Causes Of Civil War

1. Missouri Comprimise

1.1. 1820

1.2. Missouri Comprimise

1.3. As America began moving west the issue of weather or not they should be allowed in the new states forming out west became an issue . The first state in which this became an issue was missouri. Its addition to the United States threatned to upset th balance between free states and slave states. In 1820, senator Henry Clay persuaded Congress to approve the Missouri Comprimise. The Missouri Compromise stated:1. Maine was admitted as a free state .2. Missouri was admitted as a slave state.3. Territorry north of Missouri's southern border was free 4. Southern slave owners gained the right to pursue escape fugitives into free regions.

2. Wilmot Proviso

2.1. 1848

2.2. Wilmot Proviso

2.3. 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 territory 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.

3. Free-Soil Party

3.1. 1848

3.2. Free-Soil Party

3.3. 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 slave. Antislavery Whigs and Democrats joined forces to create a new political free-soil party.It called for the territory gained in the Mexican-American War to be "free soil", a place where slavery was banned.

4. Election of Zachary Taylor

4.1. 1848

4.2. Election of Zachary Taylor

4.3. In the election of 1848, both the controversy over the wilmot led to the development of the Free-Soil Party. Democrats nominated Senator lewis of Michigan, the Whigs nominated van , and the Free-Soil party nominated former Democratic President Marrtion Senator Cass suggested that the people in each new territory should decide for themselves weather or not to allow slavery. Zachary Taylor, a hero of the Mexcian-American Zachary won the election.

5. The Compromise of 1850

5.1. 1850

5.2. The Compromise of 1850

5.3. 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(leave the Union.) The compromise was proposed by Senator Henery of Kentucky in January,1850. He hoped this compromise would end the debate over north/south forever. This proposal produced one of the greatest debates in America political istoru. 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 1850.1.California was admitted to the Union as a free state.2. slave trade was banned in the Nationals Capital.3.Congress declared that it could not regulate the slave trade between slave states.4. Popular Solvereignty9the people would vote) would be used to determine the issue of slavery in the rest of the Mexican Cession.5.The south received a new fugitive slave law.

6. The Fugitive Slave Act

6.1. 1850

6.2. The Fugitive Slave Act

6.3. Allowed special government officials to arrest any person accused of being a runaway slave. Suspects had no right to trail to prove that they had been falsely accused. All it took was a slaveholder or any white witness to swear that the suspect was a accused runaways if authorities requested assistance.

7. Uncle Toms Cabin

7.1. 1852

7.2. Uncle Toms Cabin

7.3. Written by stowe in 1852, it was a novel about kindly Uncle Tom, an enslaved man who is abused by the cruel simone 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 veiw slavery as a human,moral problem and not just a political issue. White southerns were outraged.

8. The Kansas-Nebraska Act

8.1. 1854

8.2. The Kansas-Nebraska Act

8.3. Senator Stephen 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 Nebraska Territory.Both were above the Missouri Compromise Line and would become free states which upset the Northerns . To win sourthern support, he suggested that the issue of slavery be resolved by sovereignty. This would undo the Missouri Compromise.

9. Bleeding Kansas

9.1. 1855

9.2. Bleeding Kansas

9.3. Both pro slavery and anti slavery settlers flooded to Kansas to try and win the majority. Thousands of people form Missouri entered the Kansas in March of 1855 to vote illegally in the election of a in the election of a territorial legislature. Kansas had 3,000 voters but almost 8,000 people voted. Of the 39 people (legislatures) elected, all 3 supported slavery. Antislavery settlers refused to accept the results and held another election. Kansas now had town 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 attack the town. Three days later John Brown, an antislavery settler from Connecticut let seven men to a proslavery settlement near the Pottawat Creek and murdered five proslavery men and boys. This started widespread fighting in Kansas.

10. Bloodshed In Senate

10.1. 1855

10.2. Bloodshed In Senate

10.3. Charles Sumner of Massachusetts was leading abolitionist senator and made fiery speeches denouncing the proslavery legislature in Kansas. In one of his speeches he singled out Andrew butler who was an elderly senator from south caroilna who was not present when he gave his speech. 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.

11. Republican Party

11.1. 1854

11.2. Republican Party

11.3. 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. Their antislavery stand attracted many northern democrates and Free-Soil members. The party quickly became very powerful. In the first congressional elections hel just a few months after the party was created,105 of 245 candidates were el;ected to the House of Representatives. Democrats also lost control of two northern state legislatures.Two years later the party ran its first candidates for president, John C. Fre'mont.

