| A | B |
|---|
| The election of Lincoln as president | Moved South Carolina to declare immediate secession from the Union |
| The splitting of the Democratic party in 1860 | Shattered one of the last links between the sections and almost guaranteed Lincoln's victory in 1860 |
| John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry | Convinced southerners that the North generally supported murder and slave rebellion |
| The 1858 Illinois senate race | Made Lincoln a leading national Republican figure and hurt Douglas's presidential chances |
| Lincoln's rejection of the Crittenden Compromise | Ended the last hopes of a peaceable sectional settlement and an end to secession |
| the "lame-duck" period and Buchanan's indecisiveness | Paralyzed the north as the southern secessionist movement gained momentum |
| The Dred Scott case | Infuriated Republicans and made them determined to defy the Supreme Court |
| Buchanan's support for the pro slavery Lecompton Constitution | Offended Senator Douglas and divided the Democratic party |
| H. B. Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin | Persuaded millions of northerners and Europeans that the evil of slavery should be eliminated |
| The exercise of "popular sovereignty" in Kansas | Led to fierce and often violent competition between proslavery and antislavery groups |
