WEBVTT

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1819. The newly-born United States of America
sat in a state of delicate balance. 11:11.

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11 free states, 11 slave states. From the
outside looking in, it appeared to be perfect

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harmony. Equal states, equal representation,
equal influence in federal affairs. But this

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was only from the outside looking in. In reality,
there was no focus on balance for the Americans.

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Instead, all that mattered now, was expansion…

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Manifest Destiny - that was the reason why
the United States government was hellbent

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on snagging more and more territory. Although
the phrase wouldn’t be coined until the

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mid-1800s, the belief held by many Americans
that it was the nation’s destiny to expand

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westward as far as can be, drove the U.S.
to do just that.

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Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia,
Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South

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Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York,
North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, Kentucky,

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Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, Indiana, Mississippi,
Illinois, and Alabama. That was the whole

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of the United States thus far as of 1819,
but only a year later, this would change.

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In 1818, the Missouri Territory, previously
obtained as part of the Louisiana Purchase,

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began its push for statehood. The following
year, the district of Maine would be allowed

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to break off from Massachusetts and do the
same. It didn’t take long for this to cause

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a conundrum for the contemporary U.S., however,
because the addition of two more states had

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the potential to upset the numerical balance
between slave states and free states. On the

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one hand, Northerners and pro-abolitionists
in Congress argued that the addition of Missouri

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- which seemed to quickly lean toward wanting
to become a slave state - would expand slavery

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and thus bring them further away from their
goals.

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The Southerners, though, were obviously in
favor of adding another slave state and thus

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argued that any new candidate for statehood
should have the right to decide for themselves,

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just as the first 13 colonies, which side
of the fence they want to fall on. The debate

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in both the House of Representatives and the
Senate would continue into 1819, at which

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point Maine was now brought into the mix as
Henry Clay, the Speaker of the House at the

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time, suggested that Missouri should be added
to the union as a slave state, but that Maine

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should also be added, contrarily as a free
state.

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This proposal was subsequently debated into
yet another year, when in 1820, the Senate

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added to the bill, requiring that any other
territories north of the 36º 30’ latitude

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line that had been agreed upon below Missouri’s
lower border could only enter the union as

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free states. With everyone finally in some
level of agreement, the Missouri Compromise

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was signed into law.

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This triggered a tit-for-tat war of adding
one new slave state for every new free state

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and vice versa, starting with Arkansas in
1836, Michigan the next year, and Florida

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in 1845. And since Florida was a slave state,
it was assumed that the next territory to

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enter the union and statehood would be another
free state - but things became complicated

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when Texas had a demanding request for the
United States: annex us, now.

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The history of Texas had been a rollercoaster
thus far, and yet it was only now preparing

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for its biggest climb yet. Texas, up until
recently a part of Mexico after being freed

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from the grip of the Spaniards, wanted to
join a different nation - the U.S.A. The Texans’

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pleas were initially ignored by the U.S. government,
which wasn’t in much favor of annexing the

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nearby territory.

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With growing pressure from Britain for Texas
to be an independent nation and America’s

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undeniable thirst for expansion, opinions
would soon change nevertheless and Texas would,

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in fact, join the union on December 29, 1845.
Here was the issue though: Texas wanted to

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be a slave state, which would offset the balance
the Northerners had tried so hard to keep.

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Furthermore, Texas had made claims to territories
that put it in direct conflict with its former

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host of Mexico.

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And with Texas newly a part of the United
States, those presumptuous claims were now

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the responsibility of the U.S. - something
that Mexico didn’t take lightly.

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Recently elected President James K. Polk,
however, didn’t care one bit what the Mexicans

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thought. Instead, he was an aggressive supporter
of Manifest Destiny and quickly upon his inauguration

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hoped to seize the contested territories.
Thus, Polk at first attempted to purchase

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his desired lands.

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He sent American diplomat John Slidell to
offer the administration in Mexico City $30

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million in exchange for California, New Mexico,
and disputed territories along the Texas border.

