A Divided America

(Period: Sectional Conflict)

Synopsis:

For a brief synopsis of the history of this time and period: Click Here.

Historical synopsis courtesy of A Hypertext on American History from the colonial period until Modern Times by Department of Humanities Computing, University of Groningen, The Netherlands and the former United States Information Agency (1953-1999).

Key Events:

• May 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska Act passed in the Senate, allowing these two states to have slaves when they previously couldn't.

Key People:

• Harriet Beecher Stowe - author of "Uncle Tom's Cabin"
• Dredd Scott - a slave turned free man turned slave again due to a highly criticized Supreme Court decision wherein it was decided that laws didn't affect him because he was not a citizen.