Leading to the Civil War

Together, many events ultimately helped lead up to the Civil War.

The Missouri Compromise

The Missouri Compromise

The Missouri Compromise in 1820 was one of these events. The Missouri Compromise maintained peace and balance between free and slave sates. It admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. It diffused political and sectional rivalries. The Missouri Compromise excluded slavery (except or Missouri) north of latitude 36 degrees 30 minutes.

Wilmot Proviso

The Wilmot Proviso created this.

The Wilmot Proviso also led to the Civil War. It was designed to eliminate slavery in the new lands gained from the Mexican War. A Pennsylvania congressman, David Wilmot, proposed this as an amendment to a bill President Polk was attempting to negotiate. It was blocked by the South but it inflamed the controversy of slavery and its principle. The Wilmot Proviso widened the sectional break and inspired other politicians to form their own plans for slavery.

The Compromise of 1850 made the U.S look like this.

The Compromise of 1850

The Compromise of 1850 additionally helped lead to the Civil War. The Compromise of 1850 resolved the questions and disputes of what to do with the new lands gained from the Mexican-American War. It created the territories of New Mexico, and Utah, admitted California as a free state, settled a Texas-New Mexico border dispute, ended the slave trade in Washington D.C., and amended the Fugitive Slave Law.

The cover of Harriet Beecher Stowe's UncleTom's Cabin.

The Publication of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin 

An author and vocal abolitionist, Harriet Beecher Stowe "wrote the book that made this great war [the Civil War]," according to President Abraham Lincoln. Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin depicts the cruelty of  the slave life attracting public attention, especially from the North. Her novel, praised by Northerners and criticized by Southerners, created uproar and more disputes between the two regions. Her novel, unintentionally, pushed the quarreling regions of the U.S to the breaking point.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

The U.S looked like this after the Kansas-Nebraska Act (orange) was passed.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act was created by Stephen Douglas, Abraham Lincoln's prime presidential competitor. The bill authorized popular sovereignty in the new territories of Kansas and Nebraska and reversed the Missouri Compromise's latitude boundary. Although the bill was passed by Congress, it failed miserably in what it was trying to achieve. Instead of organizing western territories and unifying the arguing nation, the Kansas-Nebraska Act split two major political parties and worsened North and South relations.