The Missouri Compromise of 1820 maintained the balance of power in the Senate by admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. The compromise also established the 36°30' line, with states north of this line being admitted as free and states south being slave. The Nullification Crisis arose from South Carolina's opposition to high tariffs, which were seen as benefiting Northern industries at the expense of Southern agriculture. Henry Clay's Compromise Tariff of 1833 lowered tariffs and prevented secession or civil war. Sectionalism between the industrial North, agricultural South, and expanding West increased tensions over slavery and states' rights. The Compromise of 1850 and Kansas-Nebraska Act attempted but
Lincoln, War, and the Slaughter of the American Working Class.docx
Missouri Compromise to Civil War Sectionalism
1. Missouri Compromise- sponsored by Henry Clay, allowed for
Missouri to enter the inion as a slave state and Maine as a free state,
this maintained the balance of the power in the senate.
The compromise also stated that north of the 36-30’ line, all states
that entered the Union would be Free states.
Nullification Crisis- In 1828 the Tariff of Abominations was passed
resulting in a higher tariff. In 1832, a lower tariff was passed but this
still angered South Carolinians, led by Senator John C. Calhoun, SX.
Declared the federal tariff null and void within its borders. Delegates
to a special convention urged the state legislature to take military
action and to secede from the union if the federal government
demanded the customs duties. To prevent a civil war, Henry Clay
proposed the Compromise Tariff of 1833. Government lowers tariffs
and backs down.
North-High tariffs help the industrial North by making their prices
more competitive against cheap imports; had most of the nation’s
manufacturing. North liked the tariffs because it caused Americans to
buy more American-made products by increasing the cost of
European imported manufactured goods.
South- the south, which had little industry and imported most non-
agricultural goods, saw the high tariff as a burden imposed by the
more industrialized and populated north. Sold most of their cotton to
foreign buyers. Southern opposed tariffs because the South’s main
trade partners were European nations. High tariffs on raw materials
forced the south to sell their materials for low prices, while tariffs on
manufactured goods caused them to pay high price for the products
they purcheased from their European partners.
West- the West backed government spending on internal
improvements.
States’ Rights- The political position advocating strict interpretation of
the Constitution with regard to the limitation of federal powers and
the extension of the autonomy of the individual state to the greatest
possible degree. As the south recognized that control of the
government was slipping away, it turned to a state’s rights argument
to protect slavery. Southerners claimed that the federal government
was prohibited by the Tenth Amendment from impinging upon the
right of slaveholders take their “property: into a new territory. They
also stated that the federal government was no permitted to interfere
with slavery in those states where it already existed.
Sectionalism- Loyalty to local interests instead of national concerns.
In the United States, the differences between northern and southern,
2. and western areas increased throughout the early 1800s. Different
cultures and business practices existed in the three sections of the
country and these concerns often conflicted. While farming was
central to the livelihoods in all areas, northerner’s were more
involved in manufacturing and commerce; capital was invested in
factories and transportation. Southerners were more dependent on
cash-crop agriculture, growing tobacco, sugar or cotton; capital was
invested in slaves and in overseas markets. Westerners depended
on cheap land for expansion and good transportation networks to
remain in touch with eastern business.
Slavery in the United States first began in Virginia during the Colonial
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era. Throughout the first half of the 19 century, Southern politicians
sought to defend slavery by retaining control of the federal
government. The widening of the gap between slave and Free states
was symbolic of the changes occurring in each region. While the
South was devoted to an agrarian plantation economy with a slow
growth in population, the North had embraced industrialization, large
urban areas, infrastructure growth, as well as was experiencing high
birth rates and large influx of European immigrants. This boost in
population doomed Southern efforts to maintain balance in the
government as it meant the future addition of more free states and
the election of a Northern, potentially anti-slavery, president. The
political issue regarding slavery was addressed in the Missouri
Compromise in 1820, the Compromise of 1850, and the Kansa-
Nebraska Act in 1854.
Compromise of 1850- sponsored by Henry Clay, allowed for
California to enter the Union as a free state (pleased the North); the
rest of the Southwest was left to open to slavery, depending on a
vote of the people (popular sovereignty) who settled there (please
the south); ended the slave trade in Washington, D.C., put allowed
those owning slaves to keep them (please both sides); included the
Fugitive Slave Law- required the return of escaped slaves to their
owners (please the south, angered the North because the felt it was
immortal).
California admitted as a free state. Slave trade abolished in
Washington D.C. Stronger slave laws would be passed to help
slaveholders recapture runaway slaves.
