Causes of the Civil War

1. Election of Zachary Taylor

1.1. 1848

1.2. Election of Zachary Taylor

1.3. In the election of 1848, the controversy over the Wilmot Proviso led to the development of the free soil party. Democrats nominated Senator Lewis Cass of Michigan, the Whigs nominated Zachary Taylor, and the free soil nominated former democratic President Martin Van Buren. Senator Cass suggested that the people in each new territory should decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery. Zachary Taylor, a hero of the Mexican -American war won the election.

2. The Compromise of 1850

2.1. 1850

2.2. The compromise of 1850

2.3. Gold was found in California and thousands moved to the area. Soon the territory had enough people to be admitted as a state. Since it was above the Missouri Compromise line, people felt it would be a free state. This angered the south and they threatened to secede. The compromise was proposed by Senator Henry clay of Kentucky in January, 1850. He hoped this compromise would end the debate over slavery forever. This proposal produced one of the greatest debates in American political history. President Taylor opposed the compromise but died and the new president Millard Fillmore supported it. Congress passes five series of bills in September, 1850 that became known as the compromise of 1850. California was admitted to the union as a free state. Slave trade was banned in the nations Capitol. Congress declared that it could not regulate the slave trade between slave states. Popular sovereignty would be used to determine the issue of slavery in the rest of the Mexican Cession. The south received a new fugitive slave law

3. The Fugative Slave Act

3.1. 1850

3.2. The fugitive slave act

3.3. Allowed special government officials to arrest any person accused of bing a runaway slave. Suspects had no right to a trial to prove that they had been falsely accused. All it took was a slaveholder or any deprive witness to swear that the suspect was a slave holder property. The law also required northern citizens to help capture accused runaways if authorities requested assistance.

4. Uncle Tom's Cabin

4.1. 1852

4.2. Uncle toms cabin

4.3. Written by Hornet Beecher Stowe in 1852, it was a novel about kindly Uncle Tom, an enslaved man who is abused by the cruel Simon Legree. The book became a best seller in the north. It shocked thousands of people who had been unconcerned with slavery before reading the book. The book caused people to view Slavery as a human, moral problem and not just a political issue. White people were outraged.

5. The Kansas-Nebraska Act

5.1. 1854

5.2. Kansas -Nebraska act

5.3. Senator Stephen Doughs pushed through the act in 1854 which led the nation closer to war. He wanted to see a railroad built from Illinois through the Nebraska territory to the pacific coast. He suggested creating two new territories the Kansas territory and thr Nebraska territory. Both were above the Missouri compromise line and would become free states which upset the southern states. To win southern support, he suggested that the issue of slavery be resolved by popular sovereignty. This would undo the Missouri compromise

6. Bleeding Kansas

6.1. 1854

6.2. Bleeding Kansas

6.3. Both pro slavery and anti slavery settlers flooded to Kansas to try and win the majority. Thousands of people from Missouri entered Kansas in March of 1855 to vote illegally in the election of a territorial legislature. Kansas had 3000 voters but almost 8000 people voted. Of the 39 people elected, all but 3 supported slavery. Antislavery settlers refused to accept the results and held another election. Kansas now had two governments. Violence broke out. In April, a proslavery sheriff was shot when he tried to arrest some antislavery settlers in the town of Lawrence. He returned the next month with 800 men and attacked the town. Three days later John Brown, antislavery settler from Connecticut led seven men to a proslavery settlement near Pottawatomie Creek and murdered five proslavery men and boys. This started widespread fighting in Kansas.

7. Bloodshed in Senate

7.1. 1859

7.2. Bloodshed in senate

7.3. Charles Sumner of Massachusetts was the leading abolitionist Senator and made fiery speeches denouncing the proslavery legislature in Kansas. In one of his speeches he singled out Andre Butler who was an elderly senator from South Carolina who was not present when he gave his speeches. A few days later his nephew, Congressman Preston Brooks, marched into the senate chamber and beat Sumner with a heavy cane until he fell to the floor bloody and unconscious. Sumner never really recovered from his injuries.

8. Republican Party

8.1. 1854

8.2. Republican Party

8.3. The Whig party split in 1854 and many northern whigs formed a new political party called the republican party. Their main goal was to stop the spread of slavery into the western territories. The antislavery strand attracted many northern democrats and free-soil party members. The party quickly became very powerful. In the first congressional elections held just a few months after the party was created, 1854 of 254 candidates were elected to the house of representatives. Democrats also lost control of two northern state legislatures. Two years later the party ran its first candidate for president, John C. Freeman.

9. Election of 1856

9.1. 1856

9.2. Election of 1856

9.3. First republican candidate John C. Freemont waged a strong antislavery campaign and won 11 of 16 free states. Democrat James Buchanan won the election.

