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Causes of the Civil War
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Missouri Comprise
The Missouri compromise accepted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. The bottom border of Missouri marked the Mason-Dixon line, which divided the country into Free states in the north and slave states in the south. This compromise literally divided the country in two, and showed the difference of opinion of North and South, and the importance of having equal slave and free states so no section of the country was more powerful than the other one. -
Tariff of Abominations
The Tariff of Abominations, which was passed by Jackson raised the taxes to the products from the exterior. With the tariff, the North rejoiced, because more people would buy their products, but the south was furious because it damaged their trading relationship with other countries. This divided the country because the Federal government showed favoritism to the North, and because states like South Carolina started to "Poke the Bear" by nullifying the Tariff. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
On August 21, Nat Turner led a slave revolt in Virginia in which many white Virginians were killed. This ended in the execution of many African American's, including Nat Turner, who was caught two months afterward. This was a threat by the South to all slaves, and showed how the south stood and thought about slaves being free. -
The Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 was a series of bills passed by Henry Clay, and difused tensions between North and South regarding the terriories aquired during the Mexican war. The WIilmot Proviso banned slavery from territories except Texas. Utah and New Mexico were allowed to vote for slavery on popular sovereignity. The Compromise itself prolonged the war for some time, but the stronger slave fugitive laws angered the north. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin, which was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, raised awareness in the north of what was happening with slavery in the South, and started arousing deep disaprovsl of the situation. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act welcomed Kansas and Nebraska. This act welcomed Kansas and Nebraska as new states of the union. The Act repealed the Missouri compromise and put Kansas as a Slave state. This angered the north extremely, for it was seen as the victory of slave power. -
Bleeding Kansas
Following the outrage of the North at the Kansas-Nebraska act, pro-slavery settlers moved to Kansas, and pro-freedom "fighters" from the north. What followed was an escalation of conflict between North and South, in which Kansas was full of violence betweeen pro and anti slavery advocates. -
Birth of the Republican party
With the Kansas-Nebraska act that let settlers choose whether a state was free or slave, a new anti-slavery party was created. This party was against slavery and therefore against many, if not all of the policies from the south. -
Dred Scott v. Sanford
Dred Scott was a slave, who resided in Missouri first, then went to Ilinois, a state in which slavery wasn't legal. After returning to Missouri he sued for his freedom. This angered the South, and started arising the questions on whether a slave became free when he entered a free state -
The Lincoln Douglas debates
These debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas were for the two senate seats in Illinois. Even though Lincoln didn't win, the debates launched him into prominence. Lincoln's ideals were highly popular in the North, as he was of the Republican party, but not in the South. -
John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry
This day John Brown, an abolitionist, went out of his hideout in Harper's Ferry with a group of people. He and his group seized the arsenal of weapons, hoping the slaves would join the revolt, which was instead supressed by the Navy. The increasing revolts angered the South, and the North was constantly growing it's upport towards this kind of actions. -
Lincoln's Election
After being named candidate of the Republcans after the third vote, and the Democratic party divided in two, Lincoln won the 1860's elections. Lincoln was highly anti-slavery , which was a direct factor that a month after his inaguration, the Confederacy atacked Fort Sumter.
