In this pivotal episode, we trace America’s descent toward civil war through three turning points: the Compromise of 1850, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the Dred Scott decision. From fragile deals to violent clashes and a Supreme Court ruling that denied citizenship to African-Americans, each step intensified the nation’s divisions. How did legal solutions fail so spectacularly? Let’s unpack this chain reaction.
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List of Sources:
Compromise of 1850 (1850) | National Archives
Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) | National Archives
Kansas–Nebraska Act | Wikipedia
Popular Sovereignty | Civil War on the Western Border – Kansas City Public Library
The Antebellum Period: What Happened in America Before the Civil War | HistoryNet
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Timeline: 1800–1860 – America | National Humanities Center
The Election of 1860 | American Battlefield Trust
Trigger Events of the Civil War | American Battlefield Trust
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