Documentary Review: Civil War: America Divided: Two Nations

This documentary does a good job of explaining just how divided the country was before the Civil War.  The Mexican American War proved a training ground for Civil War officers.  However it resulted in a dilemma, What to do with the territory gained as a result of the war.  This territory covers California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, most of New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming.  Should the territories by slave or free.  Kansas was one of the places where this decision turned bloody.  John Brown took advantage of the situation to carry out bloody murders.  However Southern sympathizers, many from Missouri, performed their own acts of bloodshed.  John Brown found he took his act too far when he attacked the arsenal at harper's Ferry.  He was captured and hung.  two of his sons died in their capture.  The election of 1860 was really a two part election.  Abraham Lincoln  (Republican) and Stephen Douglas (Democrat) competed in the North.  John Bell (Constitutional Union) and John Breckinridge (Southern Democrat) campaigned in the South.  Lincoln won by taking the entire North.  He was not even on the ballot in many Southern states.
His election spurred the South to action, and many states seceded even before Lincoln took office.  The stage was set for war.