The road to the CIVIL WAR

Words you gotta know to understand why the Civil War happened

• 1. abolitionist• 2. “Underground

Railroad”• 3. Uncle Tom’s Cabin• 4. Fugitive Slave Act• 5. popular

sovereignty

• 6. “Bleeding Kansas”• 7. John Brown• 8. Preston Brook’s

cane• 9. Dred Scott decision• 10. secede/ secession

Differences between the

North and the SouthNorth • Nicknames: Union, North

Blue, Yankees• Lots of factories• Lots of railroads and track• Large cities• Larger population• Telegraph wires• Lots of immigrants• UNION

South • Nicknames: South,

Confederates, rebels, secess • Large farming areas

(plantations)• Not many factories• Smaller cities• Not many railroad tracks• Over a million slaves• CONFEDERACY

The Civil War boils down to the tension between the northern and southern states on two basic issues:

• #1. Slavery - is the Federal government going to pass laws that eventual end slavery? If so, let’s get out of here

• #2. States rights – can the Federal government continue to pass laws that states in the South do not want to follow

• If so, the Southern states think it best to quit the United States

• IN SUM – We in the South are NOT going to live in a country where the Northern States make rules that we don’t like

#1

Abolitionists• People who wanted to

“abolish” or get rid of slavery

• Abolitionists did things like write about the evils of slavery

• Persuaded politicians to vote against slavery

• Help black people escape to the North and Freedom

The Underground Railroad• A secret network of

abolitionists that had “safe houses” to hide the runaway slaves on their journey to the north (Canada)

• One of the most • famous “conductors” was

Harriet Tubman• It is estimated that

anywhere from 30,000 to 100,000 slaves escaped using the “railroad”

Levi Coffin

• was an American Quaker, abolitionist, and businessman. Coffin was deeply involved in the Underground Railroad in Indiana and Ohio and his home is often called "Grand Central Station of the Underground Railroad".

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

• Controversial book written by Harriet Beecher Stowe

• Was the story of Uncle Tom and how bad slavery was

• Millions read it and were sad about the realities of slavery

• People in the South hated the book

Popular Sovereignty

• the concept of letting the people who live in a territory decide (have a vote)

• whether they want or do not want slavery in that state

Bloody Kansas

• When people learned that there was going to be a vote of popular sovereignty in Kansas

• Men from the North and South poured into Kansas to vote

• A mini war broke out between the two groups and hundreds were killed

• One of the most famous abolitionists in Kansas was John Brown. John Brown believed that God had called on him to rid the country of slavery by force. In all over 200 people would die in the violence.

• Over the next few years the free North and slave South continued to argue about slavery. On October 16, 1859 John Brown and his followers captured a federal arsenal hoping that this would cause a slave uprising.

• The slaves did not come to Brown and he and his men would be captured and Brown hanged. His last words were: “I John Brown am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away, but with Blood.”

• In the Compromise of 1850, California was admitted as a free state and the southern states got passage of the Fugitive Slave Act which allow southern slave catchers to go into the northern states to get their slaves back

#2

Preston Brooks

Charles Sumner

The Dred Scott decision• Remember, The Missouri

Compromise said that NO SLAVERY was allowed north of the 36th parallel

• Dred Scott, a slave, lived in Missouri but was taken to Illinois, A FREE state, (north of the line) where he lived for 4 years

• Scott sued for his freedom because he lived in a free state for a number of years

• The Supreme Court ruled against Dred Scott saying:

• The Missouri Compromise was wrong

• Slaves are owned as property and can be taken anywhere you want

• In the election of 1860, anti-slavery politician Abraham Lincoln of Illinois was elected president without a single electoral vote from a southern state.

• • Message to the SOUTH:

it doesn’t matter what you vote for

• We have the votes to outnumber you

The Southern States secede• On February 4, 1861 representatives from 7 Southern states

met and formed their own country, the Confederate States of America. They chose Jefferson Davis as president and wrote a constitution that protected the institution of slavery and the

sovereignty of the states.

• President Lincoln tried to convince the states in the South who had not joined the Confederacy to remain loyal to the Union. The South also tried to convince these states to join the Confederacy.