Bell Starter

List 3 events we’ve covered that led to sectionalism, thus leading to the outbreak of the Civil War.

Explain why you chose the three events and how you think they led to the Civil War.

Possible Answers

• Invention of the Cotton Gin• Missouri Compromise (1820)

– Balance power between slaves and free states• Compromise of 1850

– California and western areas free• Popular sovereignty- voters decision

• Nullification Crisis– States could nullify federal law deemed

unconstitutional• Wilmot Proviso

– Legislation designed to ban slavery

Goal 3: Crisis, Civil War, and Reconstruction (1848-1877)

Lesson 1

The Causes

Compromise of 1850

Bleeding Kansas1854

Kansas-Nebraska Act1854

Dred Scott v Sanford1857

Lincoln-Douglas Debates1858

Lincoln Elected

1860

Fort Sumter Attacked1861

John Brown raids Harper’s Ferry

1859

Underground Railroad

Harriet Beecher Stowe’s

Uncle Tom’s Cabin1852 Brooks

BeatsSumner

1854

Compromise of 1850

Created by Henry Clay to solve the controversy between free states and slave states

The terms of the Compromise of 1850:1. California admitted to the Union as a free

state (Favored the North)2. Strict fugitive slave law (Favored the South)

northern states forcibly return escaped slaves back to South

3. Popular sovereignty would be followed in the territories gained from the Mexican Cession allowing residents of the new territories to vote for or against slavery). This would determine the status of states in the future. (Favored the North by effectively replacing the Missouri Compromise).

Compromise of 1850con’t

4. Slave trade, not slavery, would be abolished in DC. (Favored South)

5. Texas relinquished claims on New Mexico in return for $10 million dollars used to settle their debts.

Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin

• In 1852, abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe published the world-wide best seller, Uncle Tom’s Cabin

• The book created major sectional friction

• The South criticized the book as an attack on the Southern way of life(horrors of slavery)

• The North increased its protests against the Fugitive Slave Act

• When Lincoln met Stowe during the Civil War, he said, “So this is the little lady who made the big war.”

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Underground Railroad

• In reaction to the Fugitive Slave Act, the Underground Railroad was established.

• It was a network to aid fugitives slaves to freedom from the South to the North.

• The most famous “conductor” was Harriet Tubman.

• AKA “Black Moses”

Underground Railroad

Kansas-Nebraska Act• Stephen Douglas pushed the Kansas-Nebraska Act

through Congress which called for popular sovereignty in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska.– People of the territory would decide whether to

allow slavery or outlaw it when areas apply for statehood.

• People from Missouri (slave state) moved to Kansas to vote illegally.

• A pro-slavery government was established in Lecompton, Kansas.

• An anti-slavery government was established in Lawrence, Kansas.

• Months later, Kansas was plagued with an outbreak of violence between the two opposing sides.

Bleeding Kansas• The rift in Kansas led to

violence and murders.• Abolitionist John Brown

led the “Pottawatomie Massacre” by kidnapping five proslavery men & killing them.

• Over 200 people were killed.

• A civil war broke out in Kansas.

Brooks beats Sumner• Massachusetts Senator

Charles Sumner was verbally attacking supporters of slavery on the Senate floor, especially Andrew Butler of South Carolina.– “The Crime Against Kansas”

• Butler’s nephew (Preston Brooks a South Carolina Representative) entered the Senate floor and attacked Sumner with his cane.

• Sumner suffers shock and brain damage (left him unconscious).

• Southerners applauded Brooks! They actually mail canes to him saying “Hit him again!”.

• Northerners saw this as another example of Southern brutality.

• Division between North and South grew wider and deeper

Dred Scott v. Sanford• Dred Scott was a slave

from Missouri (slave state) who lived with his owner for four years in free territory (Illinois and Wisconsin).

• When they returned to Missouri, his owner died.

• Scott sued for his freedom, stating that he should be free since he had lived in free territory.

• Supreme Court Justice Roger B. Taney (appointed by Jackson) ruled that slaves did not have the rights of citizens and could not even sue.

• He also ruled the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional -violated 5th amendment (due process)

Lincoln-Douglas Debates• The 1858 Illinois Senate race produced an important debate on the issue of the extension of slavery in the territories .

•Douglas: (“Little Giant”)did not believe slavery was immoral; believed popular sovereignty would kill slavery in time (Freeport Doctrine-no slave laws no slaves)

•Lincoln: (“Honest Abe”) believed slavery was immoral; believed legislation was required to end slavery; slavery should not be allowed to spread.

•Key to Lincoln: “I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races.”

•Douglas won the Senate seat, but Lincoln and his beliefs were introduced to the nation.

Raid on Harpers Ferry•On October 16, 1859,

abolitionist John Brown led a band of 21 men, black and white, to seize the federal arsenal (location where weapons are made and/or stored) in Harpers Ferry, VA.

•His goal was to seize weapons and give them to slaves who could then rise up in armed rebellion (slavery)

•Plan failed and Brown was captured (Robert E. Lee)and hanged.

Lincoln Elected (1860)• No Southern states voted for

Lincoln.• South Carolina was the first

state to secede the Union.• Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia,

Florida, Louisiana, Texas • The Southern states met in

Alabama formed The Confederate States of America (Confederacy) in 1861.

• Jefferson Davis was elected President of the Confederacy.

Question: Do states have the right to secede from the Union?

Fort Sumter Attacked (1861)

• The first shots of the Civil War were fired at Fort Sumter in South Carolina.

• Confederates took over federal installations in their states.• Lincoln considers this an act of rebellion and treason.

• The Civil War had started

Union or Confederacy• Union

– Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland• Confederacy

– Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas, Tennessee

• South Carolinians ordered the Fort Sumter garrison to surrender to the Confederacy

• Union refused• Confederates fired on the fort• Union ran out of ammunition-forcing commander

to surrender