The American Civil War and the Failure of Leadership What mistakes (on both sides) led to the Civil War?

Federal Government and Slavery Preamble: “We the People of the United States…” Article I, Section 2: population will be determined by adding free people and 3/5 of all other persons Article I, Section 9: importation of slaves is outlawed after 1808 Article IV, Section 2: if a person held in service escapes to another state, they will not be free, but will be given back to the owner

Congress and Slavery 1789- Northwest Ordinance, Article 6 “There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory… (a) fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed”

Congress and Slavery 1820- Missouri Compromise, Sec 8 “In all territory… under the name Louisiana… north of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes north latitude… Slavery… shall be… prohibited… Fugitive[s] may be lawfully reclaimed…. Henry Clay

Congress and Slavery 1846- Wilmot Proviso “territory from…. (acquired from)Mexico by the United States… neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist…” Passed in the House, failed in the Senate

Congress and Slavery January, 1848- gold discovered at Sutter’s Mill, Sacramento River California Gold Rush ’49ers- 90,000 to CA Boomtowns SF Merchants Statehood Balance in Congress

Henry Clay- The Great Compromiser Compromise of 1850 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Congress and Slavery Opposition to the Compromise of 1850 “… the equilibrium between the two sections… has been destroyed… now… one section has the exclusive power to of controlling the government…” John C. Calhoun

Congress and Slavery 1854- Kansas- Nebraska Act “… the Compromise Measures (are) declared inoperative and void… the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way…” Stephen Douglas

Supreme Court and Slavery Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) “When the Constitution was adopted, they were not… numbered among its ‘people or citizens.’ Consequently, the special rights and immunities guarantied to citizens do not apply to them. And not being citizens… they are not entitled to sue… and the Circuit Court has no jurisdiction…” “Every citizen has a right to take with him into the Territory any article of property…” “The act of Congress, therefore, prohibiting a citizen of the United States from taking with him his slaves when he removes to the Territory in question… is not warranted by the Constitution…”

Individuals and Slavery “A house divided against itself can not stand.” I believe this government can not 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… Lincoln- Springfield, Illinois, June 17, 1858

Individuals and Slavery “In my opinion, our government can endure forever, divided into free and slave states as our fathers made it, each state having the right to prohibit, abolish, or sustain slavery, just as it pleases. This government was made upon the great basis of the sovereignty of the states, the right of each state to regulate its own domestic institution to suit itself… Douglass- Alton, Illinois, October 15, 1858

Individuals and Slavery

Individuals and Slavery “…the design on my part (was) to free the slaves… last winter… I took slaves… and left them in Canada… I designed to have done the same thing again on a larger scale… I never did intend murder, or treason, or the destruction of property…” John Brown