Transcript Causes of the Civil War

Causes of the Civil War
Aim: Was the Civil War inevitable?
Bleeding Kansas
As I become a little more acquainted with this
part of the Territory I think quite favorably of it; &
I would by no means advise those of my friends
who are here to leave in search of a better
country. We feel more, & more certain that
Kansas will be a Free State. At this moment
there is quite an excitement here growing out of
a report of the Murder of a young Free Stater
man by a Missourian. Large numbers on both
sides are said to be in Arms near Lawrence; &
some anticipate a Bloody fight.
- John Brown, 1855
A House Divided
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 the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates
will 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
Address of John Brown to the Virginia Court, 1858
In the first place, I deny everything but what I have all along
admitted, -- the design on my part to free slaves. I intended
certainly to have made a clean thing of that matter, as I did last
winter, when I went into Missouri and took slaves without the
snapping of a gun on either side, moved them through the
country, and finally left them in Canada. I designed to do the
same thing again, on a larger scale. That was all I intended. I
never did intend murder, or treason, or the destruction of
property, or to excite or incite slaves to rebellion, or to make
insurrection…
Now if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for
the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood
further with the blood of my children and with the blood of
millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by
wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments. -- I submit; so let it be
done!
I. Sectionalism turns Violent
A. Bleeding Kansas (1855)
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Conflict between pro- and anti-slavery
factions in Kansas
B. Congressman Preston Brooks beats
Senator Charles Sumner with his cane.
C. John Brown raids Harpers Ferry
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Brown was a radical abolitionist who
organized a raid on a federal arsenal in
Virginia; he was caught and executed,
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Southerners fear Northern Republican attacks
Election of 1860
Election of 1860
II. Immediate Causes of the War

Lincoln (Republican) wins 1860 Election

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Lower South secedes (formally withdraws)
from the Union
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39% of popular vote; majority of Electoral Vote
(none from South)
SC is first
Form Confederate States of America
Lincoln pledges to PRESERVE THE UNION
at all costs
Battle of Fort Sumter