The Path to the Civil War Pre-constitution law Prohibited slavery in the new territories Founding...

The Path to the Civil War

• Pre-constitution law

• Prohibited slavery in the new territories

• Founding Fathers’ plans for the eventual end of slavery?

#1: The Northwest Ordinance, 1787

The Path to the Civil War

• Slavery was clearly legitimated by the Constitution– 3/5 Compromise– No laws against the slave trade could be passed

until at least 1808– Fugitive Slave Clause

#2: The Constitution, 1789

The Path to the Civil War

• Missouri admitted as a slave state

• Maine admitted as a free state

• All future states from the Louisiana Purchase:– North of Missouri will be free (36-30 line)– South of Missouri will be slave

#3: Compromise of 1820

The Path to the Civil War

• California a free state• “Popular Sovereignty” in New Mexico

– Popular = people– Sovereignty = rule – “Let the people of the territory decide”

• Slave TRADE to be banned in DC• A strong Fugitive Slave Act

#4: Compromise of 1850

Fugitive Slave Law of 1850

• Infuriated many Northerners– Were forced to respect southern slave laws

• Numerous northern whites & blacks were imprisoned for violating the law

• Anthony Burns Case, 1854– Fugitive slave returned by the US government to

Virginia at a cost of $100,000– 20,000 Bostonians protested; attacks on court house

Harriet Beecher Stowe

The Path to the Civil War

• Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe

• Fictional (but realistic) story of slave life

• Sold 300,000 copies

• Brought reality of slavery home to many Northerners

• “The little lady who started this war”

#5 Uncle Tom’s Cabin, 1851

Compromise of 1850

The Path to the Civil War

• Nebraska is ready for statehood

• Missouri Compromise says it will be free

• Southerners won’t accept this

• Territory is split into Kansas and Nebraska with Popular Sovereignty deciding in each

• Voids the Missouri Compromise

#6: Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854

The Burning of Free State Headquarters Lawrence, Kansas

John Brown, 1856

“Bleeding Kansas”

• Mini-Civil War in Kansas between pro-slavery and free state supporters, (started in 1855)

• John Brown—abolitionist who killed a family of five slavery supporters– “Pottawatamie Massacre”

• Kansas admitted as free state in 1861

#7: “Doughboy Democrat” Presidents

• Northern Dems who owed their position to Southern support

• Supported southern slave owner rights

Franklin Pierce1853-1857

James Buchanan1857-1861

Brooks Attacks Sumner, 1856

Dred Scott

The Path to the Civil War

• Dred Scott—a slave whose master had taken him to a free state, so he sued for his freedom

• Supreme Court ruled that a slave is “not a citizen, but only property” and property cannot sue

• Also said that the government has no right to take someone’s property

• Are all anti-slavery laws now unconstitutional?

#8: Dred Scott Decision, 1857

John Brown, 1859

“I am more and more convinced that this sins of this land can only be washed away with blood.”

The Path to the Civil War

• John Brown led an attack upon the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, VA.

• Hoped this would inspire slaves to rebel

• Captured and executed

• Considered a hero in many parts of the North

#9: John Brown’s Raid, 1859

VOCABULARY

to make a formal withdrawal of membership from an organization, state, or alliance

Secede

The Path to the Civil War

• Abraham Lincoln is elected president– Republican candidate

• Republican Party formed in 1856– NOT the Republicans of Thomas Jefferson

• Took the place of the Whig Party

• NOT an abolitionist, but Southerners fear that he is

• Seven southern states secede by the time Lincoln is inaugurated

#10: The Election of 1860

Abraham Lincoln, 1860