Causes of the War
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FREEDOM-1
hr
Please formulate your own definition of “freedom”.
 We can do whatever we want within the rules/laws
 Don’t harm others
 Equal rights
 Have opinions, beliefs, religion
 Right to vote
 Can’t be forced to do something
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FREEDOM-3
hour
Please formulate your own definition of “freedom”.
Guidelines/restrictions
Able to be yourself
Feeling safe. No worries/problems
To live how you like
Self expression
FREEDOM –
th
4
hour
Please formulate your own definition of “freedom”.
Do whatever you want w/out breaking the law
Have more rights
No consequences based on religion/race
Can’t be forced to do something
Can tell the govt no!
Sacrifice
Sticking up for what we believe is right
Making our own choice
Having a say in the govt
FREEDOM
Please formulate your own definition of “freedom”.
Do what you want when you want, boundaries, freedom of
speech
Few restrictions, having an opinion
Restricted rights, do what you want & not get persecuted for
it
Freely express yourself
Self expression
Discussion Questions
 Are freedom & civic order inherently in conflict?
 What constraints on freedom, if any, are necessary?
 What contemporary issue or problem poses the
greatest threat to freedom?
 How does the Declaration of Independence reflect the
Founders’ sense of freedom in 1778?
 How does that differ today?
Warm Up: Monday, Sept. 10
 What freedoms did you have over the
weekend? Were there any constraints
or limits on this freedom?
FREEDOM
 Are freedom and civic order inherently in conflict?
 What constraints on freedom, if any, are necessary?
 What contemporary issue or problem poses the
greatest threat to freedom?
 How does the Declaration of Independence reflect the
Founders’ sense of freedom in 1776?
 How does that differ from today?
5 Causes of the Civil War
 Economic & Social Differences
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* Industry & immigration in the North
* Growing cities, goods & people
* Agriculture in the South – mostly cotton production
* Mostly rural
States vs. Federal rights
* states acting independently vs. federal acts
The fight between slaves & non-slaves proponents
*slavery vs. freedom
Growth of the Abolition Movement
* More people opposed slavery
The election of Abraham Lincoln
* South thought Lincoln was anti-slavery & in favor of Northern
interests
Wilmot’s Proviso
 David Wilmot introduced legislation that said
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“…slavery shall not exist.”
Slavery would not exist in lands won in the Mexico –
American War.
Why? Wilmot thought the President, cabinet & nation
were dominated by southern principals.
Wanted Northerners to be HEARD!
Passed in the House, but never in the Senate.
Would never become a law.
Why? Southerners knew the new free
states/territories would swing the balance of power to
the North (South controlled the Senate)
Compromise of 1850
 Series of bills makes up the act: Henry Clay wanted to please
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both North & South
Stephen Douglas broke them down into separate bills & it was
passed 8 months later.
Texas would relinquish Mexico but get $10 million for it
Territories of New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona and Utah
would be organized with no slavery.
In Washington D.C. the slave trade would be abolished, but
slavery still be permitted
California would be a free state
Fugitive Slave Act allowed citizens to assist in the recovery
of slaves.
Affected black people who lived in the north & who were already
free.
Kansas-Nebraska Act
 Both territories were north of the Missouri
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Compromise line of 36°30’ and legally closed to slavery
Stephen Douglas wanted to let popular
sovereignty decide if the territories wanted to be a
slave state or not.
Bill passed & became law in 1854
A bitter fight over Kansas took place (balance of
power)
North wanted it closed to slavery
South wanted it open to slavery
Bleeding Kansas
 Both the North and South tried to populate
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Kansas in order to win the vote on slavery
March of 1855 Kansas held a vote for gov’t candidates
Thousands of “border ruffians” from the slave state of
Missouri crossed into Kansas & voted illegallyproslavery candidates won
Abolitionists set up their own government in Topeka
Bloody battles & violence ensued giving the
territory the name of “Bleeding Kansas”
Protest & Resistance
 Fugitive Slave Act
* fugitives not entitled to a trial by jury
* fugitives could not testify on their own behalf
* $10 fee if you returned a fugitive slave
* $1,000 FINE & IMPRISONMENT if you helped a
slave to freedom
 Northerners opposed the law
* helped slaves to Canada
* Nine Northern states passed personal liberty laws
forbidding imprisonment of runaway slaves
Protest & Resistance
 Underground Railroad
* system of secret escape routes
* African Americans & abolitionists
developed a secret network of people who would
help & hide the runaway slaves
* network of people called conductors
 Harriet Tubman (famous “conductor”)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVyQJ3rKMzw
Protest & Resistance
 Harriet Beecher Stowe
* wrote “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”
* delivered the message: slavery wasn’t just a
political issue but also a moral issue
* became a best seller
* Northern abolitionists increased their protests
* The South criticized the book as an attack on the
Southern way of life - evil
New Political Parties Emerge
 Whig Party: Divided
* North (antislavery) South (proslavery)
* split both in the North & South over the issue
of slavery
 Know Nothing Party:
* supported nativism (organized both in the South
& North).
