During this time, slavery was a big deal with a lot of people. When Lincoln went into election, he was against John C. Beckenridge. Lincoln was against slavery and he was for a large federal government, everything the south hated in life. The other guy was for slavery, and he was against big government. So, not many people in the south voted for Lincoln, but he WON!!! Woohooo!!!!! But, this made the southerners angry.... >:(
Abolitionists
These people would fight for what they wanted. The first guy we're going to talk about is Dred Scott. He was a fugitive slave. He tried running away, but got caught by our little bounty hunters. He was brought back to his so called owner and he was put on trial. Our next person is Soujourner Truth. She was standing up to slavery by going to Washington D.c. to give a speech. Her speech was called 'Ain't I a Woman'. You guys probably heard of Harriet Tubman she was the worker of the Underground Railroad, even though it wasn't a real railroad. I know I just ruined your whole childhood dream of going on a train that goes underground, (but you can always go to New York, and ride a subway). This railroad though led many slaves to freedom, and the only way this was possible was by Harriet Tubman and her courage. She escaped right after her owner died, and ran off north. It was perfect timing too, because she was about to go back out onto the slave market, but instead of being sold again, she helped others escape. Another abolitionist was John Brown. Now, this man here was one crazy nut head, but he also helped stop slavery. He was part of Bleeding Kansas in 1853. Bleeding Kansas was a series of battles that went on in Kansas, hence the name, against slavery. Brown went to Kansas, and started killing slave owners because of how they treated the slaves. He killed 5 men, and the whole time he said he was doing God's will. These are just some of the abolitionists that helped stopped slavery in the 1800's.
Slavery
Fugitive Slave law
Southern farmers depended on slavery. Cotton was the King of the Crops at the time, and it was very hard to grow and keep up with it. The Southerners wanted to grow it, so they were able to have money and a good economy, but they needed extra help. That, my friend, is where slaves come into place.
Many inventions were made to help with the cotton, but that just made a larger demand for slaves to work the machinery. The Cotton Gin was created by Eli Whitney to help reap the cotton faster. Sure, it helped, but even more slaves were needed. McCormick built the Mechanical Reaper which allowed more crops to be produced every year. The other invention made was the Sewing Machine made by Elias Howe. This invention made clothes a lot easier to make, and it produced clothes a whole lot faster than normal stiching. This made even more people want cotton, so they could be able to produce more clothing, and that meant more cotton, which meant there was an even BIGGER need for slaves.
Maybe we should talk about some slave laws going on here. The Fugitive Slave Law is probably the biggest player in this game of hide and seek. This law states that any slave that escapes to the North (the hider), can be found by, let's call them Bounty Hunters, (You probably know this already, but these guys right here are the seekers.) This law stated that any slaves found being harbored in the north, are to be brought back to the south and to their owners. Some people would just say a slave was theirs even though they belonged on someone elses plantation. If the slave told the bounty hunter that he didn't belong to a person, who do you think they'd believe? The owner or the slave? Most likely they'd believe the owner to get payed. That's pretty much the Fugitive Slave Law all summed up.