Why Fight the Civil War?

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Why Fight the Civil War?
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States Rights

• The idea that states rights were more important
  than the Federal Government
• Relies on the 10th Amendment for legal
  justification

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Early Examples

• Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions
• Written by Madison and Jefferson
• Said states could nullify (refuse to obey)
  unconstitutional laws
• Reaction to Alien and Sedition Acts

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Hartford Convention

• Occurred during War of 1812
• New England states met in secret to dispute the
  war
• Considered secession (leaving the country) but
  the war ended

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The Tariff/Nullification Crisis

• Southern States disputed Tariff of Abominations
• Efforts led by VP John C. Calhoun
• President Andrew Jackson furious threatened to
  send in troops to force the South to obey.

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Slavery

• Slavery allowed into the United States from the
  time of the Constitution.

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• Slavery is necessary for Southern economic
  prosperity and must be kept.

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• Slavery is immoral and should be abolished.

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Early slavery dates

• 1619 1st enslaved Africans arrive in Jamestown,
  VA

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• 1783 MA Supreme Court declares slavery illegal
• 1784-1804 NH, CT, RI, NY, NJ abolish slavery

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• 1808 Slave importation abolished

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• By 1860, 3 Western countries allow slavery
  Brazil, Cuba, and the U.S.A.

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Missouri Compromise (1820)

• Maine Free State
• Missouri Slave State
• 3630 boundary

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Compromise of 1850

• California Free State
• Utah and New Mexico Territory gt up to people who
  live there.
• Fugitive Slave Law Free States must help catch
  and return escaped slaves.

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Kansas - Nebraska Act (1854)

• Establishes Popular Sovereignty in Kansas
  Nebraska Territory.

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Dred Scott Ruling (1857)

• Owner takes Scott to a free state (Wisconsin)
• Scott sues
• Supreme Court states that slaves were personal
  property and that Blacks are so inferior that
  they had no rights which a white man was bound to
  respect

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Important Abolitionists

• Quakers - Opposed Slavery for religious reasons.

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William Lloyd Garrison

• White Abolitionist
• Published The Liberator
• Called for immediate freedom.

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video 2
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Sojourner Truth

• Real name Isabella Baumfree
• Freed slave
• Spoke publicly against slavery
• Also fought for womens rights

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Harriet Tubman

• Escaped slave
• Worked on Underground Railroad
• Saved over 300 slaves from slavery
• Never lost a passenger
• During Civil War acted as a spy
• After war, started retirement home for former
  slaves

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Frederick Douglass

• Escaped slave
• Powerful writer and speaker.
• Important narrative.

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Harriet Beecher Stowe

• Daughter of a minister
• Wrote Uncle Toms Cabin
• Lincoln Heres the little woman that wrote the
  book that started this great war.

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John Brown

• Violent Abolitionist

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1850s Presidents13 Millard Fillmore

• Becomes President when Zachary Taylor dies
• Whig
• Moderate on slavery
• Personally opposed to slavery, but didnt want
  war

Video clip of M. Fillmore
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14 Franklin Pierce

• Democrat
• Pro-slavery
• Favored the South
• Favored the Gadsden Purchase allowed for a
  Southern Transcontinental Railroad
• Supported the fugitive slave act

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15 James Buchanan

• Our only Bachelor President. Only prospect for
  marriage died perhaps a suicide
• Andrew Jackson made him ambassador to Russia
  because we dont have one to the North Pole
• As the country fell apart in 1860, he did NOTHING
• Often named as one of the worst Presidents in
  U.S. history

Buchanan to Lincoln If you are as happy on
entering the White House as I am on leaving, you
are a happy man indeed.
Click for audio clip
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Key Events

• Uncle Toms Cabin Published (1852)
• Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe
• Told of evils of slavery.
• Sold 300,000 copies in 1 year

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Bloody Kansas

• North and South send people to live there to win
  sovereignty.
• Each side formed its own government gt arguments
• May, 1856 Proslavery groups go to Lawrence, burn
  stores/houses.
• Several people die in the fires.
• John Brown leads group to proslavery settlement
  at Pottawatomie Creek.
• Hacks to death 5 men.
• Brown escapes and hides (for a while . . .)

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Lincoln-Douglas Debates

• Abraham Lincoln, member of newly formed
  Republican Party.
• Stephen A. Douglas, Democrat, responsible for
  Kansas-Nebraska Act
• Lincoln opposed slavery and wished to limit its
  spread.
• Douglas wanted popular sovereignty --
• Said a territory could excluded slavery.
• Douglas won the election but lost popularity with
  many Southerners.
• Lincoln became very well-known and popular
  nationwide.

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Lincolns House Divided Speech

• Lincoln gives speech to accept Republican Partys
  nomination for President.
• Says country must either
• Become either all slave or all free, or
• Cease to be a Union of States.

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John Brown attacks Harpers Ferry

• Brown, with 18 followers, seized federal arsenal
  in Harpers Ferry, Virginia.
• Robert E. Lee and troops capture Brown and his
  followers.
• Brown tried, convicted, and hanged.
• Maniac or Martyr?

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Lincoln elected President

• Lincoln wins Presidency without a majority of
  popular votes.
• Southerners see him as a threat to their
  lifestyle.

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Southern States Secede from Union.

• Starting with South Carolina, states secede from
  the Union.
• Form the Confederacy - a new government of
  Southern States.

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• Jefferson Davis elected President.
• Lincoln hopes for peace, but forced to arm
  Federal forts in the South

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Fort Sumter Attacked (April 12, 1861)

• Fort Sumter Attacked (April 12, 1861)
• Confederate cannon fire on Fort Sumter, South
  Carolina.
• Union forces surrender after 30 hours (and no
  deaths!)

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The Civil War Has Begun!
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