Causes of the Civil War

USH-3.1

I. Missouri CompromiseA. Missouri applying for

statehood showed the first problems.

1. It was to be the 1st new state out of the Louisiana Purchase

B. Northern states did not want Missouri to enter as a slave state.1. It would upset the balance

between slave and free states.

2. It would set a precedent that they could all be slave states

I. Missouri CompromiseC. The compromise said:

1. Missouri entered as a slave state.

2. Maine entered as a free state.

3. No slavery in any new state from the Louisiana Purchase above 36° 30’ N.

D. Southerners learned they needed to keep the balance in the Senate.

II. Wilmot ProvisoA. People saw Polk give up

land in Oregon but want slave land in Texas

B. David Wilmot of PA proposed all land from Mexico be “free soil”

1. No slave labor

2. Passed the House but failed in the Senate

a) Showed the need for a balance

III. Compromise of 1850A. California became part

of the US after the Mexican-American War.

B. When gold was discovered in 1848, people moved to Cali.1. Gold miners didn’t want to

compete with slaves so they wanted CA to be “free soil.”

2. This would upset the balance of free and slave states.

III. Compromise of 1850C. The Compromise of

1850 said:1. CA would be a free state.2. Slave trade was

outlawed in Washington DC.

3. New Fugitive Slave Law allowed catching slaves in free states.

4. The rest of the Mexican Cession got to vote whether or not to have slavery.a) This is known as

popular sovereignty.

IV. Kansas-Nebraska ActA. Kansas was in the

northern part of the Louisiana Territory so it couldn’t be a slave state.

B. The KS-NE Act repealed the 36° 30’N line prohibiting slavery

1. Done to get Southern support for a northern transcontinental railroad route

IV. Kansas-Nebraska ActC. It gave KS and NE

popular sovereignty.

D. Slave owners and abolitionists moved to Kansas to sway the vote.1. Slave owners and

abolitionists moved to Kansas to sway the vote.

2. Fighting between the groups led to “Bleeding Kansas.”

V. Dred Scott v SandfordA. Dred Scott was a slave

who sued his master after being taken to a free state.1. He claimed “once free,

always free.”

B. The Supreme Court decided that blacks were not citizens so they had no rights in the US.

V. Dred Scott v SandfordC. The Court said that

Scott was property and the gov’t couldn’t take away property.1. Any law that made you

give up your slaves was unconstitutionala) Missouri Compromise

b) KS-NE Act

c) State laws freeing slaves

D. North was angry and South was happy

VI. AbolitionistsA. Want to outlaw slavery

B. Help with the Underground Railroad

C. Stowe writes Uncle Tom’s Cabin

1. Never went to the South to see it first hand

a) Northerners are upset by the violence b/c they think it’s like that everywhere

b) Southerners are mad b/c it makes them all look bad

VI. AbolitionistsD. Abolitionist John

Brown attacked the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry to arm a slave revolt.1. His capture and trial

made sectionalism worse by scaring slave owners.

VII. Election of 1860A. Republican Abraham

Lincoln campaigned on a platform of “free soil.”1. Free soil said that

slavery should not EXPAND into the territories.

B. Lincoln won election with the electoral votes from the North.1. The South and border

states split their votes.

VII. Election of 1860C. After Lincoln’s election, SC

called a special convention to secede.1. They unanimously voted for

the Ordinance of Secessiona) It said that the rights of SC had

not been and would not be protected by the federal gov’t.

2. Six others quickly followed with eventually 11 states creating the Confederate States of America.

Two NationsUnited States of America

• California • Connecticut• Delaware• Illinois• Indiana• Iowa• Kansas• Kentucky• Maine• Maryland• Massachusetts• Michigan

• Minnesota• Missouri• New

Hampshire• New Jersey• New York• Ohio• Pennsylvania• Rhode Island• Vermont• West Virginia• Wisconsin

Confederate States of America

• Alabama• Arkansas• Georgia• Florida• Louisiana• Mississippi• North Carolina• South Carolina• Tennessee• Texas• Virginia