1. Causes of the Civil War
USH-3.1

2. I. Missouri Compromise
Missouri applying for statehood showed the first problems.
Was to be 1st new state out of Louisiana Purchase
Northern states did not want Missouri to enter as a slave state.
It would upset the balance between slave and free states.
It would set a precedent that they could all be slave states

3. I. Missouri Compromise The compromise said:
Missouri entered as a slave state.
Maine entered as a free state.
No slavery in any new state from the Louisiana Purchase above 36° 30’ N.
Southerners learned they needed to keep the balance in the Senate.

4. II. Wilmot Proviso
People saw President Polk give up half of Oregon but fight for Texas
Oregon was free and Texas was slave
David Wilmot of PA proposed all land won from Mexico be “free soil”
No slave labor
Passed the House but failed in the Senate
Showed the need for a balance

5. III. Compromise of 1850
California became part of the US after the Mexican-American War.
When gold was discovered in 1848, people flocked
Gold miners didn’t want to compete with slaves so they wanted CA to be “free soil.”
This would upset the balance of free and slave states.

6. III. Compromise of 1850 The Compromise of 1850 said:
CA would be a free state.
Slave trade was outlawed in Washington DC.
New Fugitive Slave Law allowed catching slaves in free states.
The rest of the Mexican Cession got to vote whether or not to have slavery.
This is known as popular sovereignty.

7. IV. Kansas-Nebraska Act
Congress wanted to build a transcontinental railroad
South wanted a route through New Orleans
North wanted a route through Chicago
Kansas was in the northern part of the Louisiana Territory
Couldn’t be a slave state.

8. IV. Kansas-Nebraska Act
To persuade Southerners to vote for northern route, KS and NE were granted popular sovereignty
Slave owners and abolitionists moved to Kansas to sway the vote.
Fighting between the groups led to “Bleeding Kansas.”

9. V. Dred Scott v Sandford
Dred Scott was a slave who sued his master after being taken to a free state.
He claimed “once free, always free.”
He won the 1st time but lost on appeal
The Supreme Court decided that blacks were not citizens so they had no rights in the US.

10. V. Dred Scott v Sandford
Court said that Scott was property and 4th Amendment said gov’t couldn’t take away property.
Any law that made you give up your slaves was unconstitutional
Missouri Compromise
KS-NE Act
State laws freeing slaves
North was angry and South was happy
Ruling was not enforced in the North

11. VI. Abolitionists Want to outlaw slavery
Help with the Underground Railroad
Stowe writes Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Never went to the South to see it first hand
Northerners are upset by the violence b/c they think it’s like that everywhere
Southerners are mad b/c it makes them all look bad

12. VI. Abolitionists
Abolitionist John Brown attacked the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, VA to arm a slave revolt.
Marines capture him and his followers
His trial and execution made sectionalism worse by:
Scaring slave owners
Giving the North a martyr

13. VII. Election of 1860
Republican Abraham Lincoln campaigned on a platform of “free soil.”
Free soil said that slavery should not EXPAND into the territories.
Lincoln won election with the electoral votes from the North.
The South and border states split their votes.

14. VII. Election of 1860

15. VII. Election of 1860
After Lincoln’s election, SC called a special convention to secede.
They unanimously voted for the Ordinance of Secession on December 20, 1860
It said that the rights of SC had not been and would not be protected by the federal gov’t.
Six other states quickly followed creating the Confederate States of America
Eventually 11 states secede