SS8H5a Causes of the Civil War

SS8H5a Causes of the Civil War

A Nation Divided on Issues

Today’s Standards

SS8H5 Analyze the impact of the Civil War on Georgia. 

a. Explain the importance of key issues and events that led to the Civil War; include slavery, states’ rights, nullification, Compromise of 1850 and the Georgia Platform, the Dred Scott case, Abraham Lincoln’s election in 1860, and the debate over secession in Georgia.

Essential Questions

• What key events contributed to deepening unrest and hostility in antebellum America?

• How did the economic differences of the North and South contribute to the tension between the two regions?

The Country By Numbers (Today):

• President: Democrat

• Senate: 49 Republicans, 48 Democrats, and 2 Independents (typically vote with Democrats)

• House of Representatives: 213 Democrats and 220 Republicans

• These numbers are based on the 2022 Election. (There are 2 vacant seats in the House.)

​* The Georgia Senate race is in a run-off.

Open Ended

How could a divided Congress cause problems for the country?

Poll

Who has the power?

• Republicans

• Democrats

• Independents

Poll

Who had the power in 1856?

• Slave States

• Free States

Why does this matter?

The two major issues of the day were:

Slavery ~ the economy of the South depended largely on this labor to export its most important crop, cotton

States’ Rights ~ the privileges that states possess to govern themselves without interference from the federal government

Why did the South depend on slavery?

• The Southern economy relied on cash crops like cotton and depended heavily on slave labor to work its large plantations.

• Planters needed slaves to plant cotton, harvest it, and operate cotton gins.

• The South needed slave labor to export its most important crop and maintain its economy.

Open Ended

What were the benefits of slave labor?

Open Ended

Which crop is being harvested in the areas with the largest slave populations?

Multiple Choice

All people in the South owned slaves?

• true

• false

Why did the North oppose slavery?

• Northern abolitionists (those who opposed slavery and wanted to end it) spoke out about the evils of slavery.  

• Fredrick Douglass ~ wrote several autobiographies, eloquently describing his experiences in slavery

• William Lloyd Garrison ~ editor of the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator, and was one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society

• Harriet Beecher Stowe ~ wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin, a depiction of life for African-Americans under slavery

• Northerners opposed slavery for economic reasons because they could not compete with the unpaid black labor.

States’ Rights

• Under the 10th Amendment, any powers not specifically prohibited by the Constitution or delegated to the national government are “reserved for the states.”

• States believed they should have final authority, not the federal government, and could ignore federal laws which they believed violated the Constitution.

• The Articles of Confederation was based on states’ rights. 

• What problems arose?

The Nullification Controversy

• Nullify ~ to declare invalid, or no longer legal and binding

• The industrial North wanted to sell their goods in the South, but it was often cheaper for Southerners to buy things from Europe.

• President Andrew Jackson put a tariff on imported goods in 1828.

• Why was a tariff placed on imported goods?

• The South wanted to nullify the tariff because they thought it was unfair and would hurt relations with Europe.

Multiple Choice

What does nullify mean?

• to support a law

• to declare valid

• to declare invalid

• to secede from the Union

Multiple Choice

The North was becoming an economy based on _____________.

• farming

• industry

• music

Multiple Choice

The Southern economy was based on ______________.

• agriculture

• industry

• politics

Multiple Choice

A tariff on imported goods made them ________________.

• less expensive

• more scarce

• more expensive

Multiple Choice

South Carolina did not want to pay the tariff, so they decided to __________ it.

• ignore

• nullify

• trash

Multiple Choice

States’ rights gave final authority to ________.

• states

• federal government

• Congress

A Growing Country

• The young nation was growing and decisions would have to be made about slavery: Would slavery be allowed in the new states?

• Congress made many compromises over a 40 year period in an attempt to keep peace.

The Missouri Compromise

• In 1819, the Missouri territory asked to enter the Union as a slave state.

• Why was a compromise needed before Missouri could be added as a state?

• BECAUSE this would upset the balance in Congress that currently had 11 slave states and 11 free states.

The Missouri Compromise of 1820

• Missouri admitted as a slave state.

• Maine joined as a free state.

• Slavery would not be allowed above the 36˚30’ line of latitude (Mason-Dixon Line).

