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UNIT 6
EVENTS LEADING TO THE CIVIL WAR, 1793-1861
IN A NUTSHELL
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Before 1860 the North and the South were separated by economic, political, and cultural differences that became
increasingly difficult to compromise.
After the election of Abraham Lincoln several southern states seceded from the Union, an action that led to the civil war
in 1861.
ESSENTIAL INFORMATION
A. How did the election of 1844 change the United States?
In 1844 James K. Polk, a Democrat, was elected on an expansionist platform calling for the “re-annexation” of Oregon. During Polk’s
presidency the U.S. annexed an independent Texas. In treaty with Great Britain the U.S. annexed the Oregon territory. President Polk
also annexed land after a war with Mexico. The Mexican-American War began in 1846 when General Zachary Taylor clashed with
Mexican troops near the Rio Grande. The war ended in 1848 with the U.S. gaining land from the Mexican Cession for $15 million.
B. What are the differences between northern and southern states before the Civil War?
Before the Civil War the North experienced a growing manufacturing economy, several political changes, and a variety of dynamic
reform movements. The South remained primarily an agricultural society based upon the growing of cotton in a plantation system.
C. What were the political differences between northern and southern states before the Civil War?
Northerners generally supported a Bank of the United States, a protective tariff, internal improvements at federal expense, and the
prohibition of slavery in the territories. Southerners generally disagreed with northerners on these issues.
D. What caused the Civil War?
The primary causes of the Civil War included an argument over federal as opposed to states’ rights, a struggle for control of the federal
government, economic differences, and slavery. Many historians feel that slavery was the main cause because it was an emotional
issue that most separated the North from the South. Some historians point out that slavery was not the main cause because the North
did not threaten to end slavery where it already existed. Furthermore, five slave states- Missouri, Kentucky, West Virginia, Maryland,
and Delaware- fought for the Union.
E. What did northerners think of slavery?
Although there was a growing abolitionist movement in the North. Most northerners, before the 1850’s, did not generally sympathize
with the abolitionists. Those who did support abolitionism felt that slavery was morally wrong. In addition, abolition thought slavery
led to the inhumane treatment of blacks, violated principles of democracy, and violated the teaching of the Bible.
F. What did southerners think of slavery?
Although most southerners did not own slaves, southerners generally supported slavery by arguing that it had always existed, and it
was more humane than northern capitalism, and it was, as many southerners believed, sanctioned by the Bible.
G. How were differences between the North and South settled before the 1850s?
Before the 1850s sectional differences were usually compromised at the federal level. The most notable compromises included the
Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the Compromise of 1833.
H. what effect did the Mexican- American War have on sectional differences?
The end of the Mexican-American War in 1848 marked a turning point I sectional conflict. The land obtained from Mexico at the end of
the war intensified the debate over whether slavery should be allowed in the territories. This issue was increasingly difficult to
compromise since the addition of new sates, slave or free, would upset the political balance between the North and South, particularly
in the U.S. Senate.
I. What was the Compromise of 1850?
In the Compromise of 1850 California became a free state (the South’s main concession) and Congress adopted a strict Fugitive Slave
Law (the North’s main concession). The comprise also declared the slave trade would be abolished in the District of Columbia, slavery
in New Mexico and Utah would be decided by popular sovereignty, the Texas boundary would be reduced, and the Texas debt would
be paid by the federal government.
J. What effect did Uncle Tom’s Cabin have on sectional differences?
Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe stirred the conscience of the North and increased the anti-slavery sentiment.
K. What was the Kansas-Nebraska Act?
The Kansas- Nebraska Act, authored by Stephen Douglas, was passed as a provision for creating territorial governments in Kansas and
Nebraska. The Kansas- Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise by requiring that the issue of slavery be settled not by the
36 30’ line, but by popular sovereignty.
L. Why was the Republican Party created?
After the Whig Party split over the issue of slavery many northerners were looking for an alternative to the Democratic Party’s support
of popular sovereignty. Passage of the Kansas- Nebraska Act in 1854 led to the creation of the Republican Party, a party that was
opposed to popular sovereignty and the extension of slavery into the territories.
M. What was the Dred Scott decision?
In a sweeping victory for the southern slave owners, the Supreme Court ruled in Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) that blacks were not
citizens and could not sue in federal court. The Court ruled that Congress could not outlaw slavery in the territories since a prohibition
of slavery would deprive slave owners of their property and deny them a fundamental right protected by the Constitution.
N. What were the Lincoln-Douglas debates?
In an election for the U.S Senate in 1858, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas held a series of debates in Illinois. Although Douglas
won the election, Lincoln became nationally known. Douglas, a presidential hopeful, argued that although Congress could not keep
slavery out of the territories, the people could.
O. What happened to Harper’s Ferry, Virginia in 1859?
In 1859 John Brown, a radical abolitionist, led a raid on the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry. Brown, who hoped the seize weapons
from the federal arsenal and start a slave revolt in the South, was captured and charged with treason. After he was executed Brown
became a martyr to many northerners. Southerners, on the other hand, saw Brown as a part of a general northern conspiracy against
slavery and therefore increased their pro-slavery rhetoric.
P. What happened in the election of 1860?
Although Abraham Lincoln won a minority of popular votes running against three other candidates, he won a majority of electoral
votes and was chosen sixteenth president of the Unite States. Seven southern states responded to Lincoln’s election by seceding from
the Union and forming the Confederate States of America.
SIGNIFICANT EVENTS:
1. invention of the cotton gin, 1793
11. Gadsden Purchase, 1853
2. Missouri Compromise, 1820
12. Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854
3. Nat Turner leads a slave revolt, 1831
13. Republican Party Created, 1854
4. Compromise of 1833
14. Dred Scott v. Sandford, 1857
5. Texas Annexed, 1845
15. Lincoln–Douglas debates, 1858
6. Mexican –American War, 1846-1848
16. John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry, 1859
7. Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo/Mexican Cession, 1848
17. Election of 1860
8. Wilmot Proviso, 1850
18. Southern secession, 1860-61
9. Compromise if 1850
19. Confederate States of America Created, 1861
10. Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, 1852
“I know of no soil better adapted to the growth of reform than American soil. I know of no country where the conditions for effecting
great changes in the settled order of things, for the development of right ideas of liberty and humanity, are more favorable than here
in the United States…The Constitution, as well as the Declaration of Independence, and the sentiments of the founders of the republic,
give us a platform broad enough, to support the most comprehensive plans for the freedom and elevation of all the people of this
country.”
- Fredrick Douglass. Speech on the Dred Scott decision, 1857
IMPORTANT PEOPLE:
20. James K. Polk
28. Henry Clay
21. Zachary Taylor
29. Roger Taney
22Abraham Lincoln
30. John C. Fremont
23. William Lloyd Garrison
31. Stephen Douglas
24. Fredrick Douglass
32. John Breckenridge
25. Harriet Tubman
33. John Bell
26. Sojourner Truth
34. Jefferson Davis
27. John C. Calhoun
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
35. antebellum
39. Bleeding Kansas
36. “peculiar institution”
40. Popular sovereignty
37. Underground Railroad
41. Freeport Doctrine
38. Fugitive Slave Act
42. confederation
“‘A house divided against itself cannot stand.’ I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the
Union to be dissolved- I do not expect the house to fall- but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other. Either
the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in course of ultimate
extinction; or it’s advocates push it forward, till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new, North as well as South”
-Abraham Lincoln, House Divided Speech, 1858