# data[].attributes.headline
Formation of the Free-Soil Party (August 9th, 1848)

# data[].attributes.subject
Formation of the Free-Soil Party (August 9th, 1848)

# data[].attributes.body
The Formation of the Free Soil Party which was established on August 9th, 1848 was a minor political party that opposed the expansion of slavery into the territories the United States gained from the Mexican American War. The North was looking to abolish slavery, while the South wanted no equal, political, social, and economic rights for African Americans. Around this time there were increased tensions between the North and South regarding free and slave states regarding the new territories gained from the Mexican American War.

# data[].attributes.headline
Compromise of 1850 (January 29th, 1850) 

# data[].attributes.subject
Compromise of 1850 (January 29th, 1850) 

# data[].attributes.body
The Compromise of 1850, was a compromise that admitted California as a free state, and left Utah and New Mexico to decide whether to be a free or slave state. The Fugitive Slave Act was amended and the slave trade was abolished in Washington D.C. The North wanted the abolition of the slave trade and they also wanted California to become a free state, while the South wanted no slavery restrictions in Utah and New Mexico. Around this time, the U.S. had gained these territories from the Mexican-American War and they were still trying to decide whether to make these territories slave states or free states. Whig Senator Henry Clay and Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglass were among the notable people involved in the Compromise of 1850.

# data[].attributes.body
Uncle Tom's Cabin was a novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe which tells the story of Uncle Tom, an enslaved person who was depicted as saintly and dignified. Stowe's main goal with Uncle Tom's Cabin was to convince her large Northern readership of the necessity of ending slavery. Northerners began to realize around this time how unjust slavery was , while the South wanted to continue to defend slavery and the institution of slavery. This novel also served as a response to the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which made it illegal to give aid or assistance to a runaway slave.

# data[].attributes.headline
Formation of the Republican Party (March 20th, 1854) 

# data[].attributes.subject
Formation of the Republican Party (March 20th, 1854) 

# data[].attributes.body
The Republican Party was founded in the Northern states in 1854 by forces opposed to the expansion of slavery, ex-Whigs and ex-free soldiers. The Republican Party quickly became known as the principal opposition to the Democratic Party and the briefly popular Know-Nothing Party. The Northerners wanted social and economic modernization, and they also called the expansion of slavery as evil, while Southerners wanted to keep the institution of slavery, and believed that Northerners were looking to abolish it. The Republican Party emerged from the great political realignment of the 1850's.

# data[].attributes.body
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 made the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, allowing the states to vote on whether slavery was illegal or not. This law cancelled the Missouri Compromise which declared that slavery was not legal in those areas. The North disagreed with this and was outraged by this act because it made it possible for these two new territories to become slave states, the South benefited because with this bill they could be able to make these new territories slave states. What this act did was it gave popular sovereignty to these territories to decide on slavery, and it eventually led to things such as "Bleeding Kansas" in the near future.

# data[].attributes.body
Bleeding Kansas describes the period of repeated outbreaks of violent warfare between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces following the creation of the new territory of Kansas in 1854. The North was outraged over the fact that slavery could be allowed into these new territories which led to violence. The South, on the other hand was overjoyed with the fact that they could potentially have slavery in these new territories. The historical context here is the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which opened up the possibilities for slavery to exist in these new territories. Some of the notable people from Bleeding Kansas were John Brown, James Buchanan, Stephen A. Douglass, and John Fremont.

# data[].attributes.body
The decision of the Dred Scott case was one that shocked the nation when the United States supreme court upheld slavery in the United States territories, denied the legality of black citizenship in America, and declared the Missouri Compromise to be unconstitutional. Northerners, especially Republicans, were outraged by the decision. They sited with the two lone dissenters who believed that Scott was a free man due to his time in free territory. While the South was overjoyed and believed that the decision neutralized the fledging of the Republican Party. Northerners up to this point were still very much against slavery, while the southerners were looking for something like this case that would cement slavery in its place. Five of the nine justices on this case, were also from the south.

# data[].attributes.headline
The Lincoln-Douglass Debates (August 21st-October 15th 1858)

# data[].attributes.subject
The Lincoln-Douglass Debates (August 21st-October 15th 1858)

# data[].attributes.body
The Lincoln-Douglass Debates between Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglass and Republican challenger Abraham Lincoln were a series of seven debates between two which focused mostly on slavery (extension of slavery into American territories). The North wanted to abolish slavery and get rid of expansion of slavery while the South was still trying to defend slavery and why it was positive for the future of the United States. The context of the Lincoln-Douglass Debates was that Douglass faced an enormous amount of backlash in the North for the Kansas Nebraska Act which allowed people to vote for whether these new territories should be a slave or free state.

# data[].attributes.headline
John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry (October 16th - October 18th 1859)

# data[].attributes.subject
John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry (October 16th - October 18th 1859)

# data[].attributes.body
John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry was an effort by John Brown, an abolitionist, to initiate a slave revolt in southern states by taking over the United States arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. The Northerners gave John Brown increased widespread admiration for this, while the south grew apprehensive of the possibility of other violent plots. What this raid did was it only inflamed the tensions between the North and the South even more. Some of the notable people involved were Raiders Owen Brown, John Cook, Barclay Coppoc, Francis Meriam, and Charles Tidd. Also involved was Colonel Robert E. Lee.

# data[].attributes.headline
The Election of Abraham Lincoln (November 6th, 1860)

# data[].attributes.subject
The Election of Abraham Lincoln (November 6th, 1860)

# data[].attributes.body
The Election of Abraham Lincoln was the presidential election in which Lincoln contested with John C. Brekenridge, John Bell, and Stephen A. Douglass. Lincoln won the election, having more popular and electoral votes out of all of the candidates. The Northerners preferred Lincoln's views, while the South did not because Lincoln opposed slavery and southerners believed in slavery. The historical context of this election was the Lincoln-Douglass Debates which focused mostly on slavery which at the time was a hot topic amongst the U.S., and having these debates propelled Lincoln's career into the national spotlight.