Slavery: the Elephant in the Room

     America in the 1800's was a divided nation even though most people did not realize it. This was because slavery was the elephant in the room in politics. People knew it was a major issue however nobody wanted to directly address it until the problem escalated. In class, we studied all the events leading up to the Civil War which had to do with slavery, and we compiled them into a timeline (below).
     These events show how slavery consumed a majority of decisions which were made by our congress. For example the caning of senator Sumner was anti-slavery because when Preston Brooks hit Sumner with his cane, it showed pro-slavery as violent and unruly, widening the gap in America's politics. On the contrary, an event which favored slavery was Bleeding Kansas. This event refers to the fighting between free soilers, a group who wanted nothing to do with black people, and pro slavery settlers. the two groups fought for control of Kansas, wanting to make it into a free state or slave state respectively. An event which affected both sides of the argument was the famous debate between sen. Lincoln (yes the president) and sen. Douglas. Both political giants faced off and preached their views, Lincoln claiming that the majority shouldn't be able to take away someone's life liberty and pursuit of happiness. Finally, another two-way decision is the Kansas-Nebraska act. This act created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska in which slavery was decided by popular sovereignty in exchange for a northern Trans-Continental railroad.  The benefits for the north was that anti-slave settlers could get out west and settle easier and the benefits for the south were that it abolished the Missouri compromise now making slavery potentially legal in northern states. Overall, slavery was clearly a huge issue in 19th century politics but was not directly discussed in most congress meetings.

timeline

timeline