SUMMARY: The Free Soil Party contributed to sectionalism by deepening the divide between the North and South. The party's opposition to the expansion of slavery into new territories angered the South, which depended on slavery, while the North supported the idea of free labor. This conflict over slavery's expansion helped fuel tensions that led to the Civil War.

Summary: Since he was a member of the Whig Party, he was very nationalist, and believed that division and secession over slavery and other issues would be harmful for the country. However, he did not believe in appeasement to the South and didn't want to expand slavery, leading to tension and further debate over slavery expansion.

The Compromise of 1850 was a set of five laws passed by Congress aimed at resolving tensions between free and slave states following the Mexican-American War. It included the admission of California as a free state, the establishment of Utah and New Mexico territories with popular sovereignty (allowing residents to decide on slavery), the abolition of the slave trade in Washington, D.C., the implementation of a stricter Fugitive Slave Law, and the settlement of Texas's border dispute. This package of laws was meant to ease sectional tensions between the North and South.

Summary:

The Compromise of 1850 sought to address growing tensions over slavery in the United States, balancing the interests of free and slave states. While it admitted California as a free state, it also included provisions that strengthened slavery, such as the Fugitive Slave Act. Though it temporarily eased conflicts, it did not resolve the underlying issues and further contributed to sectionalism, ultimately leading to greater divisions between the North and South.

Summary: Many people in the Northern States read the abolitionist-authored novel, and spoke out on natural and basic human rights. However, many in the South viewed slaves as less than human, and that if they were removed, the plantation-heavy economy would collapse. This led to much debate over rights and the Southern economy.

Pierce's support for the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which allowed slavery in new territories through popular sovereignty, angered the North and intensified divisions over slavery, deepening sectional tensions.

The violence of Bleeding Kansas deepened the divide between the North and South, as each side blamed the other for the bloodshed. It highlighted the failure of popular sovereignty and intensified the sectional conflict over slavery.

Summary: Clearly, having citizens with opposing views on this issue choosing whether or not to enslave people for labor would lead to infighting, riots, and other acts of violence towards each other. Notably, Northerners were outraged that Kansas and Nebraska would be open to having slavery, as the Missouri Compromise had prevented the addition of slave states in new territories since 1820.

This symbolized the violence that the feud between the North and South caused. The North viewed the South as barbaric after this, but the South saw it as Brooks defending his honor as a hero.

Deepened sectionalism by intensifying the conflict between the North and South over slavery. The debate of the acceptance of slavery created and growing divide between the North a South.

Summary: Buchanan's policies angered many, as people believed he tampered with the court ruling of the Dred Scott case, saying that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional and that slaves had no rights. This wedged apart the Democratic Party and led to further division and threat for the South to secede, which they would in April 1861.

Lincoln's election triggered fear in the South. And this fear led to South Carolina seceding, and causing a huge divide between the North and South.

Summary: This horrified many Northerners and abolitionists, as they continued to speak out and for the rights of African American slaves. However, the Southern states continued to argue enslaved people didn't have the same rights, and that this was justified, leading to even further division between the regions.

South Carolina leaving started the official break between the North and South, highlighting all of the differences between the two. It intensified the sectional divide, and triggered the start of the Civil War.

Summary: President Lincoln promptly rejected the motion for slavery being enshrined and moving westward. However, the South leaders, who saw nothing wrong with giving these rights to plantation owners, further discussed secession because of their motions failing in the government.