A slideshow I used to display events leading up to the civil war.

1. Events leading up to the Civil
War

2.  Missouri Compromise:
 Cali – free state
Review of Friday 

Mexican Cession – federal land
Texas give up land east of Rio
Grande
 Slave trade – no more in
 Wilmot Proviso: document capital
stating that slavery and  More effective fugitive slave
involuntary servitude were law passed
not allowed  Fugitive Slave Act passed:
 Free Soil Party – antislavery crime for runaway slaves
northerners that supported  Uncle Tom’s Cabin – fictional
no slavery in any new story about slavery, riled up
territory added the northerners
 Kansas – Nebraska Act:
 Secede – formally withdraw
divide LP into 2 territories,
from Union vote on slavery
 What states did that?  Bleeding Kansas –
abolitionists and pro-slavery

3. Political Parties Undergo Change
 Republican Party: a
political party united
against the spread of
slavery in the West
 John Fremont – little
experience
 James Buchanan:
democrat
 Great deal of experience
 Great Britain ambassador
during Kan-Neb act

4. Dred Scott Decision
 Dred Scott – slave of Dr. Emerson
 Dr. Emerson died, Scott became
slave of wife
 Scott sued for freedom
 Court ruling: African Americans
whether free or slave were not
considered citizens of the United
States, and therefore had no right
to sue in federal courts. The
Missouri Compromise was also
ruled unconstitutional.

5. Dred Scott Decision
 Courts reasoning: Chief Justice Roger B. Taney
wrote in the majority opinion that the Court did
not believe that African Americans were
included in the constitution’s definition of citizens
and that they, “had no rights which the white
man was bound to respect.” Addressing a side
issue in the case the opinion also stated that
Congress could not outlaw slavery in the
territories.
 Fair? Not fair? Why or why not?

6. Lincoln-Douglas Debates
 Historic debate between
presidential candidates
 Lincoln stressed central
issue – spread of slavery,
wanted to stop it
 Felt African Americans
were entitled to “natural
rights”
 Douglas criticized Lincoln
and felt the nation could
not be half and half

7. Freeport Doctrine
 Notion that the police would enforce the
voters’ decision if it contradicted the
Supreme Court’s decision in the Dred
Scott case
 Put the slavery question back into the
hands of the American citizens
 Good idea? Bad idea?

8. John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s
Ferry
 Raid began when Brown
and his men took over
the arsenal in Harper’s
Ferry
 Wanted to start a slave
rebellion
 Brown was ordered to be
hanged for this uprising
 Effective or not? What do
you think?

9. Election of 1860
 Constitutional Union Party – recognized no
political principals other than the Constitution of
the country, the Union of the states, and the
enforcement of the laws
 John Bell
 Democrats – John Breckinridge
 Republicans – William Seward, leading
candidate, chose Lincoln, appealed to more
party members

10. Election of 1860

11. The South Secedes
 Southerners Reaction: people in south
believed their economy and way of life
would be destroyed without slave labor
 South seceded: Confederate States of
America
 Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia,
Louisiana, and Texas, South Carolina

12. Questions to Answer from notes
1. What was the major issue of the newly formed
Republican party?
2. Who was Roger B. Taney?
3. Why do you think James Buchanan won the
election of 1856?
4. What was the major issue of the Lincoln-Douglas
debates?
5. Why did John Brown want to seize the arsenal on
Harper’s Ferry?
6. Why do you think some abolitionists disagreed
with what John Brown did?
7. What states made up the Confederate states?