CivilWarCauseCivilWarCauseCivilWarCauseCivilWarCauseCivilWarCauseCivilWarCauseCivilWarCauseCivilWarCauseCivilWarCauseCivilWarCauseCivilWarCauseCivilWarCauseCivilWarCauseCivilWarCauseCivilWarCauseCivilWarCauseCivilWarCauseCivilWarCauseCivilWarCauseCivilWar
By Lard Boy
-
-Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise was a compromise that was created by Henry Clay, which created a line that there were supposed to not have any slave states north of it (other than Missouri).This idea was created to help solve some of the violence in the United States over the issue of abolition. This compromise helped stop some of the spread of slavery, but it kept both sides happy. This also helped delay the secession of South Carolina and the other southern states, and evidently, the civil war. -
Wilmot Proviso
David Wilmot decided to propose the Wilmot Proviso on August 8, 1848. This failed proposition was intended to end slavery in the newly acquired territory from mexico. This bill passed in neither the senate or the house of representatives. The farmers in the Mexican cession already had slaves, and they weren't going to give them up. The southern states wanted these territories to be slave territories, while the northern states did not. This division caused this bill to not be passed. -
Compromise of 1850
The compromise of 1850 was a series of bills designed to alleviate tensions between Northern and southern states. The slavery issue had caused conflict between the north and south, and neither was backing down. Henry Clay proposed this bill, which included a stricter fugitive slave law, California entered into the union as a free state, the slave trade abolished in Washington DC, and a territorial government was created in Utah. This Compromise helped delay the civil war for a couple years -
Fugitive Slave Act
The Fugitive Slave Act was created in order to keep the southern states happy in the Compromise of 1850. This new act let slave owners hire slave catchers to catch their slaves that escaped to the north. Some slave catchers would now catch free black men. These men would be sold at slave auctions in the south. This act caused escaped slaves to have to escape all the way to Canada for freedom. If anyone was caught holding an escaped slave would be fined $500. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
"Uncle Tom's Cabin," which was a book about the horrors of a slave, was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Harriet's book was about a slave on a plantation. This book was the best selling book of the nineteenth century. 300000 copies of this book were sold in the Unite States alone! When Harriet Beecher Stowe visited the white house, Abraham Lincoln asked her "So you're the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war!" This book incidentally started the civil war. -
Kansas Nebraska Act
On May 30, 1854, the issue of slavery in the new territory of Kansas was to be decided by the people. Many of these people, however, were not from Kansas. Pro-slavery and abolitionists came from all around the country to stack the vote in their favor. As a result, Violence and criminals ran free across the new state. The vote was in favor of slavery, though Kansas applied to and was accepted the the Union during the Civil War. The idea for a vote by the people came From president James Buchanan. -
Dred Scott Case
Dred Scott was a former slave who sued for his freedom on March 6, 1857. He argued that he had lived with his owner in several free regions, so he should be free now. The Court, however, did not share his views. Instead, his former owner was the aggrieved party in this case. They said that the constitution protected the right to own property, and since Dred was considered property, he could not be freed. The Court ruled that they could not do anything about slavery in any territory. -
Lincoln Douglas Debate
Abraham Lincoln ran against Frederick Douglas in 1858 to be one of the senators of Illinois. Thousands of people showed up to listen to their debates around the state, and watch sparks fly over the issue of slavery. Abraham was against the spread of slavery, and Douglas preferred the idea that the people in the state would decide whether they wanted slavery or not in their state. This concept didn't succeed in Kansas. Lincoln lost the senate seat, but the debates improved his political status. -
John Brown's Raid
John Brown and five of his sons seized the federal arsenal in Harper's Ferry, Virginia. The abolitionists were attempting to start a slave revolt, but no one came to their aid. Instead, they were greeted by Colonel Robert E. Lee, who recaptured the arsenal, along with John Brown. This occurred on October 16-18, 1859. John believed that he was fighting the holy war, and would go to any lengths to further his cause. This shows how the slave population was reluctant to fight to free themselves. -
Lincoln's election
Abraham Lincoln, Stephen Douglas, John Breckenridge, and John Bell all ran for the presidency in 1860, with Lincoln declared the winner on November 6th of the same year. As Abraham was a member of the newly created republican party, which was anti slavery, southern states were worried. South Carolina was so worried that the state decided to immediately leave the Union after Lincoln was elected. The former president, Mr. Buchanan, had died from food poisoning, and a new leader was required. -
Southern Secession
South Carolina decided to leave the United States of America on Apr 12, 1861, immediately after the election of Abraham Lincoln (November 6, 1860),, which was viewed as a threat to the institution of slavery. Georgia, Texas, Alabama, and Louisiana followed later, before the fall of Fort Sumter. These former states came together as the Confederate States of America. From this point on, the North and South were unofficially at war with one another.
