Civil+War+Research+CAJ

Kansas Nebraska Act The southerners of the United States didn’t support Douglas’s plan of building a railroad to the Pacific. The southerners wanted to railroad to run through different areas than Douglas wanted. They were willing to make a compromise with Douglas. They would agree to have the railroad wherever he wanted if he agreed to allow slavery in the territory west of Missouri. In January 1854, the Kansas Nebraska Act was created by Douglas. It stated that the Louisiana Purchase was going to be divided into Kansas and Nebraska, and each of the territories would vote for whether they were going to have slavery or not. A lot of northerners against slavery were extremely angry because they didn’t want any more of the country to be into slavery. Fugitive Slave Act The Fugitive Slave Act stated that it was a federal crime to assist any runaway slaves. If you did then you would be arrested. Slaves in the north were worried that the white people would take advantage of this act to gain money, even if they had to lie. Many slaves moved up to Canada. 343 slave cases came before the Review of Commissioners but only 11 slaves were freed. Northerners were very angered over many aspects of this act, including the fact that there was no ‘trial by jury’ Uncle Tom’s Cabin __ Uncle Tom’s Cabin __ is a powerful novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe who met fugitive slaves after moving to Ohio at the age of 21. It was about a slave named Tom who was sold in the south to a vicious owner who liked to beat him. Eventually, he was beaten to death. 300,000 copies were sold and it helped to turn many people into abolitionists. The Dred Scott Decision Dred Scott was a slave owned by Dr. John Emerson who traveled often and took Dred along. On one trip he took Scott to a free state, but then brought him to Missouri and died. Scott became Emerson’s widow’s slave. Dred Scott ended up suing. This was a big issue. It needed to be decided if Scott had the right to sue, if his time in a free state made him free, and if slavery should be stopped in parts of the Louisiana Purchase. The courts ruled that slaves were property not citizens, and because of the fact that they were property nobody could stop them from being “free.” Also, slavery was right and they couldn’t prohibit it. Southerners were pleased but northerners were angry and worried. Leaving the Union Southerners were worried that if Lincoln became the president then he would abolish slavery. Therefore, the south wanted to succeed from the Union, and they thought that they had the right to do so. John J. Crittenden wanted to keep the Union but he also wanted slavery to be extended to the Pacific and to use funds to reimburse slave-owners. Abraham Lincoln was strongly against this compromise. Election of 1860 In 1860, The Democrats were the very first party to nominate a candidate. They nominated two, Stephen Douglas for the north, and John C. Breckinridge for the south. A new party was simultaneously being formed. This new party, the Constitutional Union Party, stuck only to the constitution, and they selected John Bell as their nominee. Abraham Lincoln was nominated for the Republicans even though he was against slavery. The Raid on Harpers Ferry John Brown was an abolitionist who decided to take action. He raided slave-holders and captured the slaves. On October 16, 1857 he went to Harpers Ferry, Virginia to free some slaves. None of the slaves came, but he was captured by white southerners and was convicted of treason, murder, conspiracy and was hug on December 2, 1859. Expansion of Slavery ? 3. How do these topics cause a separation within the United States? They caused disagreement between the north and south. When the Kansas Nebraska act was passed it got the northerners very angry because they were worried that slavery was spreading even father. On the other hand, the southerners were happy. The ruling on the Dred Scott decision also riled up the disagreements between the north and the south. Northerners were worried once again that slavery would spread, but the southerners were pleased. These are just a few examples of the turmoil that the above events caused between the north and the south. 4. Why are these events important? These events are important because they created the turmoil between the north and the south. Even though this turmoil was bad, this eventually lead to the outbreak of the Civil War, which also led to the end of the slavery. Without these events, no dramatic movement toward the end of slavery would have ever been made. Maybe slavery would still be around today. 5.