Causes of the Civil War

1. Causes of the Civil War What caused brother to fight brother?

2. Henry Clay's idea that allowed Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state and Maine to enter the Union as a free state. • The Compromise also drew an imaginary line, dividing the new Louisiana Territory into two areas, one north and one south. • All of the Louisiana Territory north of this line was free territory, meaning that any territories that became states from this area would enable African-Americans to be free. Missouri Compromise

3. Henry Clay with the Help of Daniel Webster proposed this bill. • California would be admitted as a free state. • To pacify slave-state politicians, who would have objected to the imbalance created by adding another free state, the Fugitive Slave Act was passed. • The Fugitive Slave law required citizens to assist in the recovery of fugitive slaves. Many free blacks and runaway slaves living in the north moved to Canada because of the law. Compromise of 1850

4. Written by a woman named Harriet Beecher Stowe. • This book revealed the evils of slavery to a northern audience and rallied many to the abolitionist cause • By the end of the first year, 300,000 copies had been sold in America alone. The book was translated and was sold around the world. Because of her work, thousands rallied to the anti-slavery cause. Uncle Tom’s Cabin

5. The Nebraska Territory was to be divided into two units — Kansas and Nebraska. • The question of slavery, which had seemingly been answered, was to be decided by "popular sovereignty"—allowing the territorial legislatures to decide by voting on the issue. • The passage of the act repealed the Missouri Compromise and caused violent bloodshed between pro and anti-slavery pioneers living in Kansas... "Bleeding Kansas" Kansas/Nebraska Act

6. The Supreme court ruled that Dred Scott, a slave who had travelled extensively in the North, had no standing to sue John Sanford (his current owner) for his freedom. • It stated that a black man who had lived in the North where slavery had been abolished was still a slave and not a person nor a citizen and had no rights. • The decision offended many in the North and gave confirmation to the way of life in the South Dred Scott V. Sanford

7. John Brown and his bi-racial army of 20 black and white men (including his two sons) attacked the Federal Arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. • They were hoping to seize the weapons in the arsenal and start a slave rebellion that would overthrow slavery. • The rebellion failed because the U.S. army led by Robert E. Lee put the rebellion down and slaves did not rebel. John Brown was executed and was seen as a martyr in the north. • It also further divided the North and South John Brown’s Raid

8. The south promised it would secede if Lincoln was elected president. • Even though Lincoln said many times that he did not intend to abolish slavery where it already existed, but that he would not allow it to spread to the territories. • Within six months of Lincoln's election, eleven southern states had seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America. • Lincoln said the South’s action was unconstitutional and would do what he could to preserve the Union The Election of Lincoln

9. The Confederate attack on the Union Fort Sumter, South Carolina, on April 12, 1861 marked the beginning of the American Civil War. • With the booming of cannons over the harbor in Charleston, South Carolina, the secession crisis gripping the country escalated into war. • Once Fort Sumter was fired upon there was no turning back. The North and the South were at war. Attack on Ft. Sumter