37A
37a - rank and analyze the importance of key issues and events that led to the Civil War including slavery, states rights, nullification, Missouri Compromise, Compromise of 1850, Georgia Platform, Kansas-Nebraska Act, Dred Scott case, and election of 1860
Slavery
Ever since the invention of the Cotton Gin, Slavery had increased tenfold. The Southern society in 1850 had twice as many whites as there were slaves. Most of the whites however, did not own slaves. Sometimes, slaves could be rented from their owners to help other people with the harvest or for planting. Less than 25% of all Southern families actually owned slaves, with a majority of those owning slaves being less than 4%. South Carolina was the only Southern state to have more slaves than it had had whites. Also, Slavery was the South's peculiar institution. |
States' Rights
The House of Representatives already had sided with the North because of population, but the South wanted an equal number of states in the Senate to keep the House of Representatives from becoming too powerful. The South believed in Sectionalism or Regionalism, which meant that the necessities of a region were more important than the benefits of the whole United States. Regionalism was also the idea that a state can declare a federal law invalid. |
Nullification
The North wanted to sell goods to the South but they had to deal with cheap European prices. To force the South to buy from the North, Congress would often tax European imports to make them too expensive. South Carolina, the most radical Southern state, passed the Ordinance of Nullification, which declared that the tariff of 1828, which put tariffs at an all time high, didn't apply to South Carolina. |
Missouri Compromise
In 1819, Missouri applied to be a slave state. Since this would upset the balance in the Senate, Kentucky senator Henry Clay created the Missouri Compromise. This stated that Maine would be created and would be admitted as a free state and also that slavery was prohibited North of the 36 degree 20' line (the Southern border of Missouri), otherwise known as the Mason-Dixon Line. Slavery was also prohibited in the land that was gained during the Louisiana Purchase. |
Compromise of 1850
California's constitution didn't allow slavery. Henry Clay again came up with a compromise. In this compromise, California became a free state, slave trading was ended in the District of Columbia, even though the original owners could still keep existing slaves, and Texas gave up its idea of annexing New Mexico, thus taking away territory from a slave state. New Mexico and Utah would decide their own position using popular sovereignty, and Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. This act said that slaves that escaped to free states would be returned back to their owners. |
Georgia Platform
Robert Toombs and Alexander Stephens passed the Georgia Platform which declared that support for the Compromise of 1850 would only be given if the Fugitive Slave Act was passed. |
Kansas-Nebraska Act
In 1854, Stephen Douglass of Illinois brought passage of the K-N Act. This created the Kansas and Nebraska territories, and which contained a clause on popular sovereignty, which meant that during statehood, people in the territory. This law change the Missouri Compromise. People from Nebraska flooded into Kansas to influence the voting, and pretty soon bloody riots broke out between pro-slavery people and free soilers people. The people who influenced the voting became known as border ruffians. Kansas's statehood was rejected by Congress. |
Dred Scott Case
Dred Scott, a slave was taken to Illinois to live there with his master. As a result, Scott filed a case to the Supreme Court stating that he was free since he was living in a free state. The Court ruled that slaves were property, not citizens, and couldn't file a court case and that there were no such things as free states. This became known as the Dred Scott vs. Sanford Case of 1857. Congress could not regulate private property, so all states were slave states. The North was outraged. They would never again compromise with the South. |
Election of 1860
Northern democrats nominated Stephen Douglas and Southern democrats nominated Vice President John Breckenridge. Whigs formed the Constitutional Union Party and nominated John Bell. The Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln. They wanted a transcontinental railroad and a protective tariff. Lincoln received 1.9 million votes (a minority), and was elected president. Almost all of his electoral votes were from the free states. He won without receiving a single electoral vote from Southern states. It was the first time that a candidate won with votes from only one section of the country.
Northern democrats nominated Stephen Douglas and Southern democrats nominated Vice President John Breckenridge. Whigs formed the Constitutional Union Party and nominated John Bell. The Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln. They wanted a transcontinental railroad and a protective tariff. Lincoln received 1.9 million votes (a minority), and was elected president. Almost all of his electoral votes were from the free states. He won without receiving a single electoral vote from Southern states. It was the first time that a candidate won with votes from only one section of the country.