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Born in 1777 in Hanover Country, Virginia, he was a former U.S. senator and representative for Kentucky. Selected  by a Senate Committee in 1957 as one of the 5 greatest senators, Abraham Lincoln said he was "my ideal of a great man". Owner of a plantation, he freed his slaves by his will. He died in 1859 in Washington D.C.

Stephen A. Douglas (1813, 1861) was politician and former leader of the Democratic Party before the Civil War. Re-elected senator form Illinois in 1858 after eloquent debates with Abraham Lincoln, he was later defeated by this one in the run for presidency two years later.

Massachusetts senator Charles Sumner was an Republican abolitionists who criticized firmly a lot of Southern politicians before the Civil War. His name became a symbol for the fight in the U.S. government against slavery when he was hit multiple times by Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina with a heavy cane.

The Wilmot Proviso was a tentative proposed in the House of Representative by Congressman Wilmot which stated that every territory acquired during the war with Mexico would have been free from slavery. Voted in 1846, 1847 and 1848, failed all the times to pass through the Senate, where the southern presence were stronger.

The 1850 Compromise tried to close the debate over the new acquisition after the Mexican-American War (1846-48). It redefined the boundaries of Texas, admitted California as a free state and applied popular sovereignty over the new territories, which meant that the people living in the state would have decided whether to have or not slavery. It also abolished slave trade in Washington D.C. (but not slavery). The compromise was mainly promoted by Whig Senator Henry Clay.

The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 stated that hunters looking for escaped slaves could seek for them anywhere in the United States, and prohibited people from aiding escaped slaves. This law not only threatened more black slaves, but also those who were free.

Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) was a writer that published more than 30 books in which she expressed her anti-slavery ideas. Her best selling book was Uncle Tom's Cabin, a masterpiece and milestone in the war against slavery.

The 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act was a law that stated that in the newly formed states of Kansas and Nebraska the people living there would have to decided weather or not to accept slavery. Eventually, the act brought with it a lot of clashes, like what is known as "bleeding Kansas", where pro and anti slavery  supporters battled against one another.

Uncle Tom's Cabin was a novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe and published in 1852. It is the main anti-slavery novel of this period and a masterpiece of American literature. It describes the life of a black slave, faithful in is white owner. The novel is said to have inspired many abolitionists sentiments in the U.S. and that it played a major role in the begging of the Civil War.

In the night of May 24, 1856, John Brown, an anti-slavery activist, and his band raided the pro-slavery town of Pottawatomie Creek killing many people, of which five were brutally beheaded by Brown itself. It's one of the most violent events during what is known as Bleeding Kansas.

The Lecompton Constitution was a proposed constitution for Kansas presented by pro-slavery activists. It allowed slavery in Kansas, excluded free black men from living in Kansas and allowed only white U.S. men to vote. It was rejected by resident in 1858.

Dred scott was an African American enslaved who tried to sue his owner in order to obtain the liberty, for the fact that he was married to a free woman and that he lived for some years in free states. In his famous court case, the Supreme Court stated that he couldn't suit for the fact that no one with African ancestry had the U.S. citizenship.

john Brown was a Northern activist who believed that an armed insurrection was the only way to eliminate slavery from the United States. Between his most famous actions, he was involved in what is known as Bleeding Kansas with events like the Pottawatomie Massacre, and is remembered for the capture of the federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry in 1859, where he was captured and sentenced to death.

Harper's Ferry is remembered in the pre-Civil War clashes that characterized the United States for his importance. In this little town, John Brown, a Northern activist, and 21 companions captured the federal arsenal, killing many people, before being stopped by U.S. troops and later sentenced to death.

The Constitutional Union Party was a party founded in 1960 from former Whigs and some Southern Democrats who wanted to avoid secessionism over the slavery issue. The creators were  Robert Toombs, Alexander Stephens, and Howell Cobb.

In April 12, 1861 began the first event that started the American Civil War. After the secession of Southern States into the Confederacy, Union soldiers in Charlstone, Shouth Carolina, found themselves trapped in Fort Sumter under the command of Robert Anderson. The crisis involved shot from both sides, but eventually ended with Anderson surrender and no man killed.