Causes of the Civil War

1. Causes of the Civil War

2. Fugitive Slave Act 1850 • Strengthened Act of 1793 • Can’t testify • Penalties were increased for helping fugitives, including imprisonment. • Allowed slave-hunters to seize alleged fugitive slaves without due process of law (following established procedures of law) • Can’t aid escaping fugitives or obstructing their recovery. • Section 6: “In no trial or hearing under this act shall the testimony of such alleged fugitive be admitted in evidence”

3. Fugitive Slave Law 1793 • denied constitutional rights to slaves, as well as freedmen. • Not allowed jury trials • refused permission to present proof of their freedom • Constitutional protection of slavery • Federal crime to assist an escaping slave • Fugitive-for-life • Slave-catching • Free blacks were sometimes unlawfully seized by slave-catchers and sold into slavery. • The Underground Railroad developed in response to it.

4. Fugitive Slave Act 1793 • Section 5 “…should any marshal or deputy marshal refuse to receive such warrant, or other process, when tendered, or to use all proper means diligently to execute the same, he shall, on conviction thereof, be fined in the sum of one thousand dollars…”

5. Fugitive Slave Caught

6. Northerners Capture Freeman

7. Fugitive Slave Act 1850 Section 7 “shall rescue, or attempt to rescue, such fugitive from service or labor, from the custody…or shall aid, abet, or assist such person so owing service or labor…, to escape …or shall harbor or conceal such fugitive, so as to prevent the discovery and arrest of such person, be subject to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, and imprisonment not exceeding six months…”

8. Fugitive Slave Ad

9. Fugitive Slave Reward

10. Anthony Burns Capture • Fugitive slave was captured in Boston • Citizens fought to aid in his release

11. Effects of the Fugitive Slave Law 1850 • The law threatened the safety of all blacks, slave and free • Many Northerners become more defiant in their support of fugitives • Increased activity on the Underground RR

12. Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) • Harriet Beecher Stowe • Cruelties of slavery--the separation of family members • Sold 300,000 copies the first year • More Northerners oppose expansion of slavery • infuriated Southerners • "So you're the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war.” –Abraham Lincoln

13. Uncle Tom’s Cabin Excerpt • “On the lower part of a small, mean boat, on the Red River, Tom sat ­ chains on his wrists, chains on his feet, and a weight heavier than chains lay on his heart. All had faded from his sky... all had passed by him, as the trees and banks were now passing, to return no more. Kentucky home, with wife and children, indulgent owners…”

14. Kansas-Nebraska Act • Bill to organize the Nebraska Territory • Divides it into Kansas and Nebraska • Popular Sovereignty would be used to determine if the territory would be free or slave • Passed, destroyed Missouri Compromise of 1820 • “Bloody Kansas” • Proslavery forces cross the border into Kansas • Anti-slavery forces refuse to recognize the pro-slavery government

15. Compromise of 1850 vs.Kansas Nebraska Act Map

16. Political Cartoon

17. Martyr or Madman?

18. What events continued to increase tensions between the North and South and lead the nation towards war? Assignment: • Read “Dred Scott” & Complete Questions