Issues Leading to the Civil War Standard SS8H6a. Economy 1800s NORTH Factories –Produced finished goods Paid workers SOUTH Agriculture –Produced mainly.

Issues Leading to the Civil War

Standard SS8H6a

Economy 1800sNORTH

•Factories– Produced finished

goods• Paid workers

SOUTH•Agriculture

– Produced mainly cotton• Slaves

States’ Rights• States’ Rights

– States are sovereign (subject to no higher power except for those specifically granted by the U.S. Constitution)

• South – favored (supported) states’ rights • North – opposed (against) states’ rights.

• The South nullified (declared unconstitutional and ignored) the tariffs (taxes) of 1828 & 1832. – South Carolina discussed succession (breaking away from

the U.S.)

• Georgians were split over the issue.

Nullification

• Southern states had fewer factories and therefore bought many manufactured goods from foreign countries.

• Congress passed a tariff in 1828 that many southern states opposed and threatened to nullify

• To nullify means to make void or to deprive of value or effectiveness.

• South Carolina threatened to secede from the Union in 1832 due to high tariffs– Vice President John C.

Calhoun of SC stated: “Southern states believed in states’ rights and that states had a right to nullify any federal law that they thought was unconstitutional”

The Unoccupied West

• The North & South argued about how to use unoccupied territory (land that had not become a state yet) in the West.

• The South wanted to distribute western lands as cheaply as possible; more agrarian & rural.

• The North wanted to sell the land at a high price; more industrial & urban.

Slavery Divides The Nation

• As more western territories became states, would they represent slavery or freedom?

• After Alabama became a state in 1819 (slave state), there were an equal number of slave and free states (11). – The North was upset.

• Missouri Compromise (1820) – Congress stated that Missouri would be admitted as a

“slave” state &Maine would be admitted as a “free”. Also, slavery would be prohibited north of latitude 36 30’.

– Keeps the balance of free & slave states equal

Missouri Compromise

Compromise of 1850

Benefits for the North

• California admitted to the Union as a free state

• Slave trading ended in Washington, D.C.

• Texas gives up idea of annexing New Mexico takes that territory away from a slave state

Benefits for the South

• The territories of New Mexico & Utah would determine whether they wanted to be slave or free

• Residents of D.C. could keep the slaves they had

• Congress would pass a law (Fugitive Slave Act) stating that runaway slaves would be returned to their owner

Georgia Platform• Many Georgian’s were not happy with

Compromise of 1850

• The Georgia Platform was a statement that urged citizens to accept it to preserve the Union– Howell Cobb, Alexander Stephens & Robert Toombs

• States’ Rights party formed – protest accepting any compromise until Congress

agrees to protect slavery & state’s rights

Kansas-Nebraska Act• 1854, Stephen Douglas

(Illinois) got the Kansas-Nebraska Act passed

• Created territories of Kansas & Nebraska

• Each state could decide to be Free or Slave state

• This changes the Missouri Compromise the North is angered

• Kansas = Slave state• Nebraska = Free state

• Bloody Fighting breaks out between Free soilers & Pro-slavery people– “Bleeding Kansas”

• Congress accepts Nebraska as a state but denies Kansas– Southern states realize

Northern votes can keep slave states from the Union

Dred Scott Case• The case went to the

Supreme Ct.

• The Court said:1. Scott could not sue

b/c he was a slave and slaves were not citizens

2. Congress could not stop slavery in states

• This issue further divides North & South

• Dred Scott was born into slavery in Missouri– He went on a trip with his

owner took him to Illinois (f) then to Wisconsin (f)

• After returning from the trip, his owner died.

• Scott sued his owner’s wife for his freedom

Election of 1860• 4 Candidates emerged

– New Republican Party• Abraham Lincoln

– Democrats• Northern Dems support

Stephen Douglas

• Southern Dems support John Breckenridge

– Constitutional Union Party

• John Bell of Kentucky

• Abraham Lincoln– Against slavery, but will not

try to remove it from south– Supports protective tariff– Wants to give free land in

the west to settlers– Supports building the

Transcontinental Railroad with one end in the north and the other out west.

• To the South, the Republicans & Lincoln appear to be against everything the south wants

Election of 1860 – Lincoln, Douglas, Breckenridge & Bell

Election Results 1860• http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/national.ph

p?year=1860

Debate over GA secession & Alexander Stephens

• Immediately after Lincoln’s election, Georgians began to discuss secession– Most Georgians

support the Union, but more strongly support State’s Rights

• Alexander Stephens argues strongly against secession

• Gov. Joe Brown, Robert Toombs & Thomas Cobb strongly support secession and outweigh Stephens’ pleas

The Union Breaks• South Carolina secedes

in Dec. 1860

• Georgia secedes in Jan. 1861

• Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas all secede by Feb. 1861

• Confederate States of America formed, Feb. 4, 1861– Jefferson Davis

(Mississippi) elected President

– Alexander Stephens elected Vice President

• against secession now VP?!?!

– Robert Toombs named Secretary of State