This document provides an overview of key events and issues leading up to the American Civil War. It outlines several pivotal moments in the rising tensions between free and slave states, including the Missouri Compromise, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Dred Scott decision, John Brown's Raid, and the election and subsequent secession of Southern states following Abraham Lincoln's victory in the 1860 presidential election. Students are assigned to respond to a prompt asking them to identify the event that made the Civil War inevitable and explain their reasoning.