Problem: How could both the north and the south fear that the other was getting too much power prior to the Civil War? Why did the northern states feel threatened by the slave power or political power slave states held in Congress? Consider issues and events such as the gag rule, rapid expansion, popular sovereignty, the tougher fugitive slave law of 1850, the Kansas Nebraska act, bleeding Kansas, bleeding summer, and the Dred Scott court case. On the other hand what exactly did the Republicans stand for and why did southern states react by seceding after Abraham Lincoln's election? Consider the debate of the abolition, containment, and expansion of slavery.