Summary and Review

The 1850s were marked by intense sectional conflict over slavery, highlighted by events such as the Compromise of 1850, which attempted to balance interests between the North and South but ultimately failed to resolve tensions. The Kansas-Nebraska Act further polarized the nation, leading to violent confrontations in "Bleeding Kansas" and the rise of the Republican Party, which opposed the expansion of slavery. The Dred Scott decision deepened the crisis by ruling that African Americans could not be citizens and that Congress could not limit slavery's spread. John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859 exemplified the radical abolitionist response, contributing to fears of insurrection in the South and ultimately leading to the secession of Southern states following Lincoln's election in 1860.