Why Is There An Elephant Here Again?

During the early 19th century, American politics had an "elephant in the room". No, not an actual elephant. The "elephant in the room" was slavery. Slavery was a major topic in the early 19th century. The divided opinion about slavery would eventually lead to the Civil War. But there were several events that would lead to this.

One of these events was the Compromise of 1850. One thing that was a result of it was called the Fugitive Slave law. It required citizens to help return escaped slaves. This was great for people in the South, but awful for the people in the North. In addition, the Gadsen Purchase allowed a southern transcontinental railroad, allowing more pro-slavery people to settle in the South. The Lincoln-Douglas debates in 1858 showed that some were willing to deny rights to the minorities, while others decided that it was wrong to deny the minority their rights. John Brown's raid in 1859 would show how far people were willing to go to make their point. Brown was hung for his attack on a federal arsenal in order to arm the anti-slavery settlers. These events would slowly tear the U.S in two and cause the Civil War.