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A Nation Divides
Causes of
The American Civil War
Abolitionists
• A group that was
devoted to the cause of
ending slavery.
• Most active from the
1830s, but various
groups formed to
protest slavery as early
as 1688.
William Lloyd Garrison
Garrison published the
anti-slavery newspaper
“The Liberator” for over
thirty years. He was
perhaps the most radical
abolitionist, and insisted
that non-political, nonviolent, not segregated
methods were needed to
fight slavery
Angelina Grimke
Born to a slave-holding
family in South
Carolina, Angelina
and her sister, Sarah,
moved to
Pennsylvania and
spoke out against
slavery. They were
verbally attacked for
speaking in public.
Lucretia Mott
A Quaker minister, Mott
sought the abolition of
slavery and sometimes
sheltered runaway slaves
in her home. She refused
to wear cotton, eat
sugarcane, or use any
slave-produced good. She
was also a supporter of
women’s rights
movement.
Reactions to the Abolitionist
Movement
• In the South, slaveholders and non-slaveholders believed
that abolitionism threatened their way of life.
• In the North, where the abolitionists were a small fraction
of the population, opposition focused on the potential
threat to the nation’s social order, the potential for a war
with the South, and that freed slaves might take jobs away
from Northern factory workers by working for lower pay).
• Riots, mobs, and many acts of violence (including the
murder of Elijah Lovejoy, editor of an anti-slavery
newspaper in Illinois). The anti-slavery headquarters in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Hall, was burned to the ground.
Frederick Douglass
Born a slave in Maryland,
Douglass escaped, became
a lecturer for the antislavery cause and
published an abolitionist
newspaper, “The North
Star”. He also worked
with the Underground
Railroad and was an
advisor to Lincoln.
A quote from Douglass:
Believe in yourself.
Take advantage of every opportunity.
Use the power of spoken and written language
to effect positive change for yourself and
society.
The Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a network of routes by
which slaves attempted to escape to free states, or as far
north as Canada, with the aid of abolitionists. Other routes
led to Mexico or overseas. At its height between 1810 and
1850, an estimated 30,000 to 100,000 people escaped
enslavement via the Underground Railroad, though census
figures only account for 6,000.
The Underground Railroad consisted of secret routes,
transportation, meeting points, safe houses, and other
havens, and assistance that was maintained by abolitionist
sympathizers.
“Underground Routes”
Harriet Tubman
• Born a slave, but
escaped and became a
conductor on the
Underground
Railroad. She took
more than 300 slaves
to the north.
• During the Civil War,
Harriet was a spy for
the Union.
SECTIONALISM
AND
STATES’ RIGHTS
SECTIONALISM: Instead of looking at the nation as a
whole, southerners, westerners and northerners began to
identify themselves regionally and not as Americans. So, the
people would put the needs of their region over the needs of
the nation.
What did the North and South
disagree on?
• Slavery
•
• Western Expansion
• Very different lifestyles, economies, and
political ideals.
NORTH
SOUTH
• More diverse
population
• Higher population
• Larger cities
• Industry and business
• Small farms
• Groups of abolitionists
trying to end slavery
• Agriculture as basis of
economy
• Cash Crops: Cotton,
tobacco, rice, and
sugarcane
• Slave labor
• Few factories, little
industry
Cotton is King!
• In 1790 (before the
invention of the cotton
gin) there were about 750,
000 slaves in the south
and 3000 bales of cotton
produced per year.
• By 1860, the number of
slaves was over four
million, who produced
almost four million bales
of cotton per year
States’ Rights
• Southern states felt state
laws carried more
weight than federal laws
and therefore, state laws
should be followed first.
In addition, they argued
that the federal
government only has
limited power under the
10th amendment.
Westward Expansion
http://www.unitedstreaming.com/
videos/12355/chp899204_256k.
New Territory
• Louisiana Purchase (1803)
• Texas (1845)
• Pacific Northwest (Treaty with Britain
signed 1846: Oregon and Washington)
• New Mexico, most of Arizona,
California, Utah, and Nevada (1848).
United States in 1800
United States in 1850
Free or Slave States?
Compromise #1:
Missouri Compromise of 1820
Missouri would come in as a
slave state
Maine would come in as a free
state
Banned slavery in the rest of
the Louisiana territory above
the 36, 30’ parallel
Compromise #2:
Compromise of 1850:
 California would be admitted as a
free state
 Fugitive Slave Act
 Slave trade abolished in Washington
D.C.
 New Mexico territory could decide
for itself whether to allow slavery
•
Fugitive Slave Act
• Required Northerners to
return runaway slaves to
their masters.
• Made the Federal
government responsible
for catching slaves and
trying them before
“special commissioners”.
The slaves could not speak
and the commissioners
were paid more if they
returned the slave to the
south.
Kansas-Nebraska Act 1854
Slave or Free?
• Introduced by Stephen Douglas, the act
would allow the settlers of the proposed
states to decide by voting (popular
sovereignty) whether it would be slave or
free. This abandoned the Missouri
Compromise of 1820.
• Pro-slavery and anti-slavery groups flooded
Kansas to influence the vote.
“Bleeding Kansas”
• Elections put BOTH antislavery AND pro-slavery
governments in charge of
Kansas.
• May 1856, Kansas exploded
in violence: Lawrence was
attacked by pro-slavery
groups and anti-slavery
groups committed revenge
killings.
• By Fall of 1856, over 200
people had been killed in
Kansas.
Dred Scott Decision
Dred Scott v Sanford (1857)
Dred Scott Case
• Dred Scott sued for his
freedom on the basis that
he lived in Illinois (a free
state) and the Wisconsin
Territory (free) for
years.
• The case went before
the Supreme Court,
which could use the case
to rule on slavery in the
territories….
The Court’s Decision:
• Chief Justice Roger Taney ruled that Dred
Scott was still a slave, therefore not a citizen,
and not even allowed to bring a lawsuit to the
court.
• Living on free soil did not make someone free,
and slaves were property.
• Congress had no power to prohibit slavery in
the U.S. territories because that would amount
to taking away a person’s property without “due
process of law”.
Reaction to the Dred Scott
Decision:
• Southerners were elated
by the Supreme Court
ruling that preventing
slavery’s spread was
unconstitutional.
• Republicans and other
anti-slavery groups were
outraged and called it “the
greatest crime” ever
committed. They vowed
to win the presidency,
appoint new justices and
overturn the decision.
Election of 1860
The Candidates
• John Breckinridge: of Kentucky, nominated as a
Democratic candidate. He was the vicepresident, and promoted the extension of
slavery into the territories.
• Stephen A. Douglas: of Illinois, a Democratic
candidate who opposed the spread of slavery
and lost the support of Southern Democrats.
More Candidates…
• Abraham Lincoln: The Republican
candidate, also from Illinois, he was a
moderate. His party was opposed to the
spread of slavery.
• John Bell: of Tennessee, was the candidate
of the Constitutional Union Party, which
took no formal position on slavery.
Lincoln Wins!
• Lincoln won a majority of
the votes, even though he
did not appear on the
ballot in most Southern
states.
• He won every Northern
state.
• He won 180 of 303
electoral votes, but only
40% of the popular vote.
Three weeks later:
• South Carolina votes to
secede, or leave, the
United States on
December 20, 1860
• They were joined by
Texas, Louisiana,
Mississippi, Alabama,
Florida, Georgia to form
the Confederate States of
America.
• WAR HAD BEGUN