North Vs. South Essays - United States, American Civil War, Slavery

North Vs. South The Civil War Causes of the civil war 200 Years of Slavery In 1808, congress prohibited importing anymore slaves into the country. But Slavery still went on until 1850. That was was about the two hundredth year it had existed in the United States. They had sent several thousand slaves back to what is now Liberia. Eli Whitney and the Cotton Gin Eli Whitney was in Savannah, Georgia visiting a friend. Whitney was a Yale college graduate. He invented an easy to make and cheap cotton gin that was very profitable. It removed the seeds from cotton. How Cotton Affected Slaves After the cotton gin and the cotton press had been invented, production was increased a lot. The slaves were now more valuable to their owners. It resulted in them being treated better. The Abolitionist Movement There were mostly white people from the free states that wanted to abolish slavery. They were called abolitionists. They were mostly religious people that said it would be a sin not to stop it. They also quoted the Declaration of Independence that said we are all created equally which was hard to object. Harriet Ross Tubman Harriet Ross Tubman, a black abolitionist from Maryland, moved to Pennsylvania and became a cook there. She earned the nickname ?Moses? by freeing two hundred to three hundred slaves by escaping to the northern states. Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass was a black abolitionist. He tried to escape a first time but he was captured. Two years later, he successfully escaped slavery. He was known to be one of the best people at giving speeches. Later, he wrote a book called The North Star. Fugitive Slave Act Under this new law, slaves that escaped from the south and were living in the north could be captured and brought back to the south. Most slaves fled to Canada to escape slavery completely. In only a few years, about two hundred blacks were captured. Segregation Although the northern states were against slavery, most white people were prejudice against blacks. They were not to be where white people were. This is called being segregated or segregation. Uncle Tom's Cabin Uncle Tom's Cabin was a book written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It was written in 1852 and tried to make the point that the slave system was at fault and not the white farmers that profited. Kansas-Nebraska Act After the northerners had become more and more concerned with the slaves, they had the Kansas-Nebraska act. They would let the people there decide if there should be slavery. Popular Sovereignty Popular sovereignty is a system that allowed settlers in each territory to decide whether or not they would have slavery. Bleeding Kansas The town of Lawrence in Kansas had become the headquarters of anti-slavery settlers. On May 21, an army of Missourians led by Sheriff Jones marched in and thrashed two printing presses by throwing them into a river and burned The Free State hotel. The Dred Scott Case Dred Scott was a slave. In 1833, Dred Scott was sold to an army doctor named John Emerson. When Emerson died, they sued Missouri for their freedom. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates Abraham Lincoln was a successful lawyer. He was chosen to be the republican candidate for the senate. Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas challenged each other to debate in Illinois and agreed. Lincoln and ?The Little Giant? debated and Lincoln' side was hard to disagree with. The Attack On Harpers Ferry John Brown believed it was his duty to stop slavery. He put together a small army of eighteen men and marched into the south to seize some land. He expected slaves from all around to join him. No one did because he never informed anybody of his intentions. The Succession Crisis Lincoln had become president. When he made the comment, ?If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong,? it was a slap in the face to white southerners. The southern states left the union to continue slavery. This is what triggered the civil war. Fort Sumter Fort Sumter was one of three forts in South Carolina in Charleston. It was located on an island in the Charleston harbor. When James Buchanan, the president at that time, sent supplies to the fort there were cannons fired at the ship. These were the first shots fired in the civil war. Jefferson Davis Jefferson Davis from Mississippi was unanimously elected president of the confederate states of America. His vice president was Alexander Stephens from Georgia. He was elected to the house of representatives in eighteen eighty five. One year later, when the Mexican war broke out, he left congress to be a colonel in the army. Strengths and Weaknesses Economic North