Steps to the Civil War!

Almost from the beginning of European presence in America, slavery had been an issue. In the so-called “triangle trade,” slaves from Africa were traded for rum produced in America from West Indian sugar.

Especially in the south, where soil, climate, and the length of the growing season was perfect, cotton arose as the biggest “cash crop” in America.

Unfortunately, growing, harvesting and processing cotton required a huge labor force; slaves from Africa seemed to be the perfect solution!

Before 1800, slavery in the north had all but disappeared. Machines replaced human labor in the industrial north. In the agricultural south, where a huge unskilled labor force was required, slavery remained but was still in decline until…

…1794, when Eli Whitney patented the cotton gin; a machine that mechanically removed the seeds from cotton!

Before the cotton gin, a slave could process about a pound of cotton in a single day; cotton was the most expensive fabric in the world! After the cotton gin, a single slave could process several hundred pounds all by himself!

Mini Quiz! Increased supply of cotton allowed producers to ___________ the price. Did this increase or decrease demand? What do you suppose this did to the demand for slaves, the labor used to process the cotton?

You’re right! Almost overnight, cotton went from the most expensive fabric in the world to the cheapest! Demand skyrocketed and demand for slaves to work the cotton fields went through the roof as well!

Congress worked diligently to maintain a balance between the number of free states in the Union and the number of slave states. Neither side wanted the other to have a voting advantage in Congress!

Their first attempt allowed Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state, but disallowed slavery to the north of Missouri’s southern border.

It was called The Missouri Compromise because Missouri, which was above the line, was allowed to come into the Union as a slave state.

Naturally, the Missouri Compromise only affected existing U.S. territory which, in 1820, was limited to the original United States, Florida, and the territory gained by the Louisiana Purchase.

Each new territory sparked up the debate again! When the region known as “The Mexican Cession” became U.S. territory, Congress had to decide what to do about slavery again!

In the Compromise of 1850, what to do about slavery in the Mexican Cession was decided! California came into the Union as a free state; the Utah and New Mexico territories could decide for themselves!

The Compromise of 1850 worked so well that Congress decided to allow people in the Kansas and Nebraska territories to decide the issue there as well! The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 led to so much bloodshed that the Kansas territory came to be known as “bleedingKansas!”

Largely in response to Northern outrage at the Fugitive Slave Law (part of the Compromise of 1850), Uncle Tom’s Cabin is published in UTC galvanizes Northern abolitionists and adds many to the cause!

In the 1857 Supreme Court case Dred Scott v. Sandford, the court ruled that slaves are property and that Congress does not have the constitutional authority to regulate slavery, striking down the Missouri Compromise.

Dred Scott was a slave who, seeking his freedom, sued his owner, stating that he had been moved to Illinois and then to Wisconsin, both of which were free states. According to Scott, living in states that disallowed slavery made him, by definition, a free man!

The Court disagreed, citing the 10 th Amendment to the Constitution, which clearly states that powers not specifically granted to the national government in the Constitution automatically go to the States.

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.” The 10 th Amendment

John C. Calhoun Recall that sectionalism between the north and south, dating all the way back to colonial times, had more than once caused a crisis of government between the two regions. “Nullification Crisis – 1832”

The division between North and South was now huge! Differences of opinion regarding slavery, state’s rights, and economic systems were splitting the nation apart!

“I, John Brown am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood.” Perhaps abolitionist John Brown, referring to slavery as “crimes,” said it best: