Step One: What Caused The Civil War?

• The time period before the Civil War.• So, the Antebellum South describes the South before the

Civil War.

Antebellum

CAUSE ONE: Sectionalism

Let’s read 457-459 and 483 together

• Economy: becoming more industrial (think of the Industrial Revolution).

• More cities, factories, roads, canals, railroads than South (need places to make products and ways to transport them to market).

• Population is growing fast; 31 million by 1860, lots of immigrants (need workers for the factories, right?).

• “Changing with the times”.

The North…

City Location Known forPopulation-1800-1860

New York City

Long Island, New York

Funneling in over 12 million immigrants into the United States.

1800:61,000 1860:1,530,000

Boston Eastern Massachusetts

Leading markets in the fishing, textile industry.

1800:25,0001860:446,000

Philadelphia South Eastern Pennsylvania

The world’s top locomotive steam engine builder.

1800:41,0001860:1,049,000

• Views on slavery: some anti-slavery and abolitionists, but still no acceptance of blacks as equals.

• “Federal”: most people wanted a strong federal government to handle the many issues facing the nation.

The North…

The South…• Almost entirely agricultural.

• Mostly rural; few cities.

• Dominated by the Planter Class.

• Some roads and railroads.

• Population=12 million, but 1/3 are slaves.

• “Same as it ever was.”

Aside from agriculture, the South did have some manufacturing.

UNION

UNION

UNION

Planters

Yeomen

Poor Whites

Free Blacks

Slaves

The Social Class Pyramid

The South…• Slavery was seen as a “necessary evil” that was needed to

maintain the Southern “way of life”.

• “State”: believed in “states’ rights”; states should have more power then the federal government. South viewed North as trying to take slavery away.

CAUSE TWO: Territorial Disputes

• As America expands West, who will decide if slavery should go there, too?

Missouri Compromise: page 358

• Missouri is a slave state.• To keep a balance, Maine is a free state.• The Missouri Compromise Line (36.30)should

solve any future problems. Future states above the line will be free states while future states below the line will be slave states.

Let’s see what you remember…What land was gained by the

United States from 1820-1850?

Mexican Cession and Slavery: page 459-460

• Wilmont Proviso– No slavery at all in this new land.– Will the South go for that?

• NO! The South likes “Popular Sovereignty”– The people who live in a place should decide the

issue of slavery for that place.

The Compromise of 1850: p. 551-2

1. The North gets California as a free state.

2. The slave trade is stopped in Washington D.C. (slaves no longer can be bought and sold, but you could still do that only a few miles away!

What did the South get?

1. Mexican Cession divided into territories where Popular Sovereignty decides about slavery.

2. New, stronger Fugitive Slave Law.– Runaway slaves can be hunted down in

the North and brought back to the South.

Open to slavery by Popular Sovereignty

Why were northerners against the Fugitive Slave Act? (p.462)

Stephen Douglas wants a railroad to California with Stephen Douglas wants a railroad to California with the “eastern hub” in Illinois.the “eastern hub” in Illinois.

His bill creates Kansas and Nebraska His bill creates Kansas and Nebraska TerritoriesTerritories

To get Southern votes, he promises that slavery will be decided by Popular Sovereignty.

According to the Missouri Compromise, is this “slave” or “free”?

Discuss at your table what differences you see from the Missouri Compromise to the Compromise of 1850. What about from the Compromise of 1850 to the Kansas-Nebraska Act?

Anti-slavery

Pro-slavery

Kansas at one point had two governments, one anti-slavery (Topeka) and one pro-slavery (Lecompton). Both sides claimed that they were the legitimate government and fought to make sure their side had control over Kansas. As a result, Kansas was in a constant state of civil war for about 10 years!

Bleeding Kansas: let’s read p. 464-465

• Proslavery forces attacked the antislavery town of Lawrence, Kansas, on May 21, 1856,and “sacked” it (destroyed, burned).

• John Brown, an “extreme abolitionist” got revenge for Lawrence with the “Pottawatomie Massacre”; he and his sons hacked 5 people to death with hatchets.

• By September, 1856, 55 people had died, making Kansas like a “mini Civil War” between pro and antislavery forces.

• Meanwhile, back in congress…