Sectionalism and the Road to
Civil War
Historians have argued that the seeds of
the Civil War were planted long before the
fighting began in 1861. As a TBL group, look
back over the American History that we’ve
covered and make a list of events that
contributed to the sectionalism.
Your list…
 should have at least 10 items/events
 should be ranked as to the importance of the event, with
one being the most important event
 begin with colonization and end in 1840
*be prepared to discuss your choices
Upon completion of this lecture/discussion,
students will be tasked with the following:
Make an argument defending
Southern secession.
Students will be utilizing the elements of
academic argument: claim, reason, evidence,
warrant, and counter argument. An argument
frame will be provided to help students organize
their thoughts. The best arguments will be
recognized.
Sectional Periodization:
Early Republic (1787-1820)
Sharp debate over the status of slavery in territories
ceded by the original states and Louisiana Purchase.
 Northwest Ordinance
 Ohio River serves as dividing line
 1819 Missouri statehood > 1820 Missouri Comp
*Rapid expansion of slavery into the “Old Southwest”
 Cotton Mania & Alabama Fever
 Defeat of hostile Indians
Sectional Periodization
The Age of Jackson: (1820s – 1840s )
Sectional tensions decline. Why?
 No new territory added between Florida (1821) and
Texas (1845).
 Americans were “filling in” lands where slavery was
already decided by the NW Ordinance & Missouri
Compromise.
 Parties worked to build national unity around ideas
like – What is the proper role of the national govt in
promoting economic development?
 Between 1836-1844, the House of Reps had a “Gag
Rule” in place that prevented debate about slavery.
Texas was a Republic from 1836-1845.
Why did the U.S. delay annexation?
Manifest Destiny, “Young Hickory”, and War
“Manifest Destiny” (1839)
 Divine sanction
 Democratic mission
 Racial superiority
Election of 1844
 Polk runs on an
expansionist platform
War with Mexico
 Tyler annexes Texas
 Tension with Mexico
over boundary dispute
While manifest destiny fever swept the
nation, why might the South have
been especially supportive?
Consequences of the War with Mexico
 The war is a disaster for Mexico, which is forced to sign the T. of Guadalupe
Hidalgo
 The Mexican Cession renewed the debate over the extension of
slavery
 Many in the North viewed the war as a “Southern Plot” to extend
slave power.
Victory – A Bad Omen?
“The United States will
conquer Mexico, but it will
be as the man who
swallows the arsenic,
which brings him down.
Mexico will poison us.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
How might industrialization in the North have
contributed to social reform?
The Changing
role of women
in the family
and in society.
Emphasis on
nurturing and
a focus on
education
and religion.
The development of an increasingly moralistic
society bent on addressing the “sins” of
America: temperance, suffrage, and slavery.
Political Platforms in the 1850s
ISSUE
Role of the fed govt in
promoting eco
development?
Immigrants
Reform
Slavery
DEMOCRATS
WHIGS
Compromise of 1850
Agitation over Slavery
The Fugitive Slave Law:
 Federal law to assist in the capture &
return of runaway slaves.
 Growing Northern resistance to “slave
catchers”. Some states pass Personal
Liberty Laws.
 The Underground Railroad
Literature on Slavery:
 Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher
Stowe
 Impending Crisis in the South by
Hinton Helper
 Cannibals All! By George Fitzhugh
The Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)
Sen. Stephan Douglas:
 Lobbying for the Transcontinental RR
 Proposed the organization of two
new territories
 Popular Sovereignty included into the
legislation to garner Southern
support
 Legislation ignites a firestorm of
opposition in the North
New Political Parties Emerge
The Know-Nothing Party:
Protestant-based, antiimmigrant party that
aggressively opposed the
unregulated immigration
of thousands of Irish &
German Catholics into
northern cities.
The Republican Party:
 Established in Racine, Wisconsin in 1854
 Coalition of Free-Soilers, Know Nothings,
and antislavery Whigs & Democrats
 United in their opposition to the spread of
slavery into the territories
 NOT ABOLITIONIST – Republicans accepted
that slavery was a reality in the South
 While it quickly gained support, it was
exclusively a sectional party.
Bleeding Kansas:
First Shots of the Civil War
Tensions Mount in Congress
The Caning of Sumner:
The Lecompton Constitution:
 Issued by the fraudulently
elected, proslavery legislature
meeting in Lecompton, Kansas
 Submitted to the US
Government to admit Kansas as
a slave state
 President Buchanan, a man
with strong southern
sympathies, supported the bid.
 Congress rejected the
Lecompton Constitution, but it
worked to further divide the
Democratic Party
Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857)
First time the SCOTUS had
overturned a major piece of
legislation:
 Scott had no right to sue as
a slave. (Not a citizen)
 Congress had no right to
deny citizens of their
property.
 The Missouri Comp was
unconstitutional.
John Brown’s Raid
Be sure to look at the role of
economics in encouraging
sectionalism.
Why was the election of the first
Republican president, Abraham
Lincoln, the final act for the South?