Beginning of the Civil War

Mr. May’s U.S. History Class7/17/2012

Causes of the Civil War• Regional Differences

– North – Mechanized Farming, Industrial Economy (factories, railroads, canals, telegraph lines, etc.

– South – Agrarian (farming), cottage industry, & slave labor

• Slavery– Slavery was abolished in the

North during the early 1800s– Southern economy ran on slave

labor– Slaves accounted for almost

40% of the South’s population.

Causes of the Civil War (cont.)• “Bleeding Kansas”

– Result of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 – established popular sovereignty

– Fight over whether Kansas should be slave or free

– Abolitionists victorious– Brooks beats Sumner

• Dred Scott Decision (1856)• Raid on Harper’s Ferry (1859)

– Raid led by abolitionist John Brown– Goal: lead an armed uprising of the

South’s slaves– Robert E. Lee captures Brown– Brown executed, leads to a media

circus over slavery

Harper’s Ferry

The Election of 1860

• Candidates: Abraham Lincoln (Republican), Stephen A. Douglas (Democrat), John C. Breckinridge (Southern Democrat), & John Bell (Constitutional Union)

• Lincoln wins the election with only 40% of the popular vote (popular in the North)

• South angered with Lincoln’s election

Election of 1860 Map

Secession• 1860 election leads to the

“Secession Winter”• 12/20/60 – South Carolina

becomes first state to secede

• Followed by MS, FL, & AL. Then GA, LA, & TX

• 2/4/61 – Confederate States of America formed

• VA, AK, TN, & NC join after the firing on Fort Sumter

Fort Sumter• Confederate States seize

Union armories in the South• Maj. Robert Anderson takes

control of Fort Sumter for the Union

• P. G. T. Beauregard orders bombardment of the fort on 4/12/61

• Anderson surrenders a day later

• Marked the beginning of the Civil War

1st Bull Run

• First major battle of the war

• Union Forces led by Irvin McDowell; Confederates led by Joseph E. Johnston & P. G. T. Beauregard

• Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson turns the tide of battle

• Union forces broken, run back to Washington

What’s Next

• Union defeat ends the hope for a quick ending to the war

• Both sides build up their forces, the Union reorganizes

• 1862 – escalation– War in the West– The Peninsula, Antietam, & Fredericksburg– Emancipation