Download Causes of the Civil War

Causes of the Civil War
Chapter 12, section 1
Before we get to the causes….what were some
differences between the North and South????
The year is 1860…
The lives of people living the
North…
were very
different
than that of
people living
in the South.
Life in the North
•
•
•
•
•
Industrial economy (small farms)
Larger cities
Railroads increased commerce
Yankee clippers increased foreign trade
New machines helped produce more
goods
• Wave of immigrants supplied labor
• Larger population (around 21 million)
Railroads and Increased Commerce
Yankee Clippers Increased Foreign Trade
New machines helped produce more
goods
Wave of immigrants supplied
labor
Life in the South
• Agricultural economy/plantation
system
• Few large cities
• Limited industry & transportation
• Slavery legal (practiced & widely
accepted)
• Smaller population
(around 9 million including 3.5
million slaves)
Agricultural Economy
Limited industry & transportation
Slaves in the South
1845 – about 30,000 slaves in
TX
1860 – more than 182,000
slaves in TX
Average price of a slave
between 1850 & 1860: $600
Slaves with a skill (blacksmith,
etc.) cost > $2,000
*Most TX settlers did not have
slaves b/c of cost!
*Those who did had less than
20 (only the wealthiest had
more)
Five generations of a family
born into slavery on a South
Carolina Plantation
Poster advertising the selling
of slaves at an auction
-Regarded as property (buy, sell, rent)
-Families split at slave auctions (yes,
like livestock)
-Handed slaves down in family when
owner died
-Most worked in fields
-Lived in log cabins w/dirt floors
-Had enough food to survive, not much
more
-Encouraged to marry to
produce children
(born into slavery)
-Overworked, beaten,
abused, threatened
Cotton Gin
*Removing seeds from cotton
was slow and tedious
-Invented in 1793 by Eli
Whitney
-Fast and cheap way to remove
seeds
from cotton
This diagram shows how the cotton gin worked. Hooks on the cylinder
removed the seeds from the cotton. Did the cotton go through the
brushes before or after the seeds were removed?
*The cotton gin actually INCREASED cotton production
and slavery in the South:
“King Cotton”
1836-1840
$321 million
1856-1860
$744.6 million
By the 1850’s, slavery was
considered vital
to East Texas’
economy
43% of total
U.S. exports
54% of total
U.S. exports
*Slave Rebellions and escapes:
-Resistance took many forms: escape (most fled to
Mexico), worked slowly, broke tools, and
damaged other property.
*Fight over slavery:
-Most Northerners opposed slavery (some thought
it was immoral, others didn’t want to compete
for jobs).
-Many feared ending slavery would bankrupt the
South. As issue intensified, Southern states
threatened to secede, or withdraw, from the
Union.
-Few antislavery leaders lived in TX (threatened
or killed)
-Abolitionist: person who wanted to end slavery
*The Nation Splits Apart:
-The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 pushed the
nation closer to war.
-It gave the people of Kansas and Nebraska the
right to decide if their states would allow
slavery
-Southerners favored it – Northerners didn’t
(could spread slavery)
*State’s rights:
-View that favored state power over federal (national)
power!
-Most Southerners – including Texans – believed the
federal government did not have the right to make
decisions about state issues. They thought the federal
government went beyond its power by limiting the spread
of slavery.
*Supreme Court Case, Scott v.
Sandford (1857) further
angered antislavery group.
-Dred Scott sued for his & his
family’s freedom when his
owner took him to the
territories.
-The U.S. Supreme court ruled
against Scott claiming he
was property and couldn’t
claim citizenship.
-B/c of this ruling, the U.S.
Congress could not outlaw
slavery in the territories.
Dred Scott (above) was
granted emancipation three
months after the courts
ruling. He died of
tuberculosis in 1858 a free man.
Texas Secedes
-Abraham Lincoln , a
Republican, became the 16th
U.S. President in 1860.
-He won the states in the
North & got NO VOTES in
Texas.
-Southerners worried about
what he may do about slavery
-Texans wanted Governor Sam
Houston (won election in
1859) to call a convention to
remove TX from the U.S.
-Houston refused!
Secession Convention
-Houston opposed secession! Wanted the Union to stay
together!
-Other TX leaders called a convention to discuss leaving the
Union
-Began in January 1861
-Delegates voted 166 to 8 in favor of seceding
*Feb. 23, 1861, the people of TX voted to secede from the
Union (one of the only Southern states where the people
voted on it).
**Not all Texans supported secession!
-March 5, 1861, Texas was declared independent of the
United States! State leaders took an oath of loyalty to
the Confederacy…..Sam Houston refused!!!!
*Houston was REMOVED from office as governor! BOO!! 
A Nation Divided: The Union & Confederacy