Download Civil War SS8H6a_REVISED (2)

Issues Leading to the
Civil War
Standard SS8H6a
Economy 1800s
NORTH
• Factories
– Produced finished
goods
• Paid workers
SOUTH
• Agriculture
– Produced mainly cotton
• Slaves
States’ Rights
• States’ Rights
– States are sovereign (subject to no higher power except for
those specifically granted by the U.S. Constitution)
• South – favored (supported) states’ rights
• North – opposed (against) states’ rights.
• The South nullified (declared unconstitutional and
ignored) the tariffs (taxes) of 1828 & 1832.
– South Carolina discussed succession (breaking away from
the U.S.)
• Georgians were split over the issue.
Nullification
• Southern states had
fewer factories and
therefore bought many
manufactured goods
from foreign countries.
• Congress passed a tariff
in 1828 that many
southern states opposed
and threatened to nullify
• To nullify means to make
void or to deprive of
value or effectiveness.
• South Carolina
threatened to secede
from the Union in 1832
due to high tariffs
– Vice President John C.
Calhoun of SC stated:
“Southern states believed
in states’ rights and that
states had a right to
nullify any federal law
that they thought was
unconstitutional”
The Unoccupied West
• The North & South argued about how to use
unoccupied territory (land that had not become a
state yet) in the West.
• The South wanted to distribute western lands as
cheaply as possible; more agrarian & rural.
• The North wanted to sell the land at a high price;
more industrial & urban.
Slavery Divides The Nation
• As more western territories became states, would they
represent slavery or freedom?
• After Alabama became a state in 1819 (slave state),
there were an equal number of slave and free states
(11).
– The North was upset.
• Missouri Compromise (1820)
– Congress stated that Missouri would be admitted as a
“slave” state &Maine would be admitted as a “free”. Also,
slavery would be prohibited north of latitude 36 30’.
– Keeps the balance of free & slave states equal
Missouri Compromise
Compromise of 1850
Benefits for the North
Benefits for the South
• California admitted to the
Union as a free state
• The territories of New
Mexico & Utah would
determine whether they
wanted to be slave or free
• Slave trading ended in
Washington, D.C.
• Texas gives up idea of
annexing New Mexico 
takes that territory away
from a slave state
• Residents of D.C. could
keep the slaves they had
• Congress would pass a
law (Fugitive Slave Act)
stating that runaway
slaves would be returned
to their owner
Georgia Platform
• Many Georgian’s were not happy with
Compromise of 1850
• The Georgia Platform was a statement that
urged citizens to accept it to preserve the Union
– Howell Cobb, Alexander Stephens & Robert Toombs
• States’ Rights party formed
– protest accepting any compromise until Congress
agrees to protect slavery & state’s rights
Kansas-Nebraska Act
• 1854, Stephen Douglas
(Illinois) got the KansasNebraska Act passed
• Created territories of
Kansas & Nebraska
• Each state could decide to
be Free or Slave state
• This changes the Missouri
Compromise the North is
angered
• Kansas = Slave state
• Nebraska = Free state
• Bloody Fighting breaks out
between Free soilers & Proslavery people
– “Bleeding Kansas”
• Congress accepts
Nebraska as a state but
denies Kansas
– Southern states realize
Northern votes can keep
slave states from the Union
Dred Scott Case
• The case went to the
Supreme Ct.
• The Court said:
• Dred Scott was born into
slavery in Missouri
– He went on a trip with his
owner took him to Illinois (f)
then to Wisconsin (f)
1. Scott could not sue
b/c he was a slave
and slaves were not
citizens
2. Congress could not
stop slavery in states
• This issue further
• After returning from the trip,
divides North & South
his owner died.
• Scott sued his owner’s wife
for his freedom
Election of 1860
• 4 Candidates emerged
– New Republican Party
• Abraham Lincoln
– Democrats
• Northern Dems support
Stephen Douglas
• Southern Dems support
John Breckenridge
– Constitutional Union
Party
• Abraham Lincoln
– Against slavery, but will not
try to remove it from south
– Supports protective tariff
– Wants to give free land in
the west to settlers
– Supports building the
Transcontinental Railroad
with one end in the north
and the other out west.
• John Bell of Kentucky
• To the South, the
Republicans & Lincoln
appear to be against
everything the south
wants
Election of 1860 – Lincoln, Douglas,
Breckenridge & Bell
Election Results 1860
• http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/national.ph
p?year=1860
Debate over GA secession &
Alexander Stephens
• Immediately after
Lincoln’s election,
Georgians began to
discuss secession
– Most Georgians
support the Union, but
more strongly support
State’s Rights
• Alexander Stephens
argues strongly
against secession
• Gov. Joe Brown,
Robert Toombs &
Thomas Cobb
strongly support
secession and
outweigh Stephens’
pleas
The Union Breaks
• South Carolina secedes
in Dec. 1860
• Confederate States of
America formed, Feb.
4, 1861
• Georgia secedes in Jan.
1861
– Jefferson Davis
(Mississippi) elected
President
– Alexander Stephens
elected Vice President
• Florida, Alabama,
Mississippi, Louisiana
and Texas all secede by
Feb. 1861
• against secession now
VP?!?!
– Robert Toombs
named Secretary of
State