Specific Causes
1. Fugitive Slave Law:
 North: The Fugitive Slave Law, included in the Compromise of 1850,
puts the federal government in the immoral position of helping slaveowners retrieve runaway slaves.
 South: The Fugitive Slave Law, strengthened in the Compromise of
1850, helps Southern planters regain property illegally taken from
them.
2. Uncle Tom’s Cabin:
 North: Harriet Beecher Stowe has portrayed my moral values in the
context of a popular novel on slavery.
 South: Uncle Tom’s Cabin, written by a Northerner unacquainted with
the reality of Southern plantation life, presents a false, cruel and
intentionally misleading account of slavery.
3. Ostend Manifesto:
 North: In proposing the Ostend Manifesto, officials of Pierce’s
administration have no right to contemplate the use of force to extend
a moral evil.
 South: The Ostend Manifesto, in proposing the acquisition of Cuba,
would bring the benefits of American civilization to the Cuban
people.
4. Kansas-Nebraska Act:
 North: The proposed Kansas-Nebraska Act, which introduces the
concept of popular sovereignty into an area previously closed to
slavery, violates the Compromise of 1820 and threatens to extend an
evil institution into a free territory.
 South: The Kansas-Nebraska Act would quite properly permit an
individual to exercise his constitutional right to move property from
one place to another.
5. “Bleeding Kansas”:
 North: “Bleeding Kansas” is an unfortunate consequence of a selfseeking politician’s placing his personal goal to win the presidency
above the best interests of the country.
 South: Except for fanatical abolitionists’ intent on violence, the issue
of slavery in Kansas could have been resolved by the ballot box.
6. Dred Scott v. Sanford:
 North: The Supreme Court, with Roger Taney trying to impose his
Southern views on the nation, has legally sanctioned the ownership of
slaves as legitimate property.
 South: The Supreme Court has finally confirmed what the
Constitution has always held –that a slave is a piece of property, and
the mere movement of that property does not alter ownership.
7. Lincoln-Douglas debates:
 North: While Lincoln is right in opposing the extension of slavery into
the western territories, he still accepts the evil institution of slavery in
the states.
 South: We oppose the position on slavery in the territories of both
candidates in the Illinois Senatorial race because neither accepts the
property concept handed down by the final authority on the
Constitution.
8. John Brown’s Raid:
 North: The federal government has erred in the apprehension and
execution of an individual dedicated to the removal of a morally evil
institution.
 South: John Brown’s fate should serve as an example to others who
might contemplate repeating such a rebellious and treasonous act.
9. Election of Lincoln:
 North: Lincoln’s election offers hope that the extension of slavery into
the territories will be prohibited; perhaps Mr. Lincoln and Congress
will reach the conclusion that slavery is a moral evil that must be
eradicated in the nation.
 South: The election of Lincoln, the representative of a sectional rather
than a national party, now places the entire power of the central
government in the hands of a section dedicated to the eradication of
the southern way of life.
10. Secession:
 North: The secession of South Carolina and her sister states finally
removes the evil that has dominated our thinking and our actions for a
generation and clears the way for the fulfillment of the American
dream.
 South: The election of Lincoln marks the final effort to persecute the
South and leaves us no choice but to secede to protect our southern
way of life.