Causes of the American Civil War #1. Laws Against the Slave Auction After the Revolutionary War, the slave auctions seemed to be dying out. In response, the Northern states started passing laws against slave auctions in their states. #2. American Colonization Society The ACS bought a small country in Africa called Liberia. The ACS allowed any slaves who wanted to go to Liberia to go there and live. Although several thousand slaves went to live there, the ACS was not a huge success. #3. Free Blacks Accomplishments Free blacks in the North and South made significant achievments. Many were successful playwrites, inventors, novelists, and some helped lead the Westward movement. #4. Eli Whitney and the Cotton Gin Eli Whitney's cotton gin was hailed as a farming revolution. Twice as much cotton could be cleaned in half the time! This created a huge market for cotton. Cotton production shot up. But with more cotton, the South needed more slaves to pick the cotton. The slave population shot up drastically in the years before the Civil War. #5. Solomon Northrup Solomon Northrup was a free black man that was kidnapped and sold into slavery. He wrote a book about his life, which angered many abolitionists and many normal citizens also. #6. Slave Life Slaves had very simple homes that were small and poorly furnished. But the furnishings were not bad. It was the fact that they had no chance for improvement. #7. The Treatment Of Slaves At Slave Auctions The slave auction was one of the most inhumane places in American history. Slaves were made to run, do tests of dexterity, show their teeth, and exhibit all sorts of things to buyers. Families were split up at the call of the auctioneer. #8. Dred Scott Case The U. S. Supreme Court decided in the Dred Scott case that slaves were the property of their owners and had no rights. #9. The Presidential Election of 1860 In the Presidential Election of 1860, a Republican president was elected. Abraham Lincoln was strongly anti-slavery. This election led to the Southern states seceeding. #10. The Fugitive Slave Law The law said that slaves had to be returned to their owners if they escaped. "The only way to make the Fugitive Slave Law a dead letter is to make half a dozen or more dead kidnappers," said Frederick Douglass. By kidnappers, he meant the men who tried to reclaim slaves. #11. Social Difficulties Many ex-slaves and free blacks left the United States and went to live in Canada. The problem with this was that ex-slaves were giving America a bad reputation. #12. Western States Every time a western territory became a state, the Senate had to be balanced by free and slave states. The problem was made worse by the fact that no western states wanted to become slave states. #13. Anti-Slavery Art Paintings such as "A Ride for Liberty- the Fugitive Slave" and were influential because of the horrific images they depicted. #14. Uncle Tom's Cabin Uncle Toms Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe told of the horrible cruelty of slavery. It was widely distributed and even became a best-seller in Europe. It was regarded by some to be one of the main causes of the Civil War because it outraged so many thousands of people. #15. Stage Play In New York there were many anti-slavery plays. These plays had many people looking at slavery in real life. It turned many people into abolitionists and abolitionists into radicals. #16. The American Anti-Slavery Almanac The Almanac published essays and abolitionist ideas. Even though some of it was true, it was mostly propaganda written by the editors. #17. No Trials for Slaves Northern citizens saw unaway slaves caught and hauled back off to the South without a chance to defend themselves in court. Thousands of Northerners were outraged at this. #18. Religion Religious beliefs were one of the major reasons for abolitionism in the North and South. Many were convinced that slavery was against the Bible because of such passages witch stated that the Lord would deliver his children from the hands of oppressors. Many were convinced that it was their duty to God to help slaves escape their masters. #19. New York Nine Months Law The law stated that anyone who lived in New York for nine months was a citizen of New York. Any slave who ran away to New York and hid out for nine months could not be taken back to the South. This angered Southerners who had just lost valuable property. #20. Abolitionist Radicals Radicals in the North actually did not convert many people to their (at the time) severely liberal beliefs. But they did make many people rethink their values on slavery and made many abolitionists. #21. Quakers The Quakers were one of the religious groups at the helm of the anti-slavery movement since colonial days. They were joined by northern ministers and preachers such as Theodore Dwight Weld and Henry Ward Beecher. The aboltionism movement was led in large part by religious leaders. #22. Pottawamie