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The Mexicans, aghast and unshakeably against
such an idea, declined to even meet with Slidell,

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which angered Polk. The Manifest Destiny supporter
would not be swayed by this rejection and

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instead decided that, if diplomacy wouldn’t
work, he would reel his neighbors into a war

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he knew the United States would win. As a
result, in the early weeks of 1846, the president

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sent American troops to the Texas border to
egg the Mexicans on - and it worked. It only

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took a few months for Mexican soldiers to
fire on the Americans and give Polk the excuse

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to declare war…

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With the Mexican-American War underway, debates
continued within the United States pertaining

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to the slave state vs. free state debacle.
With the free states now outnumbered, the

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Northerners felt that Polk, being a Southerner
himself, was actually committing his land

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grab in order to further bolster the slave
state advantage, which boosted North-to-South

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tensions. Still, the war raged on with now-famed
generals like Ulysses S. Grant and Robert

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E. Lee showing their prowess and adding to
their resumes while the Americans inched closer

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to Mexico's capital. The city was eventually
taken and warfare halted, leading to the long-awaited

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Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo - which now forced
Mexico to cede not only the contested territories

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in California and New Mexico but also lands
of modern-day Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Oklahoma,

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Colorado, and Wyoming. Polk had gotten his
way and more, but it wasn’t all sunshine

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and rainbows. New land meant more to fight
over back home.//

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Over the next few years, Iowa, Wisconsin,
and California would all give their bids for

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statehood, eventually bringing about the Compromise
of 1850. This series of bills would address

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a multitude of things, though mostly focused
on the institution of slavery within the union.

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In short, it determined that California would
join the Union as a free state but was required

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to send one pro-slavery senator to the Senate
in order to maintain the readjusted balance.

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From now on, however, slave or free states
from the remaining territories gained from

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Mexico would be decided as such by popular
sovereignty.

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This went alright at first, as would the admission
to statehood of Minnesota in 1858 and Oregon

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in 1859, but predictably, there was simultaneously
another reason for tensions to rise.

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As part of the new establishment of popular
sovereignty, Senator Stephen Douglas suggested

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applying the strategy to a proposed newly
organized Nebraska territory that would at

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once repeal the Missouri Compromise slave-state
border and split the Nebraska territory in

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two. Now, despite a struggle to actually pass
the new bill that would become known as the

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Kansas-Nebraska Act, the populations of both
territories were left to vote on whether they

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wished to permit slavery or not. The consequence
of this, and maybe unpredictably so, was that

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settlers began flooding to both Nebraska and
Kansas - settlers from both sides of the slavery

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debate. This slippery slope ushered in a tragic
era known as Bleeding Kansas, which would

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eventually see Kansas enter the union in 1861,
surprisingly, as a free state. This would

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be the final state admitted to the union before
the start of the Civil War…

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Why did things get to this point? How could
such a young nation have fallen into battle

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with itself so fast? Why were the North and
South so opposed to each other?

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The issue of slavery and thus the North vs.
South contention can be blamed on vastly different

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cultural aspects of the two halves of America.
For the North, slavery was not really needed

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as the upper states had quickly become industrialized
and thus didn’t have to rely on as much

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manpower.

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This gave Northern citizens the opportunity
to unbiasedly consider the moral standing

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of the entire institution of slavery, prompting
many to call it into question. Supported by

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the ideas of European immigrants who had come
from nations that had already outlawed slavery,

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these Northerners began to turn toward abolitionism.
This was in total opposition to their fellow

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Americans down south, of course, but this
was because the South had failed to industrialize

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as the North had.

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Instead, Southerners were more economically
dependent on free labor for plantations and

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the like, which meant that their personal
finances and way of life could be entirely

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affected by the banning of slavery - thus
making it hard for a Southerner to even give

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the moral aspect a second thought - though
some did and still supported the institution.

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And with the invention of the cotton gin,
the matter only became more solidified - the

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South needed slavery. The problem then arose
as the North wondered if Southerners wanted

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to extend slavery even further, whereas the
latter worried that the former was going to

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take the slaves they already had. Both, ironically,
would be right. The North and South were miles

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away from reconciling this difference.

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Debatably, there was also the issue of federal
vs. state rights, although this factor is

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hard to blame entirely. Not only did the later-formed
Confederacy have a shockingly large bureaucratic

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system for a collection of states who were
opposed to overbearing federal governments,

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but there had also been previous opportunities,
such as during the Nullification Crisis a

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few decades prior, for the South to go to
war with the North or at least raise more

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of a ruckus if state rights were the core
issue. Still, it is true that many people

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at the time, particularly in the south, had
more loyalty to their state than country as

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a whole, and state vs. federal disconnect
likely played somewhat of a role in tensions,

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even if second fiddle to the slavery argument.

