Before the Civil War, there was an attempt to abolish slavery, the supporters of this movement called themselves the Abolitionists. Some of the most famous of them were Harriet B. Stowe, Harriet Tubman, William L. Garrison, Fredrick Douglas, Angelina and Sarah Grimke, Sojourner Truth, and John Brown. Harriet B. Stowe wrote a book named "Uncle Tom's Cabin" which described life as a slave. Harriet Tubman was one of the greatest abolitionist of all time. She was a conductor of the Underground Railroad, a network of tunnels underground used to help slaves escape. Harriet freed hundreds of slaves and had a large bounty placed on her head. William L. Garrison was a journalist, but he was well known ad an editor for an abolitionist newspaper called "The Liberator" which he founded in 1831. Frederick Douglass was an escaped slave, he learned how to read from a ship builder's wife on Massachusetts, he later became the voice of the abolitionist movement and wrote a book about his life which became popular around the country. Sarah and Angelina Grimke were the first women to testify for black's rights in front of a court. Sojourner Truth was an abolitionist and an early feminist, she won a court case about the selling of her son against all odds, she delivered a speech at a Women's Rights Convention later renamed "Ain't I a Woman?". John Brown resorted to violence to try and end slavery. He was raised by very religious parents and was determined to try and end slavery. Brown raided Harper's Ferry in Virginia, Brown was captured and executed.
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Dred Scott was a slave to the army surgeon John Emerson, his master moved his farm from Missouri to Illinois, which was declared a free state by the Missouri Compromise of 1820. When Emerson died, Scott decided to sue his owner for his freedom. After 11 years, his case was brought to the Supreme Court. The Chief Justice at the time was Roger B. Taney, who was a former slave owner. The Court ruled that, just because he lived on free land didnt make him a free man. It also declared that since Scott was a slave and not a citizen, he couldn't bring a case to court, and the Court ruled that Congress cannot prohibit slavery in any territory. The North was enraged by this and declared that the Court had been dominated by "Southern Fire Eaters" since 4 of the justices were southerners and only 2 were northerners. Dred Scott
The Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed Kansas and Nebraska to decide if they were going to be a free or slave state. This repealed the the Missouri Compromise. The result of this act was "Bleeding Kansas", this was a small civil war in Kansas where southern settlers and northern settlers battled each other. The idea that the Civil War may have started in Kansas is partially correct. It was the first major conflict between the North and the South.
Clay, Calhoun, and Webstar were all members of the U.S Senate before the Civil War. In 1820, Clay introduced the Missouri Compromise. The Missouri Compromise balanced the slave and free states in the U.S Senate. Clay didn't support the idea of state's rights, which was popular in the South. State's rights was the idea that a state could nullify a law that they thought were unconstitutional. John C. Calhoun delivered a speech to the senate while he was dying from consumption. His speech stated that the federal government must protect slavery for the southern states to feel comfortable in the Union. Daniel Webster spoke three day's after Calhoun's speech. Webster pleaded for the northerners to accept Calhoun's offer for the nation's fate was hanging in the balance. All three, Clay, Calhoun, and Webster had passed away on 1852 leaving great legacies behind them.
In the South, their economy was built on large plantations that grew cash crops. Many slaves worked on these plantations. In the North, factories that produced mass amounts of goods was their main source of profit. As a result there were very little slaves. Out west, some states, like Texas, required slaves to work on the fields. Others didn't require any slaves like California.
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