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Senators formed a committee to try and make a compromise that might keep the United States as one. When a reporter asked Lincoln whether he could support a compromise on slavery, Lincoln declared "Let there be no compromise." Delegates in South Carolina were voting on leaving the Union and then six other states followed their steps. The South roared with approval and a South Carolina newspaper claimed "The Union Is Dissolved!"

Source: ushistory.org

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Abraham Lincoln is Elected as President 

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Abraham Lincoln is Elected as President 

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Lincoln was as president by only 40% of the votes which were all from the North since he was not even on the ballot in the South. Southerners were now minority which meant they had no power to shape national events or policies and they feared that the Congress would abolish slavery. A South Carolina newspaper described the loss of slavery as a "loss of liberty, property, home, country--everything that makes life worth living."

Source: whitehouse.gov

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As Lincoln was fighting to stop the spread of slavery through politics, an abolitionist named John Brown planned to seize the federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia and use the weapons to arm slaves for a rebellion to hopefully end slavery. When the rebellion was launched, all his fighters were killed or captured. Brown was then convicted of treason and sentenced to die and left a chilling note that Southerners feared and Northerners saw him as a hero.

Source: essaywriting.expert

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When Lincoln's opponent in the Senate race, Senator Stephen Douglas saw no reason why the nation could not go on half slave and half free states so Lincoln challenge him to debate the slavery issue. Douglas debated that the Dred Scott decision had put the issue of slavery at a pause during the Lincoln-Douglas debates. Lincoln disagreed because he saw slavery was a moral, not a legal issue and half of the people agreed and the other half disagreed. Lincoln ended up losing the election but he was still widely reported and helped him become a national figure.

Source: american-historama.org

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A Missouri slave, Dred Scott, had traveled with his owner to Wisconsin although slavery had been banned there by the Missouri Compromise. He then returned to Missouri and went to court to win his freedom. The nine justices argued if his time in Wisconsin made him a free man and if he was even allowed to bring a case to a federal court since he was a slave. Chief Justice Taney, who was opposed to slavery, made the Dred Scoot decision which did not allow Scott to sue for his freedom since he was not a citizen. Although he could not sue, the time he spent in Wisconsin made him a free man because the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional. Slaveholders were happy since they thought it would control their slaves while Northerners called the decision wicked and a false judgement.

Source: sutori.com

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Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts was greatly disturbed by the violence in Kansas because is was proof of what he had long suspected which was that Senator Stephen Douglas had plotted Southerners to make Kansas a slave state. Sumner gave a speech which harshly described the crime against Kansas and calling Douglas a "noisome, squat, and nameless animal." This speech resulted in the nephew of Senator Butler, Preston Brooks attacking Sumner in the Senate, beating him until Sumner was bloody and unconscious. Many Southerners cheered for him since he defended his family and they also sent him new canes since he broke his on Sumner's head. Northerners saw this as another example of how brutal Southerners were and that Brooks was no better than the proslavery rebellions.

Source: soapboxie.com

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After the Kansas-Nebraska rule was placed, people flooded into Kansas who were mainly farmers looking for good land. The debate over slavery rose again and it turned violent. Pro slavery settlers invaded the home of an antislavery government and burned a hotel, looted several homes, and tossed the printing press of two abolitionist newspapers. An abolitionist who wanted revenge named John Brown then invaded the pro slavery government and killed five men who they suspected of supporting slavery.

Source: nps.gov

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The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 established the new states of Kansas and Nebraska. It also allowed the settlers to decide whether to allow slavery or not. Senator Stephen A. Douglas, the person who made the act, called this popular sovereignty or rule of the people. With this act in place, Northerners were afraid that slavery would occur in these new states. Douglas told them that the climate in Kansas and Nebraska were not suited for slavery, but they were still doubtful.

Source: sites.google.com

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People were not happy with the Fugitive Slave Act. Northerners did not want to support it, but Southerners did not think it did enough to help them get their property back. With the Fugitive Slave Act, a fugitive slave who had been arrested had little to no rights. The slaves either ran away to Canada or stood to fight for their rights. Also, any person who helped the slave escape would also be jailed. This act was almost impossible to enforce since there were so many Northerners who opposed the act and refused to support it.

Source: uslave.blogspot.com

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A senator from Kentucky named Henry Clay paid an unexpected call to the senator of Massachusetts, Daniel Webster. Clay came up with a plan to solve the debate over California, but he needed Webster's support to get it to the Congress. The Compromise would make California a free state, but it would also make New Mexico and Utah to decide to allow slavery or not. It also included the stop of continuing slavery in Washington D.C, so people who had slaves could keep their slaves but there will be no more slaves sold. The final suggestion was to add laws for fugitive slaves to make it easier to find fugitive slaves. Webster did agree to help the Compromise get to the Congress, but they still debated for nine months. In September of 1850, Congress agreed to include the Compromise.

Source: pps.net

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The Congress argued over the new land found in the Mexican Cession and if slavery should be included with the land. Northerners and Southerners disagreed on the slavery, Southerners wanted to add slavery and the Northerners did not. In 1849, California applied to the Union as a free state. Northerners agreed, but Southerners said that it would throw off the balance of slave states and free states. When the year ended, Congress was still undecided on whether California should be a free state or slave state.

Source: parks.ca.gov

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Although the "gag rule" kept the issue of slavery controlled for a decade, it soon became a large debate again when President James Polk sent a bill to Congress asking for funds for the war with Mexico. A Pennsylvania representative named David Wilmot added an amendment called the Wilmot Proviso claiming that "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist".

Source: gettyimages.com

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Even though Nat Turner's rebellion was the last large slave rebellion, individual slaves continued to protest by running away to the North. The fugitive slaves would usually be helped by kind people in the North. Slaveholders viewed slaves as valuable property and the Northern helpers as bank robbers. They demanded Congress to pass laws to help them find their slaves.

Source: thefaculty.org

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The contest over slavery was settled for a little, but the Second Great Awakening was pushing the conflict into discussion again. Abolitionists protested against slavery to the Congress, which resulted in the Congress voting to set aside, indefinitely, all antislavery protests calling it the "gag rule". The abolitionists still continued to protest, and the Southern states made stricter laws to control the slaves.

Source: apprend.io

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The Congress was unsure if Missouri should be admitted into the Union as a slave state or a free state. Maine had also asked to be entered as a free state. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. John Adams recognized that the compromise had not settled the future of slavery in the United States as a whole, but it would put the argument over it at a pause.

Source: mtviewmirror.com