Final Exam The civil war was a devastating event in US history that was driven by the controversial issue of slavery and its expansion into western territories. A sequence of critical events highlights the growing divide over slavery that would eventually lead to the outbreak of the Civil War. The Mexican American War, the Wilmot Proviso, the compromise of 1850, the Kansas Nebraska Act, and the election of Abraham Lincoln were all key moments that soon escalated tensions over slavery. While interpretations of the lost cause argue that it was for the well-being of the South's independence as the main cause, a closer look into these events illustrates that slavery was in fact the central issue. In the 1820s, various slaveholders from the South, …show more content…
Instead, the Act allowed the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide the issue of slavery through popular sovereignty. This decision backfired, sparking violence and bloodshed in Kansas in a period known as "Bleeding Kansas," as pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers clashed for control. The Kansas-Nebraska Act intensified the increasing divide and shattered the peace established by previous compromises. It also led to the formation of the Republican Party, which opposed the expansion of slavery and attracted a wide union of anti-slavery Northerners. In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected president, which became the final catalyst for Southern secession. Lincoln's followers, who opposed the expansion of slavery into the western territories, were viewed as a significant threat to the Southern way of life. Notably, Lincoln's victory was achieved without a single vote from any of the ten Southern states. In response to his election, many Southern states seceded from the Union. The attack on Fort Sumter by Confederate forces in April marked the beginning of the Civil