Kansas- Nebraska Act- allowed for Kansas and Nebraska organizes
on the basis of popular sovereignty (they would vote themselves to
decide if they would be Free or Slave states).
Dred Scott v. Sanford decision- was a landmark Supreme Court case
in 1857 which confirmed the status of slaves as property rather than
citizens. Chief Justice Roger Taney wrote that a slave could not be
3. heard in federal courts because he was not a citizen and had no
protection under the Constitution. Also congress had no authority
over slavery in the territories, and upon statehood, each territory
would determine whether it would be a slave or free state.
The south favored the decision but the North did not, causing further
tension between North and South.
Leadership Qualities
Honesty
Courage
Inspirational
Thoughtful
Abraham Lincoln
Led the United States as President during the American Civil
War.
Through his leadership the Union was preserved and slavery
eventually abolishedafter his assassination in 1865.
Events
Firing on Fort Sumter- Fort Sumter, a federal fort in Charleston Harbor,
was fired upon by rebel forces to begin the Civil War (April 1861)
Battle of Antietam- 1862: Confederacy started a draft for trops and union
started in 1836. This is the bloodfest sinle-day battle of the war, in
Maryland, September 17, 1862. Lincoln issued his Emancipation
Proclamation on September 23. Union wins.
Lincolns First Inaugural Address Promised to not interfere with the rights
of states and the institution of slavery. He argued that the Union could
not be dissolved and stated it was against the law to secede from the
Union. “I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to inerfere with the
institution of slavery in the States where it exists, I believe I have no
lawful right to so and I have no inclination to do so.
1863: From July 1 to 1, 1863, 92,000 Union troops fought 76,000
Confederates at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The fate of the Confederacy
was sealed on July 4 with Union victories at Gettysburg, turning back a
Confederate invasion of the North, and Vicksburg.
All men are created equal. Restore peace and keep nation united. “The
government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not
perish from earth.” Principles of liberty and equality based on the
Declaration of Independence
4. William Carney: Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, served with the
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54 Massachusetts Regiment (Union) during Civil War. First black man
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to receive the award. When the 54 ’s sergeant was shot down, this
soldier grasped the flag, led the way to the parapet, and planted the
colors thereon. When the troops fell back he brought off the flag, under
fierce fire in which he was shot twice.
Phillip Bazaar- born in Chile, South America, was a Navy seaman in the
Union Navy, won the Medal of Honor for his distinguished service in the
Civil War. On board of U.S.S Santiago de Cuba during the assault on
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Fort Fisher on January 15 1865. As one of a board crew detailed to one
of the generals on shore, Bazaar bravely entered the fort in assault and
accompanied his party in carrying dispatches at the height of the battle.
He was 1 of 6 men who entered the fort in assault from the fleet.
Robert E. Lee- When the South seceded, Lincoln offered Lee the
command of Union forces but Lee refused, resigned from the U.S Army,
and returned to Virginia to serve with the Confederate forces. In 1862
Lee was appointed to command the Army of the Northern Virginia. His
battle strategies are admired to this day but he was criticized for having a
narrow strategy centered on his native Virginia. He surrendered to
Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse in 1865.
Ulysses S. Grant- Commander of the Union army; By September 1861
he was promoted to general. After a series of victories, including the
capture of Vicksburg, Lincoln gave him command of the Union army. He
created an overall plan concentrated on Sherman’s march through
Georgia and his own assault on the Confederate army in Virginia. Grant
accepted Lee’s surrender in 1865, ending the war.
Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address
Equality- Denounces slaver
The Union- Restoration and peace for the nation
The government- Lincoln stated that there were people trying to
destroy the government with or without war
Liberty- War will continue until slavery ceases to exist
The announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation changes the
nature of the war from that of preserving the Union to freeing the slaves.
The proclamation freed only the slaves in the rebelling territories.
(Announced in September 1862, signed the order in January 1863)
William Tecumseh Sherman led the union troops from Atlanta to
Savannah, laying a path of destruction. This was to get the South to
Surrender unconditionally. Sherman quickly moved north to help grant
defeat Lee in Virginia.
5. Lincoln was killed by John Wilkes Booth; a southern sympathizer at
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Ford’s Theatre in Washington D.C. Lincoln was the 1 president to be
assassinated. Both was later captured and killed.
April 9, 1865 Robert E. Lee surrenders to Ulysses S. Grant. Confederate
soldiers were allowed to go home if they promised to stop fighting.
Officers can keep their swords.