A quick overview of some key causes of the Civil War from sectionalism through the election of 1860

1. Causes of the
Civil War
Long-Term and Immediate Causes

2. Sectionalism
• Placing the interests of your
region or your part of the
country ahead of the interests of
the national as a whole
West
North
South
SS.912.A.2.1: Review causes and consequences of the Civil War.

3. The North • Industrial
• Manufacturing
• Fishing
• Few Slaves
• Abolitionist
• Big Cities
SS.912.A.2.1: Review causes and consequences of the Civil War.

4. The South • Agrarian (Farming,
Agricultural)
• Major Export: Cotton
• Many Slaves
• Pro-Slavery
• Few Cities
SS.912.A.2.1: Review causes and consequences of the Civil War.

5. The West
• Newly Added to the US
from Mexico
• Popular Sovereignty
• Mixed Feeling on
Slavery
SS.912.A.2.1: Review causes and consequences of the Civil War.

6. Compromise
• Working with others to reach an agreement
• Both sides get some of what they want, but not
everything
SS.912.A.2.1: Review causes and consequences of the Civil War.

7. Missouri Compromise (1820)
Video Link - https://youtu.be/68gi3C0A9Fo?si=CiiWeJREAqLtbglg
SS.912.A.2.1: Review causes and consequences of the Civil War.
Watch the video, and
with your team,
answer these 2
questions:
1) What was the
issue the Missouri
Compromise
resolved?
2) How did it attempt
to resolve the
issue?

8. Missouri Compromise (1820)
• States will be added in pairs (one free and one
slave) to keep an equal balance in the US Senate
• Missouri would be admitted as a slave-state
• Maine would be admitted as a free-state
• A line would be drawn that would determine where
they would free and slave states
SS.912.A.2.1: Review causes and consequences of the Civil War.

9. Missouri Compromise (1820)
SS.912.A.2.1: Review causes and consequences of the Civil War.

10. Texas Independence and Annexation
Before After

11. Aftermath of the Mexican-American War
Before After

12. • What to do with all that newly
acquired land?
Aftermath of the Mexican-
American War

13. Compromise of 1850
• The government could not decide is the new lands
acquired after the Mexican-American War should
be free or slave.
• Popular Sovereignty would allow the people of
the New Mexico Territory and the Utah Territory to
decide for themselves if they would become free or
slave
• A new Fugitive Slave Act was passed making it
easier to capture free blacks and bring them to
slavery
SS.912.A.2.1: Review causes and consequences of the Civil War.

14. Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
Video Link – https://youtu.be/JkHK8qDrTTM
SS.912.A.2.1: Review causes and consequences of the Civil War.
Watch the video, and
with your team,
answer these 2
questions:
1) What did the new
Fugitive Slave Law
attempt to do?
2) How was it a
contributing factor
to the Civil War?

15. Compromise of 1850
SS.912.A.2.1: Review causes and consequences of the Civil War.

16. Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)
Video Link - https://youtu.be/QYP854GAPAU?si=zT_rZVp4SmfFGQuD
SS.912.A.2.1: Review causes and consequences of the Civil War.
Watch the video, and
with your team,
answer these 2
questions:
1) How did this law
repeal the
Missouri
Compromise?
2) What impact did
this have on the
politics of the era?

17. Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)
• The rest of the Louisiana Purchase would be
divided into the Kansas Territory and the Nebraska
Territory
• Popular Sovereignty would be used in both
territories to decide if slavery would exist there
• This repealed the 34° 30’ part of the Missouri
Compromise which required states north to be
admitted as free and south as slave.
SS.912.A.2.1: Review causes and consequences of the Civil War.

18. Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)
SS.912.A.2.1: Review causes and consequences of the Civil War.

19. “Bleeding Kansas”
Video Link – https://youtu.be/TqZJc7B8xsc
SS.912.A.2.1: Review causes and consequences of the Civil War.
Watch the video, and
with your team,
answer these 2
questions:
1) How did “popular
sovereignty” lead
to violence in
Kansas?
2) How does this
event demonstrate
the failure of
compromise
regarding slavery?

20. “Bleeding Kansas”
• Citizens of Missouri (a slave state) snuck into
Kansas to vote for a pro-slavery state constitution.
• Once slavery wins in Kansas, pro-slavery forces
attack and vandalize businesses of anti-slavery
people.
• This is the first open conflict over slavery in the
United States. (If you do not count slave revolts).
SS.912.A.2.1: Review causes and consequences of the Civil War.

21. “Bleeding Kansas”
SS.912.A.2.1: Review causes and consequences of the Civil War.

22. “Caning Sumner”
SS.912.A.2.1: Review causes and consequences of the Civil War.

23. “Caning Sumner”
Video Link – https://youtu.be/YyvlFcqYEEk
SS.912.A.2.1: Review causes and consequences of the Civil War.

24. The End of
Compromise
SS.912.A.2.1: Review causes and consequences of the Civil War.

25. States’ Rights
The idea that each state has the right to govern itself
without the interference of the national government
SS.912.A.2.1: Review causes and consequences of the Civil War.

26. Dred Scott v. Sanford
• Dred Scott sued for his freedom because he lived
in a free state
• The Supreme Court ruled against him because he
was black and therefore did not have a right to sue
in court
• The Supreme Court also said that the federal
government did not have the right to take away a
person’s property no matter where they lived.
Therefore, the Missouri Compromise was
unconstitutional, slaves can be allowed
anywhere
SS.912.A.2.1: Review causes and consequences of the Civil War.

27. Dred Scott v. Sanford
Video Link – https://youtu.be/c3-bKpfGR7I
SS.912.A.2.1: Review causes and consequences of the Civil War.

28. Election of 1860
• Abraham Lincoln, an opponent of slavery is elected
president
• Southern states fear that he will abolish slavery
• Southern states, beginning with South Carolina,
secede from the Union to become a separate
country
SS.912.A.2.1: Review causes and consequences of the Civil War.

29. Election of 1860
SS.912.A.2.1: Review causes and consequences of the Civil War.