1. Kansas Nebraska Act (1854)

2. Kansas Nebraska Act (1854)
To pass his idea Douglas divides the Nebraska Territory into Nebraska and Kansas
He also repeals the Missouri Compromise of 1820 ban on keeping slavery below the 36 30’ line
Popular sovereignty will decide if states will be either slave or free

3. The Republican Party All members are located from the north
                                
All members are located from the north
They want to keep slavery from expanding into near the west
They fear slavery will replace free white labor because slaves are not paid

4. Bleeding Kansas, 1855
Voters will decide if Kansas will be a free or slave state
Abolitionists and proslavery supporters rush to occupy Kansas
Proslavery supporters elect a proslavery legislature in Lecompton

5. Bleeding Kansas, 1855
Abolitionists elect their own anti-slavery legislature in Topeka
Angered abolitionist John Brown and his sons will hack 5 proslavery men in front of their families at Pottawattomie Creek Kansas

6. Bleeding Kansas

7. Brooks Sumner Incident
Senator Charles Sumner demands that Kansas be a free state and personally insulted Stephen Douglas and South Carolinian Senator on the floor of the capital
Congressman Preston Brooks beats Sumner with his cane for the insult leveled at his uncle

8. Brooks Sumner Incident
After the beating Brooks receives hundreds of canes so he may bash northerners again
Preston Brooks becomes a southern national hero
Northerners are shocked and have evidence of southern brutality

9. Dred Scott Decision, March 1857
Dred Scott was a slave who moved from a Missouri a slave state to free states Illinois and Wisconsin
In 1846 Scott sues for his freedom because he know lives in free states
1857, the Supreme Court ruled that slaves are not citizens

10. Dred Scott Decision, March 1857
The court also rules that the Missouri Compromise cannot infringe a slave owners rights to take his property where ever he chooses
The north is convinced that the south is attempting to spread slavery

11. Dred Scott Video Clip

12. Enter Abraham Lincoln Illinois congressmen and successful lawyer
He opposes the expansion of slavery into new territories like Kansas and Nebraska
Lincoln takes the moral high ground against slavery and he attacks the slave system

13. The Lincoln and Douglas Debates
Both are against the expansion of slavery
Both argue that it will not survive in the west
Both do not want to use the government to end slavery
Lincoln comes out of the debates looking like an abolitionist

14. Lincoln Douglas Debates of 1858
In 1858, Stephen A. Douglas had to defend his Senate seat against the Republican challenger Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln was not as well known as the “Little Giant” and so he challenged Douglas to a series of debates (one was held in Freeport, IL). During the debates, Lincoln stated that slavery was “a moral, social, and political wrong.” But despite this statement, Lincoln also knew his audience and followed with, “I do not wish to interfere with slavery where it already exists.” He claimed that he was not an abolitionist, and for good reason because he would not gain any votes if he was (he would have been seen as a radical).

15. John Brown’s Raid October 1859
John Brown hopes to lead a slave revolt at Harpers Ferry, Virginia
Slaves do not rush to join and he is captured and hung
Northerners look at him as a hero and southerners worry that more like Brown are coming to the south

16. John Brown’s Raid Video Clip

17. The Election of 1860
Lincoln is elected as the 17th president of the U.S. in 1860
Southerners fearing Lincoln is going to end slavery secede from the United States
Lincoln has no plans to deal with the slave issue as the south believes

18. The Confederate States of America
Southern states before Lincoln takes office secede from the Union
On December 20, South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas leave the Union
They become the Confederate States of America

19. Secession Video Clip

20. Fort Sumter, April 1861
After the southern states secede from the Union
South Carolina demands that Union property be surrendered to the south
Lincoln refuses to allow Fort Sumter to surrender
Confederate forces fire on fort and eventually force its surrender

21. Civil War Starts Video Clip