Download Secession of the Southern States

Secession of the Southern States
For more than 100 years, the colonies had worked together to build a unified country. Social
and economic pressures slowly built until one day the country split, and the South seceded from
the Union.
1
The split between the North and South did not happen all at once or on a whim. The desire
for one group to change and another to maintain its status quo caused two cultures to collide.
2
In the Southern States, most people depended on agriculture for their livelihoods. The vast
farms or plantations required large workforces to maintain the crops, because there was no
mechanization. Slaves had long been the accepted workers of choice, and slavery had become a
part of Southern culture.
3
When the invention of the cotton gin made cotton a very profitable crop, the number of
plantations growing it increased quickly. A way of life that had been dying a natural death was
infused with new life. Men hungered for more land to grow more cotton to become richer. Since
workers were essential, they were taken to the new land as well.
4
When Missouri was settled, it was with many Southerners looking for a better life. They had
their slaves with them. When Missouri asked to join the Union the first time in 1819, the House
of Representatives refused to allow them. They were not sure they wanted another Slave State.
5
In the North slavery had quickly become less profitable in the face of industrialization. As
stories about the treatment of many slaves became known, many of the people of the North
became less and less tolerant of it.
6
Henry Clay, a Southern statesman, worked out a compromise. Missouri could enter the
Union as a Slave State, while Maine would enter as a Free State. Still, the issue refused to go
away as more people pressed for the elimination of slavery.
7
In 1831, President Andrew Jackson forced South Carolina to accept federal tariffs. He would
not listen to arguments about state's rights and threatened military action. South Carolina backed
down but fears began to rise about other issues like slavery. How long would it be before the
federal government would trample States' rights and abolish it too?
8
Not all Southerners liked slavery or owned slaves. Some thought it was a terrible thing to
hold others in bondage, but they began to see these constant criticisms as attacks on their culture
and proud heritage. They believed these were issues which should be decided within a state and
not forced upon them from the outside.
9
The Presidential election of 1860 became the final straw. Many leaders of the Southern
States vowed to secede from the Union if Lincoln, an abolitionist, was elected as president. They
feared he would ignore the rights of their states. They believed that any powers not granted to the
federal government by the constitution, belonged to the states. If the states could individually
join the Union, they should be able to leave when they wanted.
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11
In December 1860, South Carolina became the first state to secede. Five more states
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Secession of the Southern States
Name _____________________________
Period___________ Date ___________________
followed in January 1861; Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana. In February
1861, the six met to form a group called the Confederate States of America. Jefferson Davis was
immediately elected as the new President, with Alexander H. Stephens as Vice President. A
month later, Texas joined the Confederacy.
Lincoln avoided talking about force in his March 1861 inaugural address, but he did say that
the Union was a permanent one.
12
Confederate soldiers took over Fort Sumter in the Charleston, South Carolina harbor on
April 12. When Lincoln ordered the fort retaken by the Union three days later, the Southerners
considered it an act of war. That spurred Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee to
join the Confederacy. The Civil War had begun.
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1. Why would some Southerners support a
pro-slavery government if they did not
believe in slavery?
They thought slavery should be
decided by the state government
They preferred to mind their own
business
They did not care what others did
They did not like outsiders telling
them what to do
2. If the cotton gin hadn't been invented,
slavery might have disappeared on its own.
False
True
3. Define the word secede as it appears in the 4. What compromise allowed a Slave State
story.
into the Union when alternated with a Free
State?
Separated away
Split away
Maryland
Mississippi
Ran away
Pulled away
Maine
Missouri
5. What was the first real threat to States'
Rights that caused many people concern?
Federal tariffs
Emancipation Proclamation
Abolitionism
Import bans
6. The first state to secede from the Union
was North Carolina.
False
True
7. The Confederate States of America were
made up of ________ states.
Eleven
Nine
Six
Twelve
8. The Confederate President was elected
before the Union President was
inaugurated.
False
True
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Secession of the Southern States
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Secession of the Southern States
Secession of the Southern States Answer Key
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
They thought slavery should be decided by the state government
True
Separated away
Missouri
Federal tariffs
False
Eleven
True
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