Download War Divides the Nation

The Road to War
United States Civil War
SECTIONALISM
Caused by economical differences between the two regions
NORTH
• Industrial
• Paid labor for workers
SOUTH
• Agricultural
• Free labor (slaves)
did the work
Composition of U.S. Before 1860
Free
Slave
Territories
Right to be free
• Greatest problem of slavery – violation of
every human being's unalienable right to
be free
Compromise of 1820
Also known as the
• Missouri Compromise of 1820
Proposed by
• Henry Clay
Why was it needed?
• Keep balance of slave & free
states equal in the Senate
What did it do?
• Missouri enters as a slave state
• Maine enters as a free state
•
Southern boundary of Missouri
becomes dividing line between
slave/free
The Issue of States’ Rights
• Southerners – all lands acquired
from Mexico open to slave
holders
• Northerners – demanded all new
regions be closed to slavery
Then…in California
• January 1848 – gold discovered
• Congress had to make a decision
WHY ??
quickly
Because…
California wanted to join Union as
free state – BUT – was split in half
by Missouri Compromise Line
(oops!!!!)
So…***Henry Clay – you’re up!!!
Compromise of 1850
Proposed by
• Henry Clay
Why was it needed?
• California wanted to join as a free
state
• Was split in half by Missouri
Compromise Line
What did it do?
• CA enters as a free state
• Washington, DC bans slave
trading but not slavery
• Strong Fugitive Slave Laws are
passed
CALMING or NOT ???
• For 3 years, the
compromise settled most
differences
but…
• The new Fugitive Slave Law
deeply offended
Northerners
• Northerners continued to help
fugitives escape, and made the
Underground Railroad more efficient
and more daring than it had been
before.
Kansas-Nebraska Problem!
• Slave-holders in Missouri objected to Kansas
becoming a free territory because they would
have 3 free-soil neighbors (Illinois, Iowa and
Kansas)
• They feared their state would be forced to
become a free state as well
Kansas-Nebraska Act 1854
Proposed by
• Stephen A. Douglas
Why was it needed?
• Kansas and Nebraska
territories use popular
sovereignty to decide if free
or slave
What did it do?
• Bleeding Kansas – slave
holders vs free soilers got into
armed conflicts
Bleeding Kansas
Both southern
slave holders and
antislavery
families move in –
armed conflict
results in lots of
blood shed.
Kansas became
known as
“Bleeding Kansas.”
Slave or Freed Man ??
Dred Scott
• Missouri slave
• Master moved to Illinois
and the Wisconsin Territory
(where slavery banned)
• Master returned to
Missouri
• Scott sued for freedom
Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857)
Decided by
• Chief Justice Roger Taney
What was the argument?
• “Should Dred Scott be free or
not?”
What was the decision?
• Slaves were property, not
citizens – not automatically
free on free land
Effects of Dred Scott Decision
• angered North
• Southern --great victory--it gave “judicial
voice” to their justification of slavery
Lincoln-Douglas Debates 1858
***Debates between
Illinois congressional
candidates:
Stephen A. Douglas
vs. Lincoln (new
Republican Party)
***Douglas won the
election
***Lincoln gained
national attention for
his views on slavery
• Abraham Lincoln regarded slavery as
“a Necessary EVIL”
• Speech in Peoria, Illinois, in 1858—declared:--
“all national legislation should be framed
on the principle that slavery was to be
restricted. It should NOT spread into
the new western territories!”
Tensions Grow!!!!
***Southerners are feeling
threatened !!
Then…
John Brown
Was he Saint or Satan?
John Brown’s Raid (1860)
Led by
• John Brown (white abolitionist)
What was the purpose?
• Raided federal arsenal at
Harper’s Ferry, VA in hopes of
starting rebellion against slave
owners
What were the effects?
• Brown was defeated and
hanged; hated by Northerners
and Southerners
1860 Presidential Election
• Republican – Abraham Lincoln
• Northern Democrat – Stephen A. Douglas
• Southern Democrat – John Breckenridge
• Constitutional Union Democrat – John Bell
Presidential Election of
1860
Who won?
• Abraham Lincoln (Republican)
What happened?
• South Carolina seceded
Why Secession?
The election of Abe Lincoln as the 1st
Republican President increased the South’s
fear that Lincoln would abolish slavery in
South
South Carolina secedes
• Lincoln’s election led to
South Carolina’s decision
was to be the 1st southern
state to secede from the
Union
• Lincoln’s election caused
the start of the CIVIL WAR
Secession of South Carolina
Justification
• States’ rights
Reaction
• Lincoln refuses to
recognize secession
Southern justification for slavery…
States’ Rights
The belief that since the constitution
reserved certain powers for the states
which superseded federal powers, a state
could secede from the Union if they were
not allowed to nullify a federal law!
Secession: Legally Void
• Abraham Lincoln
sworn in.
• In his inaugural
address, he refused
to recognize the
secession,
considering it "legally
void."
Jefferson Davis says…
“As
a necessity, not a choice, we
have resorted to the remedy of
separation, and henceforth our
energies must be directed to the
conduct of our own affairs…If
this be denied to us…we will be
forced to appeal to arms!
Fort Sumter, South Carolina
1st shots of
Civil War fired
here
WAR!
• The battle began in April of
1861 when the Confederate
Army took over Fort Sumter
in Charleston, South
Carolina.
Fort Sumter, South Carolina
What happened?
• South wanted to test
Lincoln’s vow to hold
on to federal property
Consequences
• Civil War begins
Fort Sumter
Civil War, Death and Destruction
A war had begun in which more
Americans would die than in any other
conflict before or since.