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The fanning of the flames, however, came from
a string of amplifying events. The Fugitive

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Slave Act, for example, had been part of the
Compromise of 1850 and galvanized abolitionists

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as it had made the federal government responsible
for finding, returning, and penalizing escaped

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slaves and anyone who aided them - even if
they made it to a free state.

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With the Northerners deeply troubled by this
development, politically active citizens of

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the upper United States would soon form their
own opposition party to the pro-slavery Democrats

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- the Republican Party.

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This new entity would also become host to
the controversial Abraham Lincoln shortly

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after its birth.

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Lincoln had previously served on the U.S.
House of Representatives in 1846 before joining

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the Republicans and running for Senate a decade
later. Although he lost the Senate race to

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Stephen Douglas, the series of speeches and
debates that proceeded the election had both

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catapulted him to popularity in the North
while earning him a fair share of enemies

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in the South. His mere existence as a political
entity, thus, stirred the pot and increased

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tensions. But then, so did Bleeding Kansas.

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Guerilla warfare is one way that this period,
from 1855 through 1859, has been described.

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While Nebraska was somewhat hit by the flood
of both pro and anti-slavery settlers hoping

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to sway the coming vote, it was Kansas that
was truly beaten. Pro-slavery residents of

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neighboring states used legal loopholes to
cross the border and vote in Kansas’s territorial

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elections, setting off a domino effect that
would lead to a split government and all-out

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violence.

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Historians estimate that anywhere from 50
to 200 Americans died as a consequence in

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the 4 years span, something akin to pouring
a couple of gallons of gasoline on the growing

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fire burning toward Civil War.

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Charles Sumner’s congressional speech about
Kansas would further heighten the situation.

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A Republican Northerner, Sumner had actually
memorized every last word in his impassioned

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speech titled “The Crime Against Kansas”
in which he lambasted the entire institution

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of slavery and even took direct jabs at pro-slavery
senators.

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This instance serves as a clear example of
the current level of tensions in the union

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and Congress, as South Carolina Representatives
Preston Brooks and Laurence Keitt reacted

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to the damning speech by physically assaulting
Charles Sumner with a cane, beating him so

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severely that he would need 3 full years of
leave to recover. And this was only a year

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before one of the most controversial and anger-fueling
incidents of the entire lead-up to the civil

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war.

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It was the Dred Scott Case that soon put the
move toward all-out military conflict between

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the North and South into hyperdrive. The case
revolved around a slave-since-birth by the

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name of Dred Scott. After the death of his
original owner in 1832, Scott had been purchased

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by a man named John Emerson, and upon his
death, Scott and his family would then be

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transfered into the ownership of Emerson’s
wife, Irene. Previously, Scott and his family

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had been brought along for travels across
multiple free states and territories, although

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at no point had they attempted to run or sue
for their freedom. Instead, once Irene took

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ownership, Scott attempted to buy their freedom
off of her. Irene was obstinate and insisted

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on keeping her slaves around, which led Dred
and his wife Harriet to, finally, go the route

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of a lawsuit.

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They each filed on the basis of two Missouri
statutes, as they were currently living with

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Irene in St. Louis. One stated that any slave
taken to a free state would thus be free and

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could not be returned to enslavement even
if they left the free state, while the other

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allowed for anyone to file a suit for wrongful
enslavement.

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The Scott couple was given logistical support
from abolitionists, fellow churchgoers, and

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ironically, the family of their previous owner.

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This allowed them to actually take their case
to court, which was first shot down in 1847

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on a technicality but was given the option
of a retrial. The next trial would come in

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January of 1850 and this time, the Scotts
actually won their freedom. Irene, however,

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quickly appealed the decision to the Missouri
Supreme Court. Two years later, the court

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sided once more with Irene, thus re-enslaving
the Scott family.

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Unwilling to give up now, Scott filed a federal
lawsuit with the United States Circuit Court

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for the District of Missouri the following
year.

