The Order of Secession.

     In the Presidential Election of 1860 many Southern states did not want Abraham Lincoln to be elected because he did not support slavery. However, when he did get elected the Southern States got fed up. they decided that they would be better off by themselves. South Carolina became the first state to secede from the Union on December 20, 1860. They were tired from all of the decisions of the federal government and decided that they had a right to decide for themselves what they wanted as a state. They knew that they now had a President who did not support slavery. Four months after South Carolina more states seceded. I guess the other states wanted to watch and make sure that it was possible for them to be self-sustaining. Georgia, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi followed South Carolina's lead, because if you are from the South you obviously know that we all stick together down here in the South. Texas and Louisiana followed after them. Realizing that this was actually happening, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina and Tennessee seeded from the Union in almost the same swift fashion. The states then rallied together and elected their own President, Jefferson Davis. They came up with their own laws and made their own decisions. Although, this did not settle well with the Union, don't worry! They are set up to find that out later...shhhhhhhh!

http://www.historynet.com/secession 

Sumner-Brooks Episode

The Sumner-Brooks Episode happened on May 22, 1856, in Washington D.C. Prior to this episode, Charles Sumner had given a speech about abolishing slavery in the United States. He spoke about bleeding Kansas and everything that was going on there at the time. He mentioned the name of a specific Senator, Andrew Butler, accusing him of committed crimes in Kansas. Sumner was sitting in the chambers waiting the meeting to start, Congressman Preston Brooks, the nephew of Andrew Butler, attacked him with a walking stick. Brooks succeeded with his attack because another Congressman was blocking the other Senators with 

a pistol he was swinging around. Brooks beat Sumner in the head with the walking stick so hard that pieces literally flew off. Sumner's attack was so bad that he would not appear back in the public eye again until November 5th of that year. Senator Charles Sumner did not go back into the Senate for another three years after that although he was continuously reelected by the Massachusetts General Court. The Southerners were proud that Brooks stood up for his rights, his cause, his family, and his state. They were proud that someone would fight for what they believed in. The Northerners did not like what happened because violence and physicality were starting to pop up more and happen more in the United States and Northerners particularly did not like violence(maybe why they were anti-slavery).

http://historyengine.richmond.edu/episodes/view/4632

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Uncle Tom's Cabin was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. She lived in Cincinnati, Ohio. She was a white wife and mother. Her and her husband Calvin hired fugitive slaves to work in their homes. They lived right up next to the river so they could see Kentucky, a slave state. She had visited there before and had done some business with people who owned slaves. She held a spot in her heart for slaves and would sit and listen to their employees stories about their lives and their owners. One slave that they hired was an escapee, after hearing of this her husband and her brother helped the slave escape to Canada where she could be safe and receive citizenship and freedom. The first article of the book was published by The National Era newspaper who was antislavery. Harriet Beecher Stowe kept going for sources and looking for peoples stories. People around her who knew her would help her find facts and stories from the very people who had experienced it. All in all the book is two volumes and inside of those two volumes she describes slavery at its worst. The book is made up of actual stories although they could be not as gory. After the book was published and people began to read and understand it things started to change. The way that slaves were treated changed for the better and the way that people saw slavery changed as well. The slaves began to actually mean something to people and the world. The hard-hearted slave masters however only got more mad and started treating them worse than before. The book became a bestseller in the U.S., Britain, Europe, and Asia. It was also translated into over 60 languages throughout the world. Uncle Tom's Cabin gives us an inside look at slavery and what it was all thanks to Harriet Beecher Stowe and the brave slaves that shared their life stories with her and the world.

http://www.harrietbeecherstowecenter.org/utc/

The Underground Railroad: Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman was once a slave but she escaped into freedom. She wanted to help other slaves get to experience the freedom that she was experiencing. The road to freedom was long and toilsome, but in the end it was worth it. The slaves would get news around and hear stories about the underground railroad. Information about where to go, who to see and what time to be there and see them. Often the slave masters would hear about it and would catch them in the act of trying to escape or chase them until the pursuers could not run anymore. The escapees would call her Moses because she would lead them out of slavery. She would never lose a passenger, so as long as you had her as your guide, you knew that you would be safe. When you started to give out of strength she would push you on, and if you talked of going back out of frustration or desperation for security she would threaten you. She was smart and knew how to keep them moving on no matter what they felt. She was by far the biggest leader in the underground railroad- she was the underground railroad- and she saved over 300 people out of slavery.


http://www.fold3.com/page/1342_underground_railroad/

Significance of Fort Sumter

Fort Sumter is where the Civil War began. Over time resentment between the North and the South kept growing. Eventually we would go into war with each other. US Army Major Gen. Robert Anderson moved his troops from where they were stationed to Fort Sumter that was not yet complete without any orders. Gen. Beaureguard sent a message for the fort to be surrendered but he did not comply. After the negotiations were not getting them anywhere Fort Johnson, which was nearby, opened fire on Fort Sumter. ["The guns opened fire at 4:30 in the morning on April 12, 1861, and fired for 33 straight hours."]

The return fire from Gen. Anderson was pointless and did not help them in any way whatsoever. The fort was surrendered and evacuated on April 13. 

http://www.monacorarecoins.com/rare-coin-articles/civil-war-fort-sumter/

John Brown's Raid

John Brown was born in Torrington, Connecticut, in 1800, into a deeply religious family. His father opposed slavery, then when he was five his family moved to northern Ohio to a place that would become known for its antislavery views. In his 50 years, Brown moved about the country, settling in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New York, and taking along his growing family everywhere with him. John Brown would father 20 children. He worked at various times as a farmer, wool merchant, tanner, and land speculator. He was never financially stable and ended up filing for bankruptcy in his forties. He kept supporting the places he wanted to support. He helped finance the publication of David Walker's Appeal and Henry Highland's "Call to Rebellion" speech. John Brown gave land to fugitive slaves. Since, he did that he and his wife decided to raise black youth as one their own.  He also participated in the Underground Railroad and, in 1851, helped establish the League of Gileadites, an organization that worked to protect escaped slaves from slave catchers. On October 16, 1859, he led 21 men on a raid of the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. He planned to arm slaves with the weapons he and his men seized from the arsenal. Their plan was thwarted, however, by local farmers, militiamen, and Marines led by Robert E. Lee. Within 36 hours of the attack, most of Brown's men had been killed or captured.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1550.html

Dred Scott Case

       March of 1857, the United States Supreme Court declared that all blacks are slaves as well as free and could never become a citizen of the United States. The case that was before the court was the Dred Scott v. Sanford. Dred Scott was a slave who lived in Illinois, a free state, and in Wisconsin, a free state, before moving back to Missouri, a slave state. Dred Scott went before the Supreme Court hoping to get his freedom. Dred Scott tried to argue that his time spent in those locations entitled him to emancipation. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, a staunch supporter of slavery, disagreed with the decision that the court found that no black, free or slave, could claim U.S. citizenship, and therefore blacks were unable to petition the court for their freedom. ["The Dred Scott decision incensed abolitionists and heightened North-South tensions, which would erupt in war just three years later."]


http://www.history.com/topics/dred-scott-case