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In response to Lincoln's election, the possibility of secession became a reality as South Carolina became the first state to secede the Union. Soon after, six other states joined South Carolina's position to create the Confederate States of America. Lincoln attempted to persuade the states to rejoin the Union to dissuade a Civil War from occurring, but was unsuccessful as the Confederates fired an attack on Fort Sumner, a fort belonging to the Union. The assault was the beginning of a long and horrifying war for the US.
Source: http://www.ushistory.org

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14. Abraham Lincoln is Elected as President

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14. Abraham Lincoln is Elected as President

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Abraham Lincoln's particular campaign for presidency was like no other before him, for the nation had split into four branches of different beliefs. Northern Republicans favored Lincoln, while Northern Democrats supported Stephen Douglas. The South meanwhile was likewise split into two, as Southern Democrats promoted a man named John Breckinridge, and a fourth party called the Constitutional Union Party elected John Bell. Despite having three separate opponents, Lincoln successfully won the election with only forty percent of the vote, all from the North. His peculiar election demonstrated to the South how insignificant they had become within the Union; the election recognized how the North had dominated, and soon the South would have no authority in the slavery debate if Congress chose to abolish slavery.
Source: https://www.civilwar.org

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John Brown, a dedicated abolitionist, conducted a raid on an armory located in Virginia. His plan was to capture weapons to supply slaves with a method of defense in order to end slavery. The raid consequently was a failure and led to the death of himself and most of his men. However, it left an impact on Southerners who were greatly disturbed by the raid.
Source: https://www.civilwar.org

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The Lincoln-Douglas debates were passionate speeches made by Abraham Lincoln and Senator Douglas, both of Illinois, on their perspective on slavery in an election for Senate. Douglas argued that the matter of slavery had been determined by the Dred-Scott decision, while Lincoln asserted that slavery was not a political matter, but a view on ethics. He proclaimed, "'The real issue in this controversy... is the sentiment of one class that looks upon the institution of slavery as a wrong, and of another class that does not look upon it as a wrong'". Although Lincoln lost the position for Senate, his words and speeches left an impact on the view of slavery.
Source: http://www.american-historama.org

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Dred Scott was a slave briefly brought to the North for business with his master, and experienced freedom in the North. After returning from the North, Scott made it his goal to become a free man, arguing that his time in the North had made him a free African American. He took his case to the Supreme Court to decide the fate of slavery; the decision made by the Supreme Court on his case would determine the outcome of slavery. Ultimately, it was decided that Scott would not be set free due to circumstantial facts being that he was African American, meaning that he could never be a citizen of the United States, and so thus had no rights for freedom. Additionally, the Supreme Court ruled that merely because Scott had experienced liberty in the North did not mean he had become a free man for the Missouri Compromise, as they claimed, was unconstitutional. A member of the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Taney, argued that slaves are property—thus, by concealing fugitive slaves in the North, one is denying the right to reclaim property, ultimately defying the Fifth Amendment. The Supreme Court's decision became known as the Dred-Scott Decision, for their declaration in support of the South and in denouncing the Missouri Compromise.
Source: http://www.ushistory.org

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News of the extreme occurrences in Kansas reached Congress, and Senator Sumner of Massachusetts spoke out against Douglas, proclaiming that the cause of the recent severe events was from vicious and barbaric Southerners. Sumner was praised in the North for his action against the South, but the South was fiercely riled. Ultimately, Sumner was savagely beat by a relative of a Southern senator for his gesture against slavery. Southerners commended the man who had assaulted Sumner, while contrarily, Northerners furthermore condemned and evidenced the attack as a sign of Southern callousness.
Source: https://www.smithsonianmag.com

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The increasing dissent between the North and South reached a breaking point at which the manifestation of physical violence among opposing sides became common. Two separate clashing governments formed in Kansas as settlers with disagreeing viewpoints split into individual sections of the new state. In 1856, slavery supporters raided and attacked the center of the abolitionist government located in Lawrence, Kansas. The incident satisfied many Southerners, but triggered a retaliating assault by an excessive abolitionist named John Brown, who murdered multiple people potentially involved in the raid in Lawrence by brutally hacking them to death. The battle for and against slavery had reduced others to commit inhumane and brutal acts of crime against people.
Source: http://www.sonofthesouth.net

