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Southerners wanted the newly gained territories to become slave states, but Northerners felt differently. When California applied to be a free state in 1849, Northerners welcomed them, but Southerners rejected them. Therefore, Congress deadlocked the decision on California's statehood.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-0614-abella-bear-flag-20150614-story.html

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After Lincoln was elected president, the South was thinking about seceding from the Union. People tried to prevent this from happening by meeting on December 20, 1860. However, Lincoln did not support any compromise. Therefore, many south states followed South Carolina and seceded from the Union to form the Confederate States of America.
http://www.ushistory.org/us/32e.asp

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By 1860, the country was already very divided. The election of 1860 showed that. All republicans supported Lincoln, Northern Democrats supported Stephan Douglas,  and Southern Democrats supported John Breckingridge. In the end, Lincoln won with only 40% of the votes.
http://www.american-historama.org/1860-1865-civil-war-era/lincoln-douglas-debates.htm

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John Brown was an abolitionist who took more extreme measures to try to stop slavery. He led a group of people to raid Harpers Ferry, Virginia. All of Brown's men were captured and punished.
http://www.ushistory.org/us/32c.asp

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The Lincoln Douglas Debates were a series of debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas. They argued about the issue of slavery in the Union.
http://www.american-historama.org/1860-1865-civil-war-era/lincoln-douglas-debates.htm

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Dred Scott, a slave, traveled with his owner to Wisconsin, which was a free state. When they returned to Missouri, Scott went to court to win his freedom, claiming that his time in a free state made him free. The court rejected his argument. This decision also proved that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2932.html

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Charles Sumner, Massachusetts Senator, made a speech called "The Crime Against Kansas." Two days after the speech, Preston Brooks, another member of Congress, beat Sumner until he was unconscious.
https://www.massmoments.org/moment-details/sumner-attacked-in-u-s-senate.html

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After the Nebraska-Kansas Act, many settlers moved to Kansas. Some came to farm, while others came to fight for or against slavery. On May 21,1856, pro slavery people raided Lawrence, Kansas, a pro slavery community. In response, anti slavery people killed 5 people suspected of the original attack.
https://www.nps.gov/teachers/classrooms/ks-sparks-of-war.htm

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Senator Stephan A. Douglas of Illinois proposed an idea of building a railroad to California. He also suggested that Congress organize the Great Plains into territories, and allow that area for settlement. By passing this act, Congress canceled the Missouri Compromise.

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The Compromise of 1850 fails eventually, and leads to another act, The Fugitive Slave Act. This act forced citizens to return escaped slaves they found to their rightful owners. Any citizen found helping a runaway slave could also be put in jail. This law was very unethical, especially to the Northerners.
http://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2014/05/20/constitutionally-sound-nullification-of-the-fugitive-slave-act/

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Kentucky senator, Henry Clay, came up with another compromise. California would be accepted as a free state, but New Mexico and Utah could apply as slave states. Clay's compromise also ended slave trade in Washington D.C. After long debates, this compromise was accepted.
http://www.ushistory.org/us/30d.asp

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Although the gag rule stopped the conversation on slavery for a while, David Wilmot tried to pass a bill, the Wilmot Proviso,  that territory gained from the war with Mexico should not allow slavery. His bill passed the House, but was rejected by the Senate.
http://www.americaslibrary.gov/aa/polk/aa_polk_wilmot_1.html

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Fugitive Slaves were slaves that had ran away. Slave owners thought of these runaways as lost property, therefore they urged congress to make a law that forced citizens to return runaway slaves to their owners.
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/fugitive-slave-acts

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This compromise caused many conflicts about slavery. The congress faced these problems by creating the  "Gag Rule." This rule stopped all arguments about slavery in the congress.
https://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/john-quincy-adams

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The Missouri Compromise was a compromise made by Congress that let Missouri join the Union as a slave state, and let Maine join as a free state.
https://www.history.com/topics/missouri-compromise