of the Missouri Compromise-had thought of a plan that was intended to end the deadlock over California. His plan consisted of:
➣ Admitting California to the Union as a free state
➣  Enabling New Mexico and Utah territories to determine whether they will enter as a free state or a slave state,
➣  Ceasing the trading of slaves in Washington, D.C.
➣  Creating a more astringent slave fugitive law.
Though Henry Clay and Daniel Webster-who aided Clay in passing this Compromise-had hoped that the Compromise of 1850 would silence all remaining controversy regarding slavery, the debate merely grew louder easy year.
➪ Source: Sound Smart: Compromise of 1850, history.com

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Sound Smart: Compromise of 1850 | History

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#4- As an addition to President James Polk's bill to Congress in 1846 -in which he asked for funds for the Mexican war-Pennsylvania representative David Wilmot created the Wilmot Proviso. The Wilmot Proviso declared that "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist" in the lands that may possibly gained from the Mexican war. However, this amendment was ultimately rejected by the Senate though passed through the House.
➪ Source: Wilmot Proviso, History.com

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Wilmot Proviso - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com

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Find out more about the history of Wilmot Proviso, including videos, interesting articles, pictures, historical features and more. Get all the facts on HISTORY.com

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#5- In 1849, California requested to join the Union as a free state, drawing great support from Northerners and rejection from the Southerners who threatened to secede from the Union if California was accepted. Once again, Congress was deadlocked over this complicated and everlasting conflict of slavery between the South and the North.
➪ Source: The Flag of California Republic, 50states.com

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#3- As time progressed, more and more slaves began to elude their laborious and tedious lives as a subservient worker by escaping to the North, usually with the help of sympathetic and benevolent Northerners. In response, Southerners began to demand Congress to pass a fugitive slave law to cease the gradually increasing escapes of slaves for in their perspective, slaves were valuable property.
➪ Source: Illustration of Effects of the Fugitive-Slave-Law, 1850, Library of the Congress, encyclopediavirginia.org

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#2- When passionate abolitionists abruptly questioned Congress's refusal to ban slavery, rather than to confront this uncomfortable truth, in 1836, Congress chose to neglect and set aside all antislavery petitions, outraging a plethora of abolitionists. These enraged abolitionists began to this action the "gag rule", for it silenced all controversy over slavery. Despite this oppressive rule, abolitionists merely continued to express their resentment towards the practice of slavery in numerous books, newspapers, and public meetings. However, white Southerners possessed a great abhorrence towards antislavery supports and consequently, many Southern states created more astringent laws which clearly oppressed slaves.
➪ Source: The Slave's Friend, R.G. Williams, 1836, britannica.com

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#1- The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was the solution Congress had formed subsequent to the dispute in which some believed that Missouri could only join the Union as a free state while others vehemently opposed this claim. However, because Congress had to maintain a balance between the number of slave states and free states, Maine was admitted into the Union as a free state and Missouri was admitted into the Union as a slave state. Additionally, along with the Missouri Compromise, Congress limited the practice of slavery-north of the latitude 36' 30', the brutal and inhumane practice of slavery was abolished permanently.
➪ Source: What Was the Missouri Compromise?, History.com

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What Was the Missouri Compromise? | History