Sectionalism and the Start of
the Civil War
Causes of the Civil War
North and South
Disagreement
• The biggest debate was over states’ rights
and slavery.
• Tariffs were being imposed on goods from
the North that the South needed. The
South felt they were “paying” the North.
• The question of slavery flared with the
decision whether the Western territories
would allow slavery.
MISSOURI COMPROMISE
Missouri Compromise
• Issue
– Missouri ready for statehood
– Wants to allow slavery within state
– Already have 11 free states and 11 slave states
• Division
– Allowing slavery in Missouri would upset balance of
power in Senate
– What’s so important about that?
• OUTCOME?
• Missouri – slave state
• Maine – free state
• Imaginary line drawn at 36°30’ southern border of
Missouri – slavery banned north of the line
• So that resolves the issue for future states in this territory
- RIGHT?
• (hint: Kansas-Nebraska Act)
MISSOURI COMPROMISE ~ 1820
ISSUE
• If Missouri admitted, it
would upset the ‘balance’
in Congress
SO WHAT ?! (Effect)
• Missouri = Slave
• Maine = Free
– Formed from Massachusetts
• 36º, 30’ Parallel
– Free Above
– Slave Below
Wilmot Proviso
• Would have banned slavery in any
territory to be acquired from the
Mexican War (the area known as the
Mexican Cession, Treaty of
Guadalupe-Hidalgo)
• Wilmot envisioned California as a
place where free whites could work
without the competition of slave labor.
Since the north was more populous
and had more Representatives in the
House, the Wilmot Proviso passed
there BUT…
• Laws require the approval of both
houses of Congress. The Senate,
equally divided between free states
and slave states could not muster the
majority necessary for approval
Why it would have been a big deal.
Even though it failed – tensions were getting
stronger!
WILMOT PROVISO ~ 1846
ISSUE
• Deals with Mexican
Cession
• Wilmot wanted ban
slavery in Cali
• House of Reps votes
YES
• Senate votes No
SO WHAT ?! (Effect)
• Failed
• Tensions getting stronger
AND it really started to get ugly when they found
gold in California (not on your paper)
• Issue
– California ready to apply for statehood in 1850
• Division
– Again would upset balance of power
• Now have 15 free and 15 slave states
– North thought it should be FREE due to
Missouri Compromise line
Outcome of California Statehood
• John Calhoun
again threatened
SECESSION
• Henry Clay
proposed
COMPROMISE of
1850
CALIFORNIA ~ 1849
ISSUE
• Cali applies for statehood
as a Free state
• North thought this is
correct due to Missouri
Compromise, 36º 30’ Line
• South disagrees, it would
upset ‘balance’
SO WHAT ?! (Effect)
• Calhoun threatens
secession
• Henry Clay proposes the
Compromise of 1850
Compromise of 1850
Compromise of 1850
• California – Free State
• New Mexico and Utah territory will decide
by popular sovereignty
Compromise of 1850
• Created Division:
• VERY FAVORABLE TO NORTH by
allowing California to be a free state
• Remember the House of Representatives
is based on ???
• Compromise had to include something for
Southern states
Compromise of 1850
ISSUE
• California = Free
• New Mexico & Utah =
Popular sovereignty, people
of each state decide
SO WHAT ?! (Effect)
• Since the North gets Cali,
and to keep the South
happy, Congress enacts
The Fugitive Slave Law
Fugitive Slave Act
• Issue:
• required ALL citizens to assist in the
recovery of fugitive slaves.
• denied a fugitive's right to a jury trial. Cases
were handled by special commissioners –
• Commissioners would be paid $5 if an
alleged fugitive were released and $10 if he
or she were sent away with the claimant.
THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT WAS
DESIGNED TO RETURN AS MANY
RUNAWAY SLAVES TO THE SOUTH
AS POSSIBLE. THE LAW MADE IT
ILLEGAL TO HELP RUNAWAY
SLAVES ESCAPE AND OFFERED
REWARDS FOR THE SLAVE
CATCHERS AND THE JUDGES.
MANY RUNAWAYS WENT TO
CANADA WHICH HAD NO
FUGITIVE SLAVE LAWS.
Fugitive Slave Act
• Refusal to follow
law could result in
$1000 fine and
jail time
FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW ~ 1850
ISSUE
• All citizens HAD to help in
the recovery of runaway
slaves
• If you were caught
helping runaway slaves,
you were breaking the
law
SO WHAT ?! (Effect)
• More Northerners helped
with the Underground RR
• Had to get to Canada
Underground Railroad Conductors
Harriet Tubman
Frederick Douglass
Routes to Canada to escape
Fugitive Slave Act
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Why would Abraham Lincoln later
say to her “so you’re the little lady
that started this big war”
Road to Secession – Uncle
Tom’s Cabin
• Main issue –
– book of fiction showing the evils of slavery
• How division created
– Brought awareness of evils of slavery to the
North.
