Causes of the American Civil War

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Causes of the American Civil War

• -Missouri Compromise 1820
• -Amistad 1841
• -Wilmot Proviso 1846
• Compromise of 1850 and Fugitive Slave Act
• Uncle Toms Cabin 1853
• Kansas-Nebraska Act 1854
• Bleeding Kansas 1855
• Dred Scott Decision1857
• Lincoln-Douglas Debates 1858
• John Browns Raid Harpers Ferry 1859
• Election of 1860

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Missouri Compromise of 1820
Who Senator Henry Clay What A bill that became
law after much debate in the United States
Congress. The admission of Missouri as a slave
state would give slave states control over the
senate. Whenever new states were admitted to the
union this controversy arose. This crisis was
adverted when they admitted Maine to the union to
balance out the states, it also banned slavery in
the Louisiana territories north and west of the
state of Missouri. Where Washington DC,
critical states Missouri, Louisiana, Maine When
1820 Why This act preserved peace between the
Slave and free States until it was repealed in
the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
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Missouri Compromise of 1820
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Wilmot Proviso

• Who David Wilmot, a Representative of Penn.
• What A bill that said that all land received
  from War of Mexico would not have slavery. It was
  not passed.
• When 1846
• Where Washington D.C.
• Why It was a chance to end slavery in the new
  territories that we got from Mexico such as
  California, Utah, etc. Now, bills and arguments
  are being separated from geographical boundaries,
  North and South. It wasnt passed because of the
  5th Amendment, which protects private property.
  Slaves were property not citizens. It led to a
  new political party, the Free-Soil Party. They
  believed that any new territories would have free
  labor, free soil, and free men.

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Compromise of 1850
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Compromise of 1850

• Who Webster, Clay, Calhoun and Douglas senators
  who set up the Compromise of 1850
• What A compromise to make Cali. a free state in
  the Union (north) the slave trade would be
  abolished in Washington D.C. (north), and the
  government would create a stronger law to help
  capture runaway slaves (south). Also, any more
  territories received from Mexico would not have
  slavery abolished in them.
• When 1850
• Where California and in Washington D.C
  (Congress)
• Why It cooled tensions over the slavery issue
  for a short period of time, kept the Union
  together, it tipped the balance of power in the
  congress to the North, Cali. was admitted as a
  free state, and the Fugitive Slave Law was put
  into place as the new stronger runaway law.

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Uncle Toms Cabin

• Who Harriet Beecher Stowe
• What A novel that had massive effects on the
  attitude and view of slavery in the United
  States. It was one of the best selling novels of
  the century behind the Bible.
• When 1853
• Where All over the United States
• Why It helped to fuel the abolitionist movement
  in the north. It also outraged many southerners
  who viewed it as propaganda and lies. Some of the
  main themes of the book were the 1) horrors of
  slavery 2) Christianity and the immorality of
  slavery especially the separating of families

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Kansas-Nebraska Act / Bleeding Kansas
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Kansas-Nebraska Act / Bleeding Kansas

• Who Stephen Douglas, a senator from Illinois
• What an act that said that two territories
  should be divided and that the people living in
  the territories could make their own decision
  whether or not slavery should be allowed by
  popular sovereignty. This act led to major
  violence as people flooded into the territories.
  Proslavery and antislavery people in Kansas and
  Nebraska clashed. This led to the nickname,
  Bleeding Kansas. Neither state became free or
  slave.
• When 1854
• Where Kansas-Nebraska Act Congress. Bleeding
  Kansas Kansas
• Why It temporarily avoided a civil war again,
  popular sovereignty being used as a factor to
  decide whether the state will be free or a slave
  state. The slavery issue is intensifying and
  becoming more violent. This is igniting the fire
  of civil war. It effectively repealed both the
  Missouri Compromise 1820 and Compromise of 1850.
  It also gave rise to the Republican Party in the
  north.

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Dred Scott Decision

• Who Dred Scott, a slave for the Sanfords (the
  family that owned him). Roger Taney Chief Justice
  of Supreme Court.
• What Scott sued for his freedom after his owner
  had him work in an illegal territory. When he
  came back to Missouri where he originally lived,
  he then sued for freedom on the grounds that if
  you are in a free state, then you are free. His
  owner died and in the will, he was supposed to be
  returned to the family because he was property.
• When 1856

• Dred Scott vs. Sandford 1856

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Dred Scott Case cont.

• Where Missouri (where he was originally a
  slave), Illinois (where he moved with his
  master), and Washington D.C. (where the supreme
  court case was tried).
• Why The Supreme Court basically said that
  slavery was legal anywhere. Slaves have no rights
  under the Constitution because they were
  property, not citizens. Dred Scott had to be
  returned to the Sandford family as a slave.

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John Browns Raid Harpers Ferry

• Who- John Brown, a white abolitionist that wants
  to start slave uprisings and end slavery.
• What- He murdered proslavery supporters in
  Kansas, and he raided Harpers Ferry (thats
  where the military kept weapons). He was hoping
  that slaves would meet him and take their freedom
  back by force. He was captured by the marines
  and hung.
• Where- Harpers Ferry is in Virginia.

• John Brown

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John Browns Raid Harpers Ferry

• When- October 16, 1859.
• Why- The north saw it as John Brown is a martyr
  (someone who dies for a worthy cause). The south
  saw John Brown as a murderer. This incident was
  kind of like the match that lit the fuse on the
  Civil War.

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Election of 1860
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Election of 1860

• Who- Lincoln (Republican), Breckinridge (Southern
  democrat), Douglas (North democrat), Bell
  (constitutional union)
• What- The election of the president of the United
  States 1860. Lincoln won the election, and had
  more electoral votes and more popular votes than
  any candidate. Since the race had four main
  candidates, it allowed Lincoln to get more
  electoral votes than he would otherwise.
• Where- All the states in the united states took
  part in the election.
• Why- it was the president that was going to be
  in office when the civil war breaks out, and his
  election along with other events lead to the
  succession of southern states.