* anti-immigrant & anti-Catholic
* Split over the issue of slavery
New Political Parties Emerge
 Free-Soilers Party:
* against slavery, but pro racial laws.
* Did not want blacks to settle in their state/community
* objective to slavery’s competition with free white
workers. (If slaves were allowed in Northern
territories-then whites would be out of a job)
 Republican Party:
* Anti-slavery
* Opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act
* Took in Free-Soilers, Whigs & Democrats who all
had a wide range of opinions
Dred Scott Decision
 Was a slave whose owner took him to a free state &
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territory
Scott sued his owner for his freedom – living in a free
state had made him a free man
Went to the Supreme Court – Scott lost
Ruling: Dred Scott was not a citizen, he was property.
Property is protected under the 5th amendment
Northerners were extremely upset: free states, blacks
live free & have rights. Southern influence on nat’l
gov’t
Southerners jubilant – slavery can be extended into
Northern states.
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
 Both running for U.S. Senate in 1859
 Lincoln (Republican) was not known
* Elected 1 term to Congress in 1846 under the Whig
Party
* broke with the Whig party & became a Republican
* Challenged Douglas to a series of debates in Illinois
 Douglas (Democratic) was a two term senator with a
great record
* accepted Lincoln’s challenge
 Both were very different in appearances
* Lincoln tall, thin & gangly. His clothes plain & rumpled
* Douglas : stocky, energetic. Dressed smartly
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
 Douglas believed in:
* popular sovereignty
* slavery was a backwards labor system
* did not think that slavery was immoral
* thought the people of Kansas-Nebraska would vote to
make it a free state
* slavery would pass away on its own through popular
sovereignty
 Lincoln believed:
* slavery was immoral (greed, wealth & power)
* the South would not give up slavery on their own –
Congress must pass laws to outlaw slavery
Harpers Ferry
 John Brown wanted to lead slaves into a revolt
 Led 21 men, black & white Harpers Ferry, Virginia
 Wanted to seize the federal arsenal & distribute the
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guns to the slaves in that area
He was caught: troops stormed in and killed 10 of Brown’s
men
Captured Brown & tried him for treason
John Brown was hanged for treason on Dec. 2, 1859
Northerners expressed admiration for him & called him a
martyr
Southerners were outrage & started assaulting whites with
antislavery views
Lincoln’s Election
 Republican Party nominated Lincoln
 Lincoln pledged to halt the spread of slavery
 Also tried to reassure the South that a Republican
administration “would not interfere with their slaves”
 Southerners thought the election of Lincoln
“would be the greatest evil that has ever befallen
the country”
Election of 1860
Lincoln Wins
 Receives only 40% of the votes
 Electoral votes 180 to 123
 He received no electoral votes from the south
 Lincoln had sectional support but not national
support
Southern Secession
 With the election of Lincoln, the South thought they
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had lost their political voice
Federal rights would rule over state rights
On December 20, 1860 South Carolina is the first
state to secede from the Union
Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana
& Texas followed
Thought secession was their last chance to
preserve their way of life
Shaping of the Confederacy
 Confederate States of America was formed on
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February 4, 1861
Much of their constitution was similar except…
Protected and recognized slavery in new
territories
Each state in the Confederacy would be sovereign
and independent
Jefferson Davis was elected their President
Calm Before the Storm
 President Buchanan announced secession was illegal
 But, it would also be illegal for him to do anything
about it
 Was the Federal Government melting away?
 One questions: would the North allow the South to
leave the Union in peace – or war?