Causes of the American CIVIL WAR

1. Causes of the American CIVIL WAR

2. American Political System • 1787 Constitution – Federal (central) and individual State Governments. • Legislative, Executive and Judicial Branches of Gov’t. • State Gov’ts tended to replicate the Federal Gov’t. • By the 1820s almost all white males could vote. • President Andrew Jackson is usually credited with extending the franchise to most Americans. • By the mid 19th Century there were two main Political Parties – The Democrats and the Whigs.

3. The American People ELECT

4. Political System • By the late 1820s, almost all white males could vote. • Two main political parties – Democrats and the Whigs. • Democrats believed that most issues should be decided at state level. • The Whigs favoured federal government intervention. • Each was really an assortment of state parties that would come together every four years to nominate a presidential candidate.

5. A People of Plenty • 1800 – 1850 • Gross National product increased seven fold • Per capita income doubled • Population grew rapidly as a result of high birth rate and high immigration from Europe. • By 1860 population reached 31 million with over half under age 20. • By the 1840s they crossed the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains to settle the Pacific Coast.

6. A People of Plenty • Small family farms characterized agriculture in the North and South. • Steamboats revolutionesed travel on the great rivers. • The US had developed an impressive canal system • By the 1850 the canals received competition from the railways. • By 1860 the US had over 30 000 miles of track (more than the rest of the world combined) • The growth in industry led to increased urbanization – 1820 fewer than 1 in 10 live in towns and by 1860 1 in 5 Americans did.

7. North and South

8. Slavery pre- 1830 • 1776 – slavery existed in all of the 13 Colonies • It was of major importance only in the South • Nearing the end of the 1700s radical Protestants condemned slavery as a moral evil. • Other thought slavery was inconsistent with enlightened ideas which stressed liberty, equality and free enterprise. • Northern States abolished slavery.

9. Slavery pre- 1830 • Some southerners also believed to be morally wrong; however, ‘King Cotton’ ensured that slavery survived. • In 1790 only 9000 bales of cotton were produced in the USA. • In 1793 Eli Whitney invented the ‘gin’ which enabled short-fibre cotton to be quickly separated from its seed. • It became highly profitable to sell cotton and Southern farmers cashed in. • By the 1830s the South was producing 2 million bales per year. • Cotton production needed a large amount of unskilled labour. • Slave labour was ideal.

10. Abolitionists • Most abolitionists at the beginning of the 19th Century believed in gradual emancipation. • Slave owners should receive compensation. • Also that freed slaves should be encouraged to Africa • In 1822, the USA purchased Liberia on the West coast of Africa as a base to return ex-slaves. • This plan was unsuccessful, as most ex slaves saw themselves as Americans.

11. Abolitionists • In the 1830s and new wave of abolitionism came into place (William Lloyd Garrison) • Convinced that slavery way a sin, Garrison rejected the notion of gradual emancipation. • He demanded immediate abolition • In 1833 a militant National Anti-Slavery Society was established. • They were supported by Evangelical Protestants and other well educated members. • They were able to produce Anti-Slavery literature.

12. Abolitionists • Women played a key role in the movement along with free Blacks. • The impact of the abolitionists must not be over exaggerated as it only had limited appeal in the North and faced violent revolts in the South. • They were able to force the MORAL issue of slavery and keep it as a major political issue.

13. The Nature of Slavery • In 1860 there were 4 million slaves (mainly in the lower south). • 1 in 4 Southern families owned slaves • 50 % of Slave owners, owned less than 5. • 50% of Slaves lived on Plantations (over 20 slaves) • 5o % worked in cotton • 10 % worked in tobacco • 10 % worked in sugar, rice and hemp • 15 % worked as domestic servants • 10 % worked in industry

14. The Nature of Slavery – Mild View • Slaves did not work harder than most free Americans • Floggings were rare, if only because slave owners had a vested interested in the care of their property. • Most owners preferred the carrot as a source of motivation to the stick. • Slaves were reasonably fed, clothed and housed. • The fact that there was no major slave revolt (apart from Nat Turner’s in 1831) suggest that slave conditions were not so bad. • Only a few hundred slaves per year tried to escape North or to Canada. • Some slaves were granted or earned enough to buy their freedom

15. The Nature of Slavery – Harsh View • Slaves could be sold, punished, sexually exploited and killed by their owners. • Firm discipline and corporal punishment seems to be the norm. (flogged and branded) • Slave families and marriages were broken by forced separations. • By the 1850s few slaves were granted freedom. • Most fugitive slaves were severely punished. • Slaves took every opportunity to get out of slavery – The Civil War.

