1. Causes of the American Civil War
A Timeline of Pertinent Events

2. the 3/5 Compromise pg. 232
Helped to insure ratification of the Constitution through a compromise between northern and southern states over slaves.
The Three-Fifths Compromise solved the problem of how to count slaves for purposes of the distribution of taxes and the number of members each state was allowed to have in the House of Representatives in Washington.
Stated one freeman is equal to 3/5 of a slave.
Effect = Led to increasing sectionalism

4. 2. 1793- Invention of the Cotton Gin pg 348
Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin revolutionized the cotton industry in the US. After picking, the cotton gin removed the seeds and debris 50 times faster.
Led to a greater demand for slaves to work the cotton fields to increase yield.
Effects = The demand for slaves increased; more slaves were imported.

5. Period illustration of cotton gin use

6. 3. 1803 Louisiana Purchase; Westward Expansion and Manifest Destiny pg
With the Louisiana Purchase the US doubled in size
Manifest Destiny- principal spurred Westward Expansion which spurred the fight over slavery
The purchase (from France) gave the US control of the vast lands west of the Mississippi.
Effect = As settlers moved west, the issue of slavery came to the forefront. Would the new territory be free or slave?

8. 4. 1820- Missouri Compromise pg. 358-59
The first confrontation over slavery in the west. Missouri applied to enter union as slave state, would upset balance of free/slave states (current was 11/11)
In 1820, it was suggested Missouri enter union as slave and Maine as free (kept balance intact).
Effect = Cools sectional differences for short time; shows how volatile issue of slavery is.

10. 5. 1832- Nullification Crisis pg. 381
South Carolina nullified the tariffs of 1828 and 1832 within its borders and threatened to secede if the federal government attempted to collect those tariff duties.
President Jackson immediately offered his thought that nullification as tantamount to treason and quickly dispatched ships to Charleston, SC.
Crisis was avoided with a new tariff acceptable to S. Carolina
Effect = First act of defiance in south threatening secession over polices in the north.

11. 6. Compromise of 1850 pg
California applied for admission to union as free state threatening the balance of free/slave power again.
Compromise stated; California enters as free and remainder of Mexican cession is divided into New Mexico & Utah which would decide by vote of citizens to be free or slave.
Effect = Intensified battle over slavery in new territories by making the citizens of each state choose slavery status.

13. Fugitive Slave Law pg. 462
Law required ALL citizens everywhere to return runaway slaves
Law was very controversial
People who helped slaves escape would be jailed or fined
Effects = Law enraged Northerners because it made them a party to the slave system. Law strengthened the Underground Railroad.

14. Period posters of fugitive slave issue

15. Uncle Tom’s Cabin pg. 462
Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a novel that told the story of a slave and his cruel master, Simon Legree
Story details the evils and cruelty of slavery causing enormous influence in the north, changing the way many felt about slavery
Effect = Slavery was now a moral issue intensifying the animosity between the north and the south.

16. Book cover designs

17. 9. 1854- Kansas-Nebraska Act pg. 463-4
Stephen Douglas of Illinois proposed that Nebraska be divided into two territories, Kansas & Nebraska and the settlers there would decide (popular sovereignty) to be free or slave
Southerners supported the act, Northerners felt it a betrayal
Effects = Thousands of pro and anti slave supporters flooded Kansas to vote and fight for their position; a local war erupts

19. Bleeding Kansas pg
The Kansas-Nebraska Act set off bitter violence in the Kansas territory killing more than 200 people over the issue of slavery
The area became known as BLOODY KANSAS
Each side set up rival governments to legitimize themselves
Effect = Little room was left for compromise; both sides willing to fight and die for their beliefs

20. Period Political Cartoon of Kansas-Nebraska issue

21. 11. 1857- Dred Scott Decision pg. 467-8
Dred Scott was a slave who claimed that because his master had taken him to free states of Illinois & Wisconsin, he should be free; sued in court to get this freedom
The Supreme Court ruled that because he was not a citizen, but was property, he could not file a law suit
The Court also ruled that Congress had no power to decide the issue of slavery in the territories, effectively making the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional and making slavery legal in all territories.
Effect = Makes slavery issue a boiling point; a moral issue in the north and a constitutional issue in the south. No more room for compromise

22. Artwork and actual photograph of Dread Scott

23. 12. 1859-Harper’s Ferry & John Brown pg. 469-70
John Brown & a group of abolitionists organized a raid on Harper’s Ferry, Virginia a federal arsenal
Brown hoped slaves would come to the arsenal and he would lead a massive slave uprising
Brown was unsuccessful and captured, found guilty at trial of murder and treason and was hanged
Many northerners saw him as a hero, southerners felt threatened by the north, Brown demonstrated their fears
Effect = Brown convinced many southerners war was inevitable

24. Period artwork of John Brown’s Hanging

25. 13. 1860- Lincoln Elected President pg. 471-73
Southerners reaction to Lincoln’s election was strong. They felt the country had put an abolitionist in the White House and secession was the only option they had to preserve slavery
South felt it had the right to secede quoting the Declaration of Independence… “it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish” a government that denies the rights of its citizens. They believed Lincoln would deny them the right to own slaves
Effect = In 1860, South Carolina seceded, followed in Feb by Alabama, Florida, Texas, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi

27. 14. Crittenden Plan pg. 475
While the Southern states were forming a new government, Senator John J. Crittenden of Kentucky tried a last ditch compromise, February 1861, it failed to pass in Congress.
Lincoln is sworn into office March 4th, and assures the South he will not abolish slavery there, appealing for friendship, but stating he will not abandon federal property there.
Several federal forts in the South are in Union hands including Fort Sumter in S. Carolina.

28. The capital was still under construction when Lincoln is inaugurated, 1861

29. Fort Sumter pg
After Lincoln took his oath of office, he announced that no state can lawfully leave the union. He declared, however, there would be no war unless the South started it
The South began taking possession of all federal property including forts and post offices. They had taken control of three forts in Florida and about to take Fort Sumter in S Carolina They asked the fort to surrender, they refused. The Confederate troops shelled the fort and when they ran out of ammunition they were forced to surrender.
Effect = The Civil War had begun

30. Period artwork of bombardment of Fort Sumter 1861