Reasons for War There were many things that lead up to the civil war. One of those things was when the Mexican-American war ended, America got lots of territories. This posed a problem because America didn’t know whether to admit them as free or slave states. The anti-slavery movement wanted the land acquired from the war to not allow slavery, while others wanted slavery or for the territories to decide for themselves, otherwise known as popular sovereignty. Many junior officers in the war would go on to play big parts in the Civil War. Officers such as Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant, Jefferson Davis, and “Stonewall’ Jackson. The next thing was the Compromise of 1850, and the Fugitive Slave Act. The Compromise of 1850 was a series of five acts that helped end the dispute whether the land acquired in the Mexican-American war should be a free or slave state. California got to enter as a free state while New Mexico and Utah were allowed to use popular sovereignty to decide. The Fugitive Slave Act said that any runaway slave once captured should …show more content…
He said he was acting for god. He and his followers had killed 5 pro-slavery supporters during “Bleeding Kansas”. In 1859 he attempted to capture an armory at Harper’s Ferry and use the weapons acquired to arm the slaves. A younger Robert E. Lee led U.S. Marines and the raid only lasted less than 2 days. Once captured John Brown was sentenced to hanging and died. This was one of the first violent acts by abolitionists. Most abolitionists had believed a peaceful approach would work. One of the biggest events leading to the Civil War was Abraham Lincoln being elected as president. After Lincoln was elected as president, 7 states seceded from the Union. Although his views on slavery weren’t as extreme as some candidates, propaganda made southerners believe that he would ruin their way of life and drive the country into the