Transcript Civil War SS8H6a_REVISED

Issues Leading to the
Civil War
Standard SS8H6a
States’ Rights
• States’ Rights
– States are sovereign – subject to no higher power except for
those specifically granted by the U.S. Constitution (South –
favored states’ rights / North – opposed states’ rights).
• The South nullified (declared unconstitutional) the
tariffs of 1828 & 1832. South Carolina discussed
succession – breaking away from the U.S.
• Georgians were split over the issue.
Nullification
• Southern states had
fewer factories and
therefore bought many
manufactured goods
from foreign countries.
• Congress passed a tariff
in 1828 that many
southern states opposed
and threatened to nullify
• To nullify means to make
void or to deprive of
value or effectiveness.
• South Carolina
threatened to secede
from the Union in 1832
due to high tariffs
– Vice President John C.
Calhoun of SC believed in
states’ rights and that
states had a right to
nullify any federal law
that they thought was
unconstitutional
The Unoccupied West
• The North & South argued about how to use
unoccupied territory (land that had not become a
state yet) in the West.
• The South wanted to distribute western lands as
cheaply as possible; more agrarian & rural.
• The North wanted to sell the land at a high price;
more industrial & urban.
Slavery Divides The Nation
• As more western territories became states, would they
represent slavery or freedom?
• After Alabama became a state in 1819 (slave state),
there were an equal number of slave and free states
(11).
– The North was upset.
• Missouri Compromise (1820)
– Congress stated that Maine would be admitted as a “free”
state & Missouri as a “slave” state. Also, slavery would be
prohibited north of latitude 36 30’.
Missouri Compromise
Compromise of 1850
Benefits for the North
Benefits for the South
• California admitted to the
Union as a free state
• The territories of New
Mexico & Utah would
determine whether they
wanted to be slave or free
• Slave trading ended in
Washington, D.C.
• Texas gives up idea of
annexing New Mexico 
takes that territory away
from a slave state
• Residents of D.C. could
keep the slaves they had
• Congress would pass a
law (Fugitive Slave Act)
stating that runaway
slaves would be returned
to their owner
Georgia Platform
• Many Georgian’s were not happy with
Compromise of 1850
– Howell Cobb, Alexander Stephens & Robert Toombs
urged citizens to accept it to preserve the Union
• States’ Rights party formed
– protest accepting any compromise until Congress
agrees to protect slavery & state’s rights
• “Know Nothing Party”
– Did not want immigrants to become citizens or hold
political office
Kansas-Nebraska Act
• 1854, Stephen Douglas
(Illinois) got the KansasNebraska Act passed
– Created territories of Kansas
& Nebraska and contained a
clause on POPULAR
SOVEREIGNTY
• When applying for statehood,
each state could determine if
it wants to be Free or Slave
 changes the Missouri
Compromise North is
angered
• Free soilers & Pro-slavery
people
• Bloody Fighting
– Abolitionists promise to send
anti-slavery people w/guns
into Kansas
– Missouri promises to send
slavery supporters into
Kansas to fight
• Congress votes and
Northern votes deny
statehood to Kansas as a
slave state
– Southern states realize
Northern votes can keep
slave states from the Union
Dred Scott Case
• Northern abolitionists
raised money to take
case to Supreme Ct.
• Justices said Scott could
not sue b/c he was a
slave and slaves were not
citizens
• Dred Scott was a slave
– His owner took him from
Missouri (s) to Illinois (f)
then to Wisconsin (f)
• Scott claimed he should
be free
– Also said that Congress
had no right to stop slavery
in territories
– Further divides North &
South
Election of 1860
• Republican Party forms
– Opposes slavery
• Democrats are split over
candidate
– Northern Dems support
Stephen Douglas
– Southern Dems support
John Breckenridge
• Whigs form Constitutional
Union Party
– Support John Bell of
Kentucky
• Republicans support
Abraham Lincoln
– Against slavery, but will not
try to remove it from south
– Protective tariff
– Free lands in the west for
settlers
– Transcontinental railroad
with one end in the north
• Republicans & Lincoln
appear to be against
everything the south
wants
Election of 1860 – Lincoln, Douglas,
Breckenridge & Bell
Debate over GA secession &
Alexander Stephens
• Immediately after
Lincoln’s election,
Georgians began to
discuss secession
– Most Georgians
support the Union, but
more strongly support
State’s Rights
• Alexander Stephens
argues strongly
against secession
• Gov. Joe Brown,
Robert Toombs &
Thomas Cobb
strongly support
secession and
outweigh Stephens’
pleas
The Union Breaks
• South Carolina secedes
in Dec. 1860
• Confederate States of
America formed, Feb.
4, 1861
• Georgia secedes in Jan.
1861
– Jefferson Davis (Miss)
elected President
– Alexander Stephens
(against secession??)
elected Vice President
– Robert Toombs
named Secretary of
State
• Florida, Alabama,
Mississippi, Louisiana
and Texas all secede by
Feb. 1861