THE ROAD TO
SECESSION
US History
Mrs. Lacks
Causes of Civil War
Civil war: war between two or more groups within
one country
The issue of slavery was one of many causes of civil
war, as is the idea of states’ rights vs. rights of the
federal government
There are political, cultural, & economic causes
Causes of Civil War
Missouri Compromise
Kansas-Nebraska Act/
Tariff of Abominations Bleeding Kansas
Abolitionist Movement Dred Scott v. Sanford
Wilmot Proviso
Compromise of 1850
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Lincoln-Douglass Debates
Harper’s Ferry, Va (WV)
Election of 1860
Missouri Compromise
Split the country politically into 2 parts: north & south
Missouri enters union as slave state
Maine enters union as free state
Slavery banned in the Louisiana Territory north of the
36 30' line
Wilmot Proviso
 Proposed by PA representative David Wilmot
 Said no slavery in Mexican Cession
 idea of “free soil” - allow slavery to exist where it already
was but not spread into new territory
 constitutional issues - constitution protects property
• slaves = property in south
• Congress has no right to limit slavery in territories
• would upset the balance
 bill failed!!
Compromise of 1850
The Issues
• California applied for statehood as a free state (does not
fall under Missouri Compromise - not part of
Louisiana Terr.)
• northerners demand abolition of slavery in DC
• south wanted north to enforce Fugitive Slave Act of
1793
Compromise of 1850
Very controversial
How it passed:
• President Taylor was dragging his heels – Senate
feared he would veto the bill
• July 1850 - Taylor died suddenly - succeeded by
Millard Fillmore who supported the Compromise
• September 1850 - Compromise passed
COMPROMISE OF 1850
Political Par ties in 1840s
Democrats (started with A. Jackson)
Whigs (anti-Jacksonians)
New parties forming:
• Free-Soilers
• Know-Nothings (Northern anti-immigrant (esp Irish),
anti-Catholic, anti-free African)
1852 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
√ Franklin Pierce
Democrat
Gen. Winfield Scott
Whig
John Parker Hale
Free Soil
Uncle Tom’s
Cabin
1852
 Sold 300,000 copies
in
the first year.
 2 million in a
decade!
Harriet
Beecher
Stowe
So this is the lady who
started this big war.
-- Abraham Lincoln
K ansas-Nebraska Act
divided Nebraska Territory into Nebraska and Kansas
allowed them to decide slavery issue by popular
sovereignty (let the people decide)
did away with the 36 30' line of the Missouri Comp.
"Death of the Missouri Compromise"
K ansas-Nebraska Act
Major results of Kansas-Nebraska Act
• birth of the Republican Party
• split Democratic party and destroyed
already badly divided Whigs
• Led to “Bleeding Kansas”
Bleeding K ansas
People rushed in to Kansas to vote for or against
slavery
when time came to hold elections, 1000s of “border
ruffians” from neighboring Missouri (slave) came it and
voted illegally
Kansas became a slave state
Bleeding K ansas
Anti-slavery voters did not want to accept this
Two capitals were established
• Lecompton: proslavery
• Topeka: anti-slavery
Civil war erupted in Kansas when proslavery
people attacked antislavery people
“Bleeding Kansas”
Border
“Ruffians”
(pro-slavery
Missourians)
Bleeding K ansas
John Brown
• Religious fanatic (thought
he was God’s instrument)
• Very antislavery
• Started a massacre that led
to the deaths of 200
proslavery citizens
Sumner-Brooks Affair
Senator Charles Sumner gave a speech denouncing slavery
advocates, including Sen. Andrew Butler from SC
2 days after speech, Sen. Preston Brooks (SC and nephew
of Butler) approached Sumner to confront him about his
speech
Brooks beat Sumner with his cane on the Senate floor
Southerners cheered him and sent him new canes
“The Crime
Against
Kansas”
Sen. Charles
Sumner
(R-MA)
Con. Preston
Brooks
(D-SC)
“Bleeding Sumner”
BIRTH OF THE
REPUBLICAN PARTY, 1854
ß Northern Whigs. (anti-slavery)
ß Northern Democrats. (anti-slavery)
ß Free-Soilers. (anti-slavery)
ß Know-Nothings. (restrictions on immigration)
ß Other miscellaneous opponents of the KansasNebraska Act.
1856 PRESIDENTIAL
ELECTION
√ James Buchanan
Democrat
John C. Frémont
Republican
Millard Fillmore
Whig
1856
Election
Results
Tariff of Abominations
Still in tact since the 1820s
Made South trade with North almost exclusively
Southerners lost what could be made in Europe
Led to the Panic of 1857
Increases Southern anger at North
South Carolina tries to secede in 1858, but stays
in
Dred Scott v.
Sanford,
1857
Dred Scott v. Sanford
 Dred Scott was a slave belonging to an officer in the US army
 taken from Missouri (slave) to Illinois (free) then to Wisconsin Terr.
(Free by Missouri Comp) and back to Missouri
 after master died, Scott sued new master for freedom, claiming that
since he had lived on free soil then he was free
 case went to Supreme Court - took 3 years to decide
Dred Scott v. Sanford
Chief Justice Roger B. Taney along with
majority decided
• Scott was still a slave, not a citizen, therefore
had no right to sue in federal court
• Congress had no power to prohibit slavery in
the territories, therefore the Missouri
Compromise was unconstitutional
The Lincoln-Douglas (Illinois Senate)
Debates, 1858
A House divided
against itself, cannot
stand.
Lincoln-Douglass Debates
Illinois Senate seat
Incumbent: Stephen Douglass
Challenger: Abraham Lincoln
First series of open discussions/debates
about slavery
Lincoln-Douglass Debates
Douglass: Popular Sovereignty
Lincoln: let slavery stay in the South,
but not extend to new territories in the
west
Lincoln lost, Douglass kept his
Senate seat
John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry, 1859
Harper’s Fer r y, Va
 John Brown led a band of men into Harpers Ferry in order to seize
the federal arsenal and lead a slave rebellion (aka “army of
emancipation”)
 they took 60 hostages and held out against the local militia
 finally surrendered to Marines under Robert E. Lee
 Brown wounded and taken prisoner
 convicted by Commonwealth of Va of treason, murder, and inciting
slave rebellion
1860
PRESID
John Bell
√ Abraham Lincoln
Republican
ENTIALConstitutional Union
ELECTI
ON
Stephen A. Douglas
Northern Democrat
John C. Breckinridge
Southern Democrat
1860
Election
Results
Secession!: SC Dec. 20, 1860