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Unit Six: The Civil War
Causes
The Civil War was caused by competing perspectives of nationalism and sectionalism (state’s rights), the
development of two different economic and social societies, and political competition revolving around
the acquisition of new territories.
States’ rights
The States’ rights debate was one of the reasons leading to the Civil War. This debate had been waged
even before the American Revolution and continued until the eve of the Civil War.
Both Nationalism, or loyalty to one’s nation, and sectionalism, loyalty to one’s section or region of the
country had long been developing before the Civil War. There was an early disagreement between
those who believed in a Contract theory and a Compact theory for what truly formed the United States.
Those whom supported the Contract theory said that the United States as a nation was the result of a
contract between the national government and the people of the United States. Other who supported a
Compact Theory said that the United States was the result of an agreement or compact between the
states and the national government. According to the compact theory ultimate sovereignty (authority)
was with the states.
The States’ Rights Debate developed in part due to the fear of a strong central government. We should
recall that the colonists rejected the Albany Plan of Union on 1754 which called the colonies to unite to
fight the French during the French and Indian War out of fear of losing local control and creating a
central/national government.
Again, the colonists rejected the creation of a strong central government under The Articles of
Confederation during the American Revolution. Remember the government under The Articles of
Confederation did not even give the national government the power to tax or enforce laws; those
powers were left to the state governments.
This problem with creating a strong central government continued during the Constitutional
Convention. Our Founding Fathers attempted to minimize the power of a strong central government by
creating checks and balances. This is evidenced by the power of each branch to check other branches’
power. Another way the Founding Fathers attempted to create a government with a balance of power
was through the Great Compromise. This was an attempt to ensure that small states had a voice in the
legislative branch. It was accomplished by combining the Virginia and New Jersey Plans to create our
balanced and two house (bi-cameral) legislature.
The desire to maintain a level of states’ rights and minimize the power of the national government was
most evident in the debate between the Federalists and The Anti-Federalists. The Federalists wanted a
strong national government but the Anti-Federalists were afraid of the corruption that a strong national
government could bring. Out of this debate the Anti-Federalists persuaded the Federalists to adopt The
Bill of Rights (first ten amendments to the Constitution). The 10th stated that any power not specifically
given to the national government was reserved to the States or people.
We, also, can see developing sectionalism during the drafting of the Constitution with the Three-Fifths
Compromise. This compromise to the southern slave-holding states stated that there would be no laws
on slavery until 1808.
We continued to see the development of sectionalism and a states’ rights debate with the Virginia and
Kentucky Resolutions of 1798. They were a response to the Federalists’ Alien and Sedition Acts. The
Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions used a compact theory/States Rights’ argument. The Virginia
Resolution said that a state could place itself between the federal government and its citizens in order
to protect its citizens. The Kentucky Resolution said that a state could Nullify (say No) to federal laws.
There were two instances where we heard the States’ Rights Debate over issues of unfair taxations. The
first was in reaction to Hamilton’s financial plan. His import tax (protective Tariff) was found to be
unfair to southern states as it cost them money when trading with European nations while protecting
the northern infant industries. The other instance was during Andrew Jackson’s administration when a
tariff was passed that, again, was deemed to be unfair to southern states. This Tariff of Abominations in
1828 caused some in South Carolina to talk of secession (leaving the nation/union).
This States’ Right Debate is heightened as abolitionists and some politicians in the nation and
particularly the North begins to call for the end of slavery. Over time the South had been losing
numbers in the legislative branch and no longer could stop legislation that could possibly end slavery.
This is why the election of 1860 was so important to the south-if they could put a President in office that
would veto any laws attempting to end slavery they would feel confident that their slave-based
economy could continue. When Lincoln was elected as a Republican, which had promoted itself as the
anti-slavery party, the south knew they had lost the political power to stop legislation (laws) that could
end slavery and seceded from the union starting the Civil War.
Two Societies
The North and South had developed two distinct economies leading two the development of two
distinct societies. These conflicting economies and societies were a cause of the Civil War.
Due to the North’s unique environment it developed an industrial economy. The Northeast had rocky
and sandy soil, and short growing seasons. These environmental factors did not make the Northeast a
favorable environment for an agricultural economy. They did, however, have several port cities where
trade flourished. The merchants in these trade cities, therefore, had the capital (money) to invest in
industrial businesses.
The South, however, had fertile soil near the coastal regions and long growing seasons. These two
environmental factors made the South a successful agricultural economy. Unable to secure the number
of indentured servants the south demanded for its large-scale commercial agriculture, the south began
importing African slaves to be their labor source.
Having two distinct economies created different values for the two societies. Those different values
turned into political debates causing tension and eventually lead to the Civil War. Those political
debates as earlier mentioned were over the following: Hamilton’s Financial Plan and its protective tariff,
the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, and the Tariff of Abominations. The tension caused by the
political debates was heightened when the Abolitionists began to call for an end to slavery.
Another political group that created tension was the Free Soil Party. This group of largely poor white
northerners wanted the land the U.S. was gaining during westward expansion to be left for free men not
slaves, hence their slogan, “Free Soil for Free White Men.” They did not want competition from the
slave-based society for access to the land.
As the abolitionist movement grew specific events heightened the tension between the North and the
South. One of these events was what was known as Bleeding Kansas. In an effort to control whether
Kansas’ Constitution would allow slavery or not groups from the pro- and anti- slavery sides engaged in
violent confrontations. One abolitionist leader, John Brown, killed a number of pro-slavery people in the
Pottawatomie massacre in 1855. Brown later attempted to create slave uprisings but was unsuccessful
in his attempt to raid Harper’s Ferry (federal ammunition building) and tried and convicted of treason.