Massacre In the middle of the night, John Brown and seven men went into the homes of three families and killed five people. This seemingly random killing was in response to the attack on Lawrence, Kansas. It brought Kansas to the verge of civil war. #23. The Attack On Lawrence The Kansas abolitionist headquarters were in Lawrence, Kansas. The settlers did many marches around the town. A U. S. marshal tried to arrest some of the leaders, but they fled before he could do so. On May 21, Sheriff Jones marched into town with an army of Missourians and threw the printing presses of two anti-slavery newspapers into the river. Anti-slavery Kansans seethed with rage. #24. "Bleeding Kansas" The Pottawamie Massacre was used by politicians to raise anger. The events in Kansas were not as major as they made it seem. Few people actually died, but the newspapers wrote exaggerated reports which scared many Americans. #25. Reaction to the The Kansas-Nebraska Bill Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois introduced a bill which would set up territorial government for land west of Missouri. Northerners who opposed Douglas's bill grew angry. Abolitionists were determined to keep slavery out of Kansas. #26. The Ostend Manifesto President Pierce, under the influence of Southern politicians, began negotiations with Spain to buy Cuba. This was seen as an attempt to extend Southern territory. Northerners were shocked and outraged. #27. Free Soilers and the Kansas-Nebraska Bill Since the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, it was feared that many anti-slavery Free Soilers would rush into Kansas and use popular sovereignty to keep slavery out. Instead, the reverse happened. About 5000 Missourians crossed the border and voted. Although these votes were not legal, they were counted. As a result, a huge majority of the voters were proslavery. They soon made many proslavery laws, evn one that would reward death to anyone who helped slaves escape. Free-soilers refused to recognize this government. They set up their own government in Topeka. #28. Reverend Henry Ward Beecher One of the most dangerous steps in the abolitionist movement was taken by Reverend Henry Ward Beecher. He was a well known abolitionist and the brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin. As delicate as relations were in Kansas, he stoked the fire by sending guns to abolitionists forces there. He was so successful at this that people began to speak of the weapons as Beecher's Bibles. #29. Breakup of the Whigs The Kansas-Nebraska Act caused many Democrats to join other parties. It also caused the Whigs to totally break up. The Southern Whigs and their allies, the "cotton" Whigs split up from the Northern or "conscience" Whigs. The "cotton" Whigs made the Native American party. The "conscience" Whigs and ex-Democrats formed the Republican party. #30. Farmers in the West The farmers in the territories were against slavery because they felt that they could not compete with people who owned slaves. Many farmers joined Free Soilers in Kansas. #31. The Election of 1865 The political parties were split up farther by the fact that their were two totally different tickets for President in the North and the South. The Republicans nominated no one in the South and the Nativists nominated no one in the North. #32. The Lecompton Constitution The Lecompton Constitution was the state constitution of Kansas that was written up by the proslavery government in Kansas. They represented a small percentage of the population. Because they were Democrats, President Buchanan backed them. However Senator Stephen Douglas could not back them. He thought the Constitution was wrong. When the Constitution was shot down by a 9:1 vote, Buchanan blamed Douglas. This split the Democrats into two sections, pro-Douglas and pro-Buchanan. #33. The Amistad Mutiny Case Some slaves were kidnapped in Africa. They revolted and killed the captain and ordered the first mate to sail them back. Instead, he took a zig-zagging route to America. In the trial, the men were aquitted because they were not slaves and had been kidnapped. But the court also said that if the men had been slaves, they would not have won the case because they were property and could be legally transported. This attitute was backed up by the Dred Scott v. Sandford case. #34. The Glorification of John Brown John Brown, an important abolitionist was hanged for helping slaves escape. The abolitionists awarded him with sainthood. Pro-slavery people only saw him as a criminal and murder, though. #35. The Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad helped thousands of slaves escape to the North and Canada. People such as Harriet Tubman and Robert Purvis became some of the most wanted men in the South for their helping the Railroad. Slaves were passed from house to house and moved on in the night. The Railroad became one of the most notorious organizations in