This paper reviews the historical events from 1855 to 1860, which lead to the U.S. Civil War.
This paper discusses U.S. history from 1855, when the U.S appeared to be the strongest it had ever been, to the outbreak of the Civil War, when Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860. The author points out the “Bleeding at Kansas”, Dred Scott case, Slavery and the citizenship of “free slaves”. The paper describes the election of 1860 and the secession of the Southern states.
“By the time the elections of 1860 came around, the entire nation knew how vital this election would be to the tone of relations between the North and the South. Citizens were not sure whether the election could calm the fights, and resolve what had been happening in the past five years, or if the election would cause an all-out war between the North and the South. Stephen Douglas apparently warned that such actions might occur, while Abraham Lincoln and John Breckinridge “downplayed any such dire consequence, insisting, and believing, that the other side was bluffing” .”