What Caused Secession?
Questions from the DBQ document packet
Document 1
Over what issue did the Southern Democratic and the Northern Republican parties seem totally at odds?

Whether or not slavery should be allowed the Western Territories
Do you feel that either side was willing to compromise?

No—the Republicans refused to allow slavery in the territories while the Southern Democrats
demanded that slavery be protected wherever it existed.
Document 2
Why did this Mississippi politician advocate secession?

The North hated the South and the North was determined to use their power to dominate the
south and emancipate (free) the slaves
How does this statement help to explain why so many non-slaveholding Southerners supported
secession?

Feared that slaves would want to take revenge once they were free- also feared the North
would destroy the South and their economy.
Document 3
What do you think of this Pittsburgh newspaper’s accusation that Lincoln and his Republican Party are
the major threats to the disunion of the country?

Lincoln’s election would cause the South to secede because the South could not accept Lincoln’s
refusal to allow slavery in the Western territories.
Document 4
From which region did most of Lincoln’s support come?

From the North and the West Coast
How does Document 2 help explain this regional voting?s

We see that each firmly believes and holds determinedly to its position on the issue of
slavery and that’s what they base their vote on.
Document 5
What, according to George Templeton Strong, were the major factors which in the autumn of 1860 were
about to split the nation?

Lincoln’s election, universal suffrage, abolitionism, the 1850 California statehood crisis, and
when Douglas repealed the Missouri Compromise with the Kansas Nebraska Act. (Uncle Tom’s
Cabin, Fugitive Slave Act, Compromise of 1850, Dred Scott Decision)
Document 6
What reason did the state of South Carolina give for seceding from the Union?

The election of Lincoln has shown that all the Northern states are united against slavery.
Document 7
What did Jefferson Davis say caused the South to secede?

Sectional hostility, hostile legislation (Wilmot Proviso) and organized raids
What did he mean by raids of organized bodies?

John Brown’s raid.