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Record in your Agenda: Civil War unit test on Friday (things to study: life in North/South, events leading to the war, key battles/events of the war)

Get out your group’s newscast script

The Road to War

Major Events leading to the American Civil War

Slavery Caused the Civil War The issue of slavery divided the North and the South in the

1800s Slavery had existed in all 13 colonies at one point in time (the

first slaves had arrived in 1619 in the colony of Jamestown)

Individual states could abolish slavery (Rhode Island was the first to do so in 1774– before it was even a state; it was a colony at the time– most northern states had abolished slavery by 1804)

It could be outlawed in the whole country– but that would have taken a law passed by Congress.

Why did Congress Never Outlaw Slavery? Congress is divided into the House of Representatives (based

on population) and Senate (2 per state) By 1850, the Northern population was far greater than the

Southern population– meaning there were more Northern representatives in the House– and meaning that an anti-slavery bill could easily pass in the House. Advantage?

As long as the # of Northern and Southern states remained equal, then the number of Northern and Southern Senators would remain equal in the Senate– meaning there was little chance of an anti-slavery bill passing in the Senate. Advantage?

If a bill only passes in the House, but not the Senate, then it can’t become a law.

So, this is why Congress not able to pass a law abolishing slavery before the Civil War.

Keeping the # of slave and free states at an equal number was very important to slave holding states for this reason.

Missouri Compromise (1820)

Missouri Compromise (1820)

Drafted by Henry Clay of KY

Missouri enters as a slave state

Maine enters as a free state

The # of free and slave states remains equal– thus, the # of Senators free and slave remain equal

Line drawn through Louisiana Territory at 36 latitude: slavery would be allowed in new states only below this line

Missouri Compromise (1820)

Update your Concept Map!

Compromise of 1850

The Missouri Compromise was successful for about 30 years

Recall: with the discovery of GOLD in California in the late 1840s that thousands of people rushed to CA in hopes of striking it rich

The population of California grew so rapidly that by 1850 it had applied to join the country as a state

Since the MO Compromise line was drawn only through the Louisiana Territory, the question became: would CA enter as a free or slave state? (either way, CA would upset the balance in the Senate)

Compromise of 1850

Recall: the U.S. had recently provoked Mexico into war and had won a significant amount of land with the Treaty of Guadalupe

Hidalgo to end the

Mexican American

War

Compromise of 1850

Like the MO Compromise, this compromise was drafted by Henry Clay of KY

California entered as a free state

The rest of the Mexican Cession land (NM and UT territories) would be open to slavery

The slave trade was ended in the nation’s capital (Washington, D.C.)– but slave owners there could keep their slaves

A stricter fugitive slave law was enacted– obligating Northerners to return runaway slaves to Southerners

Compromise of 1850

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

In 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe (a northern abolitionist woman) published a novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Although fiction, the novel depicted the cruelties of slavery

Uncle Tom’s Cabin Stowe’s novel was

widely popular in the North– and sparked outrage in the South

In 1862 (during the War) Stowe met President Lincoln who supposedly remarked that she “was the little lady who made this big war.”

Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) The Kansas-Nebraska

Act is an example of political “wheeling-and-dealing”

Illinois Senator Stephen Douglas supported building a railroad to connect the Eastern U.S. to the Pacific Ocean

He wanted the railroad to run from Chicago through the Louisiana Territory

Southerners wanted the railroad to originate in a Southern city and not Chicago

Douglas fashioned a deal: If the Southerners agreed to let the railroad run from Chicago then Douglas would help overturn the ban on slavery above the MO Compromise line

Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)

In 1854, Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act

1. The remainder of the Louisiana Purchase land (all of it north of the MO Compromise line) would be divided into 2 territories: Kansas Territory and Nebraska Territory

2. The issue of slavery would be decided in both territories by popular sovereignty– the people in each territory would decide whether to be free or slave by voting on the issue

3. The KS-NE Act eliminated the MO Compromise line

Bleeding Kansas

Anti-slavery and pro-slavery people rushed to both Kansas and Nebraska so they could be counted in the vote

Violence broke out between the two factions

Bleeding Kansas In 1856, white

abolitionist (from New England) John Brown led a raid on a pro-slavery settlement in Kansas

In what became known as the Pottawatomie Creek Massacre, Brown and his sons murdered 5 pro-slavery men

Brown managed to evade capture and claimed he acted on the orders of God

Bleeding Congress

Blood was not only spilled in Kansas but on the floor of the Senate in Washington as well

The “Sumner-Brooks Affair” of 1856

The Dred Scott Case In 1857, the Supreme

Court ruled on the case involving a slave, Dred Scott, who had traveled to and lived in Illinois (free state) and Wisconsin (free territory)

Upon his master’s death, when he was transferred as property to his master’s widow, Scott sued in court for his freedom based on his having lived in free areas

The Supreme Court’s decision was a blow to abolitionists

The Court ruled that Scott was not a citizen– and neither was any African American (free or slave)

The Dred Scott Case

The Court further ruled that Scott was not free because he had traveled to free soil as property

Finally, the Court ruled that the MO Compromise ban on slavery was unconstitutional– Congress could not ban slavery in any territory

Raid at Harper’s Ferry

Recall John Brown from the Pottawatomie Creek Massacre

Now in Virginia in 1859, Brown wanted to start a slave rebellion

He and a small group of men broke into the national arsenal at Harper’s Ferry to steal weapons to arm the slaves

U.S. Army troops under the leadership of Col. Robert E. Lee captured Brown and his men

Brown was convicted of treason and sentenced to death

1860 Election of Lincoln

4 candidates for President

Republican: Abraham Lincoln

Northern Democrat: Stephen Douglas

Southern Democrat: John C. Breckinridge (of KY)

Constitutional Union: John Bell

1860 Election of Lincoln Lincoln’s campaign

position on slavery: slavery could continue where it already existed BUT it could not expand into new states/territories

This position frightened Southerners

As a result of Lincoln’s election, Southern states begin to secede (break away from the U.S.)

SC is first, with 11 total states by 1861