What caused the Civil War

Geography’s answer to History

Human geo is the center of the learning universe

Human Geo Subdisciplines

Population GeographyPopulation Geography

Cultural GeographyCultural Geography

Economic GeographyEconomic Geography

Urban GeographyUrban Geography

Agricultural GeographyAgricultural Geography

Political GeographyPolitical Geography

So, what caused the Civil War?

• Slavery

• States Rights vs. National rights

• Other

• Geographers say it was the potato!!!

• Huh? What?

http://www.amjbot.org/content/vol88/issue11/images/large/abot-88-11-14-f05.jpeghttp://www.amjbot.org/content/vol88/issue11/images/large/abot-88-11-14-f05.jpeg

Potato Origins

• -Where is the potato native?

• Bolivia, Peru and the broader Andean region

• -Where is it grown today?

• -Why is it grown there today?

Why is it grown in these areas?

Agricultural Geography

• Where in Europe does the potato grow and why was it grown there?

• Northern European countries like: England, Ireland, Germany, Poland and Sweden. (Also rugged areas of China/India)

• Potato could handle harsher climate and thrive!

How did the potato get from SA to Europe?

Columbian Exchange!

• Side Note: Where was Columbus from? (think!)

• Genoa (not Italy...Italy didn’t exist!)

• WHY didn’t he sail for his homeland?

• WHY did he sail for Spain?

• POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY

Impact of Potato on Europe

• What impact does the potato have in Ireland, Sweden, Russia, etc?

• Population explosion

• What impact does more people have on a country and its economy?

• Job shortages + Irish potato famine create a need to _______

• POPULATION AND MIGRATION

Where do you go?

• You love your country, but you can’t make it!

• Where would you migrate if you were Irish? Why? or...

• Why would the Irish want to go to the U.S. when it’s so far away?

Irish migration to US

• Industrial Revolution...the U.S. had a need for workers (Economic Geography)

• What other motives? (Cultural Geography)

• Language

• Religion (The idea of freedom of religion)

Irish migration mid-1800s

• Dramatic increase in Irish in United States:

• 92,484 in 1846 196,224 in 1847 173,744 in 1848 204,771 in 1849 206,041 in 1850

• By the end of 1854 nearly two million people - about a quarter of the population - had emigrated to the United States in ten years.

• U.S. population grew roughly 35% every decade from 1800 to 1860 mostly through immigration. Could you imagine that many immigrants coming to America today!?!

Wait a second...

• How does any of this connect to the Civil War?

• If you are a European immigrant, where in the U.S. would you go and why would you go there?

Where do you go in U.S.?

• The 1850 census revealed that Irish mainly lived in NY, Penn., Mass., Illinois, Ohio and New Jersey. WHY???

• Slave labor in South

• Factories in the North

Population/Political Geography

• European migration to the North changed things...

• In 1800, the South was home to half the U.S. population

• In 1860, it represented just over 1/3!

Why is this important?

Political Geography• The U.S. is a federalist state. States

have power in Congress based on _________

• In 1847, the Union compromised 15 slave and 14 free states, so Southerners maintained control of the Senate.

• Population growth is sponsoring Westward expansion and new states with immigrant labor, not slave

• Plus, Northern States are growing

Done..Dun...Dun...• South sees the writing on the wall!!!

But, first it:

• tries stopping transcontinental railroad. (Why?)

• sponsored 3 invasion attempts of Cuba (Why?)

• 3 efforts to seize Nicaragua (why?)

• 1 invasion of Baja California

• tried to purchase 1/3 of California

Done..Dun...Dun...• By 1860, slave states were a

minority.

• Political power had shifted to the North.

• South had to choose:

• give up their way of life or

• fight and claim that State rights trumped the Federal Government

See... I did it!!!!