Download Causes of the Civil War and Secession Notes

Texas Secession
 Essential Question:

Why did Texas secede?
Many Issues Divide the Country
1. Tariffs
 1828 “Tariff of
Abominations” (a high tax)
 South hated it


Forced to sell cotton @ low
prices to be competitive

Pay high prices for North
manufactured goods
“Nullification Crisis” Results

South Carolina believed that
states had the right to nullify
(to cancel out) a federal law it
considered unconstitutional.

South Carolina threatened to
secede but a compromise ended
the threat. This issue continued
to brew until 1861.
Many Issues Divide the Country
 2. Sectionalism –
loyalty to the interests
of one's own region or
section of the country,
rather than the nation
as a whole

What would the interests
of the region be for the
South?
Many Issues Divide the Country
 3. States Rights – Texans
believed that states
should be able to make
their own political,
economic, and social
decisions.
 4. Slavery – Texans
believed that slavery was
vital to the economy;
opposed Republican
Party b/c most members
did NOT want to see
slavery spread to new
territories
Southern Society in 1850s
Upper Class – Slave Elite
Middle class – Few
Slaves
Lower Class – No
Slaves
Lower Middle Class – 1 or 2
Slaves
Slaves
Southern States Vow to Secede
 During the 1860
presidential campaign,
Southerners warned that
they would secede if the
Republicans won.
 Lincoln was
Republican candidate
that won the election
 5. Secession:
Southerners argued that
sovereignty rested with
the states, saying the
states entered the Union
voluntarily and could
likewise leave.
The Convention Votes on
Secession

Governor Sam Houston
opposed secession by
declaring that Texas could be
better protect its interest by
staying in the Union.

“South can’t win the war”

Texans favoring secession
called a convention. The
Texas Secession Convention
met in Austin in January
1861.

They adopted the Ordinance
of Secession, which declared
that the U.S. abused its
power to “strike down the
interest and prosperity of the
people of Texas.”
The Convention Votes on
Secession
 On February 23, 1861
the people of Texas
approved secession by
a wide margin.
 Texas became the
seventh state of eleven
to secede from the U.S.
and form a new
country in the South.
The Confederacy is Formed
 The 7 seceded states met at
a convention in
Montgomery, Alabama,
and formed a new nation
called the Confederate
States of America (C.S.A.)
and drew up a constitution.
First Confederacy Flag
 The states were given more
power, the federal
government less, and the
constitution guaranteed the
protection of slavery.
 The document replaced
references to the U.S. with
references to the
Confederacy.
Houston is Removed
 When the Texas Secession
Convention ordered all
states officials to take an
oath of allegiance to the
Confederacy, Houston
refused and was removed as
governor.
 President Lincoln offered
Houston the use of federal
troops if he would oppose
the convention that voted
for secession, but,
unwilling to cause a civil
war in Texas, Houston
refused.
Governor Sam Houston
The War Begins
 President Lincoln believed
the C.S.A. had no right to
leave the Union. He vowed
to preserve the nation and
carry out the law of the
land in all states.

Battle of Fort Sumter
A “perpetual” Union
 On April 12, 1861,
Confederate troops opened
fire on U.S. troops at Fort
Sumter in Charleston,
South Carolina, starting
the Civil War.