Causes of the Civil War..

1. Lincoln was chosen as the elected candidates 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. Newspaper 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 predicted that slavery would die out on its own but in the meantime Americans had an obligation to keep out of the western territories. Douglas won the elections but Lincoln was now known though out the nation.

2. The Wilmot Proviso

2.1. 1848

2.1.1. Since the Missouri Compromise did not apply to the large territory gained from Mexico in 1848 , Representatives David Wilmot of Pennsylvania proposed that congress ban slavery in all territories that might become part of the U.S. as a result of the Mexican-American war. The proposal passed in the house but failed in the senate.

2.2. The Wilmot Proviso

3. The Missouri Compromise

3.1. 1820

3.2. As America began moving west the issue of whether or not slavery 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 U.S. threatened to upset the balance between free states and slave states. In 1820, Senator Henry Clay persuade congress to approve the Missouri Compromise.

3.3. The Missouri Compromise

4. Free Soil Party

4.1. 1848

4.2. In the election of 1848, both the Political party and 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 free soil party. It called for the territory gained in the Mexican-American War to be "free soil" a place where slavery was banned

4.3. Free Soil zparty

5. Uncle Toms Cabin

5.1. 1852

5.1.1. Written by Harriet Beechers stoke 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 uncovered with slavery before reading the book

5.2. Uncle Toms Cabin

6. The Kansas-Nebraska Act

6.1. Senator Stephen Dougalas pushed through the act in 1854 which led the nation closer to war. He wanted to see a railroad built from Illinois though the Nebraska territory both were above the Missouri compromise line and would become free states which upset the south to win southern support he suggested that the issue of slavery be resolved by popular sovereign this would undo the Missouri cmorimise

6.2. The Kansas Nebraska Act

7. "Bleeding Kansas"

7.1. 1855

7.2. Both pro slavery and anti slavery settlers flooded to Kansas to try and win the majority. Thousands of people from the Missouri entered Kansas on March of 1855 to vote legally in the election of a territorial legislature.

7.3. Bleeding Kansas

8. Bloodshed in the Senate

8.1. 1856

8.2. Charles Summer of Massachusetts was the leading abolitionist senator and made fiery speeches denouncing the pro slavery legislature in Kansas. In one of his speeches he singled out Andrew butler who was an elderly senator from South Carolina who was not present when he gave his speech.

8.3. Bloodshed in the Senate

9. Dred Scott vs. Sanford Case

9.1. 1857

9.1.1. Dred Scott was an enslaved person who had once been owned by a U.S. Army doctor. They had lived in Illionios and Wisconsin territory for a short time where slavery was illegal. They settled in Missouri. With the help of an antislavery was illegal.

9.2. Dred Scott vs. Sanford Case

10. The Fugitive Slave Act

10.1. 1851

10.2. Allowed special government officals to arrest accused of being a runaway slave. Suspects had no right to argue to prove that they had been falsely accused. All it too was slaveholder or any white witness to swear that the suspect was a slave holders property. The law also required northern citizens to help capture accused runaways if authorities requested assistance.

10.3. The Fugitive Slave Act

11. Republican Party

11.1. 1854

11.2. 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 Democratic and Free-Soil members. The part quickly became very powerful. In the first congressional elections held just a few months after the party was created 245 of 105 candidates were elected to the House of Representatives.

11.3. Republican Party

12. The Compromise of 1850

12.1. 1850

12.2. Gold was found in California and thousands moved to the area. Soon the territory had enough people to be admitted as a state. This angered the South and they threatened to secede (leave the union). The compromise was proposed by senator Henry of Kentucky in January, 1850. He hoped this compromise would end the debate over slavery forever.

12.3. The Compromise of 1850

13. Election of Zachary Taylor

13.1. 1848

13.2. 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 Senator Cass suggested that the people in each new territory should vote for themselves whether or not to allow Cass. Zachary Taylor, a hero of the Mexican-American war won the election.

13.3. Election of Zachary Taylor

14. The Lincoln and Douglas Debates

14.1. 1858

14.2. The Lincoln and Douglas Debates

15. John Brown Attacks Harper's Ferry

15.1. 1859

15.2. 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, Brown and a small group of the supporters attacked the town of Harper's Ferry, Virginia. His goal was to take control of the seizegon that the U.S. Army had stored there. He thought that enslaved African Americans would support him. He would give the weapons and led a revolt. He gained control of the guns but troops commanded by Colonel Robert F. Lee 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 sentenced 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 led a slave revolt against them.

15.3. John Brown Attacks Harper's Ferry

16. Political Parties Divide

16.1. 1860

16.2. The Democrats 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 the South and formed the Constitution Union Party. They wanted to protest slavery and keep the nation together.

16.3. Political Parties Divide

17. The Election of 1860

17.1. 1860

17.2. Republicans chose Abraham Lincoln to run for president in 1860. Northern Democrats nominated Stephen Douglas as their candidates. Southern Democrats chose Vice President John Breckenridge of Kentucky. The Constitutional Union nominated John Bell of Tennessee and Virginia . Douglas won Missouri. Lincoln received 40% of the popular vote but received enough electoral voted to win the election become president.

17.3. The Election of 1860

18. Southern States Secede

18.1. 1860

18.2. Lincolns election made the South feel that they no longer had a voice in the national government. They believed that the President and Congress were against their in secret, especially slavery. South Carolina secede (left the U.S.) first when news of Lincoln's election reached the state. They called for a special convention. On December 20th , 1860 the convention passed a deceleration that the union now subsisting between South Carolina and the other states, under the name U.S.A is hereby dissolved. 6 more states followed South Carolina out of the Union.

18.3. Southern States Secede

19. The Confederate States of America

19.1. 1861

19.2. In February of 1861 the leaders of 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.

19.3. The Confederate States Of America

20. Crittenden Plan

20.1. 1861

20.2. 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.

20.3. Crittenden Plan