Causes of Civil War

8 causes of the Civil War

1. Slavery and abolitionism

2. Slavery and the failure of the Missouri Compromise

3. Slavery and Uncle Tom’s Cabin by H. B. Stowe

4. The 1850 Compromise

5. The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850

6. Slavery, Bleeding Kansas and the Kansas Nebraska Act– 1854 and expansionism

7. The Dred Scott vs. Sanford Case - 1857

8. The Lincoln/ Douglas Debates of 1858

Summary

the expansion of slavery into new territories, the Dred Scott decision, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Fugitive Slave Act, the Compromise of 1850, "Uncle Tom's Cabin" publication, John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry, and the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 caused of Civil War.

General Information on the Civil War

• Cultural, geographic, political, economic sectionalism caused the War

• Southern states seceded from the union in 1861 and became the Confederacy under President Jefferson Davis 

• Northern states under President Abraham Lincoln called themselves the Union and enlisted the support of black soldiers

• The War waged on from 1861 to 1865

Cause #1 - Abolitionism

• Created tension/division between the North and South

• Angered Southerners who viewed slavery as a way of life

• John Browns Raid of Harper’s Ferry in 1859

Cause #2 - The Failure of the Missouri Compromise

• Missouri Compromise of 1820 admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. demonstrated the issue of slavery's expansion into new territories.

• Stated that Southern states will be slave and Northern states will be free but with more states joining the union, the compromise disintegrated

• The USA /Mexico War of 1846-1848 contributed significantly to westward expansion

• Created political tension between North and South

#3 Uncle Tom’s Cabin

• Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852 

• ​​Sold 300,000 copies in the first year of publication

• Portrayed the evils of slavery

• Widely read and embraced in the north

• Bitterly denounced in the south and was banned

• In the south, Stowe was villified as a liar and villain

• It widened the rift between north and south

#4 The ‘Compromise’ of 1850

•  Necessary because California’s application for statehood in 1850 upset the balance of free and slave states in the union 

• Southerners agreed that California would be a free state

• Disregarded the Missouri Compromise

• Caused conflict of sectionalism in congress

• The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850: States that slaves must be returned to their owner, even in free states

#5 Bleeding Kansas and the Kansas Nebraska Act of 1854

• Disregarded the Missouri Compromise which stated that Kansas and Nebraska should be free states

• Insisted on popular sovereignty in Kansas and Nebraska on the stance of slavery

• Open warfare for 3 years (1854 – 1857) in ‘Bleeding Kansas’ between pro and anti-slavery factions

#6 The Dredd Scott Case - 1857

• Dred was a slave whose owner took him to free states

• Dred sued for his freedom

• The Supreme Court determined that Scott was not free just because he lived in a free state - The decision represented a defeat for antislavery 

• The ruling exacerbated the free/slave state dichotomy in the USA

#7 Political Divisions over Slavery – 1860 Election Campaign

• Douglas –Democrat - Pro slavery in the southern and western territories applying to join the union as states

• Lincoln – Republican -Anti Slavery position –No slavery in the federal territories but slavery would be tolerated in the south. This terrified southerners. Fears intensified in 1860 when Lincoln became President

Sharp Dichotomy between the Northern and Southern Way of Life

• This divide was rooted in fundamental economic, social, and political differences that developed between the North and South over time

1. Economic Differences: North economy was industrialized and the South economy was agrarian, relying heavily on slave labor to support the production of cash crops such as cotton, tobacco, and sugar

2. Social Differences: North's population included merchants, and factory workers. Urban and antislavery. The South's population included farmers. Rural and pro slavery. 

3. Political Differences: North supported the federal government while Southern states supported states' rights. The North was anti slavery and the South saw slavery as a way of life.

North vs South