1. The Causes of the Civil War
Part Three: The Republicans and the Election of 1860

2. The Republican Party
The Republicans began after the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Northern politicians were worried that slavery would spread west.

3. The Republican Party
The party was made up of two groups, moderates and radicals.
Radical Republicans wanted to abolish slavery across America, moderates leaned towards Lincoln’s ideas.

4. The Illinois Republican Convention
In 1858, Lincoln delivered his famous “House Divided speech.”

5. A House Divided
Lincoln believed that the nation could not exist half-slave and half-free

6. A House Divided
He believed that the nation was moving towards an “all-slave” nation.
Kansas-Nebraska opened the territories
Dred Scott decision
Election of james Buchannan in 1856

7. The Raid Harper’s Ferry
October 16, 1859 – all was peaceful in Harper’s Ferry, VA.

8. The Raid on Harper’s Ferry
Yet that morning, one man planned to begin a rebellion.

9. The Raid on Harper’s Ferry
John Brown and 21 others (including 5 blacks) stormed the town, capturing a small armory.

10. The Raid on Harper’s Ferry
Locals went to nearby Charles Town and notified the military.
John Brown took hostages and bunkered down in an engine room

11. The Raid on Harper’s Ferry
On leave in nearby Arlington, VA, Lt. Col. Robert E. Lee was called upon to end the siege

12. The Raid on Harper’s Ferry
Lee sent in the troops, using sabers only.
John Brown was captured

13. The Raid on Harper’s Ferry
Brown was tried for treason, convicted, and hanged in Charles Town.

14. The Last Words of John Brown

15. The Election of 1860
Before the next presidential election, the Democratic party split on North/South Lines

16. The Election of 1860
There were four different candidates running. Only one scared the South.

17. The Election of 1860
Lincoln won, getting less than 40% of the vote

18. The Election of 1860

19. The Election of 1860
One month after Lincoln won, South Carolina announced it was seceding (withdrawing) from the Union.

20. The Election of 1860
Over the next six weeks, six more states would follow.
Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas

21. DO SOMETHING!!!
Outgoing president, James Buchannan, did nothing. He decided to let Lincoln sort it out.

22. Lincoln’s inauguration
As Lincoln took the oath of office, the nation was falling apart.