The Crisis of the Union

The Underground Railroad was a safe haven for runaway slaves. It also assisted any slaves attempting to flee slave states. The discovery of The Underground Railroad further divided the North and South and whenever one was discovered any and all slaves would either be executed or sold back into slavery.

War with Mexico began in 1846 when the US annexed Texas and Mexico challenged the Border. Battles were fought in Texas, and Mexico was invaded from the Atlantic Ocean by General Winfield Scott. Scott attacked Mexico City and Chapultepec. The war ended with the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848.

The Fugitive Slave Law allowed anyone who assisted slaves in escaping from the South can be jailed for over 6 months and fined for more than $1000. This law caused an uproar from the North because of their different views.

A dispute to whether the new states should be slave states or free states. Henry Clay attempted to settle the dispute by offering California to be a free state with stricter fugitive slave laws and that for the rest of the undecided states popular sovereignty would decide if they were slave states or not. Northerners immediately disagreed with this compromise stating that gods will is more powerful than a vote. This strong disagreement is considered a large step in the divide between the North and South.

A novel published by Harriet Beacher Stowe documented the harsh treatment of slaves in the south. The novel brought light to how harsh slaves were treated in the South and was a conversation point used against them.

Eight slaves were freed in a court case where slaves being transported to Virginia crossed a free state line. This caused an uproar in that further divided the North and South.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act attempted to settle differences between the North and South by slicing the state of Nebraska in half creating Kansas a slave state and Nebraska a free state. This settled tensions for a while but later only added to tensions between the two sides.

A slave named Dred Scott sued for his freedom. Scott found a loophole when his master took him to the free territory of Illinois and Wisconsin where slavery was banned. Dred Scott used the loophole he found to sue his owner for his freedom and won. The freedom granted by the supreme court caused many to be upset and only further divided the North and South.

This election depended wholly on the nation's opinion of slavery. Abraham Lincoln was the Republican candidate whom was against slavery. The winner of the election was Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln was a Northerner who was sympathetic towards the Slaves. With the increasing divide and the loss of the election, the Civil war was declared on April 12, 1861.

The first battle of the Civil War. The battle lasted for 34 hours until the Union forces had no ammunition left in which they immediately surrendered. This small battle triggered a series of events that led to the four-year dispute between the North and South.