Creation of the Republican Party

Dear Diary,
Today I found out about the new party in Congress. I saw a man promoting it on main street in my town. Apparently people think it is time to have a political party that is actually standing up against slavery. There have been a lot more interest in antislavery than before like with the Free Soil Party. They actually have enough people to qualify as a party. The Republican Party has attracted people who believe in antislavery from all different political parties such as Democrats, Whigs, Free-Soilers, and Know-Nothings. Know-Nothings were a political group of people who raised questions about their prejudices.  The Republicans are different then Free-Soilers because they are not just focused on the lands gained from the Mexican-American War. I am really happy that there is a political party that is speaking out how about how wrong slavery is, instead of just trying to make small fixes. The party is mainly liked by people in the north, but it attracted people from all over the United States. By now, 1856, the Republican Party is big enough to challenge the more established parties.

I also heard about a Supreme Court decision about a man named Dred Scott. Dred Scott is a slave from Missouri. He sued for his freedom because his owner had taken him to free soil but still made him work. He was taken to Illinois and the Wisconsin Territory from 1834 to 1838. The Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney ruled that he was not free. The court decided that slaves were considered property and if the court ruled him free then they would be taking away his owners property without due process of law. They also ruled that slaves were not entitled to sue in courts. This case also made the Supreme Court rule that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional. The North did not agree with this decision against Dred Scott. There are people saying that we, the North, should secede from the Union. There are other people saying that the Supreme Court judges should be impeached. I believe it is not fair that more than half the people on the Supreme Court are southerners. Fredrick Douglass has stated that this decision will probably make the end of slavery come sooner than expected. I hope he is correct. Here is an image of a pamphlet about Dred Scott from one of the newspapers:

                                                         That's all for now Diary,
                                                               Rebecca

Dred Scott Decision. N.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2016. 
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        f56feecc970b-250wi>.

The Fail of the Kansas-Nebraska Act

Dear Diary, 
Today, Jeanette and I heard about how Congress was having another problem with what to do about slavery. Apparently, Senator Douglas has introduced a bill to set up the Nebraska Territory and the Kansas Territory. He suggested that the territory be organized by popular sovereignty. His idea was that one would be a slave state and one would be a free state even though this was not clearly stated in the bill. He thought this would be a good solution, but it would also let things stay equal in Congress. The Kansas-Nebraska Act was accepted a couple years ago, in 1854. 

Many people have been rushing to move to the new territories. The northerners and the southerners competing to win the state through popular sovereignty. By 1856, there were two governments petitioning for statehood in Kansas. There was a lot of tension between the two groups. Border Ruffians raided Lawrence, Kansas (an antislavery town). They destroyed homes, shops, and The Kansas Free State newspaper. I was even told about how the abolitionist John Brown, his family, and his friends had a midnight execution of five proslavery settlers 20 miles south of Lawrence. This started violence from both sides. The battles that are happening in Kansas have been called, "Bleeding Kansas." The act only made things worse than they already are by adding in the fighting to get what they want. Popular sovereignty was not a good idea once actually acted outside Congress. "Bleeding Kansas" has really made the split between the North and the South over slavery more noticeable. The whole problem out in Kansas would have been fixed if Senator Douglass had just written what he actually wanted in the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
Here is a photo of an poster about an anti-popular sovereignty meeting:

                                                        That's all for now Diary,
                                                         Rebecca

Popular Sovereignty Poster in Kansas. N.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2016.
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