why fight the civil war?. states rights the idea that states’ rights were more important than the...
TRANSCRIPT
Why Fight the Civil War?
States Rights
The idea that states’ rights were more important than the Federal Government
Relies on the 10th Amendment for legal justification
Early Examples:
Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions
Written by Madison and Jefferson
Said states could nullify (refuse to obey) unconstitutional laws
Reaction to Alien and Sedition Acts
Hartford Convention
Occurred during War of 1812
New England states met in secret to dispute the war
Considered secession (leaving the country) but the war ended
The Tariff/Nullification Crisis
Southern States disputed Tariff of Abominations
Efforts led by VP John C. Calhoun
President Andrew Jackson furious – threatened to send in troops to force the South to obey.
Slavery Slavery allowed into the United
States from the time of the Constitution.
Slavery is necessary for Southern economic prosperity and must be kept.
Slavery is immoral and should be abolished.
• Early slavery dates
1619: 1st enslaved Africans arrive in Jamestown, VA
1783: MA Supreme Court declares slavery illegal
1784-1804: NH, CT, RI, NY, NJ abolish slavery
1808: Slave importation abolished
By 1860, 3 Western countries allow slavery: Brazil, Cuba, and the U.S.A.
Missouri Compromise (1820)
Maine = Free State
Missouri = Slave State
36°30’ boundary
Compromise of 1850
California = Free State
Utah and New Mexico Territory => up to people who live there.
Fugitive Slave Law: Free States must help catch and return escaped slaves.
Kansas - Nebraska Act (1854)
Establishes Popular Sovereignty in Kansas & Nebraska Territory.
Dred Scott Ruling (1857)
Owner takes Scott to a free state (Wisconsin)
Scott sues Supreme Court states
that slaves were personal property and that Blacks are “so inferior that they had no rights which a white man was bound to respect” click for video
Important Abolitionists
Quakers - Opposed Slavery for religious reasons.
William Lloyd Garrison
White Abolitionist Published The
Liberator Called for
immediate freedom.
Click for video
video 2
Sojourner Truth
Real name: Isabella Baumfree
Freed slave Spoke publicly
against slavery Also fought for
women’s rights
Harriet Tubman
Escaped slave Worked on
Underground Railroad Saved over 300 slaves
from slavery Never lost a
passenger During Civil War acted
as a spy After war, started
retirement home for former slaves
Frederick Douglass
Escaped slave Powerful writer and
speaker. Important
narrative.
click for video
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Daughter of a minister
Wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Lincoln: “Here’s the little woman that wrote the book that started this great war.”
Click for video
1850s Presidents13: Millard Fillmore
Becomes President when Zachary Taylor dies
Whig Moderate on
slavery Personally opposed
to slavery, but didn’t want war
Video clip of M. Fillmore
14: Franklin Pierce Democrat Pro-slavery Favored the South Favored the
Gadsden Purchase – allowed for a Southern Transcontinental Railroad
Supported the fugitive slave act
click for video clip
15: James Buchanan Our only Bachelor
President. Only prospect for marriage died – perhaps a suicide
Andrew Jackson made him ambassador to Russia “because we don’t have one to the North Pole”
As the country fell apart in 1860, he did NOTHING
Often named as one of the worst Presidents in U.S. history
Buchanan to Lincoln: “If you are as happy on entering the White House as I am on leaving, you are a happy man indeed.”
Click for audio clip
Key Events:
Uncle Tom’s Cabin Published (1852)
Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Told of evils of slavery.
Sold 300,000 copies in 1 year
click for video
“Bloody Kansas”
North and South send people to live there to “win sovereignty.”
Each side formed its own government => arguments
May, 1856: Proslavery groups go to Lawrence, burn stores/houses.
Several people die in the fires.
John Brown leads group to proslavery settlement at Pottawatomie Creek.
Hacks to death 5 men. Brown escapes and hides
(for a while . . .) click for video
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Abraham Lincoln, member of newly formed Republican Party.
Stephen A. Douglas, Democrat, responsible for Kansas-Nebraska Act
Lincoln opposed slavery and wished to limit its spread.
Douglas wanted “popular sovereignty” --
Said a territory could excluded slavery.
Douglas won the election but lost popularity with many Southerners.
Lincoln became very well-known and popular nationwide.
Lincoln’s “House Divided” Speech
Lincoln gives speech to accept Republican Party’s nomination for President.
Says country must either:
Become either all slave or all free, or
Cease to be a Union of States.
John Brown attacks Harpers Ferry
Brown, with 18 followers, seized federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia.
Robert E. Lee and troops capture Brown and his followers.
Brown tried, convicted, and hanged.
Maniac or Martyr?
click for video
Lincoln elected President Lincoln wins Presidency without a majority of popular
votes. Southerners see him as a threat to their lifestyle.
Southern States Secede from Union.
Starting with South Carolina, states secede from the Union.
Form the Confederacy - a new government of Southern States.
Jefferson Davis elected President.
Lincoln hopes for peace, but forced to arm Federal forts in the South
Fort Sumter Attacked (April 12, 1861)
Fort Sumter Attacked (April 12, 1861)
Confederate cannon fire on Fort Sumter, South Carolina.
Union forces surrender after 30 hours (and no deaths!)
click for video
The Civil War Has Begun!
click for video