1. Around 1815, the United States was divided geograaphically - north and south - with the Southern states dependent on slave labor while the Northern states reformed to become more industrialized wanting to abolish slavery.
2. The country was so divided by the issue of slavery, California made a deal for the Compromise of 1850 to become a state. Both Henry Clay and Stephen Douglas gave the option for states to decide whether or not they wanted to condone in slavery. They decided this by popular sovereignity or by voting. In addtion, southern states recieved fugitive slave laws that meant any slave that escaped to the north had to return to the 'owners.'
3. Around this time many southern states were seriously considering succession, which is when a state wants to leave the union.
4. Many people from the North hated slavery, they were the main ones who tried to help the fugitive slaves escape; also known as abolitionist. They helped them seek freedom by hiding them in multiple hiding places along the route to Canada. This route condisered to be the well known Underground Railroad.
5. When Uncle Tom's Cabin was published, Harriet B. Stowe described how slaves were taken to the "slave market" to be bargained. Northern states were angry simply because they weren't for the thought of slavery, while Southern states thought wrong about it because they seen it as criticizing their way of life.
6. Two politicians became famous for their slavery debates, Stephan Douglas and Abraham Lincoln. Both Douglas and Lincoln were against slavery; however, they did share differences with the ideas of dealing with it. Lincoln felt slavery should have been abolished because it was against a person's natural rights. On the other hand, Douglas believed people should decided through popular sovereignty.
7. On December 20, 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected president. Which then caused Southern states secession from the Union. The first state to seceded was South Carolina, followed by many others.
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