The Crisis of the 1850s

1. Collapse of the Second Party Sustem
2. The Process of Sectionalization
   1. The Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)(See the interactive Map; click on the map to see changes)
      1. Motivation--Stephen A. Douglas and Railroad Promotion
      2. Northern Outrage--Creation of the Republican Party
   2. "Bleeding Kansas"
      1. Civil Conflict
      2. Violence in Congress--The Brooks-Sumner Affair (1856)
   3. Is Slavery the American Way?--The Dred Scott Decision (1857)
   4. Democratic Split, 1858-1860
      1. The Lecompton Constitution (1858)
      2. Douglas's Break With the South--The Freeport Doctrine (1858)
      3. The Convention of 1860