America. #36. Harriet Tubman Harriet Tubman was the most famous conductor on the Underground Railroad. She took 19 trips into the South and helped 200-300 slaves escape. Furious slaveholders offered $40,000 for Tubman, dead or alive. #37. Slave Uprisings Sometimes slaves resorted to violence to escape. One of the most famous uprisings was led by Nat Turner. Turner was a slave minister. He was described as the last person anyone would think would resort to violence. He was mild mannered and deeply religious. But in 1831, he and his followers murdered 57 people before they were captured. This resulted in strict laws being passed against educating slaves, since Turner was an educated man. #38. Benjamin Lundy Lundy was an abolitionist who published a newspaper, The Genius of Universal Emancipation. His newspaper was not very successful but Lundy was very respected and worked tirelessly for black's rights. He argued for free blacks in the North to be treated fairly, among other things. #39. "Cotton Is King" This attitude was the motto of the South and did not make abolition any easier. Southerners were absolutely convinced that the nation would not srvive without cotton production. This was simply not true. Although cotton was the most valuable export, the nation had a strong economy and would have survived. #40. American Antislavery Society Founded by ex-editor of The Genius of Universal Emancipation and extreme radical William Lloyd Garrison. The AAS included some of the most important abolitionists in America. Although discord in the organization caused the breaking off of the Grimkes among others, the AAS had a good impact on people. #41. Paul Cuffe Cuffe was an abolitionist who favored the return of slaves to Africa. He was bitterly against slavery and saw sending slaves to Africa to be free. He took 38 volunteers to Africa as an experiment. He planned to take more each year, but died before he could do so. #42. Henry Highland Garnet Garnet was more extreme than Cuffe. He was born a slave, but escaped to the North with his parents when he was a boy. His father became a shoemaker and he recieved a high school education. He preched abolition in such tones as "[we would] rather die as free men than live to be slaves." #43. David Walker Walker was a radical from Boston and supported war. He published the Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World which said, among other things, that slaves should strike for their freedom and use violence if necessary. #44. "All Men Are Created Equal" In essence, slavery was against the very principles on which the United States was founded. It clearly went against the Declaration of Independence passage "...all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unaliable rights which are among these life, libety, and the pursuit of happiness." Slavery did not view black men as equal and definitely did not allow liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This was the basis, along with religious reasons, for the abolitionist movement and almost proved slavery was wrong. #45. The Constitution Art. 5 of the U.S Constitution said that no amendment can be made to effect Art. 1, Sec. 9, Clause 1 of the U.S Constitution until 1808. Art. 1, Sec. 9, Clause 1 stated that the importation of slaves cannot be prohibited until 1808. So... 1808 rolls around... Guess what? Congress starts making laws against importing slaves! This made Southerners angry. #46. Mitchum Mitchum was a black man in Indiana who was arrested and turned over to a Southerner. He claimed that Mitchum was a slave who ran away 19 years earlier. No one knew if Mitchum was really a slave or not, but it wasn't fair to be seperated from his family after so long. #47. Theodore Dwight Weld Theodore Dwight Weld was a clergyman who later married Agelina Grimke. He spoke of "immediate abolition gradually achieved." What he meant was his goal was total abolition but achieved over time. It would take time to change the minds of slaveholders. He was good because radicals like William Garrison were hurting the credibility of abolitionists. #48. Regionalism Northerners and Southerners were both proud of their economy and their way of life. By destroying slavery, the North was threatening the South's very way of life. #49. Age of Reform The Age of Reform brought on drastic improvements in healthcare, education, and virtually everything else. Slavery was against the principles of the reform movement - equality. The reformers were convinced with all of the technology available, the South could do something to make money without slavery. #50. Jefferson Davis Jefferson Davis was the President of the Confederate Staes of America after the South's secession. He had good intentions for peace with the Union, but he wasn't a very good speaker and could not rid the South of it's hostility toward the North. He could not get along well with people and could not even control his cabinet.