1. Top Five Causes of the Civil War
Sectionalism
Inbalance of Political Power
The Spread of Slavery to the West
Growth of the Abolition Movement
Election of Abraham Lincoln

2. 1. Sectionalism – Is when a person is more loyal to his or her region
1. Sectionalism – Is when a person is more loyal to his or her region than to the nation.
Sectional economic differences helped cause the Civil War. These differences led the nation to grow in different directions throughout the 1800s.
The North was moving towards industrialization and an economy based on manufacturing. The South was rooted in an economy based on agriculture and slave labor. The West was the newest region of the nation and the least populated. The different needs of the nation caused the people to be more loyal to the region they lived in than to the nation as a whole.
vs.

3. Case study - The Nullification Crisis of 1832
In 1832 Congress passed a protective tariff against European manufactured goods.
The tariff benefited the Northern Manufactures but it hurt the Southern economy, as depicted in the cartoon on the left.
People in South Carolina turned to John C. Calhoun, Vice President to Andrew Jackson for help.
He came up with the theory of Nullification, an extension to the State’s right’s theory presented by Jefferson in response to the Alien and Sedition Acts.
South Carolina threatened to secede if the tariffs were enforced in their state.
The Theory of Nullification states that a State has the right to nullify, or cancel, any law passed by Congress if that law is unfair or unconstitutional.

4. Dred Scott vs. Sandford Issue: Can a slave sue for his freedom?
Decision: No, a slave is not protected by the Constitution, they are not citizens, but instead are property.
Increased Sectional tension between North and South.
The decision supported the Kansas Nebraska Act which overturned the Missouri Compromise

5. Fugitive Slave Act Slave catchers in the North became common place.
The Fugitive Slave Act was a law that required all Americans to assist southern bounty hunters searching for runaway slaves.
It made it a Federal Crime to assist runaway slaves.
Slave catchers in the North became common place.
It presented a moral question, should I follow the law and therefore slavery, or break the law and oppose slavery?

6. Bleeding Kansas
It showed that pro slavery and supporters and Abolitionist were willing to use force to support their beliefs.

7. 2. Political Power
Another cause of the Civil War was the imbalance of power between the North and the South. This can be seen as argument for State Rights.
The North had the greater population so they held more seats in Congress, and therefore controlled the government.
Northern Congressmen passed laws that benefited the North more than the South. These laws primarily dealt with tariffs to protect the manufacturing industry of the North.
Many Southerners disagreed with these tariffs, even going so far as to call them abominations, and felt powerless to change the laws that negatively affected them.

8. 3. Slavery and Western Expansion
With the addition of new territories in the West, the issue of slavery in the United States began to heat up.
Northerners and Abolitionist did not want to see the practice expand into the Western lands.
Southerners wanted to see slavery expand to the West.
Congress agreed to several compromises through out the early that helped to ease tensions.
These compromises only postponed the Civil War.

9. Missouri Compromise of 1820
In 1820, there was a balance between slave states in the South and Free states in the North.
Missouri was seeking statehood in 1820.
Many northern states were against the addition of Missouri because they wanted slavery.
This would create an imbalance in Congress between free and slave states.
To keep the balance, the following compromise was made
Missouri would enter as a slave state, and Maine would enter as free state. (Thus keeping a balance)
Slavery was outlawed in the lands of the Louisiana Purchase, north of Missouri’s southern border.

10. Compromise of 1850
To regulate slavery in the lands of the Mexican Cession. Leaders in Congress agreed to the following compromises.
Texas agreed to reduce it’s size in exchange for the United States paying off their war debt.
California was admitted to the Union as a free state.
The slave trade was banned in Washington D.C.
The Fugitive Slave Act was passed. All Americans had to follow the law.
The rest of the Mexican Cession was divided into the Utah and New Mexico territories.
These territories would have the right to decide if they would allow slavery or not.

11. Kansas – Nebraska Act
In 1854 Congress organized the rest of the Louisiana Purchase into the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. The issue of slavery heated up again as Congressed passed an ordinance allowing the people of these territories to decide for themselves if they would allow slavery in their states.
Both northerners and southerners rushed to Kansas to help decide the outcome of the election.
Having both pro slavery and anti slavery groups in the same state led to violence.
The fighting the occurred in Kansas became known as “Bleeding Kansas.”

12. 4. Growth of the Abolition Movement
The north became center of the anti-slavery movement called abolitionism. The Abolition movement gained momentum with the publishing of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. In addition, the decision in the Dred Scott vs. Sanford Supreme Court case and the Fugitive Slave Act angered northerners. Many people became famous for their efforts to end slavery, such as Fredrick Douglass, the most notable Abolitionist of the day, Sojourner Truth, William Lloyd Garrison, and Harriet Tubman. Some even sought freedom for slaves through violence, like John Brown who led a raid on federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry VA.

13. The Abolitionists
Sojourner Truth was a former slave and poet that gave speeches against slavery.
She is most famous for her speech called “Ain’t I a Woman.”
Like Frederick Douglass she gave an authentic voice to the abolition movement.
Sojourner Truth

14. Abolitionist
Fredrick Douglas was an former slave and the most famous abolitionist of the day.
Douglass was very intelligent and a great speaker, he helped to change people’s minds about African- Americans and those who were enslaved.

15. The Abolitionists Harriet Tubman
Was a conductor of the Underground Railroad.
After escaping from captivity via the Underground Railroad, she made thirteen missions to rescue over seventy slaves using the same underground network.
She risked her life as she was a former slave herself.
She later helped John Brown, and in the post-war era struggled for women's suffrage.
Harriet Tubman

16. The Abolitionists Harriet Beecher Stowe
Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
The novel described the horrors of slavery to many northerners who had not really paid much attention to the issue of slavery.
The novel was a huge success, and was even made into a play that was performed by different troops of actors.
The significance of the play is that it influence many people to join the Abolition movement.
Harriet Beecher Stowe

17. The Abolitionists William Lloyd Garrison
He was a prominent abolitionist and journalist.
He is best known as the editor of the radical abolitionist newspaper, the Liberator, and as one of the founders of the American Anti-slavery society.
William Lloyd Garrison

18. Key Events in the Abolition Movement
John Brown was a radical Abolitionist.
He took it upon himself to end slavery.
His plan was to raid the Armory at Harpers Ferry Virginia.
Then he would arm slaves and have them fight for their freedom.
The raid was not successful, and John Brown was executed for this.
He became a martyr for the Abolition movement.

19. 5. The Election of Lincoln
All these issues were coming to a breaking point during the Election of 1860.
Southern States were convinced that Lincoln was an advocate of anti-slavery, and dedicated to northern causes.
Therefore, they threatened secession if Lincoln won the election.
Because Lincoln was elected president in 1860, seven southern states seceded from the Union.
They were, South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas.

20. Attack at Fort Sumter
The Civil War began on April 12, 1861 when Confederate troops bombarded the Federal fort.
Confederate forces had demanded the Federal fort be turned over to them, however, Union troops refused.
The bombardment of the fort marks the beginning of the Civil War.

21. 20 important vocabulary terms for the Antebellum Era
Sectionalism “Bleeding Kansas” McCulloch v. Maryland Harriet Beecher Stowe Gibbons v. Ogden Harriet Tubman Nullification theory William Lloyd Garrison Nullification crisis “The Liberator” State’s Rights Sojourner Truth Missouri Compromise Fredrick Douglass Compromise of 1850 John Brown Kansas Nebraska Act Fugitive Slave Law Dred Scott vs. Sanford secede