16. Was Slavery Profitable? • The South had little incentive to industrialize. • Slavery allowed for Cotton profits to soar. • By 1860, Slavery was flourishing in the South. • The global demand for cotton had not slowed as it was expected to. • Slavery on the other hand allowed the South to only focus on cotton and plantation life. • Forced industrious educated Southern Native to emigrate North. • Immigrants went to the Northern States.

17. Free Blacks

18. Impact of Mexican War

19. Western Expansion • As new states applied to join the Union, the key issues was whether they would be free or slave. • 1819 – Missouri applied to join the Union as a slave state. • Northern states opposed their entrance as it would tilt the Congress against them. • The Missouri Comprise – Missouri can enter as a slave state with the creation of Maine as a free state. • Also, no slavery in the Louisiana Territory north of latitude 36 30. South of that line slavery could exist.

20. Annexation of Texas • Americans settled in Texas (then part of Mexico) • Most were Southerners and had taken slaves with them. • 1836 – Texas won independence from Mexico • Most Texans hoped to join the USA • yet Northerners opposed annexation as it would strengthen the political power of the South. • Both President Jackson and Van Buren shelved the issue of Texas. • Texas was an independent Republic.

21. Annexation of Texas • In 1844, Democrat James Polk – a slave holder from Tennessee, was elected President on a platform of the annexation of Texas. • Outgoing Whig President John Tyler was anxious to leave his mark on history. • In a joint resolution of Congress, it was in favour of the annexation of Texas. • 1845 – Texas was admitted to the Union.

22. President Polk’s War 1846-8 • Mexico still claimed Texas as its own, and Polk wanted to push into California and New Mexico • Negotiations failed. • Polk’s aim was to provoke an incident that would lead to war – a war would lead to further annexation. • May 1846 – Mexican troops ambushed a party of US troops in disputed territory. • Polk asked Congress to declare war. Congress did. • Southerner and Westerners supported the war, Northerners saw it as a war of Southern aggression.

23. President Polk’s War 1846-8 • Summer of 1846 US troops annexed New Mexico. • By the time troops arrived in California, the settlers had proclaimed independence from Mexico. • In 1847, General Zachary Taylor defeated the Mexicans at Buena Vista, while General Winfield Scott captured Mexico City. • By the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) California and New Mexico were ceded to the USA.

24. Wilmot Proviso • In 1846 – David Wilmot, a Northern Democrat proposed that slavery be excluded from any territory from the Mexican War. • Wilmot was not an abolitionist, just didn’t like that Polk was pursuing a pro-Southern policy. • In supporting the Proviso Northern Democrats hoped to keep Blacks out of the new territories and that White settlers would not have competition from large planters.

25. Wilmot Proviso • After a bitter debate the Proviso passed the HoR. • The voting was sectional. • Every Southern Democrat and all but 2 Southern Whigs voted it down. • Senator Toombs from Georgia warned that if it passed Congress he would be in favour of disunion. • Failing to pass Senate the proviso did not become law. • Southerner’s warned that they had every right to take their property wherever they went. • John Calhoun from South Carolina warned that they would secede if the Northern majority did not recognise the Southern minority and their rights.

26. The Election of 1848 • The Democrats chose Senator Cass of Michigan who supported popular sovereignty. • The Whigs chose Mexican War Hero Zachary Taylor, a Southern Slave Owner. Did not run on a Slavery platform • Most Northern Whigs were prepared to endorse him as seemed the likely winner. • Free Soil Party – supported by Northern Democrats who did not like Cass and ‘Conscience’ Whigs who disliked Taylor, and abolitionists who supported the Wilmot Proviso, chose Van Buren as their candidate.

27. President Taylor • Although a slaveholder himself, Taylor wanted to act in a way that was beneficial to the entire nation. • His solution to California and New Mexico, was to have them ratify a constitution and apply for State hood. • California did and applied as a non slave State. • New Mexico did not have enough people, yet Taylor was prepared to admit them into the union. • New Mexico had a border dispute with Texas.

28. President Taylor • Southerner’s supported Texas • Northerner’s and Taylor supported New Mexico • A clash between the state and the US Army seemed imminent. • Southerners called together a convention in 1849 in Nashville for all southern states to meet. • Their main aim was to adopt some mode of resistance to Northern aggression. • Bitter divides were created in Congress. • Southerners were also enraged that Northern states were harbouring fugitive slaves and not upholding the law.

