Causes of the Civil War

Causes of the Civil War

Do Now:• Brainstorm and write as

many responses to the following prompt in your notebook: What do you know about what CAUSED the Civil War?

Agenda:• John Green• Causes of the Civil War• Unit 2 Test Analysis

Weekly HW:1. Killer Angels pages 73-1542. Last Tutorial – Analysis

What really caused the Civil War?

Let’s go back in time..

Missouri Seeks Statehood

Missouri becomes a slave state

Maine, formerly part of Mass., becomes a free state

Boundary is set to determine where slavery can exist

Missouri Compromise of

1820 –preserved balance of

power

Mexican American War1846-1848

New territory brought up an old question

Should slavery be allowed in the newly acquired territory?

Land gained from Mexican War renewed the

sectional struggle over the extension of slavery…it also threatened the

balance achieved in 1820

Wilmot Proviso

• What: 1848 David Wilmot suggested barring slavery in acquired territory from Mex Am War

• Supported in N, but not S passed House, but defeated Senate… why?

• Why? Wilmot thought it was necessary to protect “rights of white freemen” to live & work in new territories w/o competing with slaves

• Why remember? – Led to Free-soil Party (free soil, free

speech, and free men)– Southern leaders saw it as an attack

and move to restrict the spread of slavery

– Reawakened dormant sectional tensions over the expansion of slavery

To 1850!

Three Main Positions on Slavery in the New Territories

1. Free Soil Movement: all Blacks—slave or free—should be excluded from new territories.– Keep the West a land of opportunity for

Whites only.– Free Soil Party: wanted to prevent the

expansion of slavery & give free homesteads to farmers

– “Conscience” Whigs (opposed slavery) & antislavery Dems

2. Southern Position: Restricting the expansion of slavery violated their Constitutional rights to their property.

3. Moderates: Extend the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific Ocean.

4. Popular Sovereignty: a vote of the residents of a new state should decide whether slavery is extended into that state.

1848 Election:Zachary Taylor (W) beat

Senator Cass (D) because of votes given to free-soil party (Van Buren) in NY/PA.

California Seeks Statehood

In 1850, the United States had the same number of free and slave states

California, which grew as a result of the Gold Rush, wanted to enter the union as a free state, which would tip the balance in the Senate

Compromise of 1850

• Henry Clay = Great Compromiser Proposed:– The immediate admission of CA as free

state– The organization of territorial govt in

Utah & New Mexico w/o immediate decision whether would be free or slave

– Abolition of slave trade in D.C.– Enactment of stringent new Fugitive

Slave Act• Daniel Webster urged senators to

compromise “for the preservation of the Union”

• After months of debates, Stephen Douglass (IL senator before AL) passed Clay’s proposals as separate bills

Agitation over Slavery

Fugitive Slave LawPurpose: track down and capture slaves.• Made escape from slavery a federal

crime.• Right to a jury removed for anyone

who claimed to be a free Black and not a runaway slave.

Literature on SlaveryUncle Tom’s Cabin (Harriet Beecher

Stowe): revealed the cruelties of slavery to Northerners.

Impending Crisis of the South (Hinton R. Helper): Claimed slavery had a negative impact on the southern economy.

Underground Railroad• It was not well-organized.• It was dominated by free Blacks and

ex-slaves, not white abolitionists.• Frederick Douglass, Harriet

Tubman, and Sojourner Truth helped emancipate slaves during the Civil War.

These events polarized the country.

Kansas Nebraska Act1854

• Stephen Douglas proposed a bill that would organize 2 territories, Nebraska & Kansas

• NE & KS b/c of MO Compromise banned slavery

• To win Southern support, Douglas attached amendment to repeal MO Comp.

• Popular Sovereignty = let settlers decide whether or not slavery would be permitted in their territory

Popular Sovereignty

Kansas Nebraska Act Effects

• Territory of NE would be divided into 2 territories – KS and NE

• Their status as slave or free states would be determined by popular sovereignty

• The act did the following:– Repealed the MO Compromise of 1820 heightening sectional tensions

– Permitted the expansion of slavery beyond the Southern states

– Led to a divisive debate over the expansion of slavery into the territories

– Ignited a bloody contest for control of Kansas

– Split the Democratic Party– Sparked the formation of the Republican

Party

Bleeding Kansas• Slaveholders in Missouri set up

homesteads across the border in Kansas to try to influence the vote over slavery.

• Northerners created the New England Emigration Aid Company, which paid to transfer anti-slavery settlers to Kansas.

• Fighting between the two groups was known as “bleeding Kansas.”

