Jefferson Davis
Former United States senator who in 1861 became the president of what called itself a new nation.
Montgomery, Alabama
Site where seven seceding states united to declare their independence from the United States.
John C. Beckenridge
Buchanan's vice president, nominated for president by breakaway southern Democrats in 1860.
Pottawatomie Creek, Kansas
Scene of militant abolitionist John Brown's massacre of proslavery men in 1856.
Stephen A. Douglas
Leading northern Democrat whose presidential hopes fell victim to the conflict over slavery.
Harpers Ferry, Virigina
Site of a federal arsenal where a militant abolitionist attempted to start a rebellion.
Dred Scott
Black slave whose unsuccessful attempt to win his freedom deepened the sectional controversy.
Preston Brooks
Southern congressman whose bloody attack on a northern senator fueled sectional hatred.
John C. Fremont
Romantic western hero and the first Republican candidate for president.
Charles Sumner
Abolitionist senator whos verbal attack on the South provoked a physical assault that severely injured him.
James Buchanan
Weak Democratic president whose manipulation by proslavery forces divided his own party.
John Brown
Fanatical and bloody-minded abolitionist martyr admired in the North and hated in the South.
New England Emigrant Aid Company
Abolitionist group that sent settlers and "Beecher's Bibles" to oppose slavery in Kansas.
Hinton R. Helper
Southern-born author whose book attacking slavery's effects on whites around northern opinion.
Harriet Beecher Stowe
The little woman who wrote the book that made this great war" (the Civil War).