Road to Secession

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Road to Secession
Background to the Conflict Pre-Civil War Days
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The Slave Economy King Cotton

• Many people began to turn against slavery
• Cost of owning slaves was too high for most
• Most slaves worked on large plantations.
• Very few white Southerners could afford to own
  slaves.
• Cotton was hard to prepare for market
• The little seeds had to be separated from the
  cotton.
• This was very hard to do and took a LOT of TIME
• Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin
• Made cleaning cotton easier
• Farmers grew more cotton and made more money
• Needed more slaves to work the cotton

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North and South Disagree

• States Rights
• South didnt like depending on the Norths
  manufactured goods
• Thought the North was getting RICH off of them
• Settlers from the South who moved west took their
  slaves
• Settlers from the North didnt own slaves and
  thought slavery was wrong.
• WHO would WIN???
• Would there be slavery in the new territories or
  NOT???

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The Missouri Compromise

• Missouri asked to join the U.S. as slave state
• This would make more slave states than free.
• Compromise was that Missouri would join as a
  slave state AND Maine would join as a free state.
• Imaginary line would be drawn through the rest of
  the Louisiana territory
• Kept the peace for nearly 30 years
• Six new states joined the Union 3 slave and 3
  free.still equal in number

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Solutions to the Problem

• North of the line Free States
• South of the line Slave states

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Violent Resistance

• Violent resistance to slavery
• Nat Turners Revolt
• Led an attack on homes with other trusted slave
  friends they freed slaves and killed the white
  people
• August 1831
• 57 people killed
• He and others were caught,
• tried in court, and hanged

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The Underground Railroad

• The Underground Railroad was an informal network
  of secret routes and safe houses used by slaves
  to escape to free states in the US and to Canada
  with the aid of abolitionists
• Harriet Tubman is the most famous conductor of
  the Underground Railroad.

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Fugitive Slave Laws

• Fugitive Slave Laws make escaping even harder.
• A new law that said
• Anyone caught helping slaves escape would be
  punished.
• If you found a runaway slave, you had to return
  them to their owner.

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The Compromise of 1850

• Free and Slave states were equal until. then
  came California!
• Decision California Free
• New Mexico and Utah territories people would
  decide

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HarrietBeecherStowe(1811 1896)
Uncle Toms Cabin 1852
So this is the lady who started the Civil War.
-- Abraham Lincoln
Sold 300,000 copies inthe first year. 2 million
in a decade!
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Kansas-Nebraska Act 1854

• Gave people living there the choice by voting
• Hundreds moved in to vote on whether to be a
  free or slave state.
• Tempers FLARED and over 200 people were killed in
  the dispute
• Nicknamed Bleeding Kansas

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Dred Scott v. Sanford, 1857
Supreme Court ruled that once a slave, living
in a free state, didnt change that. Said Scott
had none of the rights and privileges of
American citizens Also said Congress had no
right to outlaw slavery because the Constitution
protects peoples right to own PROPERTY and
slaves were PROPERTY!!!
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John Browns Raidon Harpers Ferry, 1859
John Browns rebellion at Harpers Ferry,
Virginia A white abolitionist Stole guns from
Harpers Ferry warehouse to give to
slaves Caught by Robert E. Lee, tried, and
hanged
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Presidential Election of 1860The Candidates
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Stephen A. Douglas
John Breckinridge

• Southern Democrat is popular
• with southerners
• Government should allow slavery everywhere in the
  West.

• West should decide for themselves about slavery.
• Northern Democrat

Slavery Everywhere
States' Choice
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Abraham Lincoln
John Bell

• Constitutional Union Party
• Advocated compromise to save the Union, with the
  slogan "the Union as it is, and the Constitution
  as it is.

• Republican candidate
• Against the SPREAD of slavery

No Slavery beyond this point!
Compromise Save the Union
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1860 Election A Nation Coming Apart?!
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Worried White Southerners

• Many in the South were afraid if Lincoln were
  elected, slavery would be outlawed.
• Some even said they would LEAVE the Union if
  Lincoln was elected.

Lincoln In...We're OUT
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Election Results Lincoln WINS

• November 6, 1860
• December 20, 1860 South Carolinas leaders
  seceded from the Union.
• Later SIX other southern states secede and form
  the Confederate States of America.

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The Confederate States of America
Jefferson Davis, President CSA

• South Carolina
• Mississippi
• Florida
• Louisiana
• Alabama
• Georgia
• Texas

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What to Do about the CSA?

• Some advised Lincoln to Let the states go
• Others said, Give in on the slavery question.
• Still others said, Use the ARMY to end their
  revolt!

• He wanted to prevent war.
• We are not enemies, but friends.
• THE VERY NEXT DAY an important message came
• from Major Robert Anderson commander at Fort
  
• Sumter.

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Urgent!
What should Lincoln do???

• The message from Commander Anderson to President
  Lincoln was

If I send suppliesSoutherners might attack. If I
send troops.Southerners WILL attack. If I do
nothingthe commander will have to surrender.
Supplies at the Fort are almost gone. If new
supplies are not sent soon, we will be forced to
surrender the fort to the Confederacy.
Lincolns Decision
Lincoln decided to send supply ships and see what
the Southerners would do.
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Confederate President Davis

• Davis decided to take over the fort BEFORE the
  supply ships arrived.
• He demanded them to surrender.
• Their response NEVER!
• The Confederate troops FIRED on the fort, Major
  Anderson and his men ran out of ammunition and
  had to give up.

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Fort Sumter April 12, 1861
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The Civil War has Begun!

• Lincoln called for Americans to join the army to
  stop the rebellion.
• Frightened southern states not in the Confederacy
  now joined with the other 7 states.
• Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina
  
• Now the CSA is 11
• States Strong