Events That Caused the Civil War
Presentation
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Social Studies
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5th Grade
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Hard
Joseph Anderson
FREE Resource
25 Slides • 5 Questions
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Major Events Leading to the Civil War
from the mid 1800s
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I notice _.
I wonder _.
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Open Ended
What do you think changed to make many feel war was unavoidable?
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Event 1: Compromise of 1850
After the U.S.-Mexican War in the 1840s, the United States gained huge amounts of territory in the southwest, including California. California wanted to join the United States as a free state in 1849.
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Compromise of 1850
Many southerners were angry about this because it would mean having more free states than slave states in Congress.
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How did they compromise?
To compromise, Congress allowed California to enter the United States as a free state, and it also passed the Fugitive Slave Law. This law required officials in the north to capture fugitive slaves and return them to the south. Southerners wanted this law because slaves had been escaping to the North or to Canada on the Underground Railroad.
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Turn and Share
I notice _. I wonder _.
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Effect of the Fugitive Slave Law
Many northerners were outraged about the law and refused to enforce it. Instead, they put signs up like this one to protect fugitive slaves. More and more northerners were becoming abolitionists and started speaking out against slavery. In response, many southerners accused the north of wanting to destroy slavery. The result was deeper division between the North and the South.
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Event 2: Kansas-Nebraska Act
In 1854, the territories of Kansas and Nebraska were preparing to become states. Both were north of the Missouri Compromise line, so they should have been free states. However, many southerners didn’t want to follow the Missouri Compromise anymore, and they felt the new states should allow slavery.
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How did they compromise?
To compromise, the Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed for the people of each territory to vote to decide if they would allow slavery. This act allowed for each new state to have the right to decide if they wanted to allow or forbid slavery.
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Effect of the Kansas-Nebraska Act
Kansas became a battleground over slavery. People from the North and the South raced to Kansas so they could vote on whether to allow or forbid slavery. It led to bitter fighting between the two sides and was known as “Bleeding Kansas.”
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Bleeding Kansas
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Creation of the Republican Party
The Kansas-Nebraska act also led to the creation of the Republican Party. The goal of the Republican party was to stop the spread of slavery. Just two years after the party started, a Republican named John Fremont almost won the election of 1856. Several southern states had threatened to leave the United States if he won.
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Open Ended
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Event Number 3: Dred Scott Decision
Dred Scott was an enslaved man from Missouri. Missouri was a slave state, but Scott’s owner brought him to several free states such as Wisconsin and Illinois. When his owner died, Scott claimed that he was free because he lived in a free state. With the help of abolitionists, the case went all the way to the Supreme Court to decide.
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What was the Supreme Court ruling?
In 1857, the Supreme Court ruled that Scott was not free. They said he had no rights because African Americans were not citizens. This was a major victory for the south. It meant that slaveholders could bring their slaves into the western territories and that slavery would be allowed there.
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Open Ended
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In Comes Abraham Lincoln
Northerners did not agree with this decision and were outraged by it. A man named Abraham Lincoln spoke out against the decision and became a leader of the Republican Party.
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Abraham Lincoln
The following year, he gave one of his most famous speeches called the “House Divided”. He argued that compromises would not continue and that either America would become all slave or all free.
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Event 4: John Brown’s Raid of Harper’s Ferry
An abolitionist named John Brown felt violence was the only way to end slavery. He wanted to start a slave revolt and attack slavery supporters in Virginia.
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John Brown’s Raid of Harper’s Ferry
He decided to steal weapons from the army that were stored at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia in 1859. He was then going to use those weapons to give to slaves, so they could fight for their freedom.
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Did his plan work?
John Brown’s plan was not successful. He was captured, tried, and hanged.
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The Effect of John Brown’s Raid
John Brown became a hero to many in the North and a terrorist to many in the South. This event showed how divided the North and the South were and how the fight over slavery was getting fiercer.
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On your own:
1. Write the name each of the events that led up to the Civil War in the text boxes
2. Next, write one or two complete sentences explaining what happened during the event
3. Lastly, insert a cartoon or drawing relating to the event and if you have time add another
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Open Ended
Now that we've learned a little more about the major events leading to the Civil War, what do you think happened in the 1850s to make many feel war was unavoidable?
Some events that made war unavoidable are_.
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Poll
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Major Events Leading to the Civil War
from the mid 1800s
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