Causes of the Civil Warand

The Election of 1860• We will look at events that polarized the

country, including the 1860 election.• We’ll compare that election to modern

elections to see if there are still patterns in how states vote.

• Missouri Compromise

• Every time a new state was admitted into the Union, it had to be

declared as a slave state or a free state. To put off war, federal

politicians from the north and south came up with the Missouri

Compromise of 1820. This compromise, the first of many, was

unpopular in both halves of the country. It stated that every state

north of 36N North should be free, while every new state south of that

line would be considered a slave state. Because Missouri was north

of that line, it was given “special status” making it a slave state.

• John Brown

• John Brown was an abolitionist. An

abolitionist believed in the ending of

slavery. John Brown has been called a

fanatic and a lunatic, and even a fanatic

patriot. He was so against slavery that he

decided to rebel the government in what

we would call today “terrorist plots.”

• Captured in Virginia, he would found guilty

of murder and treason under Virginian

law. He was sentenced to hang.

Southerners celebrated his death, seeing

the death of a terrorist and traitor

displayed before them. Northerners saw

him as a martyr... somebody that died for

a holy cause.

• Dred Scott

• Dred Scott was a slave, born in Virginia and eventually purchased by a US

army officer. He followed his master from Missouri to Illinois and the Wisconsin

Territory which was free soil. His master even allowed him to marry at Fort

Snelling in the Wisconsin Territory, which was generally prohibited to slaves.

• He sued for his freedom based on the fact that he had resided in a free state,

and once there, should have been freed. Initially, the courts disagreed with

Scott. They more or less said it was too late.

• Scott pursed his freedom, with the case eventually reaching the United States

Supreme Court. It became a political question on whether or not slavery should

be legal.

• The Supreme Court voted 7-2 against Scott’s quest for freedom. Chief Justice

Roger Taney summed it up by saying that no black man could ever become a

citizen of the United States, whether or not he was free or a slave. Since Scott

was black, he was not a citizen, and since not a citizen, he could not legally sue

the courts.

• Abolitionists were outraged, while Southerners rejoiced believing that Justice

Taney had stood up for the South. It was another polarizing event that further

divided the North and the South.

The Election of Abraham Lincoln

• Lincoln, from Illinois, was against slavery but said his main goal, if he were elected, was to keep the Union intact.

The Electoral College

Firstly, we need to understand how the Electoral College works. The Electoral

College, in simple terms, means that votes for the Presidency are ‘winner take all.’

In the last election, if just one more person would have voted for President Obama in

Wisconsin, he would have taken all of Wisconsin’s Electoral Votes…10 in 2008.

Election of 2008

• Let’s look at the 2008 presidential election for a frame of reference. Barack Obama won the popular vote over John McCain by a large margin. This was reflected in the electoral vote as well….

It’s based on popuation!

• Rhode Island, our smallest state by area, has four Electoral College votes, while Alaska has only three votes.

• California has the most, at 55. The next four largest states by electoral votes are…

• Texas (36), New York (30), Florida (28) and Illinois (21).

The Popular Winner doesn’t always win…

• George W. Bush had fewer total votes than Albert Gore in 2000, but won anyway because he won the majority of Electoral Votes…

Back to 1860…

Lincoln won enough Electoral Votes even though he didn’t even appear on Southern ballots. The North had the Electoral Power.

This was it, as far as the South was concerned. South Carolina left the Union before Lincoln was even sworn in. 10 other states would follow. They formed the Confederate States of America.

The path to war was now complete.