The south started more tension over slavery when they decided they had to expand their territory westwards and gain more states because other wise they would be out voted in congress and slavery would be abolished completely, also they needed new land to replace all the over used farming land in the other southern states. The Abolitionists were another factor that came into the tension point of slavery. People such as William Lloyd Garrison who published the newspaper, "The Liberator", which attacked southern slave owners. Making them and the slave traders out to be criminals. He and followers of his such as Wendell Phillips used these accusations against the southerners based on the fact that they said that slavery was a sin in the Christian religion and was in general, immoral. Another abolitionist that fought hard for the abolishment of slavery was Fredrick Douglass, an ex-slave who escaped from slavery and urged other black people to do so. Douglass became the "station-master and conductor" of the Underground Railroad in Rochester, New York which helped fugitive slaves escape to the north since the southerners had congress pass the Fugitive Slaves Act in 1850. This act meant that all American citizens had to help recapture fugitive slaves and that all Negroes were assumed slaves unless they could prove they were free. Douglass also established the abolitionist newspaper North Star, which he edited until 1860. Books such as Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, which was published 1852 helped to strengthen the anti-slavery feeling in the North. Finally as one historian described the figure, "that was the single most important factor on bringing on the war", was the most extreme abolitionist, John Brown. Brown believed that he was "an agent of God" and dedicated his life to the abolishment of slavery and believed the way to achieve it was by using force. He was a member of the radicals, who tried to abolish slavery by defying the law and not a member of the gradualists who tried to abolish slavery through legal means.
