What caused the Civil War?

1. What caused the Civil War?

2. True or False? Only 25% of the whites in the South owned slaves. Only 7% of Confederate Soldiers owned slaves. The vast majority of slaves taken out of Africa were sold by other Africans. Famous northern generals such as Grant and Sherman owned slaves. The most famous Confederate Generals did not own slaves. Over 10,000 blacks willingly fought for the Confederate army. Over 3,000 free blacks in Louisiana and South Carolina owned slaves. The Civil War is far more complicated than you first thought.

3. Key Questions Can one government successfully rule two vastly different sections of a country? Are state governments better at serving the citizens than a federal government? (i.e. should state governments be more powerful than the federal government? Should states be allowed to nullify harmful federal laws? Is it legal for a state to secede from the U.S.? Are states without slavery more prosperous that states with slavery? Etc…..

4. Events Preceding Civil War • Northwest Ordinance (1787) – Prohibited slavery in the Northwest Territory • 1808 – International Slave Trade banned • Missouri Compromise (1820) • Engineered by Henry Clay • Senate tied with 11 slave and 11 free states • Missouri would be admitted as a slave state • Maine would be admitted as a free state • Slavery would be prohibited above the 36º 30’ line (north)

5. b • Nullification Crisis (1832-33) • Tariffs favored Northern manufacturers and hurt Southern planters • “Nullification” created by John Calhoun (states could abolish or nullify federal laws) • South Carolina threatens secession • Compromise tariff drafted by Henry Clay • Wilmot Proviso (1847) – plan that would prohibit slavery in the territory gained from Mexico (southwest ordinance)

6. Handout Questions Name the parties (3) and candidates (2) running for president in 1848, who won? Name the parties(2) and candidates (2) running for president in 1852, who won? Name the parties (3) and candidates (3) running for president in 1856, who won?

7. Bell Ringer Who was known as the Great Compromiser? What is another word for nullify? What does it mean to secede? Why did the South hate tariffs? How many slave states and free states were there after the Missouri Compromise? What is abolition?

8. Compromise of 1850 • Created by Henry Clay (with the help of Stephen Douglas) • California admitted as a free state • Western territories organized without mention of slavery • Abolished slave trade in Washington D.C. • Fugitive Slave Law- Made it illegal to help slaves escape

9. Underground Railroad (1830-1860) • Led by Harriet Tubman • System of houses (“stations”) and secret routes to help slaves escape • Abolition Movement – groups in the North opposing slavery • Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) • Book by Harriet Beecher Stowe • Contained stories she had heard from runaway slaves • Convinced many Northerners of the evil of slavery

11. Popular sovereignty – allowed citizens of a state to decide whether or not it would allow slavery • Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) • Repealed the Missouri Compromise • Allowed both territories to use “popular sovereignty” • “Bleeding Kansas” – wars fought in Kansas between pro-slavery and anti-slavery groups • Created by Stephen Douglas

12. Bell Ringer Who won the election of 1848? Who won the election of 1852? In what year was the Wilmot Proviso? Name to two different groups of Whigs. What was a “fire eater?” What was a “doughface?”

13. Republican Party formed (1854) • Platform: Stop the spread of slavery • Dred Scott Decision (1857) • Dred Scott v. Sanford • Slave named Dred Scott claimed freedom because his owner took him to a free state • Court ruled that slaves were “property” • Constitution and citizenship did not apply to slaves and free blacks • Congress had no right to restrict slavery from territories (UNCONSTITUTIONAL)

14. Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1858) Abe Lincoln vs. Stephen Douglas • Both running for U.S. Senator from Illinois • Debates based on slavery and state issues • Douglas (Democrat) argued for popular sovereignty • Lincoln (Republican) argued against expanding slavery • Douglas wins election • Lincoln: “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” • Freeport Doctrine – (Stephen Douglas) • stated that “free” states could still discourage slavery by refusing to pass laws that protect slavery

15. Bell Ringer • Why were Lincoln and Douglas debating? • What happened to Dred Scott? • What party was Lincoln from? • What did the Supreme Court say about laws like the Missouri Compromise and the NW Ordinance, which restricted slavery from certain territories? • How did the South feel about the Republican Party?

16. John Brown’s Raid (1859) • Brown and his followers try to start slave revolution (Harper’s Ferry, VA) • Brown was quickly tried and hanged

17. Election of 1860 • Stephen Douglas (Northern Democrat) – favored popular sovereignty • John Breckenridge (Southern Democrat) – favored Dred Scott Decision • John Bell (Constitutional Union Party) – goal was to keep Union together • Abraham Lincoln (Republican) – stop the expansion of slavery • Lincoln wins • December 1860 – South Carolina secedes (withdraws) • By February 1861, seven states are seceding

19. February 4, 1861 – “Confederate States of America” is established • Jefferson Davis chosen as President • April 12, 1861 – Confederates bombard Ft. Sumter, SC; Civil War begins • CONFEDERATE STATES – South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina • BORDER STATES – (Slave states still in the Union) Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri and later, West Virginia (broke from Virginia, June 1861; became a state June 1863)