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Causes of the Civil War
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Slavery
Slavery was what caused the Civil War. It went on for many years, and black people were treated like property instead of the people that they are. If a slave refused to follow their master’s commands they would be punished severely. When Harriet Tubman was a slave, her master fractured her skull with a metal weight causing her to suffer blackouts for the rest of her life. -
Nat Turner Rebellion
Nat Turner and seventy other slaves killed nearly sixty white people including their owner’s family. This made the south angry. Also, a new colony for freed slaves to live was rejected. This made the north angry. -
Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
As a part of the Missouri Compromise, Henry Clay passed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. This law made it illegal to help fugitive slaves escape. This made the north made, so they purposely put extra effort into turning their house into a safe house as a station on the Underground Railroad. Although abolitionists didn’t always get away with the fact they were helping slaves, they didn’t get punished as severely as the slaves who were caught trying to run away. -
Kansas - Nebraska Act
Congress passed an act in 1854 that was created by Stephen A. Douglas. This act allowed the new states, Kansas and Nebraska, to take a vote to decide whether or not slavery would be allowed in their states. Some argued that this act conflicted with the Missouri Compromise. This was the main cause of Bleeding Kansas, a violent battle. -
Dred Scott Decision
The Dred Scott Decision stated that no black person, slave or free, could become a citizen of the United States. It also stated that slavery couldn’t be banned by Congress. This case was so important that the Supreme Court was involved. Scott’s case has now become a famous one in history. -
Election of 1860
Even though Abraham Lincoln wasn’t on the ballot in the southern states, he was still elected president. Before he was officially sworn into office, the south formed a country separate from the Union because they were afraid that Lincoln would eliminate slavery. Although Lincoln led the US, Jefferson Davis (President of the Confederate States, the new country) led the south. Lincoln had a tough job of bringing the north and the south back together. -
Secession
After Abraham Lincoln was elected president (but before he took control of the Union), the southern states issued a declaration allowing them to form their own country. The first state to settle in the Confederate States was South Carolina, but it was soon joined by ten other states. They elected their own president (Jefferson Davis) and were soon involved in the Civil War. Imagine what would have happened if the south had won the Civil War!
