Cause #1: The creation of the cotton gin/Slavery

“Cotton’s Is King!”

• Before the 1793 invention of Eli Whitney’s cotton gin, slavery was a dying business, since the South was burdened with depressed prices, unmarketable goods, and over-cropped lands.

• After the gin was invented, growing cotton became wildly profitable and easier, and more slaves were needed.

• The North also transported the cotton to England and the rest of Europe, so they were in part responsible for the slave trade as well.

“Cotton’s Is King!”

• The South produced more than half the world’s supply of cotton, and held and advantage over countries like England, an industrial giant, which needed cotton to make cloth, etc…

• The South believed that since England was so dependent on them that, if civil war was to ever break out, England would support the South that it so heavily depended on.

The Planter “Aristocracy”• In 1850, only 1733 families owned

more than 100 slaves each, and they were the wealthy aristocracy of the South, with big houses and huge plantations.

• The Southern aristocrats widened the gap between the rich and the poor and hampered public-funded education by sending their children to private schools.

• Also, a favorite author among them was Sir Walter Scott, author of Ivan Hoe, who helped them idealize a feudal society with them as the kings and queens and the slaves as their subjects.

Slaves of the Slave System

• Cotton production spoiled the earth, and even though profits were quick and high, land was ruined, and cotton producers were always in need of new land.

• The economic structure of the South became increasingly monopolistic because as land ran out, smaller farmers sold their land to the large estate owners.

Slaves of the Slave System

• Also, the temptation to overspeculate in land and in slaves caused many planters to plunge deep into debt.

• Slaves were valuable, but they were also a gamble, since they might run away or be killed by disease.

• The dominance of King Cotton likewise led to a one-crop economy whose price level was at the mercy of world conditions.

Cause #2: Early Abolitionism

• In 1817, the American Colonization Society was founded for the purpose of transporting Blacks back to Africa, and in 1822, the Republic of Liberia was founded for Blacks to live.

• Most Blacks had no wish to be transplanted into a strange civilization after having been partially Americanized.

• By 1860, virtually all slaves were not Africans, but native-born African-Americans.

Early Abolitionism

• In the 1830s, abolitionism really took off, with the Second Great Awakening and other things providing support.

• Theodore Dwight Weld was among those who were inflamed against slavery.

• Inspired by Charles Grandison Finney, Weld preached against slavery and even wrote a pamphlet, American Slavery As It Is.

Radical Abolitionism

• On January 1st, 1831, William Lloyd Garrison published the first edition of The Liberator triggering a 30-year war of words and in a sense firing one of the first shots of the Civil War.

• Other dedicated abolitionists rallied around Garrison, such as Wendell Phillips, a Boston patrician known as “abolition’s golden trumpet” who refused to eat cane sugar or wear cotton cloth, since both were made by slaves.

Radical Abolitionism

• David Walker, a Black abolitionist, wrote Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World in 1829 and advocated a bloody end to white supremacy.

• Sojourner Truth, a freed Black woman who fought for black emancipation and women’s rights, and Martin Delaney, one of the few people who seriously reconsidered Black relocation to Africa, also fought for Black rights.

Radical Abolitionism• The greatest Black abolitionist was an escaped

black, Frederick Douglass, who was a great speaker and fought for the Black cause despite being beaten and harassed.

• His autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, depicted his remarkable struggle and his origins, as well as (duh) his life.

• While Garrison seemed more concerned with his own righteousness, Douglass increasingly looked to politics to solve the slavery problem.

• He and others backed the Liberty Party in 1840, the Free Soil Party in 1848, and the Republican Party in the 1850s.

• In the end, many abolitionists supported war as the price for emancipation.

Cause #3: The Missouri Compromise

The Missouri Compromise was passed in 1820 by United States Congress, involving primarily the regulation of slavery in the western territories. It prohibited slavery (in the former Louisiana Territory) within the boundaries of the proposed state of Missouri. P.S. This (in the

blue) is the proposed state of Missouri.

Cause #4 Nullification NotesNullify means: to cancel, to end.

Example: The students fought to nullify fire drills in cold weather.

Nullification Crisis Main Points:

--Conflict between John Calhoun and Andrew Jackson

over a high tax on imports (foreign goods) passed in 1828 that increased since 1816

--also an conflict between states’ rights vs. national government

--Tariff of 1828—known as Tariff of Abominations

Who was Calhoun?He was Jackson’s VPWhy did Calhoun call the tariff the Tariff of

Abomination? As man of South Carolina, Calhoun

thought the tariff was punishing the South. It punished the South who looked to get manufactured goods at a cheap price from foreign countries such as England.

