Advanced Placement U.S. History

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Causes of the Civil War

• Advanced Placement U.S. History

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Summary

• The Civil War was not simply a war that began in
  the middle of the 19th Century, but rather began
  with the inception of the United States
  government and its various policies.
• The North and South developed as two very
  distinct regions with their own ideologies
  pertaining to economics, social mores, and
  political leadership.

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North and South

• THE NORTH
• The North developed with a capitalist economic
  base, where free labor was not acceptable.
• Immigration flowed into the North, where 19th
  century factory workers made textiles for the
  international market
• The Common Man was revered after the Jacksonian
  era,yet there was social stratification that
  divided the rich from the working poor.
• Social and religious movements worked to end the
  existing slave system to the south.

• THE SOUTH
• The South developed a farming economy, with the
  majority of the wealth coming from cotton
  production, and the free labor system that worked
  to produce the cotton.
• Politically the region was adamant about states
  rights, the right to property, and right to
  nullify federal law.
• During the 19th century the area is predominantly
  rural and does not experience the
  industrialization of the North, however is an
  economically successful region.
• Socially there is an aristocratic-like hierarchy
  that believes in honor, pride, and tradition.

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Part I Political Events Leading to the Civil
War

• Constitution of the United States
• Missouri Compromise, 1820
• Wilmot Proviso, 1846
• Compromise of 1850
• Kansas-Nebraska Act
• Dred Scott Decision, 1857

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Constitution of the United States

• 1. Constitution of the United States, 1787
• The Constitution of the United States never
  mentions the word slavery but there are
  articles and clauses that ensure the right to
  property.
• Use Doc. A to find information about the
  constitutional compromises for slavery

View of Independence Hall, Philadelphia, 1780s.
Courtesy of National Archives
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2. Missouri Compromise, 1820

• With the country expanding westward following the
  Louisiana Purchase of 1803, the issue of slavery
  moving into the new territories became an issue
  in Congress.
• The slavery issue was not a moral discussion as
  it was a representation issue as more slave
  states entered the union, it would lessen the
  impact of the issues the free states brought
  Congress.

Henry Clay, The Great Pacificator
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Map of the Missouri Compromise

1. What is the status of Missouri when it enters
   into the Union?
2. What allows the compromise to occur?
3. Where is the geographic border established
   between free and slave states?

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Compromise of 1820
http//www.learner.org/biographyofamerica/prog10/f
eature/index.html
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3. Wilmot Proviso, 1846

• In 1846 as the United States became embroiled in
  a war with Mexico, David Wilmot, a Pennsylvania
  Congressman brought forth the idea that any land
  gained from the conflict should remain free from
  slavery.
• Read Doc. B and discuss what the Southern
  response would be to a suggestion like this.

David Wilmot
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4. Compromise of 1850

• Following the Mexican American War the U.S.
  settles the issue of slavery in the newly
  acquired territory with the Compromise of 1850.
• These 3 men brought their regional issues to the
  government in their last debate as long time
  congressmen.
• Who are they?
• What region do each represent?

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What the Compromise Says

1. California will be entered as a free state, but
   other former Mexican territories will determine
   slavery issue through popular sovereignty.
2. Texas is admitted as a slave state, but ceded New
   Mexico Territory in return for its 10 million in
   debts to be paid by the federal government
3. Slave trade is ended in the District of Columbia

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(No Transcript)
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5. Kansas-Nebraska Act

• Based on the proposal by Stephen Douglas that the
  territory of Kansas and Nebraska be entered into
  the Union under the principle of popular
  sovereignty.
• This measure became a divisive move, which killed
  the Whig party and hurt the Democrats.
• Bleeding Kansas The Kansas territory erupted in
  violence in 1854.

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6. Dred Scott Decision,1857

• Dred Scott sued the government for his freedom
  and that of his family after he had been
  relocated into free territory.
• The Supreme Court determined.

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Part II Social Movements Leading To the Civil War

• Abolitionist Movement
• Uncle Toms Cabin
• Preston Brooks vs. Charles Sumner
• John Browns Raid

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1. Abolitionist Movement

• Religious and social movements to end slavery
  occurred throughout American history. Leaders in
  the Nineteenth century movements include William
  Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, Harriet
  Beecher, and Harriet Tubman. The abolitionists
  worked to show the immoral, antichristian,
  anti-democratic message that slavery voiced.
• While abolitionists worked to end slavery,
  southern proslavery voices discussed the positive
  effects of slavery on slaves.

