Major Events of Presidency:
- George Fitzhugh publishes Cannibals All
- Supreme Court rules in Dred Scott case, declares Blacks are not citizens and could never become one
- Lecompton Constitution rejected (stated Kansas would be admitted as slave state)
- Lincoln-Douglas debates over slavery make Lincoln nationally prominent
- John Brown raids Harpers Ferry and seize arsenal, in an attempt to inspire slave uprising, before being subdued and later hanged
- Democratic party splits into Northern and Southern Democrats