Causes of the Civil War
Name _______________________________ # _____
DIRECTIONS Go to www.reddsocialstudies.com, click on 8th Grade Units, Civil War Websites, and go to
the Civil War Information section. Click on Causes of the Civil War Lesson.
Username: reddss OR 8thgrade OR hvhistory and password: hillview8. Click on LAUNCH RESOURCE.
NOTE: The italicized information is additional info from our textbook that is not included in the website
lesson.
IP=Interactive Point
1787 Northwest Ordinance Outlined the steps for a territory to become a state and outlawed slavery
north of the Ohio River.
INTRODUCTION
1793 Cotton Gin
Why did slavery need to expand to new lands? _______________________________________________
Why were people in the North worried about adding new slave states? ___________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Why were the Southerners worried about adding new free states? _______________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR
1820 Missouri Compromise
Where did the Missouri Compromise allow slavery? ___________________________________________
How did Congress maintain balanced representation when they admitted Missouri? ________________
IP What were the free states admitted under Missouri Compromise? _____________________________
IP What were the slave states admitted under Missouri Compromise? ____________________________
The movement to end slavery was called ___________________________________________________
Frederick Douglass was __________ years old when he escaped from slavery.
1846 Mexican American War James K Polk asked Congress for money for the war. David Wilmot
suggested that slavery would not be allowed in any territory acquired from Mexico (Wilmot Proviso).
Passed in the House but rejected by the Senate.
Compromise of 1850
Which state was admitted as a free state? __________________________________________________
What did the Fugitive Slave Act require of all citizens? _________________________________________
IP What did the cartoon show could potentially happen to free blacks in the north?
_____________________________________________________________________________________
1853 Uncle Tom’s Cabin
What was Uncle Tom’s Cabin? ____________________________________________________________
In the 19th century, the only book to sell more copies was ______________________________________
Results: northerners helped slaves escape to Canada on the Underground Railroad
IP After the silence, “and the spirit of evil came back”, what did Simon Legree do to Tom?
_____________________________________________________________________________________
1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act & Bleeding Kansas Ended the Missouri Compromise. Stated that the settlers
in the Kansas and Nebraska Territories would choose for themselves whether or not to have slavery.
Abolitionists and slave holders moved into Kansas to try and tip the vote. Ended up with two separate
governments, one pro-slavery and one anti-slavery. Violence erupted between the two groups. John
Brown and his sons hacked pro-slavery 5 men to death.
1856 Violence in Congress Senator Charles Sumner (northerner) spoke out against the violence in Kansas
and slavery. He was beaten with a gold-topped cane until unconscious by a southern representative,
Preston Brooks. It took Sumner 3 ½ years to recover.
1857 Dred Scott Case Dred Scott was a slave whose owner had moved to Wisconsin. After Scott’s owner
died, Scott went to court and demanded his freedom since they had been living in a free territory.
Supreme Court decided 1) Scott and all blacks were not citizens so they couldn’t use the court system, 2)
Congress did not have the right to determine whether states would be slave or free, it was up to each
state. 3) Slaves are property and if slaveholders moved to a new state, the Constitution protected their
property rights.
1858 Lincoln-Douglas Debates Lincoln ran for Illinois Senator for the new Republican Party that was antislavery. He and Douglas debated several times, and their debates were published. The primary issue was
slavery. Lincoln gave his speech “A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand” and said that either the
whole country would be free or slave.
1859 John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry Brown and his men seized the arsenal and planned to lead an
armed slave revolt. No slaves showed up, he and his men were captured. He was executed for treason.
Abraham Lincoln
What was the new political party formed in 1856? ____________________________________________
What was their main agenda? ____________________________________________________________
When was Lincoln elected president? ______________________________________________________
IP What % of votes did Lincoln get in the blue (Union) states? ___________________________________
IP What % of votes did Lincoln get in the pink (border) states? __________________________________
IP How many votes did Lincoln get in the red (southern) states? _________________________________
Secession & War
When did the southern states secede from the Union? ________________________________________
What was the event and date when the Civil War began? ______________________________________
IP What was the first southern state to secede? ______________________________________________
IP What was the last southern state to secede? ______________________________________________