Civil War Causes
By: Kylee Burns
Missouri Compromise (1820)
The Missouri Compromise was a line that separated the Free and Slave States Allowed Missouri to be a slave but banned slavery North from the Missouri Compromise line.
Wilmot Proviso (1846)
The Proviso was a thing that didn't have slavery the land that was with the Mexican War. Polk wanted to extend the Missouri Compromise line all the way to the Pacific Ocean. This showed that people still were moving over to the side. It also showed that slavery wasn't a great thing.
Compromise of 1850
With the Compromise of 1850, California was able to enter the Union as a free state. The rest of the Mexican was divided into two territories. Utah and New Mexico is where there were struggles upon whether or not to allow slavery. Slavery would be decided by popular sovereignty.
Fugitive Slave Act (1850)
The Fugitive Slave Law or Fugitive Slave Act was passed by the United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern slave-holding interests and Northern Free -Soilers. Required the return of runaway slaves.
Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)
Kansas-Nebraska Act was a bill that gave the rights to "popular sovereignty" settlers to decide if there should be slavery in the new state borders. Bro-slavery and Antislavery had a big disagreement and that led to the Bleeding Kansas.
Dred Scott Decision (1857)
Dred Scott was a slave and when his owner died he sued his owner's wife for not letting him be free. Dred Scott argued that be should be free because he lived in the North for so long. Missouri was on his sided but the court appealed the case. The court decided that free and non-free slaves weren't citizens of the United States, so they weren't allowed to sue someone. The court also said that the federal government didn't have the power to stop slavery in its territories. Dred Scott ended up staying a slave.
John Browns Raid on Harpers Ferry (1859)
John Brown tried to attack and steal government weapons from the armory. He and his sons wanted to arm slaves and lead a rebellion, but none of the slaves showed up. United States Marines stopped the raid, captured John Brown, and hung him.
Election of 1860
The election of 1860 was a presidential election that set the stage for the American Civil War. The election was held on Tuesday, November 6, 1860, and served as the immediate boost for the outbreak of the American Civil War.
South Secedes (December 1860- June 1861)
The country was living between the North and South. When the US got new territories in the West there was a debate on whether it would be a slave state or a free state. South Carolina decided they would secede from the US and several other states did as well. led to the beginning of the Confederacy and soon the Civil War. It was the biggest secession movement in the United States and was defeated when the Union armies defeated the Confederate armies.
Could the Civil War have been avoided?
I feel that the Civil War could have been avoided because the union could have been destroyed earlier. Yes, the South didn't want to give up slaves. But if the president and the congress would have stopped thinks like slavery being expanded right when it started in the beginning, then there wouldn't have been so much conflict in the long run.