Events Leading to The Civil War

1. Events Leading to The Civil War

2. Four Factors of Division • Economic Interests • Westward Expansion • Slavery • Debates over the nature of the Union

3. Slavery and States’ Rights • Trying to work out issues led to a series of crises and compromises • Admission of new states – crisis • Would it be admitted as “free” or “slave” state? • Failure to settle these differences will lead to Civil War

4. United States Divided Economically The Northern states became increasinglyindustrial- based on manufacturing. They favored high protectivetariffs to protect Northern manufacturers from foreign competition. However, these tariffs are so high, that Americans cannot, for the most part, afford to buy foreign, imported goods.

5. United States Divided Economically The Southern - agricultural economy based on farming and slave labor on plantations in the lowlands along the Atlantic and in the Deep South, and small subsistence farmers in the foothills and valleys of the Appalachian Mountains. The South strongly opposed high protective tariffs, which raised the price of imported manufactured goods. These divisions so great that by 1830, many began to identify more with their region or state than the nation as a whole.

6. Slavery and States’ Rights • The abolitionist (wanted to end slavery) movement grew in the North, led by William Lloyd Garrison, editor of The Liberator, an antislavery newspaper, and many New England religious leaders, who saw slavery as a violation of Christian principles. Garrison declared, "I am in earnest - I will not equivocate - I will not excuse - I will not retreat a single inch - AND I WILL BE HEARD."

7. The Abolitionist Movement Harriet Beecher Stowe, wife of a New England clergyman, wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which showed the cruelties of slavery Best-selling novel that caused many Northerners to join the anti-slavery cause. Abolitionists received a positive response in the North Southerners were frightened by the growing strength of the abolitionist movement and threat of slave rebellions

8. The Underground Railroad • Network of roads and safe houses used to bring fugitive slaves out of the South and into the North. • Harriet Tubman was famous for her work with the Underground Railroad.

9. Gabriel’s Rebellion and NatTurner’s Rebellion (Virginia) • 1800 - Gabriel Prosser • Virginia Slave • Planned Rebellion in Richmond, Virginia • Prosser and 34 other slaves killed after their plot was uncovered

10. Nat Turner’s Rebellion 1831 Turner, a slave in Southampton County, Virginia, claiming divine inspiration, armed recruits with axes and clubs and traveled through the county, killing 55 whites in his attempt to lead Virginia slaves into freedom. Slave owners in Virginia crushed Nat Turner’s Rebellion, killing Turner and more than 100 of his slave-recruits. The largest and bloodiest slave revolt in the South

11. Effects of Rebellions • Increased white southerner’s fears of slave rebellions • Southern state legislatures pass stricter slave codes (the laws that governed lives of African-American slaves) • After rebellions, those Southerners who did harbor anti-slavery feelings became silent

12. Missouri Compromise North and South argued about whether new states would allow slavery Admission of states could change the balance of power in Congress Henry Clayproposed the Missouri Compromise (1820) Missouri admitted as slave state, Maine as free state - Equal at 12 free, 12 slave states – Senate Equal Drew an east-west line through the Louisiana Territory at 36° 30’with states north of the line free and south of the line, slave, except that slavery was allowed in Missouri, north of the line.

13. So…. • After the Missouri Compromise, it was important for Congress to keep number of slave and free states even • As long as this was true, US Senate remained evenly divided between slave South and free North.

14. But then, there’s California • 1849, the Gold Rush occurs in California when gold is discovered • Thousands move to California • California asks to be admitted to the union as a free state. • Threatens balance between free and slave states. Again.

15. Henry Clay – “The Great Compromiser” • Proposed • Compromise of 1850 • Missouri Compromise • 1833 Tariff Compromise • California to become a state. Congress almost rejected California's constitution in 1850. Southerners argued that the Missouri Compromise of 1820 should be extended to divide California in half. They would have allowed slavery in the southern region. But the southerners finally agreed to admit California as a part of a deal worked out by Senators Henry Clay and Daniel Webster.

16. Four Part Deal – Compromise of 1850 • California entered as a free state • New Mexico and Utah territories created with *popular sovereignty provision • Abolished the slave trade, but not slavery itself in Washington, DC • Stricter *Fugitive Slave law *Popular sovereignty – Under this provision, each territory would decide if they would allow slavery in their territory *Tougher fugitive slave laws – easier for owners and slave catchers to capture and return fugitive slaves

17. Fugitive Slave Law • Northerners HATED the new, tougher Fugitive Slave Law • It returned runaway slaves from the free North to the slave South • It pitted Southern slave owners against outraged Northerners who held opposite views of the fugitive slave law

18. Kansas-Nebraska Bill • Bill Proposed by Senator Stephen Douglas • Became a Law/Act when passed in 1854 • Did 3 Things Created two territories – Kansas and Nebraska Said popular sovereignty would decide the issue of slavery in these territories Repealed (do away with) the Missouri Compromise because both were NORTH of the line

19. Kansas-Nebraska Act • Northern abolitionists felt this betrayed the MissouriCompromise’s promise of no slavery north of the line • This law produced bloody fighting broke out in Kansas between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces battled each other. • Referred to as Bleeding Kansas • It also led to the birth of the modern Republican Party to oppose the spread of slaveryinto the Western Territories. The Kansas turmoil led to open warfare after JohnBrown sought revenge for the "sack of Lawrence" by murdering five pro-slavery settlers in cold blood at Pottawatomie Creek in May, 1856. In retaliation against Brown's raid, the proslavery forces killed five free-soilers.

20. Dred Scott v. Sanford • Supreme Court rules Missouri Compromise unconstitutional • Enraged Northerners – overturns all previous efforts to limit slavery in western territories Dred Scott, shown with Harriet Scott, his wife, brought suit against Scott's former owner who had taken him from Missouri into the Wisconsin Territory where slavery was prohibited. Taney's Supreme Court held that slaves such as Dred Scott were not citizens; despite the fact that such a ruling meant he had no status to sue, Taney then proceeded to argue that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional because it restricted the property rights of slave owners.

21. Southern Belief - States’ Rights • Southerners argued that individual states could nullify laws passed by the Congress. John C. Calhoun had put forth the idea of “Nullification” in 1832 in response to the Tariff of Abominations

22. States’ Rights • They also began to insist that states had entered the Union freely and could leave (“secede”) freely if they chose. (Secede means to withdraw from or leave the Union) Senator Daniel Webster responded in the Senate that Calhoun's theory of nullification would destroy the Union, saying "Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable“. Webster and Clay worked out the Compromise of 1850.

23. Election of 1860 • Northerners supported Lincoln • Southern vote was split between two candidates: Stephen Douglas and John Breckenridge • Lincoln won the election • South Carolina seceded from the Union