Mercury Rising Activity

In this section, you will view a series of events that took place in the 1850s which contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War. In it you will determine whether or not the event increased or decreased tensions between the two sides. As the temperature rises in the country, so will the thermometer you see. Events will appear on its side in either red or blue to indicate whether it increased tensions (red) or decreased them (blue).

To see how this works, let's review the events we've discussed in the resource thus far.

Interactive exercise. Assistance may be required.

Tensions Rising

The country was rapidly reaching a boiling point. People were starting to expect a Civil War. As a major sign of the breakdown of basic order, in 1856, Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, an abolitionist, was delivering an anti-slavery speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate. Senator Preston Brooks of South Carolina, rose and started to beat Sumner with his cane. Northerners called for Brooks' arrest and prosecution. Southerners mailed him more canes.

A political cartoon of a man in a cape attacking a suited man with a cane. The caption reads 'Southern Chivalry Argument versus Club's'

Source: Southern Chivalry, Wikimedia