Transcript Key Events Leading to the Civil War

The Civil War
Key Events Leading to the Civil
War
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Sectionalism
Missouri Compromise
Nullification Crisis
Abolitionist Movement
Compromise of 1850
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Dred Scott Decision
Election of 1860
I. Sectionalism
A. An exaggerated loyalty to one’s own area
rather than the country as a whole
B. Differences Adding to Sectionalism
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Agriculture
Industrialization
Slavery
Transportation
Cities
Immigrants
II. Problems with Sectionalism
a. Separated the country in to two unfriendly
groups
b. There was a fight for control in the U.S.
government between these two groups.
III. Missouri Compromise
a. In 1819 there were 11 slave states and 11
free states
b. In the same year, Missouri asked for
statehood as a slave state
c. This would throw off the balance between
slave states and free states in the U.S.
government, giving one more power.
(The free states were afraid the slaves states would make slavery legal in all
states. The slave states were afraid that the free states would make slavery
illegal in all states.)
d. To avoid further problems a compromise
was worked out
1. Missouri would join as a slave state and Maine
would join as a free state
2. There would be equal power in the
government with 12 free states and 12 slave
states.
IV. Protective Tariff
a. Protective Tariff: Designed to raise import taxes on
goods coming from foreign countries in order to
make them more expensive than the goods made
in the United States.
b. This would benefit the emerging industries in the
North.
c. Southerners opposed raising the protective tariff
because they were largely agricultural and would
have to pay higher prices on manufactured goods
from the North and other countries.
V. Nullification
a. Nullification: the idea that a state can
ignore (nullify) a federal law if the state
does not like the law.
b. Included the idea:
1. If a state disagreed with
the federal government that
state could leave the
Union (secede), or no longer
be part of the United States.
VI. South Carolina Exposition and
Protest
a. Written anonymously by John C.
Calhoun-Vice President of the time.
b. The document claimed that it was a states’
right to declare such a law as the Protective
Tariff as unconstitutional (unjust) and to
nullify (ignore) it through a special state
convention.
c. This position threatened
the unity of the United States.
VII. Nullification Crisis
a. When Congress passed another tariff in 1832,
South Carolina called a meeting to nullify the
tariff and John C. Calhoun resigned as Vice
President.
b. President Andrew Jackson condemned the
flouting of federal law and urged Congress to
pass a Force Bill.
c. The crisis ended with a compromise
d. Congress lowered the tariff and South Carolina
repealed the nullification.
VIII. Antebellum
a. Antebellum is the term for the time
period before the Civil War: 1820-1860
IX. Slave Revolts
a. Over the years there were many attempts
at freedom by the slaves in South
Carolina
b. The most famous was the Denmark
Vesey case
c. Denmark Vesey was a free black living in
Charleston and according to some was
planning on leading a slave revolt
X. Denmark Vesey
a. Although the revolt never took place and
there was no hard evidence to prove it, it
was believed that Denmark had 9,000
followers with weapons who were going
to begin a revolt
b. Over 100 slaves and
free blacks were arrested.
34 were executed including
Vesey.
XI. Nat Turner Rebellion
a. Although not in South Carolina, the most
famous slave revolt was Nat Turner’s
Rebellion in Virginia
b. Nat was a slave
preacher who led a
band of rampaging
slaves who murdered
over 50 white men,
women, and children
XII. Effects of Slave Revolts
a. White people in the South were afraid
that at any moment the slaves would rise
up and start killing them.
b. They believed they were unable to live
without the slaves and yet were
extremely terrified of them at the same
time
c. So, more slave laws were passed to
control the slaves.
XIII. Slave Codes
a. These laws that were passed were called
Slave Codes.
1. Tried to stop slaves from coming into
South Carolina from other states
2. Free Blacks had to pay a tax to live in
South Carolina
3. If a free black left the state they could not
come back
4. Slave patrols were
increased in the state
XIV. Abolition Movement
a. At the same time as slave codes were
becoming harsher there was a movement
throughout the country of people who
were against the practice of slavery
b. These people were
called abolitionists
XV. Abolitionists
a. The Grimke sisters
b. Uncle Tom’s Cabin
c. Abolitionist information was kept out of
the South by postal workers and was
even considered illegal in many of the
southern states
XVI. Compromise of 1850
a. In 1850 California applied for a statehood
as a free state
1. This would throw off the balance of power
between free and slave states
b. Another compromise needed to be
worked out.
c. The Compromise of 1850 stated:
1. California would enter the U.S. as a Free
State
2. The territories of Utah and New Mexico
would allow slavery
3. No more slave trade in Washington D.C.
4. Stronger fugitive (runaway slaves) slave
laws would be passed.
XVII. Kansas-Nebraska Act
a. In 1854 the territories of Kansas and
Nebraska were organized
b. The Missouri Compromise line was
ignored
c. These two states would become Slave
or Free based on popular sovereignty
1. Popular sovereignty meant that the people
actually living those territories would get to
decide for themselves
d. In order to affect the vote, northern
abolitionists and southern slave owners
moved into the Kansas Territory.
e. There was so much violence that it led
people to call the area “Bleeding Kansas”
XVIII. Dred Scott Case
a. Dred Scott, a slave, argued
that he should be freed because
his master took him into free
Territories.
b. The supreme court ruled that because
Scott was property he could be taken
any where his master went and still be a
slave
c. This ruling allowed for
slaves to be taken
into free territories
without restrictions.
d. The South is excited
about the ruling but
the North decided to
ignore it
XIX. Election 1860
a. Before the election of 1860 the South
was worried that Lincoln would win
1.
To try to influence the North not to vote for
Lincoln, South Carolina threatened to
secede if Lincoln won the presidency
b. However, Lincoln won
the election with
electoral votes from the
North
c. Southerners and
border states split
their votes among
several
candidates
XX. South Carolina Secedes
a. South Carolina called a special
convention and signed the Articles of
Secession
1. A document claiming that
the rights of South Carolinians had
not been and would not be
protected by the federal government.
b. Other Southern states seceded soon
after
Outcome of Events
a. Most of these key events arose from racial
tension and created sectionalism
b. The following events all resulted from the issue
of slavery and divided the North and South
even more:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Missouri Compromise
Abolition Movement
Compromise of 1850
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Dred Scott Decision