Venn Diagram of Northern and Southern Issues Before the Civi

North

South

Both

Venn Diagram of Northern and Southern Issues Before the Civil War

By: Jessai

Fugitive Slave Act

Nullification Crisis

The Kansas-Nebraska Act

Uncle Tom's Cabin Ignites Controversy

During the Jacksonian Era, President Andrew Jackson passed a tariff that would force the South to cooperate with the North.

Passed in 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act was a result of the Compromise of 1850. This act forced Northerners, who were mostly anti-slavery, to take run-away slaves and return them to their owners.

Senator Stephen A. Douglas proposed and passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which split the Nebraska Territory into Kansas and Nebraska and allowed for popular sovereignty, or the system of letting the people make change, to decide on whether Kansas and Nebraska became slave or free states.

Published by Harriet Beecher-Stowe in 1852, Uncle Tom's Cabin was a novel depicting the barbarism and brutality of slavery in the South. Southern slave owners and pro-slavery supporters were angered at such depiction and argued that that wasn't the way slaves were treated.

This angered the South, who later believed that states had the right to nullify, or cancel, a law. This kick-started a national argument known as the Nullification Crisis.

This made Northerners angry at the South and uncomfortable with the fact that they had to contradict their beliefs in order to not be jailed.

This led to an all out struggle between the North and South as they ran to Kansas and Nebraska in order to shift the power of Congress to their favor.

This controversial novel split the U.S in two and was a major step in reaching the Civil War.

Southern Secession

The Democratic Party Splits

The Missouri Compromise

California is Admitted as a Free State

Bleeding Kansas

After Abe Lincoln's election and before the Civil War, the South seceded, or broke away, from the U.S.

Northern Democrats argued for popular sovereignty in regards to deciding whether a state was free or slave and Southern Democrats argued for slavery.

When Missouri threatened to upset the balance of slave and free states and the North and South both argued over this to the point where it was clear that Congress had to act tactfully and decisively

The California Gold Rush brought a population boom and allowed for California to finally for statehood. Unfortunately, doing so would upset the balance of free and slave states in Congress.

This made the North angry with the South, believing that they were challenging the very idea of democracy itself.

Following the complete and utter disaster of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Bleeding Kansas was a result of a violent clash between pro-slavery and anti-slavery supporters trying to make Kansas a state in their favor.

So they eventually split into two groups, jeopardizing their chances in the Election of 1860.

After the Compromise of 1850, California became a free state and Congress announced that they would refuse to meddle with territories gained with the Mexican Cession. This however was a frail answer to a big problem.

They admitted Maine as a free state, Missouri as a slave state, and drew a line across the U.S that would decide if a state was slave or free if it was above or below the line.

It also aroused the issue of whether the government still controlled forts in the South.

When the South gained Kansas, anti-slavery supporter John Brown rebelled and killed many in what was known as Bleeding Kansas.

The Dred-Scott Decision

Harper's Ferry

The Compromise of 1850

The Wilmot Proviso

Underground Railroad

Popular Sovereignty Becomes an Argument

This controversial Supreme Court decision involved a slave, a pro-slavery chief justice, and the Missouri Compromise.

When California became a free state, there was one more free state and slave states and both the North and South debated on how to solve the problem. Thus the Compromise of 1850 was born!

Congress member David Wilmot, proposed a bill that would ban slavery in any of the new states gained with the Mexican Cession. This was a failed attempt to stop the expansion of slavery, as the South's own senators and representatives shut it down.

The raid on Harper's Ferry led by abolition extremist, John Brown, was one of the biggest violent acts in the name of abolition. John Brown was also the main cause of Bleeding Kansas.

The Underground Railroad isn't a railroad and isn't underground. Instead, it was a complex series of networks that worked to help slaves flee the South.

Although seemingly a national issue, the issue of popular sovereignty in regards to deciding whether a state was free or slave is more of a Northern issue, as the government is located there.

When a slave named Dred Scott, sued for his freedom after he was taken to a free states, chief justice Roger Taney ruled against him. He claimed that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional and that Scott would remain a slave.

This was the first time it was evident that the South wasn't going to give up slavery without a fight. This was also the first of many attempts to staunch slavery

This system made the South believe that it was the North's crazy idea, and made them crack down on slaves in very harsh ways.

This compromise promised to admit California as an official free state and that Congress will no longer meddle with the territories gained with the Mexican Session. This also led to the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act.

In the end, the government stopped the raid and hanged John Brown as a result. Northerners saluted him and Southerners were shocked at the North's apparent appreciation of violence.

This political argument led to the Lincoln-Douglas debates, the Democratic Party Schism, and eventually Lincoln's election in 1860

This angered Northern abolitionists and anti-slavery supporters alike.