During the 19th century there was a great political divide in the US because of one issue in particular, slavery. The Republican party was beginning to take over the Whig party and the tension between southern plantation owners and abolitionists continued to worsen. Many different events or movements occurred during this time and an object that had a great impact on the way slavery was seen in the North is the book Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. The book captured the reality of slavery, and how the institution was evil not the plantation owners. So what events exactly led to the Civil War?