1. Warm-Up 12-14-16 Who was elected President in 1860?
Why did Southerners get so upset about his election?
Explain in a sentence or two how Abraham Lincoln was able to obtain only 40% of the popular vote and yet still win the Presidential Election of 1860 by a comfortable margin.

2. Leading to the Civil War
The issues and events that led to
America's bloodiest war

3. Slavery
Slavery expanded greatly in the 1800's with the invention of the cotton gin and the growth of cotton as a major cash crop
Cotton made up over 50% of America's exports
In the 1820's, many Northerners and religious whites began opposing slavery and calling for abolition
Southerners saw this as an attack on their way of life

5. States' Rights
This was a question as to who held more government power, individual states or the whole country
Northerners believed that all states should abide by the laws made by Congress
Southerners believed that states knew best how to govern themselves

6. Missouri Compromise
This was a fight to keep the balance of slave and free states
Missouri wanted to become a slave state, but it would have made 12 slave states and 11 free states
To compromise, they added Maine as a free state, and said that no more slavery was allowed north of Missouri

7. Missouri Compromise of 1819

8. Compromise of 1850 There were now 15 slave and 15 free states
California wanted to become a free state, but again this would throw off balance
California was given statehood, but South got many things they wanted, including the Fugitive Slave Act

9. Compromise of 1850
Fugitive Slave Act- Required the northern states to return runaway slaves to their owners
Western territories decided on slavery using Popular Sovereignty- each individual state votes on the issue of slavery

10. Dred Scott Case
Dred Scott was a slave who was taken by his owner to the free state of Illinois
Upon returning to his home slave state of Missouri, Scott sued for freedom
Supreme Court rejected case because he was property and not a citizen; only citizens could sue
This enraged Northerners, who saw this as a way for the South to further spread slavery

11. Kansas-Nebraska Act Two territories of Kansas and
Nebraska were created, and would be allowed to vote on slavery issue
Northerners were mad, because this went against Missouri Compromise
Pro-slavery and anti-slavery (freesoilers) flooded both states to vote on issue
A mini-Civil War erupted in the territories over the issue of slavery

12. Election of 1860
A new major party rose up in the 1850's, called the Republican Party
This was a group of anti-slavery Whigs and Democrats who opposed the SPREAD of slavery
Democrats grew divided on how issue of slavery should be handled in new territories, and party split
Lincoln won less than ½ the country's votes, but won majority of ELECTORAL votes to become president in 1860

13. Reaction to the Election of 1860
Southerners saw this as proof that they had no voice in government (Lincoln won without a single electoral vote from a Southern state)‏
Talk of secession began in many parts of the South
Secession- breaking away from the Union (seceding, NOT succeeding)‏

14. Georgia's Secession Debate
Gov. Joseph Brown called a legislative meeting to discuss issue of secession
Alexander Stephens' argument:

15. The first question that presents itself is, shall the people of Georgia secede from the Union in consequence of the election of Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency of the United States. My countrymen, I tell you frankly, candidly and earnestly, that I do not think they ought. In my judgment, the election of no man, constitutionally chosen to that high office, is sufficient cause to justify any State to separate from the Union. It ought to stand by and aid still in maintaining the Constitution of the country......
Whatever fate is to befall this country, let it be never laid to the charge of the people of the South, and especially the people of Georgia, that we were untrue to our national engagements. Let the fault and the wrong rest upon other. If all our hopes are to be blasted, if the Republic is to go down, let us be found to the last moment standing on the deck with the Constitution of the United States waving overhead...

16. Georgia's Secession Debate
Alexander Stephens' plea to remain calm and stay in the Union was overridden by more radical senators such as Robert Toombs and Thomas Cobb, as well as Governor Joseph Brown, who convinced a majority of Georgia's legislators to vote in favor of secession
South Carolina was the first state to secede, in December of Georgia seceded a month later.

18. Secession
After South Carolina, six states followed suit: Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida
Eventually, a total of 11 states would form the Confederate States of America

19. Historian Shelby Foote, on how the Civil War changed America:
“Before the war, it was said ‘The United States are…’ Grammatically, it was spoken that way and thought of as a collection of independent states. After the war, it was always ‘The United States is…’ –as we say today without being self-conscious at all. And that sums up what the war accomplished. It made us an ‘is’.”