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Slavery was a big part in the civil war. People wanted freedom especially the slaves.

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The election was a big deal. They wanted someone else to win.

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There was new territory. Some people were happy some were not.

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It was when slaves were killed and beated.

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Bleeding Kansas: Causes, Events, and John Brown's Pottawatomie Massacre

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People did not like the way things divided. People wanted things not to go to war.

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People thought that slavery would stop. People did not like the idea of no slavery in some states.

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The main focus of these debates was slavery and its influence on American politics and society—specifically the slave power, popular sovereignty, race equality, emancipation, etc.

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The Compromise of 1850, while intended to temporarily resolve tensions over slavery and westward expansion, ultimately contributed to the Civil War by exacerbating existing divisions and failing to address the fundamental issue of slavery's expansion.

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The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was primarily driven by Southern demands to enforce the return of escaped slaves to their owners, even in free states.

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Stephen Douglas remains an incredibly complex statesman. His decision to choose party over country with the Kansas-Nebraska Act unequivocally contributed to the coming of the Civil War. It remains to be seen if Douglas could have known that his legislation would have such devastating consequences.

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The conflict stemmed from the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which allowed territories to decide the issue of slavery through popular sovereignty, sparking a struggle between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces.

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On May 19 and 20, 1856, during the civil unrest known as "Bleeding Kansas," Sumner denounced the Kansas–Nebraska Act in his "Crime against Kansas" speech. The long speech argued for Kansas's immediate admission as a free state and denounced "Slave Power"—the political power of the slave owners.

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The Brooks-Sumner Affair, where Preston Brooks of South Carolina caned Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts in the Senate chamber, was a significant event that heightened sectional tensions and is considered a step toward the Civil War