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Causes of the Civil War
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Slavery
Southerners depended on slavery for free labor. The slaves weren’t given any rites and were treated as property and animals. They would be hurt and killed over the tiniest mistakes. Northerners were against slavery and tried to stop the southerners from having slaves but the South soon became uncontrollable with slavery. Something had to be done. -
Fugitive Slave Act
The Fugitive Slave Act was a law created by Henry Clay saying that if you were caught helping a slave runaway or hide then you would be punished. This law was just another thing added to the chain reaction of the Union splitting up. -
Compromise of 1850
Henry Clay made a proposal to let California enter the Union as a slave free state and the Nation’s capital would be a slave free area, In return for the South, Utah and Mexico would be able to cote whether they want slaves or not in there state. Also they created the Fugitive Slave Act to please the South. People were accusing others of trying to sop or spread slaver everywhere in the Union. Lincoln spoke up and said we couldn’t go in as half free and half slave. We had to make a decision. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Kansas and Nebraska wanted to join the Union and because of the Compromise of 1850 they got to vote whether they wanted slaves or not. At voting time people from the states raced over to Kansas and Nebraska to vote on their choice. Eventually people started killing each other over slavery for the first time. It showed that deals and compromising is done and they need to do something that will help. -
Dred Scott Decision
Since Dred Scott was a slave in the Northern states he sued because he knew it was illegal to have a slave in slave free states. Even though there wasn’t any slavery in the North seven out of nine Supreme Court said he wasn’t counted as a citizen, therefore he didn’t have rites. Mr. Dred Scott was angry and it “flamed the fires of war.” Which means it just added more reasons to have war. -
Election of 1860
All of the Northern states voted for the only anti-slavery candidate, Abraham Lincoln but the Southern votes got split up between John Bell and John C. Breckinridge. Mr. Abe Lincoln won the election and became president. This event made the southerners feel threatened that slavery would end which would eventually lead to secession. -
Secession
Secession started because of the many fights over slavery and Lincoln becoming president the Southern states felt like the North was going to overpower them and end slavery. To prevent giving up slavery they pulled themselves out of the Union and called themselves the Confederacy States. They even elected their own president so they wouldn’t listen to the North. The only solution was war.
