Lincoln and Douglas Debate  Republicans – antislavery, Democrats – proslavery  Northerners feared that Southerners wanted to expand slavery to the entire nation  Lincoln, a Republican, was nominated to run against Steven Douglas, the Democrat who sponsored Kansas- Nebraska Act, for a seat in the Senate  They held debates leading up to the election  Lincoln was antislavery, but did not want to abolish it where it already existed. He just wanted to stop it from spreading.  Douglas won the election, but Lincoln gained popularity.

John Brown Attacks Harper’s Ferry  Brown wanted to inspire slaves to fight for their freedom  Planned to capture the weapons in the US arsenal at Harper’s Ferry  Oct. 1859: Brown and followers captured arsenal and killed 4 people  Brown wanted to arm the slaves, but no slaves joined the fight  Brown tried for murder and treason  executed  Northern abolitionists publically mourned his death, South outraged by this reaction

The Election of 1860  Lincoln and Douglas competed for votes in the North  Breckenridge and Bell competed for votes in the South  Lincoln won North, Breckenridge won South  Since there were more people in the North, Lincoln won the election  Lincoln promised not to abolish slavery in the South, but Southerners didn’t trust him  Southerners saw Republican victory as a threat to the Southern way of life

Southern States Secede  Secede = withdraw  South claimed that states had the right to secede from the Union since they had joined the Union voluntarily  South Carolina was the first to secede, several other Southern states followed this example  Southern states formed a new country, the Confederate States of America  Jefferson Davis = president of the Confederacy  Confederacy made a Constitution modeled after US, but protected slavery

Union Responds to Secession & Efforts to Compromise Fail  Northerners considered secession unconstitutional  They said that states did not have the right to secede and allowing secession would make the US (the Union) weak  Southerners said that Northerners planned to use their majority to abolish slavery  Northerners basically said “well, that is what democracy is all about…”  Lincoln continued to promise the South that he had no plans to abolish slavery  US had several forts in the South that it needed to protect and supply

1861: the war begun!! The Confederacy attacked a US fort, Ft. Sumter, and the American Civil War begins