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Unit 7: Antebellum Period Part III SS8H6a: Explain the importance of key issues and events that led to the Civil War; include slavery, states’ rights, nullification, Missouri Compromise, Compromise of 1850, the Georgia Platform, Kansas-Nebraska Act, Dred Scott case, Election of 1860, the debate over secession in Georgia, and the role of Alexander Stephens.
Issues Leading to the Civil War Name: _______________
Missouri Compromise of 1820 • 1819-USA had 22 states • 11 of those states allowed slavery in them= slave states • 11 of the remaining states banned slavery= free states • Issue = Missouri applied for statehood as a slave state in 1819…This would mess up the balance. • Result = in 1820, Congress adopted the Missouri Compromise, which allowedMaine to enter the USA as free state. • The Missouri Compromisebanned slavery north of 36°20’ latitude.
Compromise of 1850 • By 1849, California’s population had drastically increased (Gold Rush of 1848). • By 1850, there were 15 slave states and 15free states in the USA. • Issue = California wanted to enter in the USA as a free state.
The Georgia Platform • Issue = Georgians held a convention to discuss the Compromise of 1850. • Result = the delegates accepted the Compromise of 1850 and decided not to secede (not to leave the USA). • Many Georgians did not like the Compromise of 1850; however, Georgia politicians (Howell Cobb, Alexander Stephens, & Robert Toombs) encouraged the people of Georgia to accept it.
Kansas-Nebraska Act • Issue = In 1854, Kansas and Nebraska wanted to join the USA. • Result = Both of these territories could vote on whether to allow or ban slavery. • Northerners did not like the Kansas-Nebraska Act because the Missouri Compromise had already banned slavery north of 36°20’ latitude, in 1820. • Arguments and fights broke out over Kansas and Nebraska between the proslavery and free soilersgroups.
Dred Scott Case • In 1834, Dred Scott, a slave was taken by his owner from the slave state of Missouri to the free state of Illinois. • Then they went to live in the free state of Wisconsin. • Issue = When Dred Scott’s owner and him moved back to Missouri (slave state), Dred filed a lawsuit against his owner. • Result = In 1857, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Dred Scott did not have the right to sue his master, because he was a slave.
Reference Blankenship, G. and Wood, V. (2009). Georgia: CRCT Test Prep, 8th Grade Georgia Studies. Atlanta, GA: Clairmont Press, Inc.