*Southerners wanted to expand slavery to the western territories. *Northern Abolitionists used propaganda to fight slavery. -Uncle Tom’s Cabin published in 1852 was one form of propaganda used. Its author, Harriett Beecher Stowe hoped it would bring a peaceful end to slavery. Instead, it inflamed Northerners against Southern plantation owners and angered Southerners who claimed that Stowe had given a biased and skewed representation of the slavery system. * Enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act, which was used to force escaped slaves back to the South and Slavery was also highly controversial.
See handout
*When the Supreme Court ruled that the Missouri Compromise was an unconstitutional method for resolving the slavery question in new states, conflict broke out between pro-slavery Southerners and abolitionist Northerners. The conflict was resolved with the passing of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. -The Act promised funds to build a transcontinental railroad through the Northern portion of the country. This attempt to pacify the Northerners angry over the possibility of slavery in new territories played to Northern economic interests. -Southerners were satisfied with the Act’s declaration that members of new states would vote over the slavery question. This decision avoided attacking the South’s economic interests in sustaining slavery and also supported their push for State’s Rights. *Kansas broke out into violence as the two sides attempted to gain a majority in the territory. -“Border ruffians” came poured into Kansas from Missouri voting illegally in favor of slavery in the new state. They used violent methods to achieve their ends like attacking the “free” town of Lawrence. -John Brown retaliated for the attack on Lawrence by leading a group in killing pro-slavery settlers. -When Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts gave an anti-slavery speech, “The Crime Against Kansas,” on the floor of the US Senate, Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina responded by beating him unconscious with a cane. *The Supreme Court ruled that a slave who had lived with his master in a free-state was not entitled to freedom based on where his master took him
The split in the Democratic Party and the presence of a third-party candidate allowed Lincoln to win by taking advantage of the divide in the votes of his opponents.
See handouts.
*Southern states felt that the election of President Lincoln was an attack on their way of life so they seceded from the Union. - A Northern man said this about South Carolina when they seceded from the Union. - The states that seceded formed their own country: the Confederate States of America.
![Slavery ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)