1. Road to War

4. Main Event #1 Compromise of 1850 California joins as free state
New Mexico and Utah to be decided by popular sovereignty
Texas border dispute settled
Slave trade ended in D.C. (not slavery)
Fugitive Slave Act

8. Main Event #2 Uncle Tom’s Cabin 1852 Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Anti-slavery book, stirred emotions on both sides
300,000 copies sold in first year; eventually millions sold

9. Stephen Douglas: The Little Giant wants to build the railroad

11. Main Event #3 Kansas-Nebraska Act 1854
Senator Douglas wanted RR to start in Chicago going west
Kansas and Nebraska to be decided by popular sovereignty
Fierce bloodshed in Kansas resulted over slavery question

14. 1856: Charles Sumner and Preston Brooks

15. 1856

16. John Brown

17. “I think I’m a Whig; but others say there are not whigs, and that I’m an abolitionist…I now do no more than oppose the extension of slavery. I am not a Know Nothing…How could I be? How can anyone who abhors the oppression of negroes, be in favor of degrading classes of white people?”

22. Main Event #4 Dred Scott Case 1857
Missouri slave who moved to free state sued for freedom
Supreme Ct. ruled he was not a citizen and had no right to sue (considered property)
Therefore, slavery is protected by Constitution

23. 1858 Illinois

24. Main Event #5 John Brown’s Raid 1859 Harper’s Ferry, Virginia
Brown and followers tried to capture a federal arsenal to start a slave uprising
Caused panic in the South, seen as martyr in the North

25. “I believe that to have interfered as I have done, as I have always freely admitted I have done in behalf of (God’s) despised poor, I did no wrong, but right. Now if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice and mingle my blood…with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel and unjust enactments, I say, let it be done!”

26. John Brown

27. Republican Nomination 1860
William Seward
Favorite to win
But too closely allied with radical wing of party who were abolitionists
Needed the west’s vote to win…chose Lincoln instead

28. 1860 Presidential Candidates

30. Main Event #6 Election of 1860 Lincoln wins
Southern states begin to secede
Dec. 20th, 1860, South Carolina secede from Union, 6 more states soon follow
New nation called the Confederate States of America

32. Jefferson Davis

34. April 1861

36. Does teaching the uglier aspects of American history make students hate their country?
“America’s ugliness defines its beauty as silence defines sound and sorrow defines joy.” – Leonard Pitts, Jr.

51. “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

55. Advantages

57. Strategies and Technology

59. Jefferson Davis