Download USI9b

USI.9b:
The South feared that the North would take control of Congress, which would mean
that they could make the major decisions for the nation. So Southerners began to
proclaim states’ rights as a means of self-protection.
The North believed that the nation was a union and could not be divided. This
difference between the North and the South over the rights of state versus national
governments was a major issue that divided the nation. While the Civil War did not
begin as a war to end slavery, the issues surrounding slavery deeply divided the
nation.
An important issue separating the country related to the power of the Federal
government. Southerners believed that they had the power to declare any national
law illegal. Northerners disagreed. They believed that the national government’s
power was supreme over that of the states.
Southerners felt that the abolition of slavery would destroy their region’s economy.
But Northerners believed that slavery should be abolished for moral reasons.
The US government attempted to find compromises that would resolve the
differences between the North and the South. The Missouri Compromise was put in
place in 1820. It allowed Missouri to become a slave state and Maine to become a
free state. The Compromise of 1850 admitted California as a free state and stated
that the southwest territories would decide about slavery. The Kansas-Nebraska Act
stated that the people of the territories would decide the slavery issue. This practice
was called “popular sovereignty.”
Following Lincoln’s election, the southern states seceded from the Union.
Confederate forces attacked Fort Sumter, in South Carolina. This marked the
beginning of the Civil War.
Lincoln and many Northerners believed that the United States was one nation that
could not be separated or divided. Most Southerners believed that states had freely
created and joined the union and could freely leave it.
CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING!!!
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Why did Southerners fear a Northern majority in Congress?
How did the North and the South disagree about the role of the government?
How did slavery divide the nation?
List and describe the 3 major compromises that the US government
implemented while attempting to keep the nation united.
5. When did the southern states secede from the Union?
6. What marked the beginning of the Civil War?
7. How did the views of southerners differ from those of northerners in terms of
a state’s ability to enter/leave the Union?