Causes of the Civil War

Regional Differences

– The Northeast and Midwest• Farming, Mining, Manufacturing, Trade and commerce• Industrial Revolution• Urbanization• European Immigration

– The South and Southwest• Plantation system- Cotton is King• Slaveowners dominated politics• Less than 70% of farmers owned slaves• Few large cities

Political Influences

Missouri Compromise of 1820

• Louisiana Purchase• How would power in Congress be divided.• Missouri admitted as slave state• Maine admitted as free state• Outlawed slavery North of the 36-30 parallel

and West of Missouri.

Nullification Crisis

• Tariffs of 1828 and 1832– designed to protect American industry by taxing imported

manufactured goods– Opposed in the South and parts of the North

• John C. Calhoun vs. Jackson– South Carolina threatened to declare the tariffs “null and

void”.– Crisis was averted through some compromise. Both sides

claimed victory.– Calhoun warned that Slavery issue was next to be threatened.

• Right of Secession

Compromise of 1850

• California (Free)• Utah and New Mexico (Popular Sovereignty)• Wilmot Proviso (Out)- – Exclusion of slavery in all lands won from Mexico

• Stronger Fugitive Slave Law• Slavery Allowed in Capital (No trade)

Political Causes• States Rights vs. Federal Power

– Nullification– Right of Secession

• Congressional Balance of Power• Missouri Compromise of 1820• Compromise of 1850• Kansas-Nebraska Act

– Popular sovereignty• Dred Scott Decision• Free Soil Party• John Brown and Harper’s Ferry• Election of 1860

Socio-Cultural Causes

• Literature– Uncle Tom’s Cabin- Harriet Beecher Stowe• “The little woman that started this great war”

– Lincoln

• 2nd Best Selling Book of the 19th century (behind the Bible)• Described the realities of slavery and depicted Christian

love as the solution.• Turned popular opinion even further against slavery.

Abolitionism

• "All people were equal in God's sight; the souls of black folks were as valuable as those of whites; for one of God's children to enslave another was a violation of the Higher Law, even if it was sanctioned by the Constitution.“– Second Great Awakening

• Revival in America that stressed the reform of individuals– Required Individual free labor and upward social mobility

– William Lloyd Garrison- The Liberator– Frederick Douglass

Southern Culture and Antebellum South

Was Slavery Declining in the South?

• 7% of Slaveholders- 75% of slaves– Dominated the political and economic life in the South.– Most Southerners defended the institution

• Small farmers hoped West would allow them to own slaves as well.• Small farmers were economically dependent on larger plantations

• Theory of White Supremacy– Deep seated racism– Slave codes

• Militant Defense of Slavery Increased– Reaction to Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Abolitionism– Bleeding Kansas

How Important was Economics ?

• Very– Slavery was crucial to the southern economy– Westward lands were needed due to soil exhaustion– Industrial Revolution- Rapid modernization of North-

• Immigration/ Population growth- had political implications

• Property Rights and upward social mobility

• Minimal– The North and South were economically tied and

dependent on each other. Incentive to avoid war.