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Causes of the Civil War Aim: Was the Civil War inevitable?

Causes of the Civil War Aim: Was the Civil War inevitable?

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Page 1: Causes of the Civil War Aim: Was the Civil War inevitable?

Causes of the Civil War

Aim: Was the Civil War inevitable?

Page 2: 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

Page 3: Causes of the Civil War Aim: Was the Civil War inevitable?

Bleeding Kansas

After K-N Act, Northerners and Southerners raced to settle Kansas first

Missourians poured over border (“Border Ruffians”) to vote for slavery (60% of votes were illegal)

Passed Kansas Code, which limited freedoms of free-soilers

Violence broke out between pro- and anti-slavery factions Pottawatomie Massacre - John Brown and

sons murder proslavery advocates

Page 4: Causes of the Civil War Aim: Was the Civil War inevitable?

Lecompton Constitution

In Kansas, a pro-slavery Constitution was adopted during a referendum that free-staters boycotted – hence, vote didn’t represent the entire population

Pres. Buchanan tried to push Kansas constitution through Congress anyway—which would have made it a slave state—but Congress rejected it

Constitution was returned to Kansas; they re-voted and eventually applied to enter union as free state

Page 5: Causes of the Civil War Aim: Was the Civil War inevitable?
Page 6: Causes of the Civil War Aim: Was the Civil War inevitable?

Caning Sumner

Sen. Charles Sumner delivered “Crime against Kansas Speech,” insulting S.C.

Rep. Preston Brooks beat Sumner with cane

Northerners outraged; Preston Brooks lionized as hero by South

Page 7: Causes of the Civil War Aim: Was the Civil War inevitable?

Panic of 1857

South remained relatively untouched by this economic recession They believed they could survive as

their own independent country because cotton was “king” internationally

Page 8: Causes of the Civil War Aim: Was the Civil War inevitable?

Dred Scott Decision

Dred Scott, a slave, lived w/ owner in a free state (IL) & free territories for years

Returned to MO and sued owner for freedom In case of Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857), Supreme

Court, under Chief Justice Taney, ruled: Scott was still a slave African Americans were not citizens Congress had no authority to ban slavery from any

territory MO Compromise unconstitutional

Page 9: Causes of the Civil War Aim: Was the Civil War inevitable?

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

Page 10: Causes of the Civil War Aim: Was the Civil War inevitable?

Lincoln-Douglas Debates

Series of debates between Abe Lincoln and Stephen Douglas Battling for U.S. Senate seat in IL

Each expressed his views on slavery Freeport Doctrine

Douglas stated that slavery could exist only w/ establishment of slave codes

Thus, if people in a territory refused to pass a slave codes, slavery wouldn’t be established there Upset Southerners

Page 11: Causes of the Civil War Aim: Was the Civil War inevitable?

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!

Page 12: Causes of the Civil War Aim: Was the Civil War inevitable?

John Brown raids Harpers Ferry

Brown, a radical abolitionist, organized a raid on a federal arsenal in Virginia Brown was caught and executed,

becoming a martyr for the antislavery cause

Southerners fear Northern Republican attacks, and began organizing their militias

Page 13: Causes of the Civil War Aim: Was the Civil War inevitable?

Election of 1860

Page 14: Causes of the Civil War Aim: Was the Civil War inevitable?

Election of 1860

Page 15: Causes of the Civil War Aim: Was the Civil War inevitable?

Election of 1860

Purely sectional—Lincoln won with only 40% of popular vote and received NO electoral votes in the South

Crittenden Compromise Proposed Constitutional amendment extending

old 36 30’ parallel to CA and preserving slavery forever – FAILED

Page 16: Causes of the Civil War Aim: Was the Civil War inevitable?

Secession

South Carolina seceded first – 12/20/1860 Deep South followed Jefferson Davis became president of

Confederate States of America Upper South (“Border States”) remained

in Union Battle of Fort Sumter – immediate cause

of war Lincoln’s Goal: PRESERVE THE UNION