# data[].attributes.body
South Carolina seceded from the Union on December 20th, 1860, right after the election of President Lincoln in November. South Carolina, along with other southern states, were having many conflicts with the Northern states over slavery, representation, and states rights. By actually seceding from the Union, South Carolina took a irreversible step that ignited the Civil War. For decades there had been tension building, but when south Caroling seceded, they started the event that everyone was dreading.   Once one state left the Union, it left a path for other southern states to follow, which started the war.

http://www.historynet.com/secession

# data[].attributes.body
The war with Mexico was fought over claims to the New Mexican territory in the Southwest. This war was fought from 1846-1848. When James Polk was elected president, he tried to buy California and the Mexican territories from Mexico, they didn't sell anything to him. Mexico had warned that if Texas was annexed, it might cause a war, but the US annexed Texas anyway. Polk then sent troops into disputed areas the US had claimed. War started over a small skirmish on the Rio Grande border in this disputed area. After many quick victories, the US had taken over Mexico's territory and Mexico signed the treaty of Guadalupe. This war helped to lead to the Civil war by causing
many political conflicts. When the US gained new land, there was the issue of what states would be a slave or free state. This argument was very important to the people because of representation in the Senate. The compromise of 1850 only temporarily fixed this problem, but there was still tension between the two different sides.

https://www.history.com/topics/mexican-american-war/mexican-american-war

# data[].attributes.body
First Republican to be elected President. This led to war because he was strictly against slavery and this frightened the south because they knew he was trying to abolish.

# data[].attributes.body
John Brown's Raid was an unsuccessful raid led by John Brown with an Army of 18 men at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. Brown's plan was to seize all of the arms and Ammunition from the federal arsenal and arm the slaves around there so they could move into the Appalachians. His plan was unsuccessful due to poor planning. This led to the civil war because although it was not successful it still was able to deepen the divide between the North and the South. The north admired his act but the South was outraged because Brown was being praised for destroying their property and threatening their lives.

http://www.ushistory.org/us/32c.asp

# data[].attributes.body
Basically Scott sued for his freedom because he had lived in a free state and it was taken all the way to the supreme court. The court ruled that he was not a free man and not a citizen and therefore he couldn’t bring a case to court in the first place. This led to the war because it built tensions between the north and south. The north thought Scott should be free while the southerners thought he shouldn’t even be in court.

# data[].attributes.body
The transcontinental railroad was a railroad that went across the continent. Building of the railroad was started in 1863 and ended in 1869. The goal of this railroad was to connect the east to the west. The railroad was nearly 3,500 miles long and about 2,000 miles of track were added when work started. The green and orange connecting lines on the map are the original transcontinental railroad. The red and blue lines are railroads that were built later. It allowed easier transportation of goods and supplies so it somewhat enabled the war . But the debate about where the railroad would run and how it would be funded is what led to the civil war because the states did not want the railroad running through undecided territory. They wanted the states to be able to decide. The states were not happy about this and it led to an argument which in turn led to the civil war.

http://www.american-historama.org/1866-1881-reconstruction-era/transcontinental-railroad.htm

# data[].attributes.body
The Cotton Gin was a invention created by Eli Whitney in 1794, to ease the picking and production of cotton. This machine helped pick apart the cotton fibers from the sharp seeds and shell. Picking cotton had been a tedious and painful task, but the cotton gin made picking cotton more efficient. When Eli Whitney created this machine, he hoped that it would help slowly erase the need for slave labor. Instead it had the opposite effect. The cotton gin made to possible to produce more cotton than ever before.  This made the Southern cotton plantations very wealthy and the amount of slaves in the US increased. Since cotton producers had a large amount of new wealth, they rushed to get more slaves to increase production. The massive growth of cotton production, and slave populations created a southern culture based off of large plantations. As slavery grew, more and more people, especially in the north, started to oppose slavery more than ever. This created a big rift between the two regions which led to a war between them.

https://infogram.com/how-the-cotton-gin-caused-the-civil-war-1gdk8pd8y6x12q0

# data[].attributes.body
The series of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln(Republican candidate) and Stephen A. Douglas(Democratic senator) on the topic of slavery extension.

Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas were involved in the debates because they were both trying to attain one of Illinois' U.S. Senate seat. Stephen Douglas' argument was that the issue of slavery should be determined by popular sovereignty and Lincoln is a radical disruptor of the Union. On the other hand, Abraham Lincoln's argument was that a house divided against itself cannot stand(slavery cannot be legal in some states and illegal in other states), slavery is not morally right, and popular sovereignty was proven to be dangerous by the violence that broke out in Kansas.
Even though Abraham Lincoln eventually lost the election, he became very famous which significantly helped him in his election for his presidency.

https://www.britannica.com/event/Lincoln-Douglas-debates

# data[].attributes.body
After the Kansas-Nebraska Act, a small civil war broke out due to the opposing forces on the topic of slavery .

After the repeal of the Missouri Compromise of 1820 due to the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the pro-slavery advocates were angered. So Northerners from other states armed themselves and moved to Kansas because they wanted the popular sovereignty to be in their favor. At the same time, the supporters of slavery moved from Missouri into the state. Both forces formed guerrilla bands and attacked each other. The main events are when an anti-slavery settler was murdered, pro-slavery forces attacked the town, Lawrence, and burnt down the abolitionists' buildings, and John Brown leading the abolitionists in the Pottawatomie Massacre. The state's issue of slavery was resolved when Kansas finally became a free state in 1861. Now that both sides have shed a lot of blood, the issue of the extension of slavery is very serious and there is no returning to obtain peace. Each side is enraged and not willing to give in, so only an official, larger war(The Civil War) can conclude whether slavery will be legal or illegal in the U.S.

https://www.britannica.com/event/Bleeding-Kansas-United-States-history

# data[].attributes.body
The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was a compromise passed  by congress to try to relieve tension between the free and slave states. When Missouri wanted to be admitted as a state it wanted to be a slave state but Missouri being a slave state would upset the balance. So the compromise was that if Missouri was admitted as a slave state Maine would have to be admitted as a free state. They also agreed that any of the other states states bought in the Louisiana purchase past the 36th parallel must be admitted as free states. This led to the war because it upset many of the states since it took away their decision to be a free state or not.

https://www.history.com/topics/abolotionist-movement/missouri-compromise

# data[].attributes.body
Proposed by Henry Clay. The problem it was trying to solve was slavery when California requested to join  the Union. This led to the war because now slavery was prohibited in more places than it was allowed.

# data[].attributes.body
The Act was based on the concept of popular sovereignty so it gave the people of Kansas and Nebraska the control over the expansion of slavery. It repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which angered the Northerners.

Because the Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise which secured the ban of slavery in the north region, the people who lived in the Northern part were enraged. However, the Southerners favored this Act because they support slavery. Tension rose and the two opposing sides, anti-slavery forces and pro-slavery forces, got into conflict and violence broke out(Bleeding Kansas). This event worsened the separation among the US citizens, causing the two forces to be so infuriated at each other till they came to a point where only a war would resolve the issue.

http://www.historyplace.com/lincoln/kansas.htm