Download Steps to the Civil War

Steps to the Civil War
1820-1860
Missouri Compromise
• 1820
• 11 slave states and 11 free states
• Missouri territory became eligible for statehood
• Northern congressman would not support statehood for
Missouri since it would be admitted as a slave state
• Henry Clay proposed compromise-Missouri enter as slave
slave state and Maine enter as a free state. Proposed no
slavery north of 36, 30 extending into Louisiana Purchase.
• Compromise accepted.
• Thomas Jefferson expressed his opinion on
the Missouri Compromise in a letter to John
Holms dated April 22, 1820. Jefferson
writes that the Missouri question, "like a
fire bell in the night, awakened and filled
me with terror. I considered it at once as the
knell of the Union." -- Library of Congress
Map of the United States in 1820
War with Mexico
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1830- 20,000 Americans living in Texas; 2,000 slaves.
American settlers did not obey Mexican laws
- abolish slavery, learn Spanish and convert to
Catholicism.
1836- Texans begin seeking independence from Mexico. Santa Anna
crushed rebels at the Alamo
Texans declare themselves a republic-want annexation to the U.S.
President Tyler supports idea. Enlists Calhoun to help. Alienates
northerners.
1844- annexation rejected
1845-President Polk pushed through admittance of Texas as a state.
• Border question emerges in 1845. U.S. wants Rio Grande
River. Mexico wants Nueces River-150 miles north of Rio
Grande.
• Polk sends Zachary Taylor with troops to the Rio Grande River
and Slidell as negotiator to Mexico.
• Slidell refused. Polk orders Taylor to advance, Mexicans
attack.
• No formal declaration of war by Polk
• Easy victory for Americans.
• Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo 1848 U.S. acquires more territory
from Mexico- New Mexico, Utah, California and Arizona
• Wilmot Proviso
Campaign Banner for James K. Polk
Hand Colored Lithograph of General Taylor’s Encampment
By Daniel Whiting 1847
Composed and arranged at the request of General
Taylor
Ornamental
Map of the
United States
1848
Untitled Cartoon- 1847
Propaganda Pamphlet 1848
Expansion of Slavery?
• Two compromises to resolve issue of
slavery in territories
• Extend Missouri Compromise to Pacific.
South supports and North rejects.
• Popular Sovereignty-Lewis Cass. Allow
states to choose themselves whether they
are free or slave.
Henry Clay, “The Great Compromiser”, introducing the
Compromise of 1850 in the Senate Chambers
Compromise of 1850
• 1849 80,000 Americans moved to
California territory-mostly men in search of
gold.
• President Taylor suggests California be
admitted as state using popular sovereignty.
• California chose to be free-protect chances
for gold.
• Union was a stake
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Henry Clay proposed a compromise
California be admitted as a free state
The southwest (Utah and N. Mexico territories) be
organized into states. Southerners would be free to
bring slaves.
Lands around Texas would go to the New Mexico
territory
Slave trade abolished in Washington D.C. (not
slavery itself)
A more effective Fugitive Slave Law- to be
enforced in the North.
Stephen Douglas(D-Ill) pushed it through by calling
for provisions to be voted on separately.
Map of Territorial Expansion in 1850
Kansas-Nebraska Act 1854
• January 1854- Stephen Douglas proposed bill to
organize land west of Missouri into Nebraska
territory.
• To win over southerners Douglas proposed
dividing region into Kansas and Nebraska and
allow for popular sovereignty to be used to
determine slavery in these territories
• Bill passed creating a split in the Democratic
party- Know Nothings and Republicans emerge.
“Bleeding Kansas”
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North and South both want control of Kansas
Both regions sent outsiders to Kansas to influence the vote on slave state
status.
November 1854-Missourians cross over state line and vote to sway vote
toward pro-slavery.
1855- Pro-slavery legislature is elected in Kansas.
Anti-slavery settlers refuse to accept this legislature-hold own elections.
1856-two governments in Kansas
May 1856-pro-slavery group attacks an anti-slavery town.
John Brown responds with attack on pro-slavery settlement-murders 5
men.
By end of 1856- 200 men had been killed in Kansas
Portrait of John Brown
Attack of Charles Sumner (MA) by Preston Brooks
Excerpt
of speech by Charles Sumner
on floor
of Congress.
Sir, speaking in an age of light, and in a land of constitutional liberty, where the safeguards
of elections are justly placed among the highest triumphs of civilization, I fearlessly assert
that the wrongs of much-abused Sicily, thus memorable in history, were small by the side of
the wrongs of Kansas, where the very shrines of popular institutions, more sacred than any
heathen altar, have been desecrated; where the ballot box, more precious than any work, in
ivory or marble, from the cunning hand of art, has been plundered; and where the cry "I am
an American citizen" has been interposed in vain against outrage of every kind, even upon
life itself. Are you against sacrilege? I present it for your execration. Are you against
robbery? I hold it up to your scorn. Are you for the protection of American citizens? I show
you how their dearest rights have been cloven down, while a tyrannical usurpation has
sought to install itself on their very necks.
Removal of Senator Charles Sumner
Dred Scott vs. Sanford
1857
• Dred Scott was a
slave of a man who
lived in Illinois,
Wisconsin and
Missouri
• Sued for freedom
when owner died.
Based case on having
lived in free soil states
Dred Scott Decision
Supreme Court declared that blacks are not
citizens therefore they cannot sue in federal court.
Declared the Missouri Compromise
unconstitutional
Dred Scott not eligible to due process of law
because he was living in territories
Decision threatened popular sovereignty and
convinced many Northerners that the Supreme
Court was pro-slavery
Map of the Election of 1860
Election of 1860
• 4 candidates for President
1. Douglas-Northern Democrat
2. Breckinridge-Southern Democrat
3. Bell- Constitutional Union
4. Lincoln-Republican
• Lincoln won the electoral college in the North and the
West.
• Lincoln was viewed by the south as an abolitionist.
• Response of southern states to election was secession
- South Carolina secedes from the Union in December
1860. Six other states follow in February of 1861.
Portrait of Abraham Lincoln