29. The 1850 Compromise • Taylor was determined not to make concessions to the South. Talk of secession did not worry him. • Whig elder statesman Henry Clay was worried and offered the Senate a resolution of compromises.

30. The 1850 Compromise • July 1850 – Taylor who opposed the compromise, died. Fillmore a Northern Whig took over. • Fillmore although sympathetic to Clay’s compromise could not prevent it from being defeated. • Senator Stephen Douglas took each part of the compromise and submitted them individually. • Northerner’s and Southerner’s voted for their preferences and moderates swung the vote. • By September all of the parts of the Compromise had been passed.

31. Rise of the Republican Party • Up to the 1850s the two party system worked to help contain sectionalism. • With the loss of faith in the Whigs and the collapse of the two party system sectionalism became a key issue and a direct focus of the political system. • Two new parties are created and fill the void left by the demise of the Whigs in the north. • The Republicans • The Know Nothings

32. The Know Nothings and Republicans • Know Nothings • Nativists/ Anti-immigration • Wanted land in the West only to be sold to Americans • Wanted there to be a 21 year waiting period on citizenship. • Attracted the interests of both Northerners and Southern Democrats. • In 1856 were able to block the establishment of a strong Republican Party • Republicans • Began as an opposition to slavery/slavery expansion

33. Kansas-Nebraska Act 1854 • The Nebraska Territory is to be developed under Western expansion. • The North is eager for the development and the South is not as most of the Territory is above 36 30 latitude. • According to the 1820 Missouri Compromise it would make this a free territory. • Stephen Douglas introduced the Kansas-Nebraska bill. • Separate territory into two • Repeal the Missouri Compromise

34. Situation in Kansas 1854-6 • Northerners thought that if slavery expanded into Kansas it might expand anywhere. • Southerners feared that a free Kansas would be another step toward the end of slavery. • "We will engage in competition for the virgin soil of Kansas and God give the victory to the side which is stronger in numbers as it is right." Senator Seward

35. Situation in Kansas 1854-6 "We are playing for a mighty stake; if we win we carry slavery to the Pacific Ocean; if we fail, we lose Missouri, Arkansas and Texas and all the territories; the game must be played boldly." – Senator Atchison of Missouri A Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company encouraged Northeners to settle in Kansas – spnsored 1500. Pro-slavers seemed to be dominate given proximity to Missouri. 1855 Pro-slavers won and ensured that the legislature in Lecompton dominated by them.

36. Situation in Kansas 1854-6 Free candidates were expelled or resigned They denied the validity of the legislature set up their own government in Topeka. In May 1856 a pro-slavery group ransacked a free state centre. This event was exaggerated by Northern journalists John Brown, a fanatical abolitionist and a few of his sons murdered 5 pro-slavery settlers at Pottawatomie Creek.

37. Situation in Kansas 1854-6 This event was described as self-defence by the Northern journalists. This led to revenge killings on both sides The Northern journalist refered to this as 'civil war'. This helped boost the popularity of the Republicans. 'Bleeding Kansas' became the rallying cry for Northerners opposed to what they perceived to be the Slave Power at work.

38. Political Situation 1855-6 • The American Party (the Whig's with a new name) were gaining strides against the Southern Democrats. • If the American Party was going to truly be a National Party it had to drop its Anti-Slavery position. • The Know Nothings were very popular in the North until a decrease in immigration. • This reduced the focus on Nativism. Also the 'KN' did not follow through with promises in the state legislatures.

39. Election of 1856 • The American Party – ex President Millard Fillmore • Republican – John Fremont • Democrats – James Buchanan • Buchanan won in the South and California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Indiana and Illinois. • The Democrats controlled the Congress. • The Republicans destroyed the Know Nothings in the North.

40. Dred Scott Case • A slave who had accompanied his master to Illinois and Wisconsin territory. • He claimed he was free on the grounds that he resided both in a free state and territory. • His case in 1857 was before the Supreme Court • James Buchanan in his inaugural speech urged the public to submit to the verdict.

41. Dred Scott Case Led by pro-Southern Chief Justice Taney the court decided: Blacks, whether slave or free, did not have the same rights as whites. Scott's sojourn in a federal territory did not make him free. The 1820 Missouri Compromise ban on slavery north of 36 30 was illegal. US citizens had the right to take their 'property' into the territories.