Causes of the American Civil War

1. Election of Zachary Taylor

1.1. 1848

1.2. In the election of 1848, the controversy over the spread of slavery 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 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. Gold was found in California and caused thousands of people to move to the area. The territory had enough people to be admitted as a state. California was above the Missouri compromise line, this angered the south and they threatened to secede ( leave the union ). The compromise was proposed by senator Henry Clay of Kentucky in January, 1850. President Taylor opposed the compromise but died and the new president Millard Fillmore supported it. Congress passed five series of bills in the union as a free state.

3. The Fugitive Slave Act

3.1. 1850

3.2. Allowed special government official to arrest any person accused of being 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 whit witness to swear that the suspect was a slave holders property. The law also required northern citizens to help capture accused runaways if requested assistance.

4. Uncle Tom's Cabin

4.1. 1852

4.2. Written by Herriet 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 slavey before reading the book. The book caused people to view slavey as a human, moral problem and not just a political issue. White southerners were outraged.

5. The Kansas-Nebraska Act

5.1. 1854

5.2. Senator Stephen Douglas 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 the Nebraska territory. Both were above the Missouri compromise line and would become free states which upset the southerners. To win southern support, he suggested that the issue of slavery be resolved by popular sovereignty.

6. "Bleeding Kansas"

6.1. 1855

6.2. Both proslavery and antislavery 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 3,000 votes but almost 8,000 people voted. Of the 39 people (legislature) elected, all but 3 supported slavery. Kansas now had two governments. Violence broke out. In April, a proslavery sheriff was short 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 says latte John Brown an antislavery settler from Connecticut led seven men to a proslavery settlement near Potawatomi creek and murdered five proslavery men and boys. This started widespread fighting in Kansas.

7. Bloodshed in the Senate

7.1. 1859

7.2. Charles sumner of Massachusetts was a 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 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. 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 democrats and Free-Soil members.the party quickly became very powerful. In the first congressional election held just a few months after the party was created, 105 of 245 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. Frèmont.

9. Election of 1856

9.1. 1856

9.2. First republican candidates 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 Buchnan won't he election.

10. Dred Scott vs. Sanford Case

11. Missouri compromise

11.1. 1820

11.1.1. New Node

11.1.1.1. 1234

11.1.1.2. 1234

11.1.2. As American began to movie west the issue of whether or not slavery should be allowed in the new state 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 slave states and non slave states

11.1.3. New Node

11.2. As America began moving west the issue of weather 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. It's addition ti the united stats threatened to upset the balance between slave stats and non slave stats. 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. Territory north of Missouri's southern border was free. Southern slave owners gained the right to pursue escaped fugitives into free regions.

12. Wilmot Proviso

12.1. 1848

12.2. Since the Missouri compromise did not apply to the large territory gained from the 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.

13. Free-Soil Party

13.1. 1848

13.2. 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 creat a new political paitical. It called for the gained in the Mexican American war to be free soil, a place where slavery was banned.

14. The Lincoln and Douglas Debates

15. John Brown Attacks Harper's Ferry

15.1. New Node

16. Political Party 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 constitutional union party. They wanted to protect slavery and keep the nation together.

17. Election of 1860

17.1. 1860

17.2. Republicans chose Abraham Lincoln to run for president in 1860. North democrats nominated Stephen Breckinridge of Kentucky. The constitutional union nominated John Bell of Tennessee. The election showed just had fragments the nation had become. Lincoln won every free state and Breckinridge won all slave states except 4. Bell won Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. Douglas won Missouri. Lincoln received 40% of the population vote but received enough election votes to win the election and became president.

18. Southern States Secede

18.1. 1860

18.2. Lincoln's election mad the south feel that they no longer had a voice in the national government. They believed that the president and congress were agents their interests, 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 the name of the United States of America in hereby dissolved. Six more states followed South Carolina out of the union.

19. The Confederate States of America

19.1. 1861

19.2. In February of 1861, the leaders of the seven seceding states that left the union met in Montgomery, Alabama to form a new nation that they called the constitution and named former senior Jefferson Davis as president.

20. The Crittenden Plan