Abraham Lincoln was the sixteenth president of the United States of America. He ran for office in 1860. He campaigned as anti-slavery and supported a big government. Those two things turned away most of the South, but interested the North. When it came to the election Abraham Lincoln won, but not one single southern state voted for him because of what he believed in. He only won because the population of the North was much greater than that of the south.
John Brown
John Brown was a very religious man who strongly believed in abolishing slavery. Some called him crazy, but he would believe that he was just doing God's work. He was a normal until it came to slavery, he would go to extreme measures for what he believed in. He once went to a town with pro-slavery people and killed five of them when they didn't mean him any harm. He later in life, attacked and killed many people during at fight at Ferryville, Virginia, but then was tried and hanged for treason.
The Missouri Compromise
In 1820, there was a huge dispute between the north and south. Missouri wanted to finally become a state and fought as hard as they could for the right. The north didn't, because they thought it was unfair for the south to get more votes than them on major issues. They had to make a compromise or they would never agree. The north agreed to let Missouri become a state, but they got the new state Maine instead and made the law that any state above a specific lattitude/longitude line would be a free slave state, and others were to be slave states.
Election of Lincoln
The election of Lincoln became a huge problem for the country. The south were outraged that their new president was anti-slavery and supported a big government. They all disagreed so that every southern state did not vote for him during the election. Lincoln only won from the huge population of the north. After he was named president, South Carolina could not take it any longer, so they left the Union all together. Southern states started leaving then and ripped the country in two.
The second most important cause of the Civil War was the fact that the North wanted a strong Central Government and the South wanted the states to have more power. Another huge fight and debate started with their state rights. It was believed to be a cause because the states were never truly content with the rights they had.From true federalism to nullification rights to popular soveriegnty, they argued. Mostly, the states would argue over the amount of votes they get on major issues. The states always wanted something, like all people would, but they wouldn't stand if someone got something more. So, when Missouri fought to became a state, the North were upset because the South was not allowed to get two more votes than they had. They came up with the Missouri compromise in 1820 to make every one happy by giving the North a new state called Maine, while the South got Missouri. They also made one more agreement that every new state created would be a free slave state if they were about the lattitude/longitude line 36"30'. That worked for a while until they came to California. The huge state was both above and under the line so they made another agreement called The Compromise of 1850. The North was given California as a free state, but they formed the Fugitive Slave Law that stated that any run-away slave was to be returned to their owner if found. The next big compromise over states happened in 1856 with the Nebrask-Kansas Act. Nebraska was made a Northern state, but then the Missouri Compromise was to be nullfied, which it was and Kansas was allowed to have popular soveriegnty. Since sovereignty was allowed in Kansas, many people moved there to support what they believed about slavery. Soon came the tragic attack made by the abolitionist, John Brown. He was as you know, crazy, and one day John went to a town in Kansas and brutally murdered five pro-slavery settlers. Considering that, the next time Kansas voted, they became a free state. One very important event was the election of our sixteenth president Abraham Lincoln. This tore the north and south apart once more because of Abraham's beliefs for the government. He believed in a big central government and he was anti-slavery. Predictably, the south took no liking to him and not one single southern state voted for him that election. The north though, took a liking to him and he only won based on the higher population of the north. This then caused southern states to get very angry and they couldn't take it anymore that some states started breaking away from the country like Texas did. The country was now torn in two.
The Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 happened when the north and south started adding more states to the Union. The state, California, was to become a state, but it happened to go both above and below the line made in The Missouri Compromise. They came to an agreement, thus creating the Compromise of 1850. It declared that the north would get the big state of California as a free slave state while the south got to create the Fugitive Slave Law. The law stated that any run-away slaves were to be returned to their slave owners if found.