10. Dred Scott vs. Sanford Case

10.1. 1857

10.2. Dred Scott vs Sanford case

10.3. Dred Scott was an enslaved person who had once owned by a U.S army doctor. They had lived in Illinois and Wisconsin for a short time where slavery was illegal. They settled in Missouri. With the help of antislavery lawyer, Scott sued for his freedom because he argued that he was free because he had lived where slavery was illegal. The case reached the Supreme Court. The Supreme delivered its verdict in the case on March of 1857, three days after President Buchanan took office. Chief justice Roger B. Taney wrote the decision for the court. Scott was not a free man for two reasons, merely living in free territory does not an enslaved person free and Scott had no right to sue In federal court because African American were not citizens. Slaves were property and property rights were protected by the United States constitution. The ruling also said that congress did not have the power to prohibit slavery in any territory. Thus, the Missouri Compromise was unconstitution. Southerners were happy because slavery was spreading in all territories. Northerners were upset because slavery could now spread to the west.

11. The Lincoln and Douglas Debates

11.1. 1858

11.2. Lincoln and Douglas debates

11.3. Lincoln was chosen as the senate candidate for senators against Senator Douglas in 1858. Lincoln and Douglas were political and personal rivals. Lincoln challenged Douglas to a series of public debates. Thousands gathered to hear them speak. Newspapers reported what each man said throughout the nation. Douglas defended popular sovereignty and said each state had the right to decide for or against slavery. He painted Lincoln as a dangerous abolitionist who wanted equality for African Americans. Lincoln took a stand against the spread of slavery. He predicted that slavery would die out on its own but in the meantime Americans had a obligation to keep it out of the western territories. Douglas won the elections but Lincoln was known throughout the nation.

12. John Brown Attacks Harper's Ferry

12.1. 1859

12.2. John brown attacks Harpers ferry

12.3. John Brown was driven out of Kansas after Pottawatamie Creek Massacre and returned to New England. He began a plot to free people in the south who were enslaved. In 1859, Brown and a small group of supporters attacked the town of Harper Ferry, Virginia. His goal was to take control of the guns that the U.S army stored there. He thought that enslaved African Americans would support him. He would give them weapons and led a revolt. He gained control of the guns but troops commanded by Colonel Robert E. Lee surrounded Browns force before they could escape. Ten of Browns followers were killed. Browns was wounded and captured. At his trial, he sat quietly as the court found him guilty of murder and treason. He was sentenced to death in Virginia on December 2, 1859. Many people in the North considered him a hero. Southerners were shocked that northerners thought this about a person who tried to lead a slave revolt.

13. Political Parties Divide

13.1. 1860

13.2. Constitutional union party

13.3. The republican party split into two parties during the election of 1860 because Northern democrats refused to support slavery in the territories. Some Southerners wanted to fix the problems between the North and South and formed the Constitutional Union Party. They wanted protect slavery and keep the nation together.

14. Election of 1860

14.1. 1860

14.2. Election of 1860

14.3. Republicans chose Abraham Lincoln to run for president in 1860. Northern democrats nominated stephen Douglas as their candidate . Southern democrats chose Vice President John Breckinridge of Kentucky. The constitutional union nominated John bell of Tennessee. The election showed just had just how fragmented the nation had become. Lincoln won every free state and Breckinridge won every slave state except four. Bell won Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. Douglas won Missouri. Lincoln received 40% of the popular vote but received enough electoral votes to win the election and become president.

15. Southern States Secede

15.1. 1860

15.2. Southern states secede

15.3. Lincoln's election made the south feel that they no longer had a voice in the national government. The believed that the president and congress were against their interests, especially slavery. South Carolina seceded first when news of Lincoln's election reached the state. They called for a special convention. On December 20, 1860 the convention passed a declaration that the union saw subsisting between South Carolina and the other states followed South Carolina out of the union.

16. The Confederate States Of America

16.1. 1861

16.2. The confederate states of America

16.3. In February of 1861, the leaders of the 7 states that left the union met in Montgomery, Alabama to form a new nation that they called the confederate states of America. By the time Lincoln took office in march, they had written a constitution and named former Senator Jefferson Davis as president.

17. The Crittenden Plan

17.1. 1861

17.2. The Crittenden plan

17.3. A plan developed by senator John j. Crittenden of Kentucky to compromise with the south one last time. It was presented to congress in late February, 1861 while the south was forming its new government but it did not pass.

18. Missouri Compromise

18.1. 1820

18.2. Missouri compromise

18.3. As America began moving west the issue of whether or not slaves should be allowed in the new states forming out west the issue. The first in which this became an issue was Missouri. It's addition to the United States threatened to upset the balance between slave states and free states. In 1820, Senator Henry Clay persuaded congress to approve the Missouri Compromise. The Missouri compromise stated, Maine was admitted as a free state. Missouri was admitted as a slave state. Louisiana Territory north of Missouri's southern border was free. Southern slave owners gained the right to peruse escaped fugitives into free regions.

19. Wilmot Proviso

19.1. 1848

19.2. Wilmot proviso

19.3. Since the Missouri compromise did not apply to the large territory gained from Mexico in 1848, Representative David Wilmot of Pennsylvania proposed that congress ban slavery in all territories's that might become part of the United States as a result of the Mexican -American war. The proposal passed in the house but failed in the senate.

20. Free - Soil Party

20.1. 1848

20.2. Free soil party

20.3. In the election of 1848, both the Whigs party and the Democratic Party hoped to win by not taking a stand on the issue of slavery. Antislavery Whigs and democrats joined forces to create a new political party. It's called for the territory gained in the Mexican-American war to be free soil, a place where slavery was banned.