– Angered the South
• Outcome
– Northern criticism over slavery threatened
Southerners way of life
UNCLE TOM’S CABIN ~ 1852
ISSUE
• Book of fiction showing
the evils of slavery
• Brought awareness to
Northerners
• Made Southerners MAD
SO WHAT ?! (Effect)
• North’s criticism over
slavery threatened the
South’s way of life
Kansas Nebraska Act
• Issue
Kansas Nebraska Act
– Proposal to allow new territories of Kansas and
Nebraska to decide slavery issue by popular
sovereignty
• Division
– North thought the issue had been settled by
Missouri Compromise
• OUTCOME
– Territory became open to slavery
– Violence known as Bleeding Kansas
Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854
KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT ~ 1854
ISSUE
• Kansas & Nebraska
allowed to use popular
sovereignty
SO WHAT ?! (Effect)
• Territory becomes open
to slavery
• Violence:
– ‘Bleeding Kansas’
John Brown‘s raid
• In 1859, John Brown, a radical
violent abolitionist attacked the
federal arsenal in Harper‘s
Ferry, Virginia with ca. 20
followers.
• He wanted to seize weapons for
a general slave insurrection.
• After two days fighting he was
defeated, tried and sentenced
to death in Virginia .
• In the South, Brown was
considered a terrorist who
deserved death.
• In the North, many abolitionists
supported him. Others decried
the violence but felt
sympathetic.
heroic painting of John Brown
JOHN BROWN’S RAID ~ 1859
ISSUE
• John Brown was a radical
abolitionist
• Attacked a Federal
Arsenal @ Harper’s Ferry
• Led a slave insurrection
SO WHAT ?! (Effect)
• South viewed JB as a
terrorist
• Sentenced to death in
Virginia
• Northern abolitionists
didn’t support his
violence, but were
sympathetic
Dred Scott
One of the saddest events in US
History
WHY?
1857 Dred Scott v.Sanford
Supreme Court Case
•
DRED SCOTT WAS A SLAVE WHO
WORKED FOR HIS MASTER IN A
FREE TERRITORY. WHEN THE
MASTER DIED, SCOTT BECAME THE
PROPERTY OF THE MASTER’S
FAMILY BUT SCOTT CHALLENGED
THIS IN COURT STRESSING THAT HE
HAD WORKED IN A FREE TERRITORY
AND HAD THE RIGHT TO NOW BE
FREE.
THE COURT RULING ---
DRED SCOTT v SANFORD 1854:
DRED SCOTT WAS PROPERTY AND
BELONGED TO THE MASTER’S
FAMILY.
1. DRED SCOTT WAS A SLAVE HAD
THEREFORE HAD NOT RIGHT TO
SUE ANYONE IN COURT.
DRED SCOTT LOST HIS CASE BUT
SUPPORTERS BOUGHT HIM SO HE
COULD FINALLY BE FREE!
2. SLAVERY BANS IN THE NEW
TERRITORIES WERE BASICALLY
ILLEGAL BECAUSE OF ABSOLUTE
PROPERTY RIGHTS OF THE
MASTER.
Dred Scott case
• ISSUE:
– Slave sued for freedom after living in territory
that banned slavery
• DIVISION:
– Questioned if slaves had rights
• OUTCOME:
– Supreme Court ruled slaves were property
– Property rights protected by 5th amendment
– THEREFORE any laws limiting slavery
WERE UNCONSTITUTIONAL
DRED SCOTT ~ 1857
ISSUE
• DS believed that since he
was in free territory that
he should be free after
his master’s death
• DS sued the master’s
family
SO WHAT ?! (Effect)
• Dred Scott v Sanford
– Slaves are property
and cannot sue
The Election of 1860, Secession,
and the War Begins
Election of 1860
• ISSUE:
– Lincoln won the election with no support from
the south
• DIVISION:
– The south feared he would try to abolish slavery
and had the political power to do so
• OUTCOME:
– Southern states SECEDED and formed
the Confederacy
ELECTION OF 1860
ISSUE
• Lincoln wins with NO
Southern support
• South feared Lincoln
would abolish slavery
SO WHAT ?! (Effect)
• Southern States Seceded
• Formed the Confederate
States of America, the
“Confederacy”