 
here is the way matters stood in the late 1850"s: the south was angry; 
slaveholders were furious with northern abolitionists who wanted to take away 
their valuable slave property. 
they were enraged by the unlawful behavior of whites who helped the 
fugitive slaves escape. 
they hated the abolitionists who stirred up the slaves to revolt. 
many northerners felt that slavery in the south was none of their 
business. 
it was up to southerners to decide what they would do with their slaves. 
as a matter of fact, most northerners were so busy taking care of their 
own affairs that they paid little attention to what went on in the south. 
but there were two things that most northerners did not want. 
they did not want slavery to spread to the new western states. 
and they did not want the south to secede from the union. 
only a small group of abolitionists campaigned to free the slaves 
everywhere. 
then a civil war (fighting between people in the same country) broke out. 
it was the worst war in american history. 
let us see how this happened. 
by the 1850's both branches of congress were in northern hands. 
therefore, southerners began to rely more and more on the president for 
protection. 
a sympathetic president could be persuaded to veto congressional bills 
that were harmful to the south. 
until 1860 no president had been regarded as hostile toward the slave 
states. 
however, in that year a new antislavery party, the republican party, 
elected its candidate as president of the united states. 
his name was abraham lincoln. 
abraham lincoln was born in a log cabin. 
