American History

1
American History

• Unit 7
• Prologue to the American Civil War

2
The Civil War An Introduction

• During the 1800s, Northerners and Southerners
  found that they disagreed about a lot of things.
• The two parts of our country seemed more like to
  different countries.

3
Slavery was a big problem!

• Northerners wanted to stop the spread of slavery.
• Southerners wanted new states to allow
  slave-holding.
• But it wasnt the only problem foreign trade and
  taxes also caused hard feelings between the two
  sections of the country.

4

• Rarely in human history has war really settled a
  problem. The Civil War made as many problems as
  it settled. It divided the nation so completely
  that some problems left over from the Civil War
  are still around today.
• - E Richard Linda R. Churchill

5
Slavery

• By the early 1700s, slavery had caught on in a
  huge way throughout the Southern colonies.
• In places like South Carolina, slavery became
  essential to the economy, and slaves soon
  outnumbered whites in that colony.

6
Slavery

• The Declaration of Independence declared no slave
  free.
• The constitution skirted the issue, except for
  the purposes of
• Determining representation in Congress (the 3/5s
  Compromise)
• And specifying that the slave trade (importation
  of slaves) was to end in 20 years.

7
Slavery

• From the beginning, a significant amount of
  Americans were opposed to slavery!
• They issued a statement against the institution
  as early as 1724.

8
The Underground Railroad

• As the generation of the late eighteenth century
  had been fascinated by inventions like the cotton
  gin, so, by the third decade of the nineteenth
  century, Americans were enthralled by another
  invention railroads.
• The railroads seemed nothing less than a miracle
  technology, and maybe because of abolitionists
  (those who wanted to abolish or get rid of
  slavery) were in search of a moral miracle to end
  slavery.

9
The Underground Railroad

• Maybe this is why they called the loosely
  organized, highly stealthy network developed in
  the 1830s to help fugitive slaves escape to the
  North or Canada the Underground Railroad.

10
Harriet Tubman

• The most famous conductor of the Underground
  Railroad was Harriet Tubman
• She was a courageous, self-taught, charismatic
  escaped slave, single-minded in her dedication to
  freeing others.

11
Abraham Lincolns Rise to Power

• Born on February 12, 1809, in a log cabin in
  Hardin County, Kentucky.
• Served as militiaman in the Black Hawk War of
  1832.
• Although he had little appetite for military
  life, he took much satisfaction in having been
  elected captain of his militia company.

12
Lincoln becomes the 16th President of the United
States
13

• During the election, he had spoken out strongly
  against the spread of slavery and hoped that one
  day it would end.
• Lincoln hoped to prevent a war.
• We are not enemies, but friends, Lincoln told
  Southerners after taking the oath of office.
• We must not be enemies.
• But time was running out.

14
Secession!

• Lincolns election to the Presidency pushed the
  South to secession.
• They considered Lincoln to be a black
  Republican.
• The first to leave the Union was South Carolina
  on December 20, 1860 Mississippi followed next
  on January 9th, 1861, Florida on January 10th,
  Alabama on January 11th, Georgia on Jan. 19th,
  Louisiana on Jan. 26th, and Texas on February 1st.

15
Jefferson Davis

• Together these seven states formed a new country.
  
• They called the new country
• the Confederate States of
• America.
• They elected Jefferson Davis
• as President.
• Four days after declaring
• succession, delegates from
• these states met in Montgomery,
• Alabama, where they wrote their
• own constitution for the
• Confederate States of America.

16
James Buchanan

• Before Lincoln was officially
• inaugurated, James Buchanan
• declared his powerlessness as
• the Union crumbled around him.
• Either he really didnt have a clue what to do,
  or he simply just wanted to leave the problem to
  incoming president.

17
Fugitive Slave Act?

• Lincoln believed that the Fugitive Slave Act
  should be enforced.
• Yet by remaining silent on these issues during
  the period between his election and his
  inauguration, he conveyed the impression that he
  fully shared the Radical Republican opposition to
  any kind of compromise on the subject of slavery.