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As a result of Lincoln winning the election, many states wanted to secede from the union which forced Congress to come up with a plan quickly to keep the union together. Unfortunately hope was lost when Lincoln told a reporter there would not be a compromise on  slavery and a convention was held in the south to leave the union which encouraged others states to do the same.
“The South Secedes.” Ushistory.org, Independence Hall Association, www.ushistory.org/us/32e.asp.

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14) Abraham Lincoln Elected as President

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14) Abraham Lincoln Elected as President

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In 1860 Abraham Lincoln was in the race for the presidential candidacy and miraculously had won by an underwhelming percent of the voters. Because Lincoln was a republican president, white southerners felt ostracized in their country and scared their beloved practice of slavery could potentially be revoked from them.
"Abraham Lincoln making his famous 'Gettysburg Address' speech." Library of Congress
“The Most Consequential Elections in History: Abraham Lincoln and the Election of 1860.” U.S. News & World Report, U.S. News & World Report, www.usnews.com/news/articles/2008/07/23/abraham-lincoln-and-the-election-of-1860.

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John Brown was an abolitionist who thought fighting with his fists or violently with weaponry was more effective than with words. Brown began a raid with slaves but all his men were killed and he was sentenced to death; though he became a hero to the north for his valiant, brave efforts.
Kept in the Library of Congress.
Bordewich, Fergus M. “John Brown's Day of Reckoning.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 1 Oct. 2009, www.smithsonianmag.com/history/john-browns-day-of-reckoning-139165084/.

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Two candidates wanted to become U.S. senator, Abraham Lincoln and Senator Douglas but Lincoln felt the slavery debate needed to end and Douglas thought the country was functional divided. The two hashed it out in debates, though Douglas won the election the debates won Lincoln national recognition and credibility.
Alchin, Linda. “Abraham Lincoln.” The Lincoln Douglas Debates: Topics and Significance ***, Siteseen Limited, 9 Jan. 2018, www.american-historama.org/1860-1865-civil-war-era/lincoln-douglas-debates.htm.

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A slave named Dred Scoot went to a free state with his owner and now claimed himself a free man and brought his case to the Supreme Court. Chief Justice Taney came up with the Dred-Scott decision to not allow him to become a free man because Taney stated the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional-freeing Scott would mean taking property.
“The Dred Scott Decision.” Ushistory.org, Independence Hall Association, www.ushistory.org/us/32a.asp.

"Portrait of Dred Scott by Louis Schultze, painted from a photograph." Missouri Historical Society

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Senator Charles Sumner was outraged by the fighting in Kansas and was inspired to give speeches about the way he felt, ripping pro-slavery senators as well as southerners to shreds for unfairly swaying the slavery debate. A pro-slavery senator's nephew brutally attacked Sumner for the things he said in his speeches, the responses of the attack were passionate and mixed.
The New York Public Library
“The Caning of Senator Charles Sumner.” U.S. Senate: The Caning of Senator Charles Sumner, 9 Mar. 2018, www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/The_Caning_of_Senator_Charles_Sumner.htm.

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Settlers as well as those from the north and south began flooding into the new territory of Kansas, dividing themselves into those who support slavery and those who do not. Fighting broke out between the opposing parties, a group from the south ransacked and destroyed a town in Kansas so a group from the north murdered five men they thought supported slavery.
“Bleeding Kansas: Sparks of War.” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, www.nps.gov/teachers/classrooms/ks-sparks-of-war.htm.

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The act was proposed by the senator of Illinois, Stephen A. Douglas, who wanted a railroad in California and sought a way to do it was to make Nebraska and Kansas territories. Though the act disregarded the Missouri Compromise and stated those in the territories will vote on whether to make them slave or free states, Congress passed the act.
“Debates on the Kansas-Nebraska Act.” Abraham Lincoln Historical Society, www.abraham-lincoln-history.org/debates-on-the-kansas-nebraska-act/.

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The Compromise of 1850 provided the Fugitive Slave Act allowing southerners to more easily catch run-away slaves, which they had long awaited. The act caused a lot of controversy, the northerners who abolished slavery disregarded the law but the southerners thought it was not powerful enough or a guarantee of retrieving their slaves.
History.com Staff. “Fugitive Slave Acts.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2009, www.history.com/topics/black-history/fugitive-slave-acts.

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Henry Clay wanted to dissolve the debate to make California a slave or a free state using his plan The Compromise of 1850 which had to get the approval of Daniel Webster, the senator of Massachusetts. Clay's plan was beneficial to both parties, it admitted California as a free state and allowed New Mexico and Utah to debate whether or not to permit slavery. Southerners became exasperated by the compromise threatening to leave the union but they did not want to cause a massive war with the north, so the compromise was passed by Congress.
“The Compromise of 1850.” Ushistory.org, Independence Hall Association, www.ushistory.org/us/30d.asp.

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Congress were indecisive to permit or not permit slavery in the new territory from the war and were proposed a bill by the southerners; though quickly vetoed by the northerners in Congress. California wanted to become a free state in union but Congress was met with another dilemma, to make it a free or slave state, still wanting to maintain the peace between the north and south.
California State Parks, State of California. “California Admission Day September 9, 1850.” CA State Parks, www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=23856.
A state seal in 1849.

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Needing funds for the Mexican-American war President James Polk sent a bill to Congress along with the Wilmot Provisio-a long overdue amendment that stated new land from the war should not practice slavery. The amendment was vetoed by the Senate over the rational that Congress can not tell someone how to run there land.
"A Voice from the South": This document contained letters from the states against the Wilmot Proviso.
From the Wilmot Proviso to the Compromise of 1850, www.americaslibrary.gov/aa/polk/aa_polk_wilmot_1.html.

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Slaves rebelled by escaping their owner's land and fleeing often with the help of "sympathetic" northerners to the north. Southerners saw northerners as villains trying to steal their property and income, but in actuality the southerners were freeing slaves so northerners asked Congress to make fugitive (slaves who escaped) recapture laws.

Originally in The Anti-Slavery Record Newspaper in New York then given to a professor at Ohio State.
“Fugitives from Slavery.” Fugitives from Slavery - Ohio History Central, www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Fugitives_from_Slavery.

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There was an uprising of abolitionists wanting to put an end to slavery, pestering Congress to act on the issue but Congress did the opposite collectively deciding to no longer be involved in the slavery debate (a.k.a. the "gag rule"). Despite the cowardliness of the Congress, abolitionists still fought which outraged southerners to make laws to preserve slavery and some southern states rewarded those who arrested abolitionists.
Photograph of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, 1851

Courtesy of Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College
“The Gag Rule.” National Museum of American History, 28 July 2017, americanhistory.si.edu/democracy-exhibition/beyond-ballot/petitioning/gag-rule.

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The compromise that Missouri will be added to the union only under the condition that it is a slave state as well as Maine is a free state, to maintain the balance of free and slave states. Though the compromise allowed for the union to stay together it caused much controversy between the north and south.
History.com, A&E Television Networks, www.history.com/topics/missouri-compromise/videos.

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Missouri Compromise Exclusive Videos & Features - HISTORY.com

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Check out exclusive Missouri Compromise videos and features. Browse the latest Missouri Compromise videos and more on HISTORY.com.