240 likes | 243 Views
Explore the events and causes that led to the secession of the Southern states and the start of the Civil War in the United States.
E N D
Secession of the South Secession "to withdraw formally from a union or alliance” Southern individual states nullified their ratification of the U.S. constitution
Events leading to the Secession of the South • Political Sectionalism • Missouri Compromise 1820 • Missouri - slave state • Maine - free state • Entry of states into the Union have to be balanced - one free/one slave • Gag Rule of 1836 • Compromise of 1850-Omnibus Legislation • California a free state • Slave Trade outlawed in D.C. • Stronger Fugitive Slave Law • Slavery allowed in the other territories acquired from Mexico
Events leading to the Secession of the South Political Sectionalism • Despite territorial gains that emerged from the Mexican American War, Americans were more divided than ever • North denounced war as a southern project for expanding slavery • David Wilmot - Wilmot Proviso • no slavery in Mexican Territory Many hoping the Compromise of 1850 had finally settled slavery
Events leading to the Secession of the South • Kansas-Nebraska Act 1854 • organized 2 new federal territories • repealed section of Missouri Compromise • prohibiting slavery in states/territories north of 36º 30’ latitude • people decide (popular sovereignty) “Bleeding Kansas”
Events leading to the Secession of the South • Change in 2 party system • Democrats & Whigs • Democrats • needed northern candidate to win because of the number of southerners • F. Pierce 1852, J. Buchanan 1856, Douglas ? • Whigs • Kansas & Nebraska Act killed party divided sectionally • North & South too far apart on slavery issue to hold party together
Events leading to the Secession of the South • Change in 2 party system • Democrats & Whigs • Whigs & Free Soilers = Republicans • * only a northern party • tolerate slavery in south • unwilling to accept it's expansion • demand that the Kansas & Nebraska Act be repealed • central railroad (rather than northern as Douglas proposed) • Homestead Act - western lands to families to • settle 160 acres
Events leading to the Secession of the South • Dred Scott Decision 1857 • Southern dominated court • Slaves were property • Slaves were not citizens; Only citizens can sue • "congress could not ban slavery from territories” • Chief Justice Roger Taney
Events leading to the Secession of the South • The Election of 1860 • Aggressive movements of pro slave movement • frightened north • Hardened resistance in North • intensified southern insecurity • South demands - congressional slave codes “national”
Events leading to the Secession of the South • The Election of 1860 • Freeport Doctrine • legislation to protect slave property in north • Lead to a division of the Democratic Party • Northern Democrats - Stephen Douglas • appealed to North & South but ambiguous • Southern Democrats - John Breckenridge • Appealed to south - popular sovereignty • Republicans - Abraham Lincoln • Constitutional Union Party - John Bell
The Confederate States of America • Constitution 1787 (1789 9 states ratified - 4 didn't) • established government • Constitution states that states can't coin money and can’t maintain an army but can they secede? • Southern Position held that the Constitution did not automatically bind states • Individual States first . . . then United
The Confederate States of America 11 southern states seceded and formed their own country • North says no you can't leave = 4 long years of fighting • CIVIL (internal) War - settle question about whether a state can succeed • Pre Civil War The United States are • Post Civil War The United States is
The Confederate States of America • Radicals - fire eaters • South Carolinians since Nullification Controversy • South Carolina state convention Dec 20, 1860 • repeal ratification of federal constitution • 6 weeks later MI, Fl, GA, Al, LA, TX succeed • Delegates to Montgomery Alabama • organized themselves as the C.S. of A. • Jefferson Davis - President ( Mississippi)
Causes Leading to the Civil War 1. Conspiracy President Country • North Lincoln 1860 USA • South J. Davis 1861 CSA • Each side felt the other was conspiring against the other • Laws & measures that inhibited the south - DAVIS Congress controlled by north • North doesn't want to control south - south wants to expand into the west LINCOLN • Each side didn't trust in an economic or political sense
Causes Leading to the Civil War 2. Constitutional UNITED STATES VS. STATES UNITED • South - separate individual states form the union • since states formed the union they can opt out • North - the union created the states by the constitution • If the union is dissolved there is nothing • LINCOLN WAS FIGHTING TO SAVE THE UNION NOT TO FREE THE SLAVES (a political move) • Lincoln was a constitutionalist
Causes Leading to the Civil War 3. Growth of Slavery • South had 4 million slaves • Slave owners 25% • very few had large plantations • small minority of controlling whites controlled southern society • Labor intensive agricultural society • slaves imported because can't get enough whites to do the labor
Causes Leading to the Civil War 3. Slavery • Davis - the Blacks have a better condition under the superior White race “docile savages to bodily comforts and religious instruction” • Lincoln - not in favor of bringing about the social or economic equality of Negroes “There must be the position of inferior/superior” Lincoln 1858 Lincoln was a product of his own culture Freeing of slaves not a matter of equality!!! Yet he was against the concept of slavery SAVE THE UNION
Causes Leading to the Civil War • Causes Leading to A Civil War 4. Economic • Labor • South - free labor? North - paid labor • Tariffs • North wanted to protect their products artificial inflation of imports • South faced reciprocal tariffs when they exported their agricultural products South Against High Tariffs North Against Free (Cheaper) Labor
Causes Leading to the Civil War 4. Economic • North passes laws in congress because of an imbalance in voting power (ALL OF THOSE TARIFF ACTS) • 19 Free States • 15 Slave States
Causes Leading to the Civil War 5. Nature of a Republic • What is a Republic? • Representative Democracy • Freedom to choose South chooses to leave under this freedom Under another system this would not have happened!