12. Election of 1856

12.1. 1856

12.2. Election Of 1856

12.3. First Republican candidate John C. Fremont (army officer who help win California's independence in the Mexican-American War) waged a strong anti-slavery campaign and won 11 of the 16 free states. Democrat James Buchanan won the election.

13. Dred Scott vs. Sanford Case

13.1. 1857

13.2. Dred Scott vs Sanford Case

13.3. Dred Scott was an enslaved person who had once been 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 an 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 Court delievered its verdict in the case on March of 1857, three days after President Buchanan took office. Cheif Justice Roger B. Taney wrote the decision for the Court. scott was not a free man for two reasons:1. Scott had no right to sue in federal court because african Americans were not citizens;2.merely living in free territory does not make an enslaved person free,. Slaves were property and property rights were protected by the United States constitution. The rling also said that congress did not have the power to prohibit slavery in any territory . Thus, the Missouri Compromise was un constitional. Southerners were happy because slavery was legal in all territories. Northerns were upset because now slavery could spread to the west.

14. The Lincoln and Douglas Debates

14.1. 1858

14.2. The Lincoln and Douglas Debates

14.3. Lincoln was chosen as the whig candidate for senate against Senator Stephen Douglas in 1858. Lincoln and Douglas were political and personal rivals ( both had dated Mary Todd and she married Lincoln ) 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 decided for against slavery. He painted Lincoln as a dangerous abolitonist who wanted equality for African American. Lincoln took a stand against the spread of slavery. He predicted that slavery would die out on it's own but in the meantime Americans had a obligation to keep it out of the western territories. Douglas won the elections but Lincoln was now known throughout the nation.

15. John Brown Attacks Harpers Ferry

15.1. 1859

15.2. John Brown Attacks Harpers Ferry

15.3. John Brown was driven out of Kansas after the Pottawatomie Creek Massacre and returned to New England. He began a plot to free people in the south that were enslaved. In 1859, Brownn and a small group of supporters attacked the town of Harpers Ferry, Virginia. His goal was to take control of the size guns that the U.S Army had 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 surrounded Brown's force before they could escape. Ten of Brown's followers were killed. Brown was wounded and captured. At his trial, he sat quietly as the court found him guilty of murder and treason. He was guilty in Virginia on December 2,1859. Many people in the North considered him a hero . Southerns were shocked that Northers thought this about a person who tried a led a revolt against them.

16. Political Parties Divide

16.1. 1860

16.2. Political Parties Divides

16.3. The republicans Party split into two parties during the election of 1860 because northern democrats refused to support slavery in the territories.Some Sorthens wanted to fix the problems bertween the North and South and formed the costitution Union Party. They wanted to protect slavery and keep the nation together.

17. The Economy of The North and South

17.1. 1800

17.2. The Economy of The North and South

17.3. The North was industrial with factories and paid labor. The South was agricultural with large plantation and small farms. Slave labor was used in the South.

18. Southern States Secede

18.1. 1860

18.2. Southern States Secede

18.3. Lincoln's election made the South feel that they no longer had a voice in the nation government.They believed that the President and Congress were against their intrests,especially slavery. South Carolina seceded(left the United States) 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 now subsisting between South Carolina and the other states,under the name of the United States of America is hereby dissolved.6 more states followed south Carolina out of the Union.

19. The Confederate States Of America

19.1. 1861

19.2. The Confederate States Of America

19.3. In February of 1861, the leaders of the seven 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.

20. Election Of 1860

20.1. 1860

20.2. Election Of 1860

20.3. Republicans chose Abraham Lincoln to run for president in 1860. Northern Democrats nominated Stephen D as their candidate. Sourthern democrats chose Vice President John Breckenridge of Kentucky. The Constitutional Union nominated John Bell of Tennessee. The election showed just had fragment the nation had become. Lincoln wonevery free state Breckenridge won all slave states exceot four. Bell won Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. Douglas won Missouri. Lincoln recieved 40% of the popular vote but recieved enough electoral votes to win the election and become Presidet.

21. The Crittenden Plan

21.1. 1861

21.2. The Crittenden Plan

21.3. 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 Feruary ,1861 while the south was forming its new government but it did not pass.