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This refers to the landmark court case of 1857, dubbed Scott v. Sanford. The main contention was Scott's freedom; after returning from the Free State Illinois to the slave state Missouri, he decided to sue for his freedom. Strangely, Supreme Court argued both that: 1) he was still a slave, and 2) that, because of this, he was not a citizen of Missouri and therefore could not sue. This decision quickly enraged the North and raised more Constitutional questions than it answered, pushing the sides further away from each other and into the coming violence.

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The caning of Charles Sumner happened May 22, 1856 in the United States Senate chamber.  Sumner, an abolitionist Republican from Massachusetts , had given a speech two days prior in which he harshly criticized slaveholders.  Representative Preston Brooks, a pro-slavery Democrat from South Carolina, was angered by his speech and decided to attack Sumner with a walking stick.  The beating nearly killed Sumner, and the event revealed the polarization in America on the issue of Slavery.  The North held rallies and printed Sumner's speech in support of him, while the South praised Brooks and called it a good attack.  This event continued to divide the country which would then lead to the outbreak of war.

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The election of 1860 was a pivotal moment in American history, it represented a change in power. The candidates running were Abraham Lincoln of Illinois from the Republican Party; John Bell of Tennessee from the Constitutional Union Party; John Breckinridge of Kentucky from the Southern faction of the Democratic Party and Stephen Douglass of Illinois from the Northern faction of the Democratic Party. The Northern free-states gave Lincoln all of their electoral votes while the ten Southern states gave him none; this reflected a clear divide in political and social values between the North and the South. This divide was heavily influenced by Lincoln's anti-slavery mantra; upon learning of Lincoln's presidential win, South Carolina seceded from the Union with Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Louisiana following. This secession was the marking of a civil rivalry soon to be dangerous between the North and South, one nation fighting for liberation while the other preserving their 'wealth'.

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Fort Sumter was the opening battle for the Civil War. Fort Sumter was named after Thomas Sumter, a general who won victories during the American Revolution. It built as a shield for Charles Harbor, which is located in South Carolina. It was captured by the Confederacy on April 12, 1861.

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The Kansas Nebraska Act of 1854 was proposed by Stephan A Douglass, allowing for territories in Nebraska and Kansas to decide whether their territory was a slave or free state with popular vote, sovereignty. He managed to convince many to agree with his ideals and got the bill proposed in 1854. Due to the geography of Kansas-Nebraska, the north was enraged by this outcome. Individuals did not want the states above the slavery line to be a slave state instead. This was important due to the fact that this would ultimately change the ratio of free to slave states, causing tensions to arise between both the north and the south, the north battling the south whether or not this should be legal in the United States.

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Bleeding Kansas took place from 1856 to 1865. It was a mini civil war between  pro- and anti-slavery forces. Bleeding Kansas is an important staging ground for what some people argue is the first battles of the Civil War, because it is this battlefield on which the forces of anti-slavery and the forces of slavery meet. ... Literally, the forces of slavery and the forces of anti-slavery meet in Kansas.

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This raid was an attempt by the abolitionist John Brown to create a slave revolt in the town of Harpers Ferry in Virginia. Brown took Colonel Lewis Washington and several other rich and powerful figures hostage, freeing their slaves and taking their supplies, before traveling to an armory where they took more men hostage. They held out there for a day before the Marines managed to break in and capture Brown and the raiders. Brown was later executed. Due to this raid, Southerners started to fear that similar slave uprisings would occur on their property, which incited them to secede from the Union and form the Confederacy. Because of this the raid is often cited as one of the main events that led to the Civil War.