1. Causes of the Civil War

2. Growth of slavery
States’ Rights
Tariffs
Multiple Compromises/ new laws

3. Growth of Slavery South used slaves to help farm
Cotton- South’s most important crop
Needed more and more slaves to grow it.
Northerners did not agree with slavery

4. Tariffs: a tax on goods Different economies:
South: mostly farms
North: more cities and factories
U.S. placed high taxes on goods made on outside the country: (steel & cloth)
These helped the North (North made own steel)
They hurt the South (South had to buy it, and with the high taxes, they were forced to buy it from the North.)

5. States’ Rights
The idea that the states should have more power than the federal government
Basically the federal government should not have all the power.
I don’t like it when my parents tell me what to do all the time.
I want to make my own choices and wear my sunglasses when I want!

6. What should Congress do to make both sides happy?
Slave State? or
Free State?
What should Congress do to make both sides happy?

7. Missouri Compromise, 1820
Missouri wanted to be a slave state…but the North said that wouldn’t be fair
Missouri- slave state
Maine- free state
It also create invisible line across U.S.

8. Solutions to the Problem
North of the line = Free States
South of the line = Slave states

9. Compromise of 1850
Government let some territories make their own decision….to be a slave state or to be a free state
is the right of people to make political decisions for themselves
Popular sovereignty

10. Kansas- Nebraska Act
Nebraska Territory and Kansas Territory gained the right to choose whether they wanted to have slaves or not
Now, even territories above the invisible line could have slaves!!

11. Besides handling which states are free and which are slave…
Fugitive Slave Law
Fugitive: runaway slave
Law states that North must return any slaves that have run away from South
You can’t catch me
Get back here!

12. Dred Scott Decision
Man named Dred Scott living in Missouri (slave state)
Wanted freedom because he once lived in Illinois (free state)
Court said Scott had “none of the rights and privileges” of American citizens
Also said Congress had no right to outlaw slavery because the Constitution protects people’s right to own PROPERTY and slaves were PROPERTY!!!

13. John Brown’s Raid John Brown- an abolitionist
Attacked US Army post at Harpes Ferry
Northerners saw him as a hero.
But he was hanged for treason

14. In short…
Made South mad…
John Brown’s raid
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
High tariffs on goods
Made North mad…
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Dred Scott Decision
Fugitive Slave Act
The South wanted states’ rights… meaning they didn’t want to be told what to do by the federal government…

15. The South decided to seceed!
In other words, they separated from the rest of the United States.