1. Historical Discussions Congress Passes the Kansas-Nebraska Act The Republican Party is Founded The Supreme Court Hands Down The Dred Scott Decision The Civil War Breaks Out

2. Congress Passes the Kansas-Nebraska Act The Kansas-Nebraska Act was an 1854 bill that mandated "popular sovereignty"-- allowing settlers of a territory to decide whether slavery would be allowed within a new state's borders. Proposed by Stephen A. Douglas--Abraham Lincoln's opponent in the influential Lincoln-Douglas debates--the bill overturned the Missouri Compromise's use of latitude as the boundary between slave and free territory. The conflicts that arose between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers in the aftermath of the act's passage led to the period of violence known as Bleeding Kansas, and helped paved the way for the American Civil War (1861-65). Lincoln/Net, 1818-1861: Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Rise of the Republican Party 1854-1856: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_nOjkyzUrAhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_nOjkyzUrA Video from the history Channel: Civil War's Greatest Myth (2:41) TV-PG Video from the history Channel: – http://www.history.com/topics/kansas-nebraska-act/videos#civil-wars-greatest-myth http://www.history.com/topics/kansas-nebraska-act/videos#civil-wars-greatest-myth

3. The Republican Party is Founded The Whig Party formed 1834 – Founded in opposition to Andrew Jackson "The Republican Party had been created in 1854 by opponents of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, which allowed for extension of slavery into free territory in the West. Despite gaining thirty-three percent of the popular vote, Frémont lost the election to James Buchanan (1791- 1868). Four years later, however, the Republican Party succeeded in electing Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)." The Republican Party was founded by those that opposed slavery. The Republican Party was founded by abolitionists. The first Republican President - Abraham Lincoln - succeeded in ending slavery.

4. The Supreme Court Hands Down The Dred Scott Decision The U.S. Supreme Court hands down its decision on Sanford v. Dred Scott, a case that intensified national divisions over the issue of slavery. – The Dred Scott Decision: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9j3lKSs2ZoAhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9j3lKSs2ZoA – In 1834, Dred Scott, a slave, had been taken to Illinois, a free state, and then Wisconsin territory, where the Missouri Compromise of 1820 prohibited slavery. – Scott lived in Wisconsin with his master, Dr. John Emerson, for several years before returning to Missouri, a slave state. – In 1846, after Emerson died, Scott sued his master's widow for his freedom on the grounds that he had lived as a resident of a free state and territory. He won his suit in a lower court, but the Missouri supreme court reversed the decision. – Scott appealed the decision, and as his new master, J.F.A. Sanford, was a resident of New York, a federal court decided to hear the case on the basis of the diversity of state citizenship represented. Federal Court: – After a federal district court decided against Scott, the case came on appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which was divided along slavery and antislavery lines; although the Southern justices had a majority. – During the trial, the antislavery justices used the case to defend the constitutionality of the Missouri Compromise, which had been repealed by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. – The Southern majority responded by ruling on March 6, 1857, that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional and that Congress had no power to prohibit slavery in the territories. – Three of the Southern justices also held that African Americans who were slaves or whose ancestors were slaves were not entitled to the rights of a federal citizen and therefore had no standing in court. The Supreme Court: – These rulings all confirmed that, in the view of the nation's highest court, under no condition did Dred Scott have the legal right to request his freedom. – The Supreme Court's verdict further inflamed the irrepressible differences in America over the issue of slavery, which in 1861 erupted with the outbreak of the American Civil War.

5. A House Divided Video: – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyNP-B95M1Y http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyNP-B95M1Y – Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas House Divided Speech Springfield, Illinois June 16, 1858: – http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/spe eches/house.htm http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/spe eches/house.htm The actual speech: – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05kl4DWrMEU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05kl4DWrMEU

6. The Civil War Breaks Out In November 1860, Republican Abraham Lincoln was elected president over a divided Democratic Party, and six weeks later South Carolina formally seceded from the Union. Within six more weeks, five other Southern states had followed South Carolina's lead, and in April 1861 the Civil War began when Confederate shore batteries under General P.G.T. Beauregard opened fire on Fort Sumter in South Carolina's Charleston Bay. Abraham Lincoln's House Divided Speech (2:31) TV-PG – http://www.history.com/topics/kansas-nebraska-act/videos#gilder-lehrman- house-divided http://www.history.com/topics/kansas-nebraska-act/videos#gilder-lehrman- house-divided Abraham Lincoln's 1858 "House Divided" speech catapults him into the national consciousness with its bold moral assessment of the future of American slavery.