American History Hit

What Caused the Civil War? | John Brown's Raid

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Sep 18, 2025
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INSIGHT

Fugitive Slave Act Radicalized Abolitionists

  • The 1850 Fugitive Slave Act nationalized slavery by enabling capture across borders and incentivizing slave catchers.
  • This law pushed abolitionists from moral suasion toward active protection and resistance.
INSIGHT

Bleeding Kansas Foreshadowed Civil War

  • Bleeding Kansas turned the slavery debate into open violence and a dry-run of national conflict.
  • The 1850s events convinced many that compromise might no longer preserve the Union.
INSIGHT

Abolitionism Split Over Violence

  • By the late 1850s abolitionism had fractured between nonviolent moral suasion and militant Black radicals.
  • Leaders like Frederick Douglass and Henry Highland Garnet argued slavery required violent overthrow.
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