Causes Of The Civil War
von Deja Jackson
1. Uncle Tom's Cabin
1.1. 1852
1.2. Uncle Tom's Cabin
1.3. Written by Harriet Beecher 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 o 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 southerners were outraged.
2. The Kansa-Nebraska Act
2.1. 1854
2.2. The Kansa-Nebraska Act
2.3. Senator Stephen Douglass 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 Nebraska Territory and the Kansa Territory. Both were above the Missouri Compromise Line and would become free states which upset the North. To win southern support, he suggested that the issue of slavery be resolved by sovereignty. This would undo the Missouri Conpromise.
3. Bleeding Kansa
3.1. 1855
3.2. Bleeding Kansas
4. Bloodshed In The Senate (Senator Charles Summer Attacked)
4.1. Late 1850's
4.2. Bloodshed In The Senate (Senator Charles Summer Attacked)
4.3. 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 Carolina 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 heavy cane until he fell to the floor bloody and unconscious. sumner never really recovered fro his injuries.
5. Republican Party
5.1. 1854
5.2. Republican Party
5.3. The Whigs party split in 1854 and many northern Whigs formed a new political party called the Republican. Their main goal was to stop the spread of slavery into the western territories. Their antislavery stand attracted many northern Democrats and Free-Soil members. The party quickly became powerful. In the first congressional elections held just a few months after the party wad created, 105 of 245 candidates were elected to the House of Representatives. Democrats also lost control of two northern stae legislature. Two years later the party ran its first candidate for president, John C. Fremont.
6. The Election Of 1856
6.1. 1856
6.2. The Election Of 1856
6.3. First Republican candidate John C. Fremont (army officer who help win California's independence in the Mexican-American War) waged a strong antislavery campaign and won 11 of the 16 free states. Democrat James Buchanan
7. Dred Scott V. Sanford Case
7.1. 1857
7.2. Dred Scott V. Sanford Case
7.3. Dred Scott was an enslaved person who had once been owned by a U.S. Army doctor. He wasn't free man for 2 reasons: 1. Scott had no right to sue in federal court because African Americans were not citizens and 2. Merely living in free territory does not make and enslaved person properly.
8. The Lincoln And Douglas Debates
8.1. 1858
8.2. The Lincoln And Douglas Debates
8.3. Lincoln was chosen as the whig candidate for senate against Senator Stephen in 1858. Lincoln and Douglas were political and personal rivals (both had dated Mary Todd and she married Lincoln). Lincoln challenged DOuglas to series of public debate. Thousands gathered too 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.
9. John Brown Attacks Harper's Ferry
9.1. 1859
9.2. John Brown Attacks Harper's Ferry
9.3. John Brown was driven out of Kansas after pottawatmic Creek Masacare and returned to New England. He began a plot to free people in the south that were enslave. In 1859, Brown and a small group of supporters attacked the town of Harpers Ferry, Virginia. His goal was to take control of the seize guys that the U.S. Army had stored there. He thought that enslaved African American would support him.
10. Political Parties Divide
10.1. 1860
10.2. Political Parties Divide
10.3. 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 norrth and the soutn and formed the constitution union party. They wanted to protect slavery and keep the nation together.
11. The Election Of 1860
11.1. 1860
11.2. The Election Of 1860
11.3. Republicans chose Abraham to run for president in 1860. Northern Democrats nominated stephen as their candidate. Southen democrats chose vice president John Bell of Kentucky. The Constitutional Union nominated John Brown of Tennessee. The election showed just had fragmented the nation had become. Lincoln won every free state and Breckenridge won all slave states except four. Bell won Kentucky, Tennesse, and Virginia. Douglas won Missouri. Lincoln received 40% of the popular vote but received enough electoral votes to win the elction and become president.
12. Southern States Secede
12.1. 1860
12.2. Southern States Secede
12.3. 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 slavery, especialy interests. South cArolina seceded (left the United States) first when news of Lincoln 's eletion reached the state. They called for a special convention.
13. The Confederate States Of America
13.1. 1861
13.2. The Confederate States Of America
13.3. In February of 1861, the leaders of the 7 states that left the union met 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.
14. Crittenden Plan
14.1. 1861
14.2. Crittenden Plan
14.3. A plan developed by Senator Jonh 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.
15. The Economy Of The North And South
15.1. 1800's
15.2. The Economy Of The North And South
15.3. The North was industrial with factories and paid further was. The South was agricultural with large mountains and small farms. Slave labor was used in the South.
16. The Missouri Compromise
16.1. 1820
16.2. The Missouri Compromise
16.3. As America began moving west the issue of whether or not Missouri should be allowed in the new states forming out west became an issue. The first in which this became an issue was Missouri. It's addition to the United States threatened to upset the balance between north states and south states. In 1820, senator Henry Clay persuaded congress to approve the Missouri compromise. The Missouri compromise stated. 1. Maine was admitted as a free state. 2. Missouri was admitted as a slave state. 3. The Louisiana Territory north of Missouri's southern border was free 4. Southern slave owners gained the right to pursue escaped fugitives into free regions.
17. The Wilmot Proviso
17.1. 1848
17.2. The Wilmot Proviso
17.3. Since the Missouri compromise did not apply to the late territory gained from Mexico in 1848, representative David Wilmot of Pennsylvania proposed that congress ban slavery in all territories 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.
18. Free Soil Party
18.1. 1848
18.2. Free Soil Party
18.3. 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 free soil party. It called for the territory gained in the Mexican- American war to be "free soil", a place where slavery was banned.
19. Election Of Zachary Taylor
19.1. 1848
19.2. Election Of Zachary Taylor
19.3. In the election of 1848, the controversy over the Wilmot provised 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 party nominated former democratic president Lewis Cass senator Cass suggested that the people in each new territory should decide for themselves whether or senator Cass suggested that the people in each new territory should decide for themselves whether or not a allow slavery. Zachary Taylor, a hero of the Mexican-American war won the election.
20. The Compromise Of 1850
20.1. 1850
20.2. The Compromise Of 1850
20.3. 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 Henry of Kentucky in January, 1850. He hoped this compromise would end the debate over north forever. This proposal produced one of the greatest debates in American political history. President Taylor opposed he compromise but died and the new president Milliard 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 National Capital. 3. Congress declared that it could not regulate the slave trade between slave states. 4. Popular Sovereignty (the people 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.
21. The Fugitives Slave Act
21.1. 1853
21.2. The Fugitive Slave Act
21.3. Allowed special government officials to arrest any person accused of being runaway slave. Suspects had no right to a trial to probe that they had been falsely accused. All it took was a slaveholder or any white witness to swear that the suspect was a slave holder's property. The law also required northern citizens to help capture accused runways if authorities requested assistance.
