Four Heavy Straws and One Weak Camel

1. Four Heavy Straws and One Weak Camel Prelude to the Civil War

2. Missouri Compromise • The compromise was meant to regulate slavery in the Western States. • It prohibited slavery in the former Louisiana Territory, north of the 36th Parallel except within the boundaries of the proposed state of Missouri • To balance the addition of a slave state (Missouri), a new northern free state was added (Maine).

3. Dred Scott • Dred Scott was a slave from Missouri who moved with his owner to Illinois, Wisconsin, and then back to Missouri, where his owner promptly died. • Scott filed a lawsuit arguing that since he lived in a free state, he had become a free man. • The Supreme Court disagreed.

4. Dred Scott Decision • They ruled that: • Scott could not file a lawsuit, because he was a slave and slaves can’t be citizens. • Slaves are property. • Congress does not have the right to outlaw slavery in any territory, therefore the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional.

5. John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry • Brown was a radical abolitionists. • Led 18 men against a Federal armoury in Virginia, where he hoped that slaves would join him and take part in a revolt, but no slaves arrived. • His revolt is brutal supressed by Robert E. Lee. • Southerners were outraged by this revolt, many Northerners consider him a martyr.

6. Abe’s Ascendancy • The Republicans –a new party created by those who wanted to keep slavery out of the Western Territories. • The Democratic Party (Predominately Southerners) were split on the issue of slavery, so they chose two candidates for the Presidential Election of 1860) • Lincoln wins only the North and wins the elections, many Southerners felt they no longer had a say in the National Government.