Download Key Events Leading to the Civil War

Key Events Leading to the Civil War
Directions: Complete the chart by filling in the missing information. The information in the column labeled “Significance” should explain how the
event/legislation contributed to the coming of the Civil War.
1846+
1850
Missouri
Compromise
MexicanAmerican
War
18461848
Wilmot Proviso
1820
Event or
Legislation
Compromise of
1850
Date
Description
A two-part compromise reached in 1820. Missouri would be allowed to
join the Union as a slave state, but at the same time, Maine which had
been part of Massachusetts would be admitted as a free state. This
preserved the delicate slave-free balance in the Senate. Second, a line
was drawn across Louisiana Territory at the latitude of 36 degrees, 30
minutes. With the exception of Missouri, slavery would not be allowed
north of the line.
Significance – How might this event lead to rising
tensions between the North and South?
Although it allowed tensions to ease for a time, it
foreshadowed the struggle that would continue as free
and slave states competed for control of the Senate.
Between 1846 and 1848, the United States and Mexico went to war. By
the war's end, Mexico lost nearly half of its territory, the present
American Southwest from Texas to California, and the United States
became a continental power.
The US gained a tremendous amount of land in the war
with Mexico. This new territory would challenge the
balance of free and slave states in Congress, creating
new opportunities for the two sides to clash
On August 8, 1846, David Wilmot, a young Democratic representative
from Pennsylvania serving his first term in Congress, attached to an
appropriations bill a provision that slavery be excluded from any territory
acquired from Mexico. It carried in the House of Representatives along
sectional lines but died in the Senate. The Wilmot Proviso would be
brought forward in subsequent sessions of Congress where it often
passed in the House but not in the Senate.
Although it never passed, the fact that it was
introduced into Congress, both the House and Senate
created tensions between the North and South as the
issue was debated again and again.
It demonstrated the North’s dedication to limiting the
spread of slavery to new territories and the South’s
dedication to protecting their political and economic
interests
Countered by the Calhoun Resolutions in the State 5th Amendment protection of property
The admittance of California as a free state would
upset the balance of free and slave states in the Senate.
To gain statehood for California certain concessions
would have to be made to the South. As far as the
North was concerned these concessions made them
unwilling participants in slavery – the Fugitive Slave
Act
A compromise reached in 1850 where California would be admitted to
the Union as a free state. Other territories in the Southwest would be
organized without mention of slavery. The slave trade in the District of
Columbia would be abolished, but the federal government would pass a
strong fugitive slave law to prevent escaped slaves from being declared
free. The federal government would also assume the debts Texas
incurred before it was annexed to the United States.
Date
1850
Event/Legislation
Fugitive Slave Act
Description
The Fugitive Slave Act mandated the return of runaway
slaves, regardless of where in the Union they might be
situated at the time of their discovery or capture. It required
citizens to assist in the recovery of fugitive slaves.
1854
Kansas-Nebraska
Act
1857
Dred Scott Decision
When the territories of Kansas and Nebraska applied for
statehood in 1854, Congress repealed the Missouri
Compromise, and passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The
Kansas-Nebraska Act left the question of slavery up to the
“popular sovereignty” of the settlers of the two territories to
decide.
Dred Scott was a St. Louis slave trying to win his freedom
from the courts because he was a citizen of Missouri and
because of his travels with his master in free territory like
Illinois and Wisconsin until his master’s death in 1846. When
the state court decided against him, he and his lawyers
appealed to the Supreme Court. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney
ruled first that neither free blacks nor enslaved blacks were
citizens so could not sue in federal courts. The Justice also
ruled that the Illinois law banning slavery had no force over
Scott after he returned to Missouri, where slavery was
allowed. Also the Court ruled that the Wisconsin Territory
laws had no force either, because the Missouri Compromise
that outlawed slavery in the territory was unconstitutional
Significance
The Fugitive Slave act made Northerners unwilling
participants in slavery by requiring the participation in
the return of runaway slaves and making it easier for
slave owners to get their runaway slaves. Watching as
chained runaway slaves were led away gain brought
Northerners face-to-face with the evils of slavery
Because the slavery question was left up to the states
through the use of popular sovereignty, it created the
opportunity for the issue to surface again and again. It
also created to the opportunity for slave and free forces
to try and manipulate or shape the outcome of any
vote.
Slaves were property. Property was protected by the
Constitution. Therefore laws limiting the spread of
slavery or a slave owners right to take his slaves with
him anywhere in the US were unconstitutional.
th
1859
John Brown and
Harper’s Fairy
based on the 5 Amendment, which prohibits the government
from depriving people of property and liberty without due
process of law.
On October 16, 1859, the radical abolitionist John Brown led
a raid with twenty-one followers against Harper’s Ferry,
Virginia, in and effort to obtain arms for a slave rebellion.
th
Federal troops took control of the arsenal on October 17 and
Brown was charged with treason, conspiracy and murder. He
was convicted and hanged by the state of Virginia. Brown
became a martyr.
Because the North view John Brown as a martyr, it was
proof to the South that the North hated them – did not
care if they were murdered in their beds.
1860
April
1861
Lincoln’s Election
Abraham Lincoln, the Republican candidate is elected
President of the United States.
It demonstrated the split in the nation as Lincoln’s
name failed to appear on ballots in the South and
Lincoln failed to win any southern votes.
Fort Sumter
Decades of growing strife between North and South erupted
in civil war on April 12, 1861, when Confederate artillery
opened fire on this Federal fort in Charleston Harbor. Fort
Sumter surrendered 34 hours later. Union forces would try for
nearly four years to take it back.
The first shots in the war – it showed that the South
was serious and the time for negotiation and
compromise had passed.
Abolition Movement --------Underground Railroad-------------Uncle Tom’s Cabin