Coming of the Civil War The American Civil

Coming of the Civil War

The American Civil War (1861 -1865)

Roughly 1, 264, 000 American soldiers have died in our nation's wars. Civil War military deaths numbered more than 620, 000 --only slightly less than all other wars combined!

Five Causes of the Civil War � Economic and social differences between the North and the South � States versus Federal rights under the Constitution. � Fight between Slave and Non-Slave State Proponents. � Growth of the Abolition Movement. � Election of Abraham Lincoln “The Civil War started because of uncompromising differences between slave and free states over the power of the national government to prohibit slavery in the territories…” James Mc. Pherson, author

Economic and Social Differences �The South, after invention of cotton gin, became largely a one crop economy dependent on slavery. �The North’s economy was based more on industry than agriculture. �The South was based on the plantation system while the North was focused on city life. �People of different cultures and classes had to work together in the North, while the South continued to hold onto an antiquated social order (planter aristocracy. ) �Morrill Tariff (March 1861)--tax on imports said to protect Northern manufacturing at the expense of agrarian South

States v. Federal Rights � Some leaders claimed the Constitution that replaced the weak Articles of Confederation ignored the rights of states to continue to act independently. They felt states should still have the right to decide if they were willing to accept certain federal acts. � This resulted in the idea of nullification, whereby states would have the right to rule federal acts unconstitutional. � The federal government denied states this right. When states felt that they were no longer respected, they moved towards secession.

John C. Calhoun, the most effective proponent of the constitutional theory of state nullification.

Western Expansion of Slavery � 1820 – Missouri Compromise – Maine would enter as a free state and Missouri would be slave. Territories north of Missouri would remain free. �Temporarily settled dispute over westward expansion of slavery, maintaining balance between free and slave states

Henry Clay (KY) “The Great Compromiser” Missouri Compromise & Compromise of 1850

Mexican-American War (1846 -1848) �War with Mexico allowed the U. S. to expand even farther west. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo added 525, 000 square miles to U. S. territory, including all or parts of present-day Arizona, Nevada, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. �Mexico also gave up claims to Texas and recognized the Rio Grande River as America’s southern boundary. In return, the United States paid Mexico $15 million. https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=tkd. F 8 p. OFUf. I : 42 -6: 06

Wilmot Proviso (1846) �With new territories comes the repeated question of whether slavery should be allowed to spread. David Wilmot proposed “ neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist” in the western territories. �The Wilmot Proviso passed in the House of Representatives, but failed in the Senate. �John C. Calhoun of S. Carolina argued that property can be taken into new western territories – including slaves.

Taking sides… �Popular sovereignty – each new territory would vote on whether to allow slavery. This concept would again open the door to the expansion of slavery. �Free Soil Party –believed that the spread of slavery should not be allowed on the “free soil of the western territories. ” Some wanted to stop the spread of slavery. Many wanted lands left open to white farmers.

� 1849 – Gold is discovered in California. There were 15 free states and 15 slave states. If California enters as a free state, it would create a majority in the Senate. Fearful southerners begin to consider secession. �Compromises were used to try to hold the union together.

Compromise of 1850 �California would be a free state. �There would be no restrictions on slavery in the Mexican Cession. �The slave trade in the District of Columbia would be outlawed. �Southerners were allowed greater power in recovering slaves who had escaped North.

Fugitive Slave Act �slave owners could point out escaped slaves and have them returned. No proof of escape was needed. �Federal marshals were required to help catch the slaves and they could require ordinary citizens to help.

Frederick Douglass , an escaped slave turned social reformer , made speeches against the new law often featured in an abolitionist newspaper called The Liberator.

Underground Railroad �Harriet Tubman – African-American abolitionist and Union spy during the Civil War who helped 300+ slaves escape using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. After escaping to freedom, she returned to the South 19 times to help other slaves flee to the North �Levi Coffin –Quaker abolitionist and businessman deeply involved in the Underground Railroad in Ohio and Indiana. His home was the "Grand Central Station of the Underground Railroad” because of the 3000+ slaves he helped escape. often called http: //teacher. scholastic. com/activities/bhistory/underground_railroad/map. htm

Harriet Beecher Stowe – wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin to depict the true, cruel face of slavery. Its publication in 1852 inflamed anti-slavery sentiment in the North. When President Lincoln met Stowe in 1862, he reportedly said, “So this is the little lady who made this big war. ”

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) � Supreme Court declared that slaves were not citizens and could not sue in Federal courts. � Declared that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional--that Congress did not have authority to prohibit slavery in the territories. � The Dred Scott decision was later overturned by 13 th and 14 th Amendments

Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) �Debate about whether to have a northern or southern starting point for the Transcontinental Railroad led to argument over slavery in the new territories. �The Act organized Nebraska as a territory and, to win southern support, proposed another state inclined to support slavery--Kansas. Each was allowed to decide the issue of slavery on the basis of “popular sovereignty. ” �The Missouri Compromise’s ban on expansion of slavery into this region was undone.

Transcontinental Railroad-completed 1869

Bleeding Kansas �Northerners rushed to Kansas to create an anti-slavery majority. People living along the Missouri border rushed over to vote illegally for a pro-slavery legislature and to intimidate anti-slavery settlements. �Two governments in KS resulted: one anti-slavery, one pro-slavery. �Pro-slavery Border Ruffians clashed with Jayhawkers (guerilla bands supporting a free state. ) In 1856, the sacking of Lawrence sparked a guerrilla war in Kansas that lasted months.

Bleeding Kansas �https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=k 3 IFMSq. Tok. Q � In a later raid on Lawrence, KS, Confederate guerillas killed 200 people and damaged $2 million worth of property in the anti-slavery settlement.

John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry � Abolitionist John Brown made a radical plan to put an end to slavery in the South: organize and arm the slaves so they would revolt and gain their freedom. � In 1859, he tried to take over the federal weapons arsenal at Harpers Ferry. The attempt failed (17 died. ) � Brown and four of his men were convicted of treason and hanged to death on December 2, 1859. � Despite the quick failure of Brown's planned slave revolt, he became a martyr for the abolitionists' cause. Although many in the North didn't agree with his violent actions, they did agree with his belief that slavery should be abolished. � His actions convinced many Southerner’s that abolitionists wanted slave-holders killed.

Raid on Harper’s Ferry 1859 Polarizing a Nation http: //www. history. com/topics/john-brown

Freedom Fighter or Terrorist? https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=jso 1 YRQnp. CI

"I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with Blood. I had, as I now think vainly, flattered myself that without very much bloodshed it might be done. ” -620, 000 will perish in the coming Civil War.

Debate Defend your position: Was the Civil War inevitable?