The document outlines several key events that increased sectional tensions between the North and South leading up to the Civil War: 1) The invention of the cotton gin in 1793 drastically increased cotton production and the demand for slaves in the South, exacerbating tensions over slavery. 2) A series of political compromises in 1820 and 1850 attempted to balance the spread of slavery but ultimately failed to resolve the issue, further dividing the sections. 3) The 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act and 1857 Dred Scott decision inflamed tensions by allowing slavery in new territories, angering abolitionists in the North. 4) John Brown's 1859 raid and the 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln, seen as an abolition

1. Causes of the Civil War

2. Invention of the Cotton Gin
♦ When: 1793
♦ Who: Eli Whitney:
♦ Where: South
♦ What: Invention to remove seeds from
cotton

3. Invention of the Cotton Gin
♦ Effect:
– drastically increased the amount of cotton
being produced, thus drastically increasing
the number of slaves needed to harvest the
cotton.
– This increased the tensions that slavery
caused.

4. Missouri Compromise
♦ When: 1820
♦ Who: Politicians
♦ Where: New states (Missouri and
Maine)
♦ What: Political compromise made in
1820 between Northern and Southern
politicians

5. Missouri Compromise
♦ Effect:
– Admitted Missouri as slave state, Maine as
free state, prohibited slavery north of
36°30’ parallel (Missouri Compromise
Line)
– Kept power in Senate equal

6. Compromise of 1850
♦ When: 1850
♦ Who: Congress
♦ Where: New Lands gained by the Mexican
Cession
♦ What:
– Congressional agreement on slavery:
• admitted California as a free state
• did not restrict slavery in New Mexico or Utah (popular
sovereignty )
• Bans slave trade in Washington, D.C.
• passed a stricter fugitive slave law, which said that all
persons must help to catch fugitive slaves

7. Compromise of 1850
♦ Effect:
– upset North because it allowed slavery
above old Missouri Compromise line,
basically negating the Missouri
Compromise
– Southerners loved it for the same reason
– Did not solve slavery issue
– Caused sectional tensions

8. Uncle Tom’s Cabin
♦ When: 1852
♦ Who: Written by Harriet Beecher
Stowe, who had never been to the South
♦ Where: North
♦ What: Fictional book about slavery in
South

9. Uncle Tom’s Cabin
♦ Effect:
– Turned slavery from a political issue to a
moral issue!
– Enraged & disgusted Northerners about
slavery & the South
– Enraged Southerners who felt it was an
unfair description of slavery
– Caused sectional tensions to heat up even
more

10. Kansas-Nebraska Act
♦ When:1854
♦ Who: Politicians
♦ Where: Kansas-Nebraska territory
♦ What:
– law that repealed Missouri Compromise
– split the Nebraska territory into 2 separate
territories, Kansas and Nebraska
– declared issue of slavery in Kansas and
Nebraska territories would be left to
residents (popular sovereignty)

11. Kansas-Nebraska Act
♦ Effect:
– Bloody Kansas
• Violence broke out in Kansas in the late 1850’s
between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery
factions
• Eventually 2 separate gvn’ts were elected in
Kansas, one pro, one con of slavery
– It was a warm-up exercise for the coming
Civil War

12. Dred Scott Decision
♦ When: 1857
♦ Who: Supreme Court
♦ Where: Illinois
♦ What:
– Supreme Court case that decided slaves did not
have the rights of citizens
– Ruled Congress could not forbid slavery in the
territories, making Missouri Compromise
unconstitutional

13. Dred Scott Decision
♦ Effect:
– Opened slavery to new territories
– South loved it, but North hated it
– Sectional tensions escalated.

14. Lincoln-Douglas Debates
♦ When: 1858
♦ Who: Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas
♦ Where: Illinois
♦ What:
– Series of debates between Stephen Douglas &
Abraham Lincoln during 1858 senatorial election
campaign
– Focused on issue of slavery

15. Lincoln-Douglas Debates
♦ Effect:
– Lincoln got Douglas to admit that popular
sovereignty could be used to prevent the
expansion of slavery into territories, which
lost Douglas the support of the South
– South became aware of Lincoln’s views.

16. John Brown’s Raid
♦ When: 1859
♦ Who: John Brown, an abolitionist
♦ Where: Harper’s Ferry, Virginia
♦ What:
– Tried to capture arsenal at Harper’s Ferry,
Virginia, and begin slave revolt
– Was captured and hung

17. John Brown’s Raid
♦ Effect:
– Made a martyr for Union (North) and
abolitionist cause
– Southerners horrified/disgusted by North’s
outright support of Brown’s actions
– sectional tension intensified

18. Election of 1860
♦ When: 1860
♦ Who: Lincoln, Douglas, Bell,
Breckinridge
♦ Where: United States
♦ What: Lincoln (viewed by the South as
an abolitionist) was elected president

19. Election of 1860
♦ Effect:
– Showed split in the nation over slavery
– Southern states seceded after hearing of
Lincoln’s win
– Feared they would lose slavery under his
rule
– Caused North to take military measures to
keep Union together
– Set stage for Fort Sumter attack and start of
war.

20. Sectional Tension
♦ The people in the Northern states
and Southern states became more
and more politically, socially, and
economically divided.

21. Sectional Tension
♦ The cotton gin caused the Southern states to
follow its agricultural ways, while the
Northern states became more industrialized
(they could not grow cotton in the North - too
cold)
♦ Northern and Southern states found it
increasingly difficult to relate to one another,
especially when it came to the topic of slavery
♦ They began to see themselves as separate
“sections” of the nation - sections which had
very little in common

22. Sectional Tension
♦ Several compromises were attempted by
both sides to try and overcome the
problems between them regarding the
slavery issue
♦ All compromises eventually failed
♦ The result would be the build-up of
sectional tensions which would
eventually lead to war