Poll

Do you think the compromise was fair?

• yes

• no

The Compromise of 1850

• A compromise was needed again after the war with Mexico in 1848.

• Controversy exploded over new territory gained after the war.

The Compromise of 1850

• California was admitted as a free state.

• Other lands gained from Mexico were divided in the new territories of Utah and New Mexico that were allowed to make their own decisions over slavery.

• Slave trade was abolished in Washington, D.C.

The Fugitive Slave Act

• The Fugitive Slave Act was also included to make the Southern states happy.

• It punished those who helped runaway slaves, and demanded that slaves be returned to the South, even if they had made it into free territory in the North.

Open Ended

How do you think Georgians felt about the compromises?

The Georgia Platform

• Many opposed the compromises because they felt the South’s rights were being trampled and were ready to secede (leave the Union). 

• Alexander Stephens and Robert Toombs saw the benefits of compromise.

• At a special convention, Georgia voted to accept the compromise and remain part of the Union.

The Georgia Platform

• Georgia stated it was willing to remain in the Union after the compromise as long as the North complied with the Fugitive Slave Act and would stop trying to ban slavery.

• If the North did not comply, secession would be unavoidable.

Poll

Would you have supported secession?

• yes

• no

Multiple Choice

According to the Missouri Compromise, Kansas and Nebraska should be ________ territories.

• free

• slave

The Kansas-Nebraska Act

• The territories should have been free, but Congress basically repealed the Missouri Compromise by allowing the territories to exercise popular sovereignty with the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854.

• popular sovereignty ~ the ability for the states and territories to decide for themselves (vote) if they would be free or slave

How did the Kansas-Nebraska Act cause conflicts in the territories?

• Bleeding Kansas ~ People on both sides of the issue began moving into Kansas to influence the vote. Fighting broke out between the two factions, leading to more than 200 deaths in a period of several years.

• Kansas became a free state in 1861.

Multiple Select

Check the THREE parts of the Missouri Compromise.

• Missouri admitted as slave state

• Maine admitted as a free state

• California admitted as a free state

• limited slavery in the West to the territory south of the 36°30’ line of latitude

• banned the slave trade in Washington D.C.

Multiple Select

Check the FOUR parts of the Compromise of 1850.

• included the Fugitive Slave Act; North promised to return runaway slaves to the South.

• established a plan to allow people to decide on the issue of slavery by voting

• California admitted as a free state

• limited slavery in the West to the territory south of the 36°30’ line of latitude

• banned the slave trade in Washington D.C.

Multiple Choice

Under this compromise, if a slave state was added to the Union, a free state or territory must also be added.

• Missouri Compromise

• Compromise of 1850

• Kansas-Nebraska Act

Multiple Choice

What did southern states worry would happen if California were admitted as a free state?

• Southern politicians would be banned from Congress.

• The North would raise the tariff again.

• Northern politicians would abolish slavery.

Multiple Choice

This law allowed “popular sovereignty” in several U.S. territories.

• Missouri Compromise

• Compromise of 1850

• Kansas-Nebraska Act

The Dred Scott Case

• Dred Scott, a Missouri slave, sued for his freedom on the grounds that he had lived for a period of time with his master in the free state of Illinois and free territory of Wisconsin.

• The case found its way to the US Supreme Court in 1856 after Scott had lost several appeals at lower courts.

• Chief Justice Roger Taney (pro-slavery) delivered the opinion of the court on March 6, 1857.

The Dred Scott Case

1: Blacks are Not Citizens

• The court stated that no African American—free or enslaved—could claim U.S. citizenship. According to the court, Scott was not a citizen, and he did not have the right to sue!

2: To Allow Expansion of Slavery

• Chief Justice Roger Taney declared that the federal government had no right to ban the expansion of slavery into U.S. territories. He claimed that banning slavery in a territory violated Americans’ right to own property.

Poll

Do you agree Chief Justice Taney’s decision about the Missouri Compromise?

• yes

• no

Parties Split

• The Republican Party came to be in 1854 when antislavery leaders (including former members of the Democratic, Whig, and Free-Soil parties) joined forces to oppose the extension of slavery into the Kansas and Nebraska territories.

