Causes+of+the+Civil+War

There were many reasons why the United States was divided in the 19th century. The reasons were political, economical, and social, some direct, some indirect. The following is a summary of the primary events that led to the Civil War.

Missouri Compromise (1820) Texas disputes boundary with Mexico (1845) War with Mexico (1846-1848) Mexican Cession (1848) California Gold Rush (1849) Compromise of 1850 Fugitive Slave Act Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) Bleeding Kansas Dred Scott Decision Raid on Harpers Ferry Abraham Lincoln Elected president (1860)
 * California enters as a free state
 * The rest of the Mexican Cession land would be split into two territories and popular sovereignty would decide slavery issue
 * The slave trade - but not slavery - would end in Washington, D.C.
 * A more effective fugitive slave law would be passed
 * Slaveholders could use testimony from white witnesses
 * slaves accused of being fugitives could not testify, nor could people who helped or hid slaves
 * Helping a fugitive slave could result in six months in jail and $1000 fine
 * Slave commissioners received $5 for rejecting slaveholders' claims
 * Slave commissioners received $10 for returning suspected fugitives to slaveholders
 * eliminated Missouri Compromise's restrictions on where slavery could exist
 * allowed popular sovereignty to decide slavery issue
 * Pottawatomie Massacre led by John Brown
 * African American slaves were not citizens thus could not sue in federal court
 * living in a free state did not make a slave free; state residency laws determined that
 * ruled the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional, thus Congress did not have the right to ban slavery
 * John Brown leads an attack on an arsenal
 * hoped to begin a slave rebellion
 * Brown executed for treason
 * insisted he would not change slavery in the South
 * Determined to not allow slavery to expand, thus letting it die out
 * angered southerners for this anti-slavery stance