1. Around 1858, the United States was divided geographically- North and South- with the South states were dependent on slave labor. Meanwhile, the North states became more industrialized, wanting to abolish slavery.
2. The country was so divided by the issues of slavery, California made a deal of The Compromise of 1850 to become a state. Henry Clay and Stephan Douglas allowed for states to decide if they wanted slavery, or not. The decided by voting or popular sovereignty. Also, The South received fugitive slaves laws, which meant slaves who escaped to the North had to return to their masters.
3. Around this time, many Southern states were seriously considering secession, a state that wants to leave the "Union", the United States.
4. Many people from the North hated slavery, they tried to help the fugitive slaves. People who helped fugitive slaves to freedom were called abolitionists. The way they helped them to freedom was by hiding them in a series of hiding places along the route to Canada, which was the Underground Railroad.
5. When Uncle Tom's Cabin was published, it told the story of how slaves were taken to the "slave market" to be sold. Northern abolitionist were angry because they have been against slavery. Southerners thought wrong because it criticized their way of life.
6) Two politicians became famous for their slavery debates, Stephan Douglas and Abraham Lincoln. Douglas and Lincoln were both against slavery, although, they had two different ideas of dealing with slavery. Lincoln believed slavery should have been abolished because it was against a person's natural rights. Douglas believed people should decided through popular sovereignty.
7) On December 20, 1860, the election of Abraham Lincoln. Which causes Southern states secession from the Union. The first state to seceded was South Carolina, followed by the others.
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