Dred Scott Case, Elecion of 1860, secession in GA and Alexander Stephens' role

Dred Scott was a slave who lived in a free state. Many people would have thought that since he lived in a free state for two years he would have been considered a citizen. However, when he sued for his freedom, the supreme court ruled he was not a citizen so he could not sure anyone in court. This made the North mad since the supreme court ruled he was not a citizen because he was once a slave. The Election of 1860 was when President Abraham Lincoln won his presidency. After he won, South Carolina seceded first. Then on January 19, 1861 Georgia seceded. Even though Georgia did secede there were cooperationists who wanted to stay but the secessionists won the vote. Initially, Alexander Stephens was not completely sure if they should secede or not but eventually he realized it was unavoidable. He was then chosen as the Vice President of the Confederacy. He was in favor of the compromise of 1850 because it included the Fugitive Slave Act. He took part in the secession of Georgia because he realized it was going to happen and he helped them secede.

 
This is a picture of Dred Scott.
 http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=a44jYeoOEtuxOM&tbnid=9WW6js2FppAl_M:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpeopleus.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F06%2Frussia-and-us-in-early-years.html&ei=ZIPgUoaTJ8O2kQeajoHwAw&bvm=bv.59568121,d.eW0&psig=AFQjCNGzdKwRiiO912YwKV6P0gyiR69JrA&ust=1390531085188009

 
This is a picture of Alexander Stephens after he was appointed Vice President.
http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/Confederat_Cabinet_Photos/Alexander_Stephens.jpg

Missouri Compromise, Compromise of 1850, Fugitive Slave Act, Georgia Platform and Kansas-Nebraska Act

The Missouri Compromise was in 1820 when the state of Missouri was admitted into the United States as a slave state. However, they needed to keep the balance of free and slave states so Maine was admitted as a free state. They decided to not let slavery north of the 36 30 Parallel. When California wanted to join it would make the free-slave state numbers uneven so California was allowed as a free state. Since California was free, Texas gave up land and received $10 million. Slavery was then abolished in D.C to balance it out and the fugitive slave act was passed. This was known as the Compromise of 1850. The Fugitive Slave Act was if northerners found runaway slaves they were forced to return them to their owners. This made the northerners mad since they were against slavery. The slave act also made more federal agents to enforce the laws so it was harder to get away with anything and people were also denied a jury trial. Georgia Platform was also in 1850 along with the Compromise and the Slave Act. The Platform was when Georgia agreed to the Compromise with their own terms. The North had to obey the Fugitive Slave Act and couldn't try to ban slavery in new territories. The Kansas-Nebraska Act was when Kansas and Nebraska would vote on weather they would have slavery in their states or not. It repealed the Missouri Compromise when they did this.


This is a map of the United States after the Missouri Compromise.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Missouri_Compromise_Line.svg

 
This is a map of the United States in 1850 after the Compromise.
http://www.compromise-of-1850.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Compromise-of-1850-map.jpg

 This is a poster when a slave ran away so they could be returned.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=CDTdG0SDYaLxDM&tbnid=s80qP0ETDDjV2M:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Famericanabolitionist.liberalarts.iupui.edu%2Fresistance.htm&ei=RKTdUq3kEYSUkQf5y4DYDA&bvm=bv.59568121,d.eW0&psig=AFQjCNFmoZUa0Riq8dt3TL2XXwAkclo0Sw&ust=1390343577779702

States' rights, nullification and Sectionalism

States' rights are that the needs of the state should come before the needs of the federal government. In 1832, South Carolina asserted their states rights by ignoring the federal tariff law. This almost caused war because president Jackson sent troops out to South Carolina. The goods the South produced also became more expensive for the North to buy. The North was mad about this which is why states'  rights lead to the civil war. The Nullification Crisis was a huge problem in the United States because the South opposed the federal tariff. Sectionalism is the tension between regions of the county, in this case America. It was also a cause of the Civil War because it is the opposite of nationalism. Nationalism is the love for one's country. There was North-South tension because they were progressing in different ways. The North had more factories and were manufacturing more while the South were still mainly agriculture based. The North did not agree how the South owned slaves. However, in the South the people had more land with more farms which needed slaves to maintain.

This picture shows how the States were divided due to states' rights.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRt2mcc131MZw7RLfR0hR4VuCUPQ_xH8v3fA4BSD8qH0IX6HRyaAosWVDYEzF4a7xywAkizRyH1NDFs4raGbzQc4q8X4wp40hEu8RhwcgTwEPnMLZZcac5k2GoEEFixrdr7dN63s1fBlGf/s320/civil-war-cartoon.jpg*



This is a picture of how the United States was split during sectionalism and the civil war.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USA_Map_1864_including_Civil_War_Divisions.png

Confederate and Union srengths/weaknesses and First Battles

The Confederate and the Union both had strengths and weaknesses. The Confederate had much better generals who could fight and liked to fight. The Union generals did not like to fight and didn't take the war very seriously in the beginning. The Confederate had the advantage of fighting on their own land so they were not worried about gaining land unlike the Union. The South depended on the North for their every day things so when they were fighting they were cut off from them. The Union had twice as many men so they had a big advantage because they had more men to fight. There was better transportation in the north so they could transport goods and people. The first battle of the Civil War was Fort Sumpter or Sumter off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina. Lincoln gave South Carolina a choice to either wait to shoot or go ahead and fire. When they attacked on April 12,1861, the war began. After two days of fighting, Fort Sumpter was taken by the northern states. The next battle was Bull Run or Manassas at Bull Run Creek. The Union troops attacked The Confederate troops where they were stationed but the Union didn't take the battle very seriously because northerners went with picnic baskets to watch the fighting. During the fighting The Union troops had killed most of the Confederate troops but when they thought it was over Stonewall Jackson's reinforcement troops came. That was when The Union realized the war was going to take more effort, time and money than they thought. September 17,1862 the battle of Antietam or Sharpsburg took place. It was the bloodiest single-day battle however there was no official winner. In 1862, The Union only won two of the battles they fought so because the Union did not technically loose the battle, Lincoln considered it a win and put the Emancipation Proclamation into effect.

This is a picture of the battle of Antietam since it lasted only one day and it was the bloodiest battle.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=UCgfEjMq3-qi-M&tbnid=3q5ImzIly4lumM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jenjdanna.com%2Fblog%2F2012%2F2%2F21%2Fforensic-case-files-147-years-after-the-battle-of-antietam-a.html&ei=jpLdUvHTNoi6kQfit4DoBw&psig=AFQjCNGPnxCz9qJzrsBtGcp2x3TzX02Mfg&ust=1390338839859382