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2. Uncle Toms Cabin"So you're the little woman
who wrote the book that started this Great
War!Abraham Lincoln

• The book written by Harriet Beecher Stowe caused
  great controversy among the sections. It was read
  by thousands, and was used as a great
  abolitionist tool.
• Why do you think the book was so effective?

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3. Congressional Violence

• In 1856, the Senate floor was the epitome of the
  climate in the country and the sectional divide
  that was becoming so clear.
• Preston Brooks of South Carolina attacked Charles
  Sumner of Massachusetts with a cane after Sumner
  had insulted Brooks uncle.
• To Sumner this was the Southern temperament, to
  Brooks, he was defending his familys honor.

Senator Brooks canes Senator Sumner to near death
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4. John Browns Raid

• Anti Slavery vigilante, John Brown, led a
  murderous raid through Kansas in 1856.
• In 1859 he planned to raid the South and incite a
  massive slave rebellion. His plan took form at
  Harpers Ferry, Virginia by taking over the
  federal arsenal. It was an unsuccessful raid
  leading to his conviction and death.

1. How did Northerners react to John Browns Raid?
2. What was Southern reaction?

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John Browns Raid

American painter John Stuart Curry's mural,
Tragic Prelude, depicts abolitionist John Brown
during the "Bleeding Kansas" decade of the 1850s.
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Industrialization of the North

• American System of Manufactures
• Putting Out System-Commercialization
• Free Labor
• Factory system- textile mills Lowell, MA
• Growth of Cities and Immigrant populations
• The market revolution of the nineteenth century
  incorporating all the previously mentioned
  components worked to transform the way people
  worked, lived, and in time thought about American
  ideals, values, and lifestyle.

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The Transportation Revolution

• The building of the Erie Canal (1825), the
  National Road (1808), and the improvements in the
  steamboat and railroad allowed Americans to see
  beyond their provincial lives and belong to a
  national community.
• Effects of this transportation revolution
  evidenced a shift in national politics the
  linking of the North with points West rather than
  with the South marked a distinct shift in
  political alliances.

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Economic Causes of the Civil War

• Tariff of 1816, 1824
• Tariff of Abominations
• Issue of Nullification

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Tariff of 1816 and Tariff of 1824

• Tariff of 1816
• This was the first substantial protective tariff
  in United States History it taxed imported
  woolens and cotton, iron, leather, hats, paper,
  and sugar
• Following the War of 1812 and the lift on the
  embargo on British goods, American manufacturers
  complained that the British were dumping goods
  into U.S. markets that were below cost to
  deliberately hurt American growth.
• The government responded with the tariff

• Tariff of 1824
• Southern politicians voted for the Tariff of 1816
  believing it was a temporary measure, however in
  1824 the government raised tariff rates higher
  and included more goods under the tariff.
• Southern cotton farmers feared their chief
  export, cotton, would in turn be taxed by
  countries abroad in retaliation for the American
  tariffs

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Tariff of Abominations

• The Tariff of 1828 was a dividing factor between
  Northern and Southern politicians for these
  reasons
• It imposed especially high tariffs on imported
  textiles and iron
• Southerners in Congress lacked the majority to
  block the measure and became increasingly aware
  that their regional interests would be ignored by
  the national political scene.
• Southern opponents insisted that the tariff was
  unconstitutional because it was not a national
  measure but a sectional one, helping certain
  interests while harming others.

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Nullification

• The economic provisions enacted by Congress to
  protect American manufacturers led to a political
  discussion between Southern politicians who
  feared the national governments power to change
  the climate of the South politically,
  economically, and socially.
• Led by John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, the
  state claimed that they had the right to
  nullify or make void any national legislation
  that was in the best interest of an individual
  state. Therefore South Carolina could ignore the
  tariffs and allow duty free shipping into ports
  like Charlestown.
• Southerners belief in nullification will again be
  raised when the issue of slavery and its
  expansion become a national issue.

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Immediate Cause of The Civil War

• 1860 Abraham Lincoln is elected President
• December 20, 1860 South Carolina Secedes from the
  Union
• The Irrepressible Conflict has begun