Prelude to the war (Classroom Lesson)

• History
• 9th Grade

Prelude to the war

A Divided Nation (1849-1861)

Lesson 2

What do you know about
the causes of the Civil War?

Learning objective

At the end of this lesson you understand and explain the (direct) causes that led to the Civil War.

What did you learn so far?

A few questions to refresh your memory

Know your presidents!

Martin van Buren

Abraham Lincoln

John Quincy Adams

George Washington

Thomas Jefferson

Missouri Compromise (1820)

Missouri Compromise (1820)

Compromise of 1850 (1)

The correct answer is...

What is a civil war?

1. A war between two countries
2. A war between groups in one country
3. A war between two continents

Union or more independence?

• The North wanted a strong Union with a more central government
• The South wanted a more decentralized government
• The companies in the North wanted the federal government to protect the American market
• The South wanted more power for every state: economical and political.

Missouri Compromise (1820)

• A political 'deal' between the (free) northern and (slave) southern states
• Missouri would join the United States as a slave state.
• Maine would become a free state, independent of Massachusetts.
• In the future, north to the 36 ° latitude (the southern border of the state of Missouri) would become free states.

Compromise of 1850 (1)

• Also known as the Pearce Act
• California was admitted as a free state, with its current boundaries.
• The territories of New Mexico and Utah were organized following the principle of Popular Sovereignty, in which the residents would determine the status of slavery through election.

Compromise of 1850 (2)

• The slave trade, but not slavery altogether, was banned in the District of Columbia.
• A more stringent Fugitive Slave Law was enacted.

US: before and after 1850

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)

• The Kansas-Nebraska Act is a law  which provided for the organization of the Kansas and Nebraska territories. 
• The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was revoked and the residents of both future states were given the opportunity to decide for themselves about the possible admission of slavery, in the name of self-government by the people or popular sovereignty.

Bleeding Kansas (1854-1861)

• Bleeding Kansas was a series of violent confrontations between 1854 and 1861 which emerged from a political and ideological debate over the legality of slavery in the proposed state of Kansas.
• At the heart of the conflict was the question of whether the Kansas Territory  enter the Union as a slave state or a free state. 

US: before and after 1850

Free State as a result of the Compromis of 1850

Free State as a result of the Missouri Compromis

Slave State as a result of the Missouri Compromis

Slave State as a result of the Kansas-Nebreska Act

Slave State as a result of the Kansas-Nebreska Act

Election of 1860

• In 1860 Abraham Lincoln was elected as president 
• The election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 was an immediate cause of secession of the first 7 Southern states (SC, MS, FL, AL, GA, LA, TX), which formed the Confederacy in February 1861 
  
• The first shot in the war was fired by South Carolina militias who conquered the federal Fort Sumter. 
• Lincoln then called on volunteers to maintain the Union.

Video

The American Civil War

Glossary

• civil war
• secession
• Union
• Confederacy

Describe:

Confederacy

Important events

• 1820: Missouri Compromise 
  
• 1850: Compromise of 1850
• 1854: Kansas-Nebraska Act
• 1860: Abraham Lincoln elected as president 
• 1861: secession and forming of the Confederacy

Important persons

• Abraham Lincoln
  

Write down three things 

• Harriet Beecher Stowe
  

• Harriet Beecher Stowe
  

• Harriet Beecher Stowe
  

you have learned this lesson

Write down one question about 

• Harriet Beecher Stowe
  

• Harriet Beecher Stowe
  

• Harriet Beecher Stowe
  

something you haven't understood so well