The Causes of the U.S. Civil War

Preview of Content• NW Ordinance• Missouri Compromise• Nat Turner’s Slave Rebellion• Nullification Crisis• Mexican American War• Wilmot Proviso• Manifest Destiny• Underground Railroad• Fugitive Slave Act

Preview of Content• Compromise of 1850• Uncle Tom’s Cabin• Kansas-Nebraska Act• Bleeding Kansas/John Brown• Dred Scott• 1860 Presidential Election• Secession of Southern states• Battle of Fort Sumter

Just Because….

Review of Compromises• Missouri Compromise:• Compromise of 1850:• Kansas-Nebraska Act:• Fugitive Slave Act:

• ***The goal was to keep the number of slave and non-slave states equal in the union. Each new territory that applied for statehood threatened this balance of power***

John Brown

Wilmot Proviso• Proposed to the House by David Wilmot in

1846.• “Slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever

exist” in the lands won during the Mexican-America war.

• Wilmot himself was quite racist, but wanted California to be a place where free people could work without the competition of slave labor.

• The House passed the Wilmot Proviso several times, but division in the Senate prevented it from ever becoming law.

Who is this man? Why is he significant?

Nat Turner• Lead a slave rebellion that was one of the bloodiest and

most effective in American history.• Began August 21, 1831 in Southampton Virginia.• Over the course of 2 days, insurrections moved from

plantation to plantation.• 60 whites were killed and over 200 slaves would be

executed for their role in the rebellion.• Nat Turner would escape capture until October, but would

eventually be executed as well for his role.• Instead of making conditions for slaves better, many states

tightened their laws regarding slaves.

Who is this man?

Why is he significant?

Dred Scott Decision• Was a slave in Missouri, but moved to Illinois

(free state) and to a free area in Louisiana.• Upon returning to Missouri in 1856, Scott sued

for his freedom, claiming that living in a free territory had made him a free man.

• What do you think-was Dred Scott a slave or free man????

Dred Scott Decision• This case was taken all the way to the

Supreme Court.• Scott’s master claimed that anyone of “negro”

decent could not be considered a citizen of the United States of America under Article III of the Constitution.

• The Supreme Court ruled against Scott 7-2, using citizenship as their reason and stated that the Missouri Compromise was in fact, unconstitutional.

States’ Rights• Defined as: political powers reserved for the

U.S. state governments rather than the federal government, according to the U.S. Constitution.

• States’ Rights as a cause of the war?• The issue, of course, is over slavery and as new

territories became states, would they become a slave or free state?

• Southern states believed that states had the right to choose slavery, Northern states felt that slavery should be abolished.

Sectionalism• Defined as: loyalty to one’s own region or

section of the country, instead of the country as a whole.

• North: industrial (lots of factories and railroads), urban

• South: plantation agriculture based on slave labor.

Nullification• Defined as: the refusal of a U.S. state to

recognize or enforce a federal law within it’s boundaries.

• Nullification Crisis of 1832-33 over the Textile Tariff (or what would be called the Tariff of Abominations).

• South Carolina, lead by John C. Calhoun will ignore the tariff.

• President Jackson was willing to send federal troops into South Carolina in order to uphold this tariff.

Economic Differences: North and South

• North: • Soil and climate favored small farms• Industry flourished with lots of natural resources• Large cities established (New York largest)• By 1860, 25% of Northerners lived in urban areas• Work in factories, fueled by European immigrants,

not slaves.• 2/3 of railroads located in the North provided

excellent transportation.• Children in the North were more likely to attend

school than in the South (more professional careers come from this)

Economic Differences: North and South

• South:• Fertile soil and warm climate made the South ideal

for large scale farms (or plantations).• 80% of the labor force worked on a farm• 2/3 of Southerners owned no slaves, but slavery

became a peculiar institution (part of Southern culture)

• Agriculture had been so profitable that Southerners saw littler reason to industrialize.

• Only major city was New Orleans.• Transportation was difficult and was mostly done by

water.

Abolitionists• Definition:• Major reasons against slavery:• Famous abolitionists

• Frederick Douglass• Sojourner Truth• Harriet Beecher Stowe• Harriet Tubman

Uncle Tom’s Cabin…or Life Among the Lowly

• Famous anti-slavery novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe.

• Written in response to the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act.

• Most popular novel of the 19th Century, 2nd most popular book sold behind the bible.

• “So this is the little lady who started this great war”.

Lincoln Douglas Debates

• A series of 7 debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas for the 1858 senate election in Illinois.

• Douglas was the incumbent Democratic senator, Lincoln was relatively unknown.

• Lincoln would make his famous “House Divided” speech. Douglas would promote compromises as a way to prevent war.

• “A house divided against itself cannot stand”

• Lincoln will lose the election in 1858, but will win (against Douglas again!) the presidential election in 1860.

Lincoln’s Election• Ran for president on an anti-slavery platform• Elected in 1860 without the support of a single

Southern state.• Secession Defined: The act of withdrawing from

an organization, union or a political union.• Lincoln and the North fought instead of allowing

the secession of the Southern states.• This wasn’t based on slavery, but Lincoln felt it was

his sacred duty to protect the Union at all cost.

Abraham Lincoln: 16th President of the U.S.

Jefferson Davis/Confederacy

• 1st and only President of the Confederate States of America.

• From Mississippi: military and political experience• House of Representatives-left position to fight in the

Mexican-American War• Secretary of War• Senate

• Left the Senate on January 21st, 1861 when Mississippi seceeded from the Union.

• Was elected President one month later as a compromise candidate.

Fort Sumter• Charleston, South Carolina• When SC seceeded from the union (Dec. 1860), Major

Anderson moved his troops to a more fortified location, to Fort Sumter.

• His troops only had 6 weeks of supplies remaining in March of 1861.

• The South demanded the fort’s surrender on April 11th, 1861 and Anderson refused.

• At 4:30 am on April 12th, the first shots of the Civil War began. The South bombed the fort for 34 hours.

• On April 13th, General Anderson and the Union troops officially surrendered.

Fort Sumter

What were the Causes of the Civil War?

• 1. Economic and social differences between the North and South.

• 2. States vs Federal Rights• 3. Fight between Slave and non-Slave state

proponents.• 4. Growth of the abolition movement• 5. Election of Abraham Lincoln