CIVIL WAR CAUSES

MISSOURI COMPROMISE

• Missouri admitted as a slave state
• Maine admitted as a free state
• Established line of 36, 30 N latitude for rest of Louisiana Purchase (above line would be free, below would be slave)
• Jefferson and John Q. Adams predicted problems with the precedent set
• Important because it put the problem aside, not solved

UNDERGROUND RAILROAD

• Provided a route to freedom for black slaves
• Harriet Tubman was one of the most courageous "conductors of the Underground Railroad

ADMITTING CALIFORNIA AS A FREE STATE

• Opposed violently by North and South, especially Steward of New York
• The balance between the amount of free states versus slave states would be thrown off

"UNCLE TOM'S CABIN"

• Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe
• Sold 300,000 copies in first year
• Told the cruelty of slavery
• The south accuse her of painting a false picture of slavery

KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT

• Transcontinental Railroad had to be built
• Stephen Douglass wanted it to go through Illinois, so he proposed the act
• Created 2 new territories(Kansas and Nebraska)
• These territories would use popular sovereignty to decide if they would be free or slave
• Thus all southerners vote for their own railroad line and the Missouri compromise is effectively repealed

DRED SCOTT CASE

• Case on behalf of a slave that argued since he had lived in a free state (WI) he was a free man
• Supreme Court ruled that he was not a citizen so he could not sue in federal court and anyone of African blood could not sue in court, living in a free territory did not make him free, and make the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional

LINCOLN VS DOUGLAS DEBATES

• 7 were held in Illinois
• The newspapers printed exactly what was said
• Huge crowds gathered to see the debates

JOHN BROWN'S RAID

• Raided a federal Arsenal to supply weapons to slaves to start a revolt
• Held out for 36 hours but was eventually captured by General Robert E. Lee
• Was put on trial and sentenced to death for treason

LINCOLN'S ELECTION

• South Carolina is the first to secede after Lincoln is elected
• In the next 8 weeks Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas secede and form the Confederate States of America
• Jefferson Davis is the first President