Causes of the Civil War

Causes of the Civil War Study guide Directions: Here are some sample answers for your study guide to help prepare you for your test on Tuesday Oct. 31 st. A. Key terms *a. sectionalism (36,37) *b. popular sovereignty- the right of a people to choose (vote) whether or not to allow slavery in their territory. *c. nullify *d. states’ rights *e. tariff 1. How did sectionalism cause a problem between North and South? Both sides were only concerned with what benefited them. The South was focused on states’ rights and slavery while the North wanted a tariff put on the British. This led to conflict. 2. What would be a fictional example of states’ rights today occurring in the U.S? The U.S. government says that all citizens are to be allowed to speak out and criticize the government. If Arizona said that they would not obey this law, but would imprison someone who spoke negatively about the governor, that would be a possible example. 3. How do the terms “nullify” and “tariff” fit together for the South? The South wanted to nullify (or cancel out, disregard) the tariff (tax) that the U.S. was putting on Britain because it did not benefit them. The North had major amounts of industry while the South did not. B. Key terms *a. Industry *b. agriculture *c. Abolitionists *d. Underground Railroad 1. Explain some more details of why industry and agriculture mattered so much to the North and South. Industry (business and factory production) made much money for the North and helped fuel their economy. The South relied upon slave labor to complete agricultural (farming) work. This provided much money to them when they sold the cotton and other products to the North and other places. 2. How might abolitionists and the Underground Railroad be a source of anger between the North and South? Abolitionists wanted to free slaves and used the Underground Railroad as one way to do it. Southern slave owners saw abolitionists as thieves since they were stealing slaves (which the South unfortunately saw as property). They were also losing much money from this since it cost many $ to buy a slave. C. Major compromises and laws a. Missouri Compromise b. Compromise of 1850 1. How would the Missouri Compromise lead to conflict in the U.S.? The issue of slavery was never settled by this. Both the North and South were appeased (satisfied) for a while, but the invisible latitude line drawn (at the 36’30 parallel) kept slavery out of the North for the time and allowed it to expand more in the South. c. Kansas-Nebraska Act 2. Which part of the Compromise of 1850 would the North be in favor of? Why? They would like that California was added as a free state- this would give them more voting power in Congress. They also liked that the slave trade was going to be abolished in Washington D.C since this was one step closer to ending slavery there. D. Other key terms and people of the time a. Dred Scott court case b. John Brown 3. Which side would have been in favor of the Kansas-Nebraska Act- the North or the South? Why? The South overall would have liked this since they could possibly have slavery in the Kansas-Nebraska territories by popular sovereignty (people voting on the issue). Previous to this, the Missouri Compromise did not allow them to even consider having slavery in that area of the country. c. 1860 election of Lincoln d. secede e. Confederate States of America f. Uncle Tom’s Cabinfamous book portraying slavery published by Harriet Beecher Stowe which angered the South and empowered the North against slavery 1. What were 2 main results that came from the Dred Scott case which would impact the nation greatly? 1. Slaves were seen as property with no rights to sue. 2. Slave owners were now allowed to take their slaves with them into the North and the Northern folks could not stop them since they could not take away their “property.” (unfortunately the way that slaves were viewed) 2. Create a higher level sentence using the following 3 terms: 1860 election of Lincoln, secede, Confederate States of America. In 1860, Lincoln was elected as President of the United States. As a result, South Carolina was furious and fearful that he would abolish slavery so they decided to secede from the United States. Eventually, the Confederate States of America was formed. 3. How would the actions of John Brown be considered to be a cause of the Civil War? John Brown believed that violence was acceptable to free slaves. After his actions, Southerners would be very worried that other people might try to free slaves by violent means. They would become ever more suspicious of Northern abolitionists.