what are the key issues and events that led to the civil war? day 4 – georgia slavery states’...
TRANSCRIPT
What are the key issues and events that led to the Civil War?
Day 4 – Georgia Slavery
States’ Rights
Nullification
Missouri Compromise
Compromise of 1850
Georgia Platform
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Dred Scott Case
Election of 1860
Debate over the Secession in Georgia
Role of Alexander Stephens
Georgia’s Economy
Backbone of Georgia’s Economy
= Agriculture
By 1860
• 68,000 Farms• Cotton was the Main Crop• Farms Produced More
than 700,000 bales of cotton.
• 115% increase from 1839.
Plantations
• Only 3,500 farms had 500 + acres and could be called plantations.
• Since the land itself did not cost much, a plantation owner’s worth was largely measured by the number of slaves he owned.
Only 236 Georgians owned more than 100 slaves, and 60% had no slaves at all.
• 1,890 Factories by 1860• Value = $11 million• Georgia’s industrial
base was no comparison for the northern industries.
A Discovery• Before any surgery, patients were given several
swallows of alcohol or opiates (pain-killing drugs).• Physicians’ assistants stood over the patients
holding down their legs and arms.• Some patients were simply knocked unconscious.• Dr. Crawford W. Long began trying sulfuric ether as an anesthetic.
Education• Education was not an
important element in the life of most antebellum Georgia.
• In 1850, about 20% of Georgia’s whites could not read or write.
• About 50% of Georgia’s children were black and did not go to school at all.
• In 1858, state legislature set aside $100,000 to begin free school...but the CIVIL WAR begins...
Religion• During the 1850s, church
membership grew in Georgia.• By 1860, there were 2,393
churches in the state.• Two largest denominations:
• Others: Episcopal, Catholic, Jews, and Presbyterians
Methodists Baptists
Slaves
• There were few segregated churches.• Slaves usually attended the same churches as
their masters.
First African Baptist Church, Savannah, Georgia (1777- )
PoliticsTwo major Political Parties
Democrats Supported states’ rightsStrong stand FOR slaveryLeaders: Herschel V. Johnson Joseph E. Brown Howell CobbMost Governors were democrats
WhigsMostly members of upper social classesFavored moderate protective tariff and federal help for the south.Leaders: Robert Toombs Alexander StephensMost members of legislature were whigs
The Georgia Platform• Many Georgians did not like the Compromise of 1850.• They felt that the South’s rights were being trampled...• However, Democrat Cobb and Whigs Stephens and Toombs
asked the citizens of Georgia to accept it.• The legislature met to discuss the issue.
They adopted a proclamation called GEORGIA PLATFORM.
This act was instrumental in averting a national crisis.
Stated that Georgia was willing to remain in the Union after the Compromise of 1850 as long as
the North complied with the Fugitive Slave Act and would
stop trying to ban slavery in new territories and states.
If not, Georgia WARNED that it would secede!!!!