Warm-Up
“Texans! The troops from other States have
their reputation to gain, but the sons of the
defenders of the Alamo have theirs to maintain.
I am sure you will be faithful to the trust.”
-Jefferson Davis
address to Texas troops
Causes of the Civil War
North and South Divided
• North – increasing
immigrant
population as labor
force and growing
industry
• South – continued to
rely heavily on
agriculture and
slavery as a labor
source
Tariffs
• North – wanted tariffs to protect
their industry
• South – against tariffs because
they increase the cost of imported
items
Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)
• Allowed Kansas and Nebraska to decide if they
would be free or slave states
• Whig party upset because this violated the
Compromise of 1820
• Republican party forms
Slavery
Compromise of 1820
• States above 36 degrees 30’ were prohibited slavery,
those below allowed it
• New territory after the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo heated
up the slavery debate
Slavery
Compromise of
1850
• Created a new way for
territories to become
states
• Fugitive Slave Act:
made assisting
runaway slaves a
crime
Dred Scott decision (1857)
• Dred Scott was a slave living in free states and
territories and he wanted his freedom
• U.S. supreme court ruled that African Americans
were not citizens (can not bring federal charges in
court) and that Congress could not ban slavery in
any federal territory
• Northerners outraged!!!
Harpers Ferry(1859)
• John Brown led a raid on a federal armory
(where they keep weapons) in Virginia in
hopes of starting a slave revolt.
• Hanged for treason
State’s Rights
• Tariffs and slavery led to a debate over
State’s Rights
`Refers to the right of a state to not follow
federal laws if they do not agree with it
• North – held the belief that state’s
should follow federal law
• South – held the belief that state’s had
the right to oppose federal law
Election of 1860
1.Abraham Lincoln
2. John C. Breckinridge
3.John Bell
Lincoln wins with no
electoral votes from
the south --- feared he
would support
abolition
Election of 1860
• South Carolina chose to secede (formally withdraw)
• Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and
Louisiana followed
Election of 1860
• Texas legislature called a special meeting to discuss
secession.
• Unionists very angry
• Houston – now governor and pushed Texas to
remain in the Union
• Met on February 1 and voted 166 to 8 to leave the
Union
• Statewide vote on February 23, 1861 favored
secession
Election of 1860
• March 2, 1861 Texas was the 7th state to secede from
the Union
The Confederacy
• Feb. 1861 – Confederacy (Confederate States of
America) formed in Montgomery, Alabama
• Similar constitution to the U.S., with some
differences
• Emphasized state sovereignty
• Right to hold slaves
• Jefferson Davis president
The Confederacy
• March 5, 1861 – Texas Secession Convention
• Rewrote the Constitution of 1845 taking out
references to the United States
• Houston refused to take an oath of allegiance to the
Confederacy and was removed from office
Essential Question
• What were the 5 causes of the Civil War?