Civil War

1. Civil War Chapter 12: The Nation Divided “A house divided against itself cannot stand” Abraham Lincoln

2. Lesson 1: Regional DisagreementsDebate over State Authority • Sectionalism became a serious problem in 1828 when Congress passed a tariff (tax) on some imports forcing goods from Europe to cost more than goods from the United States. • The tariff benefited the North because it protected factories in the U.S. from foreign competition and made it easier to sell their products. • The South was against the tariff because it was an agricultural region and sold crops to Europe and in exchange bought manufactured good from Europe. • Andrew Jackson became president in 1829 and John C. Calhoun of South Caroline became Vice President. • Calhoun against tariff and supported the notion of states’ rights (states should have final authority of their own affairs not the federal government. • Jackson disagreed and believed the federal government had the right to collect the tariff. • Sectionalism grew stronger and people remained divided after another tariff was passed by Congress in 1832.

3. Division over Slavery • Slavery divided the nation when Southern and Northern states argued whether states out west should be a free state (did not allow slavery) or a slave state (allowed slavery). • The number of free states and slave states were evenly balanced in the senate until settlers from the Missouri Territory asked to join the Union as a slave state. • Missouri would cause the number of slave states to out number the free states for the first time and was heavily debated in Congress. • Henry Clay, a member of Congress from Kentucky, was in the middle of argument and even though he owned slaves he didn’t want this issue to divide the country. • He later created and convinced Congress to agree to a plan called the Missouri Compromise . Under this plan Missouri would join the Union as a slave state, and Maine would join the Union as a free state. This would maintain the balance between free states and slave states.

4. A New Compromise • The Missouri Compromise kept the peace and 6 new states joined the Union maintaining equal number of free states and slave states. • When California asked to join the Union as a free state, the Missouri Compromise did not apply to lands outside the Louisiana Purchase. • Utah and New Mexico would decide for themselves whether to allow slavery. Henry Clay, known as the Great Compromiser, died and bad feeling between the free states and slave states turned to violence.

5. Bleeding Kansas • 1854 Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which changed the rules of the Missouri Compromise. • Under the Missouri Compromise slavery was not allowed in Kansas or Nebraska. The Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed people of those territories to decide for themselves whether to allow slavery. • These territories became center of attention when people started to flock to their regions to help decide outcome by casting their vote. • Fighting broke out between both sides. More than 200 people were killed in the conflict. This was knows as “Bleeding Kansas.” • Kansas joined Union as a free state, but people no longer saw compromise as a possible solution. • The South began talk of leaving the Union.

6. The Dred Scott Decision • In 1857 the Unites States Supreme Court decided the case of an enslaved African American named Dred Scott. • Scott asked for his freedom and the court decided no. Scott argued he should be free because he lived on free land, but Chief Justice Roger B. Taney said Scott was a slave and did not have the rights of an American citizen. Taney also declared that Congress had no right to forbid slavery in Wisconsin and that the Missouri Compromise was keeping people from owning property because it was unconstitutional. • The Dred decision made problem of slavery worse.

7. The first section of the Civil War Project: • Diagram: Create a diagram of the North and South with the title “Causes of the Civil War.” • This diagram should illustrate the differences between the North and South that caused the Civil War. Use your notes, the form “What is Civil War?,” and read pages 436-441 if needed. • Due date: Thursday, February 20th It should look like this: Causes of the Civil War Differences North Causes South Causes

8. Lesson 2: Slavery and FreedomThe Slave Economy • Some people could not make money using enslaved workers because the cost was too much feeding, clothing, and housing slaves. • In the South, slavery continued because owners had come to depend on slavery to work mines, plantations, as carpenters, factory workers, and house servants. • Slaves used to raise acres of cotton, and other cash crops such as rice, tobacco, and sugarcane. • Wealthy owners owned more than half the slaves in the South, and most Southerners owned no slaves at all. • By 1860 one of every four white Southern families owned slaves.

9. Slavery and the Law • By 1820 most people in the South thought slavery was wrong, but necessary. • 1832 members of the Virginia Legislature debated emancipation (the freeing of slaves, in their states). • Debates began because Virginians were frightened by slave rebellions. One that took place in Southampton County, Virginia was led by Nat Turner. Nat Turner led an attack killing more than 50 people, among them his owner. • Virginia voted not to end slavery. • Laws called slave codes, were where slaves were not allowed to leave their owners’ land to meet in groups, or buy and sell goods. Most slaves were not allowed to learn to read or write, and speaking against slavery was a crime. • Federal government also passed laws on slavery. • One law called the Fugitive Slave Act, which anyone caught helping a slave escape could be punished. People who found slaves had to return them to the south.

10. Underground Railroad • By 1860 there were more than 500,000 free African American living in the United States. Some born to parents who were free, some had been freed by their owners, and others had escaped slavery. • Thousands of slaves gained their freedom by running away. Once from their owners, land runaway slaves had to find a safe place. Some helped each other along the way, some sought help from Native Americans, or others hid. • Slaves sought refuge in Canada, Mexico, Caribbean Sea, or free states. • The Underground Railroad was a system of secret escape routes leading to free lands. Most conductors were white Northerners who opposed slavery or other free African Americans. • One such person was Harriet Tubman an African American who escaped slavery. • Tubman was one of the greatest known conductors leading 300 people to freedom.

11. Underground Railroad

12. Women Work for Change • Many of the people who fought for equal rights for women also fought to end slavery. • White women were not accepted as equals of men because they could not vote, hold public office, or sit on juries. • In 1840 a group of women went as delegates to a world antislavery convention in London, England, but were denied the right to participate. • Eight years later one of the women Elizabeth Cady Stanton participated in the first women’s rights convention held in Seneca Falls, New York. She wrote a statement listing women’s grievances and demand the rights which belong to them as citizens. • 1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe worked for change by publishing a novel that turned many people against slavery called Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

13. Abolitionists • Abolitionist were individuals who wanted to abolish (end) slavery. • Among first to speak out in 1860 were members of the Society of Friends commonly known as Quakers. • 1827 two free slaves Samuel Cornish and John Russwurm started a newspaper that called for equal rights for all Americans. The newspaper was called Freedom’s Journal. • Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, a white Northerner, founded a newspaper called The Liberator. Then he called for a complete end to slavery. • A well known abolitionist speaker was Frederick Douglass who was a runaway slave. Another former slave was Isabella Van Wagner who changed her name to Sojourner Truth who believed slavery could be ended peacefully. • October 16, 1859 John Brown led a group to seize a government storehouse at Harpers Ferry, to give guns to slaves so they could fight for freedom. He was caught, put on trial and hanged for his actions. • It was clear the North and South were divided especially when violence broke out in Congress when Preston Brooks, a representative from South Carolina, attacked a senator from Massachusetts while giving an antislavery speech.

14. Second section of the Civil War Project: • Underground Railroad: Create a set of ten key facts in a question/answer format about the Underground Railroad. • Example: How many free African Americans were there in the United States by 1860? Answer: There were a total of 500,000 free African Americans in the United States by 1860. • You will put these question/answers on a piece of paper that will be folded over like a little flap. The front part that is folded down will have the question and when the top flap is lifted up, you will have the answer on the inside. • Due date: Monday, February 24th