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The Nebraska-Kansas Act of 1854 was created by Senator Douglas with the initial purpose of creating a railroad in California. In order to act out his bill, Douglas proposed dividing up the Great Plains into new territory and making it available for colonization. Southerners agreed to create this act on terms that would allow the state settlers to decide whether or not they would enter the Union as a free or slave state. Douglas consented to their terms, and altered the Nebraska-Kansas Act so that the Great Plains was divided into two states, Nebraska and Kansas, and provided settlers popular sovereignty—the choice of choosing their position in the slavery debate. Northerners were alarmed and disturbed that the Missouri Compromise would be discontinued and that popular sovereignty could overcome the balance between states.
Source: http://www.loc.gov

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Despite the Compromise of 1850 having been established, both the North and South were dissatisfied with the Fugitive Slave Act. Northerners believed it was inhumane to continue the practice of slavery by enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act, while Southerners were convinced it was too insufficient in returning their property. The Act maintained that any slave that resisted capture would have no rights, and that anyone assisting slaves or opposing slave catchers would be jailed. The South became infuriated with the North's defiance against both slave catchers and the Act, further inciting the enmity between sides.
Source: http://www.pbssocal.org

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Senator Henry Clay of the South created a compromise in which California would be integrated as a free state, New Mexico and Utah would have the option of deciding their position in the slavery debate, and the slave trade would end while a stronger fugitive slave law would be maintained. The compromise was presented to representative Senator Daniel Webster of the North for consensus on the plan, and was accepted as a possible solution. With the aid of Webster, Clay presented his idea to Congress. Unfortunately, the suggestion was not immediately or readily accepted, and Congress delayed action yet again through heated debate between sides. The South, disapproved of the Compromise and still wished to depart the Union, but was dissuaded by a possible war and finally reluctantly agreed consent to a compromise.
Source: https://www.loc.gov

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The land acquired from the Mexican-American War generated more conflict between the North and South as Northerners opposed inviting new territory in as a slave state and Southerners opposed annexing it as a free state. Several compromising approaches were advised by both the North and South, with each side rejecting the others' proposal. Furthermore, California sought to be admitted to the Union as a free state, an action strongly resisted by Southerners, who insisted that the delicate balance between free and slave states would be disturbed. Congress was stuck in an indisputable position in which the South repeatedly threatened to secede the Union and the North defied slavery.
Source: http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu

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Congress continually avoided taking sides in the controversy of slavery by ignoring requests to take action, an act that became known as the "Gag" rule for the suppression of abolitionist ideals. Therefore, when Congress proposed a bill to pay for a war with Mexico, an amendment was furthermore suggested, known as the Wilmot Proviso. The Wilmot Proviso was an amendment in which slavery would be prohibited from any land that might be obtained from the Mexican-American War. The proposal was ultimately dismissed by the Senate vote, as Southerners resisted the suggestion.
Source: http://www.americaslibrary.gov

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With the perpetual emergence of disputes within the Union, slaves continued to be oppressed by strict policies in the South. To advance rebellion, slaves repeatedly escaped their owners for sanction in the North, an action that infuriated Southerners and incited additional resentment between the opposing North and South. Northerners would give aid to fugitive slaves while the South would watch with growing animosity as what they considered their property fled toward enemy territory.
Source: http://www.pbs.org

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The purpose of the Missouri Compromise was to ease the dissension between states-the peace was brief, however. Congress was constantly confronted by heated abolitionists who desired action rather than the distant neutrality the government maintained. Heated disputes arose that soon turned to fear within the South after occasions such as Nat Turner's rebellion, an incident in which Nat Turner, an African American preacher who formed a violent slave revolt, convinced Southern states to create stricter laws and actions against slaves.
Source: http://www.latinamericanstudies.org

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The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was a decision made by Congress to integrate Missouri and Maine as a part of the Union. The proposition that Maine would enter as a free state was severely opposed by Southern states, for the North would then gain two free states, therefore unbalancing the previously maintained pattern in which both a free state and a slave state were added together. Thus, the compromise was formed, known as the Missouri Compromise of 1820, in which Missouri was added as a slave state, and Maine as a free state, and that all further states north of an imaginary line at 36o30 would abolish slavery, while all states south of the line would enable slavery, with the exception of Missouri.

Source:  http://civilwarwiki.net