The Caning of Charles SumnerCharles Sumner personally attacked Andrew

Butler on the Senate floor.In retaliation, Butler’s nephew, Preston Brooks,

caned him nearly to death in defending his family’s honor.

This action outraged the North, but pleased the South.

Extremists and Violence

Constitutional IssuesThe Lecompton Constitution

• This pro-slavery Constitution for Kansas had the support of President Buchanan but not of the majority of Kansas residents.

• It was eventually defeated in the House.

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates• In 1858, Abraham Lincoln challenged

Stephen Douglas, who ran for re-election for Illinois’ US Senate seat.

LINCOLN• A moderate, not an abolitionist (against

expansion)• “house divided” speech made southerners

view him as radical• Attacked Douglas’ indifference to slaveryDOUGLAS• Freeport Doctrine: slavery could not exist

in a community if the local citizens did not pass laws enforcing it.– Seen as not endorsing the Dred Scott decision.

• Douglas won the debate; Lincoln emerged as a national leader.

Rise of the Republican Party

• Democrats & Whigs formed 2-party system from 1830’s to 1850’s

• KS/NE Act killed Whig party & formed Republican Party

• “Bleeding KS” had 2 governments:– pro slavery

• Minority of pop• Democrats

– anti-slavery • Majority of pop• Republicans

• Whig party disintegrates under violence in KS joined Republicans w/ anti-slavery Dems & Know-Nothings

• Republicans

Election of 1852Franklin Pierce (D) beat General Winfield Scott

(W), who ignored the slavery issue, by a landslide.

-Pierce (NH) supported Fugitive Slave Law and won all but 4 states Whig party dying

Election of 1856James Buchanan (D) beat John

Fremont (R) and Millard Fillmore (K-N); The Republicans did carry most northern states.

Dred Scott v Sanford (1857)

Dred Scott was enslaved in Missouri; after living in Wisconsin for two years, he claimed that living on free soil made him free. His case was appealed to the Supreme Court.

Consequences:• Southern Democrats were thrilled.• Northern Republicans were shocked; the

decision caused many former Democrats to vote Republican.

• Polarized country• The ruling invalidates (repealed) the

Northwest Ordinance of 1787 & Missouri Compromise of 1820

• Big part of Lincoln-Douglass Debates

CHIEF JUSTICE ROGER TANEY’s RULING:• Scott had no right to sue in court

because African Americans were not considered citizens by the writers of the Constitution.

• Under the Constitution, slaves were private property & thus could be taken into any territory & legally held there in slavery

• Slaves could not be taken from their masters, regardless of a territory’s “free” or “slave”

John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry

• In 1859, Brown led a group of followers on an attack of the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia.– He expected to use guns to arm slaves to

use in a revolt.– Federal troops captured him, and he was

hung after two days.• CONSEQUENCES!

– Rumors of slave insurrections proslavery Southerners linked John Brown (incorrectly) to the now-hated “Black Republican” Party

– John Brown becomes a martyr (even though fails)

– Intensified bitterness b/n N & S

The Election of 1860

NORTHERN DEMOCRATS• Stephen Douglas (IL)• Popular Sovereignty and enforcement of the Fugitive

Slave LawSOUTHERN DEMOCRATS• John Breckinridge (KY)• Unrestricted expansion of slavery• Annexation of Cuba as a slave territoryREPUBLICANS• Abraham Lincoln (IL)• Exclusion of slavery from new territories• Protective tariff for industry• Free land for homesteaders• A railroad to the Pacific to encourage settlersCONSTITUTIONAL UNION PARTY [former Whigs, Know-

Nothings, and Democrats]• John Bell (TN)• Enforcement of laws and the Constitution• Preserving the Union above all

• Lincoln won 40% of the popular votes and 59% of electoral votes, more than any other candidate.

• Every southern state voted for Breckinridge.

Lincoln is elected1860

Secession of the Deep South

• December, 1860: South Carolina voted to secede.• Within 6 weeks, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas did the

same.• In February 1861, the states got together and wrote a Constitution for the Confederate

States of America– Similar constitution, but restrictions on tariffs and slavery– Jefferson Davis was president; Alexander Stephens was VP.

The Crittenden Compromise• Sen. John Crittenden (KY)• This was a last-ditch effort

to save the union• It allowed slavery

everywhere south of 36°30’ (MO Comp)

• Lincoln couldn’t accept the compromise.

Southern Reasoning• Believed they were acting in the tradition of 1776.• Said they had a right to dissolve a constitution that no longer protected them from tyranny.• Thought Lincoln would permit secession without a fight.

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