1. Political Issues Leading to War.

2. Dred Scott

3. His owner moved to free territory with him. Later he tried to return to slave territory and Dred Scott decided to sue his owner for his freedom. He claimed that because he had been taken to free territory that he should have been given his freedom. His case went to the supreme court.

4. The Supreme court declared that slaves were not citizens therefore they had no legal rights in the United States. (Document #9) The decision also declared that the Missouri Compromise (which had allowed Scott to sample freedom in Illinois and Wisconsin) was unconstitutional, and that Congress did not have the authority to prohibit slavery.

5. John Brown’s Raid - 1859

6. On October 16, 1859, John Brown led a small army of 18 men into the small town of Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. His plan was to start a major slave rebellion in the South. He would seize the arms and ammunition in the federal arsenal, arm slaves in the area and move south along the Appalachian Mountains.

7. John Brown and his men marched into Harper's Ferry and seized the federal complex with little resistance. It consisted of an armory, arsenal, and engine house. He then sent a patrol out into the country to contact slaves, collect several hostages, including the great grandnephew of George Washington. The slaves did not rise to his support. Local citizens and militia surrounded him. Two townspeople were killed and eight of Brown's men.

8. Troops under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Robert E. Lee arrived from Washington to arrest Brown. They stormed the engine house, where Brown had hiding, captured him and his group, and turned them over to Virginia authorities to be tried for treason. He was quickly tried and sentenced to hang on December 2.

9. North’s reaction- although they thought of him as a madman, many admired his courage. South’s reaction – they were angered that northerners would be sympathetic to someone who tried to destroy their property and threaten their lives.

10. Abraham Lincoln

11. Born in Kentucky in a log cabin Grew up poor Moved to Indiana, mother died when he was 9 yrs. Old Moved to Illinois with his family when he was 22 yrs. Had many jobs and became a store owner. Became a lawyer and practiced over a wide area.

12. Fell in love with a woman, she contracted typhoid fever and died. Served one year in the U.S. House of Representatives Married Mary Todd Ran against Stephen Douglas for Senator from Illinois Their debates across the state were very heated. Douglas won the race. (Doc.10)

13. Lincoln ran for president in 1860 against 3 other candidates including Stephen Douglas, J.C. Breckenridge, and John Bell. While running for President, Lincoln received a letter from an 11 year old girl.

14. Grace Bedell's Letter to Lincoln N Y Westfield Chatauque Co Oct 15. 1860 Hon A B Lincoln Dear Sir My father has just home from the fair and brought home your picture and Mr. Hamlin's. I am a little girl only eleven years old, but want you should be President of the United States very much so I hope you wont think me very bold to write to such a great man as you are. Have you any little girls about as large as I am if so give them my love and tell her to write to me if you cannot answer this letter. I have got 4 brother's and part of them will vote for you any way and if you will let your whiskers grow I will try and get the rest of them to vote for you you would look a great deal better for your face is so thin. All the ladies like whiskers and they would tease their husband's to vote for you and then you would be President. My father is a going to vote for you and if I was a man I would vote for you to but I will try and get every one to vote for you that I can I think that rail fence around your picture makes it look very pretty I have got a little baby sister she is nine weeks old and is just as cunning as can be. When you direct your letter dir[e]ct to Grace Bedell Westfield Chatauque County New York I must not write any more answer this letter right off Good bye Grace Bedell

15. As you read this letter, it's easy to imagine a smile on Abraham Lincoln's face as he wrote it. It's a reply to an 11-year-old Westfield, New York girl who wrote to suggest that he grow a a beard to improve his Presidential prospects. Lincoln didn't make any promises, but he wore a full beard as President-elect when he stopped in Westfield on February 16, 1861, and met his young correspondent. October 19, 1860 Springfield, Illinois Miss. Grace Bedell My dear little Miss. Your very agreeable letter of the 15th. is received. I regret the necessity of saying I have no daughters. I have three sons -- one seventeen, one nine, and one seven, years of age. They, with their mother, constitute my whole family. As to the whiskers, having never worn any, do you not think people would call it a piece of silly affection if I were to begin it now? Your very sincere well-wisher A. Lincoln

17. Doc. 11

18. South Carolina threatened, “If Lincoln wins, we’ll seceed.”

19. And the did…