Elephant in the Room

In the 19th century, slavery was the center of everything. Anyone running for office needed to voice their opinion on the debate. Some argued for change, and others wanted to keep the same ways. The arguments boiled into new laws, and eventually war. In class we researched 8 events that led to the beginning of the civil war.

Kansas-Nebraska Act
After the creation of a transcontinental railroad in the south, the north felt like they needed the same. Unfortunately, it would have to go through Kansas and Nebraska, which were unorganized states at the time. Thus the Kansas-Nebraska act was created. It stated that Kansas and Nebraska would have slavery based on popular sovereignty. It also gave the north permission to make a transcontinental railroad. This was good for the south because it gave southerners the ability to spread slavery into the north, where it had not been allowed before. It was good for the north because they would move people and product to the west, which they couldn't have done before.

Bleeding Kansas
As a result of the Kansas-Nebraska act, people from all over the country flooded into Kansas and Nebraska to populate them. Whether these two states had slavery or not depended on the people who came. This caused fighting for the land and the state as a whole. There were two capitals in Kansas. The antislavery capital was Topeka, and the slavery capital was Lecompton. Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts was an antislavery activist. He gave the speech "The Crime Against Kansas." This was a speech against the southerners for trying to take Kansas as a slavery state because it was in the north. He specifically spoke against a senator from North Carolina, Andrew Butler and his proslavery views.

The Caning of Sumner 
After Sumner's two day speech, many people were done with hearing from him. A man from the House of Representatives named Preston Brook, who also happened to be Andrew Butler's nephew, approached Sumner. He took his cane and severely beat Sumner. This showed that the controversy of slavery can cause even the most civilized people to resort to violence. This was good for the northerners because it gave the south a bad image.

The Dred Scott Decision
Dred Scott was a slave from the south who traveled to the north with his owner with his wife Harriet. His owner died there, so Scott argued that he should become free. The case was called Scott v. Sanford, and it was brought all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States. They voted 7 to 2 against Scott. There were 3 important changes that came of this case. Slaves were denied the right to sue in court, slaves could not have freedom from just living in free states, and all territories were open to slavery. This was a huge loss for the north because all northern states could be open to slavery now, as well as many slaves having even more restrained rights.

It is clear that from these events and the others listed on the timeline above that war was brewing. It was bound to come, but when it would come was yet to have come.