Believed that states did not have to follow the Federal laws that violated their states’ rights or way of life

Civil War? US v So Carolina?TEMPORARY FIX: Tariff of 1832-- Lowered

rates to the level of the 1824 tariff

South Carolina STILL not satisfied → nullification of tariff approved by South Carolina convention!

President Jackson→ president must enforce laws!

JACKSON’ REACTION –He signs the Force Bill--stated either southern states follow the tariff or he would send troops

Henry Clay to the RescueIntroduces a compromise tariff –

lowers rates gradually over a period of 10 years

So…is the crisis over?So Carolina accepted the

compromise tariff, but nullified the Force Bill

Nothing has been solved. South Carolina STILL believes in the

right to nullify an act of Congress! This is a problem…

Cause #5Sectionalism

SectionalismNORTH SOUTH

Primarily industrial in nature. Business and industry played major roles. Life was faster and commerce important. Slavery wasn’t important to them.

Primarily agricultural. The southern economy was primarily based upon the existence of large family farms known as plantations. The plantation economy relied on cheap labor in the form of slaves to produce tobacco and then cotton. Dependent on slaves for production/economy strength.

Reasons for Sectionalism:1. Slavery

2. Taxes/Tariffs3. States rights Vs. Federal

GovernmentSectionalism in brief

States Rights…States’ Rights refers to the struggle between the federal government and individual states over political power. In the Civil War era, this struggle focused heavily on the institution of slavery and whether the federal government had the right to regulate or even abolish slavery within an individual state. The sides of this debate were largely drawn between northern and southern states, thus widened the growing divide within the nation.

The North wanted power to be with the Federal Government

The South wanted power to be with the States

Cause #6: The Compromise of 1850

The Compromise of 1850 was a package of five separate bills passed by the United States Congress in September 1850, which defused a four-year political confrontation between slave and free states (AKA. North versus South)  regarding the status of territories gained during the Mexican-American war (1846–1848).

The Five Separate Bills:1. The U.S. gained New Mexico, Nevada,

Arizona, Utah2. California would become a slave free

state3. The Fugitive Slave Act: Slaves who run

away must go back to their masters4. In Washington DC, slavery is O.K. but

slave trading is not5. Texas gave up New Mexico (because it

was holding it hostage) and was paid $10 million dollars

Cause #7Kansas-Nebraska Act

The Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) created two new territories

• The act left it up to settlers to decide whether to become slave states or free states

• This is called “Popular Sovereignty”

Bleeding Kansas• Northern and Southern

settlers both flooded into Kansas• Supporters of slavery

invaded an abolitionist town, burned a hotel, looted home and destroyed newspaper presses

• Anti-slavery forces retaliated. Led by John Brown, they invaded a pro-slavery town, dragged five men from their homes killed them

Cause #8Dred Scott

Dred Scott Decision

The U.S. Supreme Court had to decide…

Was he a Person or Property?

Dred Scott, a slave from Missouri, went to court and sued for his freedom on the grounds that when his master took him to free territories he was no longer a slave.

Hint: 4 Northern judges, 5 Southern judges

Chief Justice Roger Taney

• Slaves were not citizens, so they could not sue in court

• Slaves were property, so Congress did not have the power to ban slavery in any territory

• Therefore, the Missouri Compromise was “unconstitutional”

• Dred Scott remained a slave

Cause #9Raid on Harpers Ferry

Raid at Harpers Ferry

• John Brown, an abolitionist, was tired of waiting for Congress to act.

• In 1859, he and his followers seized the federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.

• They planned to march their army through South to forcibly free slaves.

Many Northerners viewed Brown as a hero.

Southerners thought Brown was a lunatic and became increasingly fearful of northern abolitionism.

John Brown “I John Brown am now quite certain

that the crimes (slavery) of this guilty land will never be purged away but with

blood.”How do you think the South felt

about these words?

Cause #10Election of 1860

Presidential Election of 1860• The slavery question

overshadowed all others in the presidential election year of 1860.

• The South threatened that it would secede if Lincoln was elected.

• Secede = break away

Lincoln Wins the Presidency

• Lincoln won only 40% of the popular vote… • But remember the Electoral College?

http://www.270towin.com/

Cause #11The South Secedes

The South Secedes• One by one, Southern

states seceded from the Union after Lincoln’s election

• Lincoln and many northerners refused to accept the right of the south to secede.

New nation: Confederate States of America