When the Civil War finally broke out, it was because of a build up of tension due to the conflict of slavery. The nation was divided into two sections, north and south, and the debate over whether the country was free or if slaves could be owned went on between them. Many elements were involved in the debate to alter the opinions of those arguing, and were major factors in the start of the war. These elements included the different events, people, and issues that contributed to the tension.
             Major events in the start of the war were those such as the Dred Scott Decision, the Kansas Nebraska Act, the Fugitive Slave Law, and the Election of President Lincoln. The Dred Scott Decision was a Supreme Court case of a slave named Dred Scott who was suing the state of Missouri so he would be freed because of his master's death. The court denied him his request and his rights to sue because slaves were not citizens of the country and not eligible to sue its courts. This was an important event because it helped bring slavery to an emotional level by making people in the north realize how the slaves were really only considered property. The Fugitive Slave Law also brought slavery to an emotional level. The law said that northerners must help return run away slaves. The northerners didn't like this because they felt they were helping to spread slavery. The passing of the Kansas Nebraska Act brought popular sovereignty to the union. People of the north and south started acting upon, what they felt was their duty, to influence those voting for whether the new state would be a free state or a slave state. Battles began over this and as a result came Bleeding Kansas, in which antislavery and proslavery settlers fought each other for the position of the state as a free or slave state. One of the most important events was the election of President Lincoln. When he was elected, the south was afraid he would abolish slavery. This gave them
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