Around 1858, the United States was divided geographically—north and south—with the South depending more on agriculture with the help of the slaves and the North is more idustrialized with all their factories and new technologies.
The country was so divided by the issue of slavery, California became a state after the Compromise of 1850 which allowed some new states to decide if they want slavery to be voted upon or popular sovereignty. Also the South got a fugitive slave law, that says that the slaves who escape to the North should be returned to their masters in the South.
Many people from the North hated slavery, so they helped the slaves to be free. The people who helped the slaves were called abolitionists. The abolitionists helped them by hiding the slaves in a series of hiding places, in the Underground railroad, near the route to Canada where the slaves can be free from their masters from the South.
When Uncle Tom’s Cabin was published, both the North and the South were angered because it tells a story of how slaves were sold in the "slave markets". This book was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. The Northeners - the abolitionists - was already against slavery and the Southeners felt like it criticized their way of living since they depend on the use of slaves.
Two politicians became famous for their slavery debates in the 1858 Election, they were Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas. Lincoln and Douglas were both against slavery, but they have different views on how to deal with the issue. Lincoln believed that everyone - including the slaves - should have their natural rights and be free. And Douglas thought that people should decide on their own states through voting.
On December 20, 1860 after Abraham Lincoln was elected, South Carolina was the first one to secede and followed by the others.
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