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Before the case could be decided upon again,
Irene would transfer the Scotts over to her

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brother, John Sandford, hence the name of
the new case: Dred Scott vs. Sandford. In

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the spring of 1854, the federal court ruled
in favor of Sandford, thus prompting Scott

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to appeal yet again, now to the United States
Supreme Court.

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This final trial would start on February 11,
1856, with a growing list of abolitionist

00:18:40.819 --> 00:18:47.700
and even politician supporters in favor of
the Scotts. Nevertheless, less than a month

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later, a decision was made, and once more,
Dred Scott had lost.

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And not only this, but the judge most notably
credited for the final ruling, a Southerner

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named Roger Taney, asserted that no African
American even had the right to sue for anything

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in the federal court, because they lacked
the ability to be United States citizens.

00:19:11.720 --> 00:19:17.038
While the Scotts would already have their
freedom by now thanks to Irene's new abolitionist

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husband and the help of their old owner’s
family, the case itself was the final straw

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for many abolitionists…

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John Brown has gone down in history as one
of America’s most infamous abolitionists,

00:19:32.058 --> 00:19:40.678
and on October 16, 1859, he would prove exactly
why. He warned an armory watchman as he and

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a group of fellow abolitionists launched what
would be an ambitious but ultimately failed

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raid on Harper’s Ferry. After taking several
hostages from the town and capturing the U.S.

00:19:52.009 --> 00:19:57.769
Armory and Arsenal, the raiders would be stalled
by a local militia as General Robert E. Lee

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made his way into the town to wrap things
up.

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Brown and his men had aimed to spark a local
slave rebellion, but instead, many of the

00:20:06.769 --> 00:20:12.869
raiders were killed once Lee and his Marines
arrived, with Brown himself being captured

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and later hanged for his acts of treason against
the state of Virginia. John Brown had failed

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and he had died, but his animosity for the
South was shared by far too many for the tide

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to be turned by this point.

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With the election of anti-slavery Northerner
Abraham Lincoln in 1860 to the presidency,

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enough was enough…

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Immediately after the future “Emancipator”
was elected to office, the South Carolina

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General Assembly called for a convention to
consider secession. Much to the pleasure of

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the locals, South Carolina thus voted unanimously
to leave the United States of America. Days

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later they issued a document justifying their
decision to secede, and making one dramatically

00:20:59.069 --> 00:21:06.359
important point in the process: “A geographical
line has been drawn across the Union”.

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And it truly had. 10 more Southern states
would follow suit and join the newly founded

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Confederate States of America, led by their
chosen president, Jefferson Davis. The Union

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president, Abraham Lincoln, refused to recognize
the Confederacy as legitimate, insisting that

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he wished to take no one's slaves and simply
wanted to keep the Union together. This meant

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nill to the Southerners, who were rapidly
attempting to create a unified nation out

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of a handful of states who had all made a
big fuss about state autonomy. And not just

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that, but the South was at a major disadvantage
for the impending war.

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Precise numbers are debated, but it can be
estimated that at the time of the mass secession

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and formation of the Confederacy, the Union
boasted a population of roughly 22 million,

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in comparison to the South’s approximate
9 million. Of those numbers, the Union would

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eventually enlist around 2 million soldiers
whilst the Confederates could only tally about

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900,000. Furthermore, the Northerners had
something close to 20,000 miles worth of railroads,

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which was double what the Confederate states
could claim, thus giving the Union a better

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advantage for moving troops and supplies in
wartime.

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And while its often argued that the Confederate
generals, such as Robert E. Lee, Stonewall

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Jackson, James Longstreet, Nathan Bedford
Forrest, and Patrick Cleburne gave the South

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a tactical military edge on their upstairs
neighbors, the North was surely ahead in other

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ways; like the fact that they produced around
90% of goods in the former United States at

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the time.

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But still, the Union was losing its grip on
the South. It only had limited holdings left

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in Confederate states, and it was about to
lose another…

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Fort Sumter was the last Union stronghold
in South Carolina, and “strong” is being

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generous. It was outmanned and undersupplied,
to say the least, and with Southerners now

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cracking down on Union property within their
borders, it was surrounded. The Confederates

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attempted to force the little remaining Union
forces at the fort to surrender. The latter

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refused, and the Confederates opened fire.
The Civil War had begun…