• In 1856, the very first Republican presidential nominee Georgian John C. Fremont received two-fifths of the electoral votes on a platform that called on Congress to abolish slavery in the territories.

• In 1860, the Democrats split over the slavery issue, as the Northern and Southern wings of the party nominated different candidates.

The Election of 1860 

• Despite Lincoln’s name not appearing on the ballots of many Southern states, he won the election (winning 18 Northern states and receiving 60 percent of the electoral vote but only 40 percent of the popular vote).

• Lincoln’s goal was to keep the Union together. However, seven Southern states seceded before his inauguration on March 4, 1861.

Multiple Choice

Did Lincoln succeed in his goal?

• yes

• no

The Election of 1860 in Georgia

• Lincoln’s name did not appear on the ballot.

• Douglas received 11,500 votes.

• Bell received 43,000 votes.

• Breckinridge, who supported southern secession, won Georgia with 52,000 votes.

• The election results showed that the state was divided on the issue of secession. 

• Roughly 51% of the state voted against the idea.

• secession ~ formal separation from a political union (in this case, the United States)

Open Ended

How are the results of the election in 1860 similar to recent election results in our state? What conclusions can you draw from this comparison?

Debate Over Secession

• South Carolina was the first state to secede on December 20, 1860 (just over a month after Lincoln was elected).

• Georgia Governor Joseph Brown wanted to join South Carolina immediately and asked the state legislature to allocate $1 million for the state's defense and called a legislative session to determine if the state would have a convention to vote on secession.

• 11 Southern states would eventually secede: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee.

Multiple Choice

What was the governor’s position on secession?

• opposed secession

• favored secession

Georgia: A State Divided

• Georgia was deeply divided on the issue of slavery.

• Radical Secessionists wanted to leave the Union right away included plantation and slave holders, Governor Brown, and powerful and influential men such as Robert Toombs. (They all had a social and economic stake in the continuation of the institution of slavery.)

• Cooperationists wanted the southern states to get together and come up with an organized plan for the government to guarantee the protection of slavery and states’ rights (secession was a last resort) included representatives from northern counties, small farmers and non-slave holders, and influential men like Alexander Stephens and Herschel Johnson.

Poll

Which side of the debate would you have supported?

• Radical Secessionists

• Cooperationists

Georgia: A State Divided

• In one of the first votes, the General Assembly was split 166 to 130 in favor of secession.

• After much debate, another vote was taken.  The General Assembly voted 208 to 89 to secede on January 19, 1861.

Alexander Stephens

• Alexander Stephens was a very respected statesman.

• Stephens was a lawyer from Crawfordville, GA.

• He was very involved in public (political) life.  He served as a state legislature in the Georgia General Assembly from 1836 to 1843 and as a state representative in the United States Congress from 1843 to 1859.  

• He supported states’ rights and the expansion of slavery into the new territories. He defended slavery but opposed the dissolution of the Union.

Alexander Stephens

• During the debate over secession, he told the Assembly that Lincoln was not the South’s enemy and warned that economic ruin could occur if secession led to a civil war.

• When Georgia did secede, Stephens became a key figure in the South’s new government. 

• He was elected the Vice President of the Confederate States of America and served the office throughout the war.

Multiple Choice

Did the Georgia legislature listen to Stephens?

• yes

• no

Multiple Choice

Was Alexander Stephens for or against Georgia seceding from the Union?

• opposed secession

• favored secession

Multiple Choice

Which words best describe the tone of the excerpt?

• worried and anxious

• encouraging and thoughtful

• harsh and accusing

• hopeful and uplifting

Multiple Choice

What does Stephens predict will happen as a result of Georgia’s secession?

• slave riots and disorder

• ruin and destruction from civil war

• prosperity from slave labor

Multiple Choice

Why does Stephens say “This step, once taken can never be recalled”?

• to emphasize the finality of Georgia’s decision to secede

• to predict the reaction of the northern states to southern secession

• to describe the horrors of war that could result from secession

Multiple Choice

Who does Alexander Stephens blame for the events he predicts will come to Georgia?

• all members of the Secession Convention

• the abolitionists of the North

• Lincoln and the Republican Party

• Georgia’s plantation owners and slaveholders