Revised PPT for 1820 to 1860

1. Events Preceding the Civil
War (1820-1861)

2. Events Preceding the Civil War
• Westward Expansion
(Manifest Destiny)
• New Territories and
States
• Missouri
Compromise, The
Compromise of
1850, and KansasNebraska Act
• Wilmot Proviso
•
•
•
•
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
John Brown’s Raid
Scott v. Sandford
Differences between
North and South
• Election of 1860
• Secession of Southern
states

3. Manifest
Destiny
Daniel Boone is showing the
way Westward. Notice the
stance of the young man next
to him. How would you
describe the feeling he shows?
• Manifest Destiny was the idea
that America was destined to
become ―the great nation of
futurity.‖ Of course, that meant
the nation would expand
Westward. Furthermore, it
promoted an idea of American
racial and cultural superiority.
It also opened new
discussions about the spread
of slavery.
http://www.ushistory.org/us/29.
asp
• https://www.mtholyoke.edu/ac
ad/intrel/osulliva.htm

4. John Gast, American Progress, 1872
Although this painting was created after the war, it sums up the ideas
that Americans had had even before the war about going West.
Americans believed the country should span from sea to sea.
Although it looks like it would have been a huge mural, this painting
was only about 12 ¾ ― X 16 ¾ ― in size!
http://picturinghistory.gc.cuny.edu/item.php?item_id=180

5. The Invitation
• In 1821 Mexico won its
independence from Spain. • Steve Austin
Mexico issued an invitation:
– First to bring settlers
– Agree to settle in newly
– Brought slaves
independent Mexico
– Did not pay taxes
– Do not bring slaves
– Settled close to the
– Become Catholic or at
United States border
least pay taxes to the
Catholic Church
• If a settler agreed to these
rules, Mexico would sell them
land for cheap. Most got the
land, but didn’t comply with
all the rules.

6. •
Santa Anna– Dictator of Mexico
– Took an army to this Texas
area to solve the issue
• The Alamo– An old mission at San Antonio
– Travis, Bowie, and Crockett
led a rebellion and sacrificed
themselves to protect Texas
from Santa Anna’s army.
• Sam Houston led a militia formed
for Texas. ―Remember the
Alamo!‖
– Houston and Santa Anna’s
armies fought.
– Houston won.
– Santa Anna was forced to leave
Texas.
The Alamo
Texas became it’s own
country, the Republic of
Texas, for about a
decade, before finally
becoming a state in the
United States.

7. The Mexican War
• The Land
– Only thing standing in the way of Manifest Destiny
• The United States offered to buy the land for $30 million
• The War
– 3 main military companies
– Took California, New Mexico, and Nevada
– A militia run by Winfield Scott went directly to Mexico
City
• Most Civil War officers gained their first experience from
this war
– Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant,
and George Picket

8. • The New Offer
– Mexico was then offered $15 million.
– Take it or leave it
• ―The Spot Speech.‖
– Lincoln made a name for himself by asking where
was the exact spot that the Mexican War began.
• United States claimed that the Mexican border was
at the Rio Grande. However, Mexico stated that it
was at the Nueces River.
• Mexico claimed that the United States had invaded
their territory, which is why they fought back .
– He gained the nickname ―Spotty Lincoln.‖

9. New Territories
• California and Texas became new
territories.
• Debate heated up over whether or not
new states would allow slavery.*
• Missouri Compromise(1820)- Proposed
by Henry Clay; kept the number of free
states and slave states equal. Missouri
would be a slave state, and Maine would
be a free state.
 Slavery had already been abolished in the British Empire.

10. New Territories
• An imaginary line was drawn across the
southern border of Missouri at latitude 36 30
N., but it only applied to the Louisiana
Purchase.

11. New Territories
• Wilmot ProvisoProposed by David
Wilmot to ban slavery
in the West.
• The House passed it
in 1846, but shortly
afterwards the Senate
defeated it.

13. Tempers Flair
• California applied for admission to the Union in 1850 to be a
free state.
• The issue was so heated that Senator Henry Foote of
Mississippi pulled a gun on Senator Thomas Hart Benton of
Missouri.

14. Admission of California as a
State
• In 1849, the number of free states equaled
the number of slave states at 15/15.
• California being a free state would upset
the balance between free and slave states
set by the Missouri Compromise.

15. Clay vs. Calhoun
Henry Clay
• ―the Great Compromiser‖
• Wanted an agreement
between the North and
South
• Feared that the nation
would break apart
• His plan: ―The
Compromise of 1850‖
John Calhoun
• Senator of South Carolina
• Refused a compromise
• Demanded that fugitive or
runaway slaves be
returned to their owners
• Last reported words
1850: ―The Poor South!
God knows what will
become of her now!‖

16. Compromise of 1850
• Composed of FIVE parts:
1. Allowed California to enter Union as free
state
2. Formed territories of New Mexico and
Utah, and decision of slavery based on
popular sovereignty
3. Ended slave trade in Washington, D.C.
4. Created a strict slave law
5. Settled a border dispute between Texas
and New Mexico

18. Fugitive Slave Act Modified
• All citizens required to report runaway
slaves
• Helping fugitive slaves would result in a
$1000 fine and jail
• Judges given rewards for sending
runaway slaves back to South
• Antislavery advocates in North outraged
• Forced even non-slaveholders to be a part
of the slavery system

19. Author: Harriet
Beecher Stowe
• Antislavery Bestseller
• Published in 1852
• Showed the evils of
slavery and Fugitive
Slave Act
• Popular in North and
hated in the South
• Southern complaint: did
not give a true picture of
slave life
• Made more northerners
see slavery as immoral

20. Tensions build in Kansas
• Proslavery and
antislavery settlers
moved into the
Kansas territory.
• Many farmers from
neighboring states
moved to the territory
in hopes of gaining
cheap land.

