Events Leading up to the Civil War

1. Events Leading up to the Civil War 1861-1865

2. Tariff Policies South had little industry and imported most non-agricultural goods, saw the high tariff as a burden imposed by the north. Sold most of their cotton to foreign buyer’s on credit. Southern Response – Southerners opposed tariffs because the South's main trade partners were in Europe. High tariffs on raw materials forced the South to sell their materials for low prices, while tariffs on manufactured goods caused them to pay more for European goods which the south preferred to Northern goods. West Supported the government and tariffs that created new roads and canals. They were financed by tariffs. North high tariffs help the industrial North by making their prices more competitive against cheap foreign goods. Northern Response – Northerners liked tariffs because it caused Americans to buy more American-made products by increasing the cost of European imported manufactured goods.

3. Slavery North • Illegal since the Revolution • Abolitionist societies and newspapers and Underground Railroad • Many were ambivalent to the plight of slaves/free blacks West South Fight over whether or not to extend slavery into the territories • Economic factor – Slaves viewed as property and labor supply • Maintain way of life • Considered a state’s right issue • Fugitive Slave Laws

4. Missouri Compromise and Compromise of 1850 • Compromise of 1850 – • California admitted as a free state • slave trade abolished in Washington, D.C. • stronger fugitive slave laws would be passed to help slaveholders recapture runaway slaves • Western territories would be open to slavery by popular sovereignty (voting) Missouri Compromise Missouri entered the Union as a slave state and Maine entered as a free state. This Missouri Compromise also stated that all new states entering the Union with a latitude north of the 36○30’ line would be free states.

5. Sectionalism Loyalty to local interests instead of national concerns. Different cultures and business practices existed in the three sections of the country and these concerns often conflicted. While farming was central to the livelihoods in all areas, northerners were more involved in manufacturing and commerce; capital was invested in factories and transportation. Southerners were more dependent on cash-crop agriculture, growing tobacco, sugar, or cotton; capital was invested in slaves and in overseas markets. Westernersdepended on cheap land for expansion and good transportation networks to remain in touch with eastern business.

6. Nullification Crisis/ Kansas Nebraska Act Nullification Crisis In 1828 the Tariff of Abominations was passed resulting in a higher tariff. In 1832, a lower tariff was passed but this still angered South Carolinians, led by Senator John C. Calhoun. SC. declared the federal tariff null and void within its borders. Delegates to a special convention urged the state legislature to take military action and to secede from the union if the federal government demanded the customs duties. Henry Clay proposed the Compromise Tariff of 1833. Government lowers tariff and backs down. Kansas-Nebraska Act – allowed for Kansas and Nebraska organize on the basis of popular sovereignty (they would vote themselves to decide if they would be Free or Slave states

7. State Rights The political position supporting strict interpretation of the Constitution with regard to the limitation of federal powers and the extension of the power of the individual state to the greatest possible degree. As the South recognized that control of the government was slipping away, it turned to a states' rights argument to protect slavery. Southerners claimed that the federal government was prohibited by the Tenth Amendment from impinging upon the right of slaveholders take their "property" into a new territory. They also stated that the federal government was not permitted to interfere with slavery in those states where it already existed