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The Cotton Gin was supposed to end slavery. It cleaned cotton of its seeds and made it so slaves did not have to do that, but instead slave owners took advantage of this and just increased the sizes of their plantations.

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Congress admitted Missouri to the Union as a slave state and Maine as a free state. This brought attention to the argument of slavery in America. The debate had always been there, but the Missouri Compromise got more people talking about it and raised tensions between the opposite parties.

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President Polk wanted to annex Texas and also buy California and New Mexico. When he was rejected from buying California and New Mexico, Polk tried to start a war. General Antonio López de Santa Anna made the war worse by double-crossing President Polk. He attacked again, but lost anyways and just created more casualties for both countries.

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California tried to join the union as a free state, but that would’ve upset the balance of free vs. slave states so it created an issue that took a long time to resolve. Henry Clay introduced a series of resolutions that satisfied most people. The Fugitive Slave Act was amended and the slave trade in Washington, D.C., was abolished and California entered the Union as a free state and a territorial government was created in Utah. Also, an act was passed settling a boundary dispute between Texas and New Mexico that also established a territorial government in New Mexico. This again brought more tension and conversation to the debate of slavery. Many people were against slavery, but many of those people didn't know how the country could get rid of it.

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Stephen Douglas wanted to build a transcontinental railroad that would pass through both free and slave states. To have the railroad built, he had to make compromises with the southerners, and ultimately the act was more about slavery than it was about the railroad. This act repealed the Missouri Compromise and made it so slavery was not supported or banned in the area. There was “popular sovereignty” over the decision to have slavery. This led to Bleeding Kansas because many activists on both sides flooded the new territories to sway the vote and that many activists with differing opinions caused conflict to happen.

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Proslavery and antislavery forces began a small civil war that lasted 6 years. They began fighting because of the doctrine of popular sovereignty that had just been instituted because of the Kansas-Nebraska act. Because of the Kansas-Nebraska act, activists from both sides were flooding into the state and guerilla bands were quickly forming across the state. In 1856 a proslavery mob attacked the town of Lawrence in an effort to wipe out the “hotbed of slavery”. The day after, on the floor of the US Senate, Senator Charles Sumner was beaten with a cane until he almost died by Representative Preston S. Brooks because Sumner had made a passionate speech the day before about the “Crime against Kansas”. Three days after, John Brown led a antislavery group in what ended in a massacre. Finally in 1861, Kansas was admitted as a free state. This showed that the tensions were boiling between proslavery people and antislavery people. It also justified both groups to any violence they felt was necessary because both sides had casualties. The incident between Charles Sumner and Preston Brooks also made northerners think that much worse about southerners and their “barbarian” ways.

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Dred Scott escaped from slavery to a free state and sued for his freedom. He said since he was not in a slave state anymore so he can’t be put back into slavery. The court ruled that he wasn’t a citizen and had no right to sue. The court also said that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional. This made many abolitionists rightfully very upset. This not only set a standard for how slaves could be treated even in the north but took some of the credibility of the Missouri Compromise.

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Lincoln-Douglas Debates - Aug 21, 1858 – Oct 15, 1858

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Lincoln-Douglas Debates - Aug 21, 1858 – Oct 15, 1858

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In what became known as the Freeport Doctrine, Douglas argued that a territory could still prohibit slavery by refusing to adopt laws establishing and protecting it. The 7 debates became a platform for the national debate on slavery. Douglas promoted popular sovereignty as the solution to slavery. Douglas also tried to paint Lincoln as a dangerous radical who wanted to break apart the union. Lincoln placed emphasis on the moral iniquity of slavery and attacked popular sovereignty for the results it had in Kansas. Douglas won the debate overall, but the debate gave Lincoln a name among the people and he gained very heavy support among northerners. The Lincoln-Douglas debates led to Lincoln’s presidency which in turn led to the southern states seceding.

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John Brown’s Raid - October 16, 1859 – October 18, 1859

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John Brown’s Raid - October 16, 1859 – October 18, 1859

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John Brown was in hiding and decides to attack Harpers Ferry to start a slave revolt. Very soon after, Brown gets captured and is convicted of murder and treason. Because of Brown, many northerners thought all southerners are like him and are violent and crazy. These misconceptions of this must be what all the other region is like leads to the south thinking why do we need the weird northerners then? So many different opinions and misconceptions of the north and the south between each other create even more of a split and this is one of the things that lead to much of the south being ok with seceding.

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Abraham Lincoln ran for president in the election of 1860. In 10 of the slave states his name wasn’t even on the ballot. He won by a majority in the electoral college from votes in the north. He has almost no votes from southern states at all. Many of the southern states were also threatening secession because they wanted  both to put pressure on northern electors and they truly wanted to be a nation free from the north.

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The secession of South Carolina - December 20, 1860

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The secession of South Carolina - December 20, 1860

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South Carolina was the first southern state to secede from the union. They seceded because there was so much outrage about Lincoln’s election. Southerners know Lincoln wanted to get rid of slavery and improve slave’s rights and they just didn’t want that to happen. Much of the south was still so dependent on the work that slaves do and many thought they couldn’t afford doing their work without the slave labor.

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Originally known as the “Pacific Railroad”, North America’s first transcontinental railroad that connected 1900 miles from the west coast in San Francisco Bay, to Council Bluffs Iowa. Much of the labor used was Chinese and other foreigners who came for gold. It led right to San Francisco Bay, so those who were still trying to join the California gold rush could much easier because everything is connected by railroad.