21. Kansas-Nebraska Act
• Proposed by Stephen
Douglas.
• Established territories
of Kansas and
Nebraska.
• Gave settlers popular
sovereignty to decide
on slavery issue.

22. Abraham Lincoln
• After hearing about the events that took
place in Kansas, Abraham Lincoln
predicted that bloodshed would occur.
• At this time, he was a young lawyer from
Illinois.

24. Northern Outrage
• Many northerners were unhappy
with the Kansas-Nebraska Act
because it repealed the Missouri
Compromise.

25. Two Governments in Kansas
• Proslavery:
• Antislavery:
• Elections in 1855,
• Refused to abide by
established a
laws of the proslavery
proslavery legislature.
government.
• New laws were
• Established their own
passed that made
governor and
helping slaves escape
legislature.
punishable by death

26. Bleeding Kansas
• Proslavery raid on the town of Lawrence.(Antislavery
stronghold)
• John Brown, an abolitionist, struck back by
murdering five proslavery settlers. (Pottawatomie
Creek Massacre)
• These events led to even more violence, and by
1856, more than 200 people had been killed.

27. Violence in the
Senate…Again!
*In his "Crime Against Kansas" speech, Sumner identified two Democratic senators
as the principal culprits in this crime—Stephen Douglas of Illinois and Andrew Butler
of South Carolina. He characterized Douglas to his face as a "noisesome, squat, and nameless animal . . . not a proper model for an American
senator." Andrew Butler, who was not present, received more elaborate treatment.
Mocking the South Carolina senator's stance as a man of chivalry, the
Massachusetts senator charged him with taking "a mistress . . . who, though ugly to
others, is always lovely to him; though polluted in the sight of the world, is chaste in
his sight—I mean," added Sumner, "the harlot, Slavery."
Senator Charles Sumner of
Massachusetts criticized Andrew
Butler of South Carolina for
Butler’s proslavery views.
• Butler’s nephew, Congressman Preston
Brooks, responded a few days later by
marching into the Senate chamber and
beating Sumner with a cane. *
http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/The_
Caning_of_Senator_Charles_Sumner.htm

29. Dred Scott
• Scott was a slave from
Missouri who had lived in
Wisconsin and Illinois.
(two free states)
• After Scott returned to
Missouri, his owner died.
Scott sued for his freedom.
• This led to the Supreme
Court case known as Dred
Scott v. Sandford.
What unusual thing do you notice about his
signature? What do you know about the culture of
the time period that might cause this?

30. Dred Scott
• Scott’s lawyers argued that he
had lived in a free territory, so
he was a free man.
• Court ruled that Scott could
not file a lawsuit because he
was not a citizen.
• Court decision stated that
slaves were considered to be
property.
• The Supreme Court also ruled
that Congress could not outlaw
slavery, which made the
Missouri Compromise
unconstitutional.

31. The Republican Party
• Formed to give a voice against slavery.
• Supporters of the new party fed up with
Whigs and Democrats.
• Main goal was to keep slavery out of
western territories.
Republicans did not
yet have the
elephant symbol

32. Lincoln v. Douglas for Senate in
1858
Lincoln’s views
• Slavery was morally
wrong.
• Wanted to prevent the
spread of slavery.
• Douglas won the election
by a slim margin.
Douglas’s views
• Western territories should
decide slavery issue by
popular sovereignty.
• Personally disliked
slavery.

33. John Brown’s Raid
• John Brown who led
another raid, this time on
a Federal arsenal at
Harper’s Ferry, Virginia,
hoping to start a slave
insurrection.
• Although Brown took
control of the arsenal, the
rest of the plan fell apart.
U.S. Marine Col. Robert
E. Lee led the group that
captured Brown. Brown
was later hanged.

34. Presidential Election of 1860
• Democratic party split in two:
• Southern democrats -supported slavery in
the territories. Represented by John
Breckinridge.
• Northern democrats- refused to support
slavery in the territories. Represented by
Stephen Douglas.

35. Election of 1860
• Constitutional Union party- established to
try and heal the split between the North
and South. Represented by John Bell of
Tennessee.
• Republican party- Represented by
Abraham Lincoln.
• Abraham Lincoln won the northern states,
which sealed the election.

38. Southern Reaction
• Abraham Lincoln’s election left the South
feeling like they had no representation in
the federal government.
• As a result, South Carolina seceded on
December 20, 1860 and Alabama, Florida,
Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and
Texas followed by 1861.
http://sunsite.utk.edu/civilwar/reasons.html
Secession documents

39. The Confederacy
• Southerners felt they could secede because Declaration
of Independence said people could abolish government.
• Confederate States of America was formed, and
Jefferson Davis of Mississippi was the President.

40. The Civil War Begins
• Lincoln stated that
there would be no war
unless South started
it.
• Confederate forces
began taking over
forts in the South.

41. • Located in South Carolina
• Important to the Confederacy, because it
guarded Charleston Harbor
• Confederate forces demanded the fort to
surrender, but the commander refused.
• Confederate forces fired on the fort until it
surrendered.
• This event marked the start of the Civil War.
Fort
Sumter