Events That Led to the Split of the Union

There were many important events that led to the split of the Union in 1861. These events included: the Compromise of 1850, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Ostend Movement, the Dread Scott Case, the Supreme Court ruling on the Missouri Compromise, the events of Bleeding Kansas, the violence in Congress, John Brown's raid at Harper's Ferry, and lastly the election of Lincoln. All these events contributed greatly to the demise of the Union.

The Compromise of 1850 was the first of many events that led to conflict between the North and the South. It was signed by Fillmore because it had a balancing of ideas between the North and the South. The concessions the North received were that California was going to be admitted as a Free State, the Disputed Territory of the southwest would go to New Mexico, and the Compromise would abolition the stave trade in the District of Colombia. The concessions the South received were New Mexico and Utah were opened to popular sovereignty, Texas would receive $10 million in compensation, and there would be a more stringent Fugitive Slave Law passed. The South violently opposed concessions because they thought they were unfair. A meeting in Nashville, Tennessee of Southern extremists condemned the Compromise. Many considered this the "lull before the storm" because it was only the first of many clashes between the North and the South.

Next was the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 which caused more disagreement between the North and the South. Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois proposed to split the territory in two: Nebraska in the North and Kansas in the South. The slavery status in each state would be determined by Popular Sovereignty. Since Kansas is west of Missouri, it would presumably become a slave state. With Nebraska west of Iowa, it would presumably be a free state. This Broke the Missouri Compromise Line 36o30' and it opened entire territory to the possibility of slavery. Southerners enthusiastically support the bill and Northerners were appalled and they saw Douglas as traitor.

The secret Ostend Movement and the plan to buy Cuba also frustrated Northerners. William Walker travels to Nicaragua and proposes to have a revolt there. If the US support would support him he promised they that they would get the country. The US would then divide it up into states for slavery. Northerners protested and prevented from the Ostend Movement from being signed. Southerners also wanted the government to buy Cuba from Spain. Cuba already had slaves, it had fertile land, it had a strong agricultural economy, and it had a large enough population that it could be divided into three states. Northerners once again were not happy. They strongly opposed buying Cuba. In the end Spain would not sell Cuba, which pleased the North, and angered the South. This once again strengthened to hatred between the North and the South.

The Dread Scott Case was the next situation that led to the further splitting of the Union. Dred Scott was a slave who had lived with his master in Illinois and Wisconsin, Free states, for five years. He sued for his freedom because he thought that since he lived on free soil for a few years he deserved to be free. He had the support of northern abolitionists. The Supreme Court ruled that Scott could not sue because he was not a citizen of United States, and they threw case out. The Supreme Court's opinion was that slaves were legal property of their owners therefore; they could