Triggers to the Civil War
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Missouri Compromise 1820
◦ http://mappinghistory.uoregon.edu/english/US/
US19-01.html
◦ Balance in Congress needs to stay equal
between slave holding and free states
◦ Future problems were to be solved by the 36°
30' line
Abolition movement

Underground Railroad
http://www.history.com/topics/blackhistory/harriet-tubman
◦ Over 100,000 slaves escaped
◦ Symbolic importance of Harriet Tubman
◦ Reason why South demanded a fugitive slave law

Importance of black abolitionists like
Frederick Douglass
◦ disproved the belief that African Americans were
inferior
The Issue of States Rights


The South's point of view on tariffs (taxes on imports)
It raises the price on manufactured goods and causes
Europe to cut back on the purchase of cotton
◦ Known to southerners as the Tariff of Abominations

South Carolina and John C. Calhoun protest. This is
patterned off of the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions
(which arose after the Alien and Sedition Acts)
◦ federal government was created by the states to serve them
◦ state conventions can declare laws of Congress
unconstitutional
◦ this law then becomes null and void
◦ secession was a last resort
Mexican American War

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
◦ America acquired 1/2 million square miles out
west (Texas to California)
◦ Question: balance of free and slave states
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Compromise of 1850
http://mappinghistory.uoregon.edu/english/US/US1902.html
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California a free state
Other territories left to popular sovereignty
No slave trade in DC
Fugitive Slave Law
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Kansas-Nebraska Act
http://mappinghistory.uoregon.edu/english/US/US2
1-01.html

Uncle Tom's Cabin
◦ Northerners exposed to the reality of slavery
◦ Southerners outraged by the distortion
◦ Pointed out the damage slavery did to white
masters
◦ Sold a lot of copies! Banned in much of the
South
Kansas-Nebraska Act
 http://mappinghistory.uoregon.edu/english
/US/US21-01.htm

◦ Negates the Missouri Compromise
◦ Supporters of both sides flood into the
territory to influence the vote
◦ Violence! "Bleeding Kansas"

Dred Scott case
◦ slaves not citizens, property
◦ slaves have no right to sue
◦ government cannot deprive citizens of
property; also negates Missouri Compromise
John Brown's Raid
Radical abolitionist who attempted to
lead a slave rebellion by storming the
arsenal at Harper's Ferry,VA.
 Unsuccessful
 Caught and executed
 South recognizes that violent action
against them is a real possibility

Election of 1860 – Lincoln’s Election
 http://mappinghistory.uoregon.edu/english
/US/US22-02.html

◦ Democrats split between 3 candidates
◦ Lincoln wins 40% of the vote
◦ South considers this a radical threat to their
existence; secession begins
What are the advantages and
strategies of each side?

# 1. Using the chart, make a chart on your
own paper that explains the
strengths/weaknesses of both North and
South. Identify at least 5 of each.
North
Adv:
Disadv:
South
Adv:
Disadv:
# 2. Summarize the strategies that each side
utilized.
Northern Advantages
Controls 2/3 of the states (23)
 Pop of 22 mil (South has 9, 4 are slave)
 Manufacturing with over 90% of nation’s
industry
 20,000 miles of RR
 3/4 of nation’s financial resources –
banking, manufacturing, shipping, etc.
 Navy and merchant marine
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Southern Advantages
 Geographically
compact 11 states
 Fighting a defensive war
 Outstanding commanders
 Outdoor life
 Foreign friends – Why?
Crash course Civil War 1 and 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY9z
HNOjGrs
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzT
rKccmj_I
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