Civil War

Analyze the economic, political, and social causes of the Civil War

Vocabulary

• POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY • COMPROMISE• ABOLITIONIST• SECTIONALISM • FUGITIVE • SECEDE

IMPORTANT VOCABULARY!• POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY – A VOTE where the people decide on

an issue. (I.E. – slavery)

COMPROMISE –An agreement reached between two

sides where both sides have to “give up” something,.

MORE VOCAB. -

• ABOLITIONIST –A person who works to bring an end to

or believes in NO slavery. Often they try and help slaves to freedom.

• SECTIONALISM – The belief that your part of the country

is the BEST. You put your part of the country’s needs in front of what is best for the WHOLE nation.

MORE VOCAB.• FUGITIVE – A person who has gone against

or broken the law and is on the loose.

• SECEDE - To remove or break away as

the Southern states did from the Union.

LAST TWO!

• ARSENAL –A warehouse that stores guns and ammunition.

• MARTYR –A person who is willing to die

for their beliefs. I.E. – John Brown

Emergence of States’ Rights

• The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions – written by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson – introduced the idea of states’ rights.

• States could nullify law passed by Congress that the states thought was unconstitutional

Leading to a Civil War

• Events leading to the Secession of the South– Secession

"to withdraw formally from a union or alliance”Southern individual states nullified their ratification of the U.S. constitution

The Process of Secession

Sectionalism

• Some people view sectionalism as a major issue.

• Sectionalism is the rivalry between the North and South over several issues:– slavery– tariffs– states’ rights– transportation

Westward Expansion & the Growth of Sectionalism

• The history of the United States is a history of movement from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.

COMPROMISES

• Because of the expansion into westward territory, compromises had to be reached regarding slavery.

• Would a state be added as a free or slave?

Missouri Compromise

• Missouri admitted as a slave state• Maine admitted as a free state• Line drawn at 36 degrees 30 minutes North

latitude• Everything north of the line would be free• Everything south of the line could be slave

Compromise of 1850• California admitted as a free state• The rest of the Mexican Cession to be formed

into New Mexico & Utah territories• Texas to give disputed territory to New

Mexico• No slave trade in Washington, DC• Stronger fugitive slave law• Government to pay debts of Texas

Kansas-Nebraska Act

• Popular sovereignty– the people decide if the area will be a

free state or a slave state by voting

• led to a civil war in Kansas• Kansas became known as Bleeding

Kansas • Kansas admitted as a free state

Dred Scott Decision• Supreme Court ruled that Scott and his family

were not free• Slaves were property• Federal government could not take a citizen’s

property from them• Made all other compromises null and void

Economic Issues

• Each section of the country had its own economic interests.

Leading to a Civil War• Economic

• Labor – South - free labor North - paid labor

• Tariffs – North wanted to protect their products

artificial inflation of imports– South faced reciprocal tariffs when they

exported their agricultural products

South Against High Tariffs

North Against Free Labor

Leading to a Civil War• Economic

• North passes laws in congress because of an imbalance in voting power

– 19 Free States

– 15 Slave States

Leading to a Civil War• Nature of a Republic

• What is a Republic?– Representative Democracy

• Freedom to choose

South choose to leave under this freedom

Under another system this would not have happened!

Leading to a Civil War

• ". . . it presents the question whether discontented individuals too few in numbers to control administration according to organic law in any case, can always upon the pretenses made in this case, or on any other pretense, break up their government, and thus practically put an end to free government upon the earth. It forces us to ask: Is there, in all republics, this inherent and fatal weakness? Must a government, of necessity be too strong for the liberties of its own people or too weak to maintain its own existence?"

Lincoln - July 4, 1861following Ft. Sumter

Leading to a Civil War

“our heritage depends on inherent weakness of a republic to strong to maintain liberties yet too weak to maintain its existence”.

Abraham Lincoln

• Southerners feared the election of Lincoln and the growth of the Republican Party.They thought Lincoln wanted to free the slaves. In reality, he just wanted to stop the spread of slavery into new territories.

So, what was the real cause of the war?

• There is no one answer.• Each issue from the beginning of our nation to

the outbreak of the war contributed to the cause.

• The compromises only delayed the onset.• The war was inevitable.