TOP 10 REASONS WHY THE CIVIL

WAR STARTED!!!!

# 1- DIFFERENCES IN THE NORTH AND SOUTH Reform

… 2nd Great Awakening

… Temperance Movement

… Workers Rights

… Education

… Womens Rights

… Abolitionists

The Renewal of religious faith in the 1790’s and early 1800’s.

A campaign to stop drinking alcohol.

Workers called for improvements in the working conditions.

Americans also began to demand for better schools.

More women will stand up for equal rights

More will stand up and will be heard.

#2- SLAVERY IN THE TERRITORIES

By 1848, the nation’s leaders are debating how to deal with slavery.

Land gained from the Mexico War.

California Statehood- wanted to divide California in half

Zachary Taylor- opposed extension of slavery, proposed that California submit a plan for statehood that year, without a territorial stage.

Gave less time to move slaves into California

California applied to be admitted as a free state.

… Jefferson Davis “ For the first time, we are about permanently to destroy the balance of power between the sections”.

#3- FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT

1850 law help slaveholders recapture runaway slaves.

People accused

… Be held without an arrest warrant

… No right to trial by jury

Southerners felt justified because they considered slaves to be properties.

Northerners placed with fines or jail time

Southern slave catchers

Northerners faced a moral choice!!

… Should they obey the law and support slavery, or should they break the law and oppose slavery?

#4- UNCLE TOM’S CABIN

Harriet Beecher Stowe

… Portrayed the moral issues of slavery

… Book centers on Uncle Tom and his life under 3 owners

… Two were kind, the last one was cruel.

Stowe’s book was widely popular in the North.

Southerners believed the book falsely criticized the South and slavery,

#5- KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT

Stephen A. Douglas- Illinois senator proposed a bill.

To get support for the bill he thought that the residents should vote to decide on the issue

… Popular Sovereignty-

Get rid of the Missouri Compromise by allowing the people to vote for slavery in their territories.

The bill would be called the Kansas-Nebraska Act

… Kansas would be the battle ground for slavery.

… Campaigning in Kansas

… Violence in the Senate- “Bleeding Kansas”

Brooks hit Sumner over the head with his cane.

Formed the Republican Party

#6- DRED SCOTT DECISION

Slave in Missouri

Owner took him to live in territories where slavery was illegal.

Owner’s death- Scott sued the courts for his release

… “Once lived in free territory”

Ruled against Scott- TANEY

… Could not sue the courts, not a U.S citizen

… Scott’s time in the free state did not matter

… Congress could not ban slavery in the territories

What was their reactions?

#7- LINCOLN/DOUGLAS DEBATES

Douglas

Was the national Governments role to prevent expansion of slavery

Popular Sovereignty was best

Douglas won the election

“ The People have to lawful means to introduce it or exclude it as they please.”

Lincoln

Republican candidate

Use metaphor from the Bible.

… “A house divided cannot stand”

Slavery was a moral, social, and political wrong.

Slavery should not be expanded.

Lost the election, but became a nation figure and strengthened his standing in the Republican Party.

#8- HARPER’S FERRY

1859- John Brown who had murdered proslavery Kansans had a plan.

… Inspire slaves to fight for freedom

… Capture the weapons in the U.S arsenal at the Harpers Ferry, Virginia.

Brown, 18 followers

… They killed four and gained the arsenals

Brown tried and failed to rally the slaves

… U.S Marines attacked Brown

Brown tried for murder and treason

… South- cheered

… North- were horrified by his death.

#9- ELECTION OF 1860

Two Different Presidency Races

Lincoln/Douglas-North

Breckinridge/Bell-South

… Lincoln/Breckinridge- Primary Candidates

… Lincoln- stop expansion of slavery

… Breckinridge- federal government to protect slavery in any territory.

Lincoln Won- More People in the North.

#10- SOUTH SECEDES

Lincoln won- south states would secede.

South Carolina came first.

… Next six week- Miss, Fl, Al, GA, LA, TX,

Formed the Confederate States of America- Jefferson Davis President

Drafted Constitution

… Supported states rights

… Protected slavery

NORTH REACTION

Considered unconstitutional.

The Union would become weak

North would use their power to abolish slavery

South is not willing to live in a democracy

John J. Crittenden- continued to seek a compromise.

Would extend the Missouri Compromise line all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

Did not pass- No compromise!!!

Lincoln will not press the South

Fort Sumter- Owned by the North

Needed to resupply

LINCOLN’S SPEECH

“ We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angles of our nature.”

1ST SHOTS AT FORT SUMTER

South Carolina’s fort is running out of supplies.

… Lincoln

Supplied the garrison- he risked war

The troops left- the Rebels would take the fort

… Warned South Carolina that a supply would be coming

… The Confederates would attack the fort before the supplies would get there.

… 34 hours later, Anderson (North) was forced to surrender.

… No one killed.

START OF THE CIVIL WAR!!!!

NORTH STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES

Strengths

… Manpower and Resources

… 22 million people

… 85% of the nations factories were in the North

… Naval power and shipyards belonged to the North

… Remarkable leader- President Abe Lincoln

Weaknesses

… Had to carry battle to the enemy

… Not on their homeland

… Weaker military leaders.

SOUTH STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES

Strengths

… General Robert E. Lee

… Fighting a defensive war

… Northern lines would have to be stretched out.

… Soldiers defending their homes have more will to fight than invaders

… King Cotton- help from foreign lands

Weaknesses

… Fewer resources

… Fewer Soldiers

… No help from foreign lands.

Great Britain and France had a surplus in cotton that year.