Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Dred Scott and Election of 1860

File:Dred Scott photograph (circa 1857).jpg  Dred Scott was a African-American slave in the US born in 1795 died on September 17, 1858. Dred Scott was sued unfairly for his freedom. In 1846 Dred filed a law suit for his freedom. By 1850 Dred was rewarded his freedom because he and his family had been illegally held as slaves during their extended residence in the free jurisdictions of Illinois and Wisconsin.  















File:ElectoralCollege1860.svgThe Presidential election of 1860 was held on Tuesday, November 6, and is thought of as the main cause for the outbreak of the American Civil War. The issue of slavery during this time caused the Democratic Party to break in to North and South and created a Constitutional Union Party. Because the South was so divided, the Republican North who mainly supported Abraham Lincoln had enough votes to put Abe in the White House as President without any Southern support. You can  only imagine the anger that broke out throughout the southern states, making seven southern states secede to form a confederacy. Secessionists from four additional Border states joined the rebellion at Lincoln's call to restore federal property in the South. Following South Carolina's secessionist movement, the Union admitted Kansas, West Virginia, and Nevada as free-soil states.

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