SLAVERY AND THE
CAUSES OF THE CIVIL
WAR
Major Questions:
• What were the major political and
social events that led up to the Civil
War?
• What caused the divide between North
and South to grow?
• Why were they unable to work out
compromise?
Group Work
• Split up into 7 small groups and briefly summarize the
importance of these incidents or issues as causes of the
Civil War:
• Group #1: Wilmot Proviso, 395
• Group #2: Clay’s Compromise Efforts, 396
• Group #3: Fugitive Slave Act, 398
• Group #4: Kansas-Nebraska Act, 401
• Group #5: Bleeding Kansas, 403
• Group #6: Dred Scott Decision, 407
• Group #7: John Brown’s Raid, 410
• Your summary should fit on one PowerPoint slide
Wilmot Proviso
(Group #1: Bernie & Diamond)
• Amendment attached to a bill banning slavery from
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territories gained in war with Mexico.
Cause: Preserve Western land for white settlement.
Whigs and Democrats supported
Paralyzed Congress for years in late 1840s
4 Positions
• Ban
• Calhoun - no right to interfere
• Missouri Compromise with property.
• Popular Sovereignty rights
• Summary: Caused a threat of secession escalated/led
to further debate.
Clay’s Compromise Efforts
(Group #2: Orla, George and Kyle)
• Henry Clay proposed eight resolutions to balance the different
interests in the North and the South, his “Omnibus Bill”:
• California to be admitted as a free state
• Mexican territories could not attach any conditions of slavery to their
application of statehood.
• In return for the govt assuming Texas debt, limitations were put on slave
states that could be carved from it's territory.
• Slave trade in Washington to be abolished but slavery itself protected from
federal interference.
• Formal promise not to interfere with inter-state slave trade and fugitive
slave law.
• The proposal failed because extremists on both sides believed solely
in their own interests.
• Antislavery supporters believed it supported slavery and Pro-slavery
believed it restricted slavery.
Fugitive Slave Act
(Group #3: Kenneth, Bergretta, and Deanne)
• The Fugitive Slave Act was implemented by the North to
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create lawful aid to accused black runaways
the 1850 statute gave jurisdiction for fugitive slave cases
to federal commissioners and took it away from northern
courts
Southerners supported the fugitive slave act
The problem with this is these same federal
commissioners were paid by southerners to return blacks
back to slavery regardless if they're were free or not
It was the bribery included in the South’s 1850 statute that
‘over ruled’ the Slave Act that caused such great tension
between the two sides and made the Civil War inevitable.
Kansas-Nebraska Act
(Group 4: Mary & William)
• In 1853 the House of Representative banned slavery in Nebraska, however
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the senate killed the bill.
Stephen Douglas reintroduced “the principle of popular sovereignty” so they
(residents of state) were able to decide if it was going be a Free State or a
Slave State.
Stephen Douglas’s idea became law – free states thought that it was proslavery, and the southerners start mistrusting the law.
In result, law backfired for Stephen Douglas and the northern Democrats in
congress – number fell from 91 to 25.
A major result of this act: the emergence of Abraham Lincoln – tried to
reestablish the “Missouri Compromise”
Lincoln was against slavery because he thought it was dehumanizing of
slaves, showed greed and selfishness.
This act was a major cause of the Civil War because it reopened the
controversy of slavery and led to battle in Kansas over whether it would be a
free state or slave state.
Dred Scott Decision
(Group #6: Tom, Cheryl, ?)
• Essentially, the Dred Scott case addressed the issue of whether a
slave was a citizen or property.
• The Supreme Court’s Decision: In the Dred Scott case, the Supreme
Court ruled that slaves were property and could not hold citizenship,
regardless of where they resided.
• As a result of the Supreme Court's decision, slave-states found the
legal protection to oppose the abolishment of slavery on the grounds
that it was a Federal infringement on a state's sovereignty and an
individual's right to hold property.
• This protection allowed them to draw the proverbial line in the sand,
which only escalated tensions between the north and the south.
John Brown’s Raid
(Group #7: Evodie Kayembe, Dacia McLeod, Sam Wilson, Tasia Murray)
• John Brown’s ideas and goals?
• What happened in actual raid?
• Because northerners regarded John Brown with
extraordinary demonstrations of sympathy as a martyr
and a Christian hero, rather than a murderer and a robber
as southerners perceived him, Southerners could not live
under a government where the majority of people
supported such things.
Civil War Preview
• Importance of Slave system: was basis of southern
society, economy, and culture
• Reasons for Civil War:
• Growing divide between North and South, economically,
culturally, and politically
• Manifest Destiny: territorial expansion increased
regional conflict b/c each new territory had to be
determined free or slave
• “States Rights” – the right of white southern elite
planters to own and control black slaves, often
supported by poor whites
• Series of events and incidents that increased regional
tensions
Slavery & the Civil War: Review of the
Data
• Analyze the statistics on slavery in the U.S. leading up to
the Civil War
• What conclusions can you make?
• Questions?
• What statistics are most useful in understanding the onset
of the Civil War?
Slaves in the Original Thirteen Colonies (1750-1860)
Slaves as Percentage of Southern Population (1750-1860)
Slaves as Percentage of Southern Population (1750-1860
Slaves in the South (1790-1860)
Why Did Southern Whites Fight in the
Civil War?
• Non-slaveholding whites?
• “way of life” threatened
• Anti-northern/urban/
Industrial
• Something in common with
slaveholders
• Social connections between the
classes of whites
• Economic connections: renting
slaves, foremen on plantations,
debt
• Fears of black people and slave
rebellion
• The vote & political participation
• Ideas of white racial superiority
States rights
Why Did Poor Southern Whites Fight in
Civil War?
• Many lower-class whites bought into southern hierarchy –
household
• Control of land, household, labor, and political rights
Male Planter Elite
/\
White Women & Children
/\
White Laborers
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Slaves & Free Blacks
Poor White Landowner
or Renter
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Wife & Children
/\
Slaves and Free Blacks
Why Did Northerners Fight?
• Abolitionist minority – fund. opposed to slavery – slavery
was an evil, a stain on the nation – represented belief in
full INCLUSION of blacks into nation
• Free Labor majority – opposed to expansion of slavery
• Slavery hurts free labor
• Free labor = economic and political independence
• Free people would not allow themselves to be enslaved
• Republican and “republican”
• Pro-Union – unification of nation [under free labor ideals]
• Belief a pivot point to judge whether people are worthy of citizenship
or rights
Video Links
• PBS, Ken Burns‘ Civil War, part 1, “The Cause”: Link
• PBS, Freedom, A History of US, part 5, “A Fatal
Contradiction”: Link
• PBS, Meet the Past: John Brown: Link
• PBS, Harpers Ferry and John Brown: Link