His and other abolitionist’s actions convinced the south that these northern abolitionists were willing to
do anything to free slaves.
Other actions occurring during this time threatened the South’s hold on their slaves. Nat Turner had led
a slave revolt in 1831 killing a number of white southerners before being subdued and killed himself.
Harriet Tubman and others had been leading escaped slaves on the Underground Railroad to the
freedom of the north and Canada.
Another key abolitionist’s accomplishment was Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. In the
novel, Stowe shows the cruelty of the South’s slave-based society and mocks the South’s attempt to
show itself as an honorable Christian society.
The South did experience a legal victory during the antebellum (before the rebellion/Civil War) period.
The Supreme Court’s decision in Dred-Scott v. Sanford confirmed the slave’s status as property. DredScott had sued for his freedom as his master had transported him to a free state and then died while
there. The Supreme Court denied his lawsuit on the grounds that he had no right to sue in court as he
was property.
Territorial Expansion and Political Conflict
As the United States sought to live up to its Manifest Destiny it expanded westward and it acquired new
territories. The debate on whether the new territories, when they became states, would become slave
or free states created political tension as they threatened to upset the balance between free-state and
slave-state representatives in the legislative branch. Of course if the free-state representatives gained
control of the legislative branch they could pass laws ending slavery.
This debate over the extension/spread of slavery was a long-standing one. Even under the Articles of
Confederation there was a part of the Northwest Ordinance that did not allow slaves in the Old
Northwest (Ohio Valley).
This debate continues after the Louisiana Purchase. After having secured the Louisiana territory from
France, eventually Missouri has enough of a population to apply for statehood. Senator James
Tallmadge proposes an amendment that would ban slavery in Missouri. A debate begins and southern
politicians worried that the Northern anti-slave states will gain control of Congress say that Congress has
no right to ban slavery as the Constitution did not say they could do so (remember state’s rights and 10th
amendment). Eventually the Missouri Compromise of 1820 is passed. Slavery had long been
established in Missouri as well as there was a tradition that when states entered the union one would be
pro-slavery and one anti-slavery. Due to these factors, Henry Clay proposes that Missouri be allowed to
enter as a slave state and Maine enter as a free state. Additionally, the southern boundary of Missouri
was a fixed point whereas there would be no further slavery north of the boundary in the Louisiana
territory. (we hadn’t taken lands from Mexico yet)
Next, the Annexation of Texas caused tension between the anti-slave northerners and pro-slave
southerners. In 1836 Texans had successfully created the Lone Star Republic and asked Congress to
annex (bring in) Texas as a state in the union. Anti-slave northerners objected thinking that if Texas
joined the union it would become a slave state; congress voted against annexing Texas. It was almost
ten years later that the U.S. despite northern objections had an expansionist president in Polk and
annexed Texas into the U.S. as a slave state. Polk and America’s growing spirit of Manifest Destiny soon
created the tension over a the border dispute that led to the Mexican-American War and the following
additional territory in what is now the Southeast United States.
After having acquired this land from the war, the country was faced with the ongoing dispute over the
extension of slavery in these lands. The Wilmot Proviso proposed that there should be no slavery
allowed in the lands acquired from the Mexican-American War. This creates political tension and
disrupted the old political parties of the Democrats and Whigs; now they began to vote regionally (north
and south) over the issue of slavery.
In 1850 California had the population necessary to join the union as a state. Again, this caused a
political debate and tension over whether California should enter as a slave or free state (remember this
is all about political representatives in Congress and control of legislation/law making/ending slavery
through laws). The controversy is handled by what becomes known as the Compromise of 1850. In this
compromise California enters as a free state and the south gets tougher fugitive slave laws (laws that
require escaped slaves to be returned etc.). Here, however, the Senate shifts to a majority of free-state
senators.
In 1854 another compromise over new states entering the union resulted in the Kansas-Nebraska Act of
1854. Stephen A. Douglas Illinois Congressmen wants Chicago to be the hub for the transcontinental
railroad. In order to achieve this he brokers a compromise. The act breaks the Missouri Compromise
(southern boundary=no slavery north) and opens Kansas to the possibility of becoming a slave state
based on letting the people decide (popular sovereignty) and carves out a territory called Nebraska
north of Kansas that can only have free states formed from the territory. Douglas, of course, gets
Chicago as the hub of the transcontinental railroad, but the popular sovereignty in Kansas leads to
Bleeding Kansas.
After the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the pro-slavery and anti-slavery citizens of Kansas began violently
opposing each other to secure Kansas’ constitution to include their ideas on slavery. During this time
people were killing each other in the streets and the abolitionists John Brown and his sons killed proslavers in the Pottawatomie massacre in 1855.
It was in this heated political environment that Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas began a series
of debates in an effort to secure the Illinois Senator position. During these debates the two Republican
candidates both revealed themselves to be anti-slavery candidates and the Republican Party became the
anti-slavery party.
Lincoln becomes the Republican candidate opposing the Southern Democrats Breckenridge during the
election of 1860. Lincoln wins the election and the South now having lost control of the legislative
branch and the executive branch realizes that the northern and anti-slave legislative branch can pass
laws ending slavery and Lincoln undoubtedly would not veto those laws. Ending slavery would have
threatened their economic and social structures and they, therefore, seceded (left) the union and the
Civil War soon began.