Download Prelude to the Civil PowerPoint

Causes of the Civil War
and
The Election of 1860
• We will look at events that polarized the
country, including the 1860 election.
• We’ll compare that election to modern
elections to see if there are still patterns
in how states vote.
•
Missouri Compromise
•
Every time a new state was admitted into the Union, it had
to be declared as a slave state or a free state. To put off
war, federal politicians from the north and south came up
with the Missouri Compromise of 1820. This compromise,
the first of many, was unpopular in both halves of the
country. It stated that every state north of 36N North should
be free, while every new state south of that line would be
considered a slave state. Because Missouri was north of
that line, it was given “special status” making it a slave state.
•
•
John Brown
•
John Brown was an abolitionist.
An
abolitionist believed in the ending of
slavery. John Brown has been
called a fanatic and a lunatic, and
even a fanatic patriot. He was so
against slavery that he decided to
rebel the government in what we
would call today “terrorist plots.”
Captured in Virginia, he would found
guilty of murder and treason under
Virginian law. He was sentenced to
hang. Southerners celebrated his
death, seeing the death of a terrorist
and traitor displayed before them.
Northerners saw him as a martyr...
somebody that died for a holy cause.
•
Dred Scott
•
Dred Scott was a slave, born in Virginia and eventually purchased by
a US army officer. He followed his master from Missouri to Illinois and
the Wisconsin Territory which was free soil. His master even allowed
him to marry at Fort Snelling in the Wisconsin Territory, which was
generally prohibited to slaves.
•
He sued for his freedom based on the fact that he had resided in a
free state, and once there, should have been freed. Initially, the
courts disagreed with Scott. They more or less said it was too late.
•
Scott pursed his freedom, with the case eventually reaching the
United States Supreme Court. It became a political question on
whether or not slavery should be legal.
•
The Supreme Court voted 7-2 against Scott’s quest for freedom.
Chief Justice Roger Taney summed it up by saying that no black man
could ever become a citizen of the United States, whether or not he
was free or a slave. Since Scott was black, he was not a citizen, and
since not a citizen, he could not legally sue the courts.
•
Abolitionists were outraged, while Southerners rejoiced believing that
Justice Taney had stood up for the South. It was another polarizing
event that further divided the North and the South.
The Election of
Abraham Lincoln
• Lincoln, from Illinois,
was against slavery
but said his main goal,
if he were elected, was
to keep the Union
intact.
The Electoral College
Firstly, we need to understand how the
Electoral College works. The Electoral
College, in simple terms, means that votes for
the Presidency are ‘winner take all.’
In the last election, if just one more person
would have voted for President Obama in
Wisconsin, he would have taken all of
Wisconsin’s Electoral Votes…10 in 2008.
Election of 2008
• Let’s look at the 2008 presidential
election for a frame of reference.
Barack Obama won the popular vote
over John McCain by a large margin.
This was reflected in the electoral vote
as well….
It’s based on popuation!
• Rhode Island, our smallest state by
area, has four Electoral College votes,
while Alaska has only three votes.
• California has the most, at 55. The next
four largest states by electoral votes
are…
• Texas (36), New York (30), Florida (28)
and Illinois (21).
The Popular Winner doesn’t
always win…
• George W. Bush had fewer total votes
than Albert Gore in 2000, but won
anyway because he won the majority of
Electoral Votes…
Back to 1860…
Lincoln won enough Electoral Votes even though he didn’t
even appear on Southern ballots. The North had the Electoral
Power.
This was it, as far as the South was concerned. South Carolina
left the Union before Lincoln was even sworn in. 10 other states
would follow. They formed the Confederate States of America.
The path to war was now complete.