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The compromise of 1850 was a series of bills with a goal to resolve disputes over escaped slaves in western territories. Stephen Douglas and Henry Clay were the creators of the compromise. Evidently, it was passed in 1850.  The bill allowed slave catchers to track down and capture runaways much easier. In Washington, D.C. it permitted slavery but outlawed the slave trade. It also made California a free state but allowed Utah and New Mexico to decide for themselves. Another bill defined new boundaries for slavery in Texas. The final bill denied slaves the right to trial by jury. The Compromise of 1850 partially caused the Civil War because it angered southern slave owners from new restrictions, as well as dividing the country even more.

SOURCE:
https://www.history.com/topics/abolitionist-movement/compromise-of-1850

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Nat Turner was a slave who led a rebellion against his slave owners which resulted in the death of his slave owner's entire family. About fifty-five white lives were taken by Turner and his seventy-five men. Turner and his men managed to acquire weapons and horses prior to his rebellion.  He was not discovered till six weeks after the rebellion in Jerusalem, Virginia where he was executed via hanging. As a consequence, the local legislature enacted laws that added more restrictions to enslaved people. Nat Turners's rebellion set the stage for the Civil War by destroying the myth that slaves were happy with their lives or too timid to undertake a rebellion. This solidified the positions of slave owners and abolitionists in the North and South which caused a greater divide.

SOURCE:
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/nat-turner

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Bleeding Kansas was a period of time from 1855-1859, in which anti-slavery and pro-slavery forces engaged in skirmishes following the creation of Kansas. Around 55 people were killed during this period. After the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed, it divided the Democratic Party and resulted in the creation of the Republican party. This credited to the Civil War because it further divided the country, as well as angering anti-slavery groups even more.

SOURCE:
https://www.history.com/topics/19th-century/bleeding-kansas

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The Missouri Compromise was a law that made Missouri into a slave state and Maine into a free state, while further defining the line between free and slave states. The law was deemed unconstitutional and was repealed Kansas-Nebraska Act. The law also decided what would become free territories and what would become slave territories after the Louisiana Purchase. The Missouri Compromise contributed towards the eventual Civil War by literally dividing the country in half and forcing citizens into supporting one side and hating the other. This essentially created the North and the South as sides in the Civil War.

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

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Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States and was the first Republican to win the election. He was inaugurated on March 4, 1861, beating John C. Breckinridge, John Bell, and Stephen Douglas. After his election, the southern states seceded from the country. They later formed the Confederate States which was lead by Jefferson Davis. This outlined the division in the United States before the Civil War, tearing apart the States and sparking the secession of the southern states.

SOURCE:
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/abraham-lincoln-elected-president

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In 1854, Senator Stephen Douglas proposed a bill that would organize the territory of Nebraska. This land would later become Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, and the Dakotas. This bill had the ability to expand slavery into areas in which it was outlawed. This bill leads to the period of time known as Bleeding Kansas in which pro-slavery and anti-slavery soldiers clashed with one another in bloody skirmishes and also split the Whig Party.

SOURCE:
https://www.history.com/topics/19th-century/kansas-nebraska-act

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The Liberator was one of the most influential anti-slavery newspapers before and during the Civil War. The first issue of the Liberator was published in 1831 by William Lloyd Garrison. Garrison's views that he expressed in the paper caused him to be hated by many and also earned him a $5000 bounty on his head in Georgia. Garrison would often write about how slaves were being denied the Constitutional Right of being equal to any other man and his paper became famous worldwide.

SOURCE:
https://transcription.si.edu/project/11766#:~:text=The%20Liberator%20(1831%2D1865),influential%20American%20Anti%2DSlavery%20Society.

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On March 20, 1852, the anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin was published. 300,000 copies of the novel were sold in three months and the author by the name of Harriet Beecher Stowe was credited by Abraham Lincoln to have been a leading cause of the Civil War. The book displays the brutal and cruel punishments that slaves would endure and the extent a slave hunter would go to in order to capture one slave. The novel allowed the public to understand the lives of a slave in a new light and angered southerners, causing the book to be banned in The South.

SOURCE:
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/uncle-toms-cabin-is-published

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On October 16, 1859, John Brown and his men led a raid against an armory in Harpers Ferry, Virginia. He took hostages and the next morning he and his men were surrounded by a company of soldiers led by Colonel Robert E. Lee and Lieutenant J.E.B. Stuart. Brown was later captured and executed. This raid made It impossible for the North and South to have any compromises.

SOURCE: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/john-browns-raid-on-harpers-ferry

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In a decade-long case that went all the way to the Supreme Court, Dred Scott fought for his and his family's freedom from his former master; Dr. John Emerson. In the case, Dred was brought to Illinois and Wisconsin Territory, both free states. Scott argued that since he was brought to a free state, he should be considered a free man, along with the rest of his family. On the other side, Emerson argued that since Dred was his property, he had the right to bring him wherever he pleased. In the end, the Supreme Court ruled that since Dred was a slave, he had no right to sue, and Emerson had the right to bring Dred anywhere as he was his property. This case caused outrage among abolitionists and culminated in the secession of the southern states.

SOURCE:
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/dred-scott-case

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In 1794, a man by the name of Eli Whitney patented his creation known as the cotton gin. The machine allowed for a quicker way of removing cotton seeds from fibers and would allow southern slave owners to have a reason to expand slavery despite many Americans being against it and the yield of cotton doubled each decade after 1800. The machine worked by having cotton run through it. The cotton would be run through a wooden drum containing a series of hooks that would catch the fibers and drag them through a mesh that was too fine for the seeds to pass through. The device had the capability to remove the seeds of up to fifty pounds of cotton daily. Despite the importance of his device, Whitney did not receive much money from his invention due to patent infringements. Whitney could not have predicted that his invention would turn society for the worse and be a catalyst for the Civil War.

SOURCE:
https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/cotton-gin-and-eli-whitney

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On May 22, 1856, Charles Sumner was brutally beat by pro-slavery representative Preston Brooks. He took his cane and beat Sumner until he was unconscious. He then proceeded to stroll out of the building. This attack sparked more than 70 other attacks among congressmen. Both Sumner and Brooks were crowned as heroes in their respective parties. This directly led towards the civil war by increasing hostility among parties, as well as causing violent instances among fellow congressmen and representatives.

SOURCE:
https://www.history.com/news/charles-sumner-caning-cilley-duel-congressional-violence