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Causes of the Civil War

Prompt

Each Team has the following events Team 3: Compromise of 1850, Bleeding Kansas, Lecompton Constitution

For each event/ person, you need to answer the following: - Who (name key people directly/indirectly involved) - What (describe the event or what the person did) - When (when did this happen? consider the context) - Where (what are the specific locations that this happened and/or were affected?) - Why (why did it happen? what led up to this event?) Significance (how did the event/person curtail or provoke the civil war?)

Once you have done this, you need to put the information in a group timeline on the Timeline page. (Everything just needs to be in order with dates-be creative but do not stress)

All sources used should be properly cited and added to the Annotated Bibliography page. If you use some of the same sources, like your textbook, they only need to be listed once.

Response

Who:

  • The Senate, Daniel Webster, John Calhoun, Henry Clay,
  • Border Ruffians, John Brown
  • Pro-slavery advocates

What:

The compromise consisted of multiple acts to mitigate tensions between the North and the South. It included the admitting of California as a free state, allowing Kansas and Nebraska to decide wether to have slavery based on popular sovereignty, Texan-New Mexico border revision, and the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Bleeding Kansas was "a term used to describe the violence between pro slavery and antislavery supporters in Kansas from 1854 to 1856"

When

  • 1850
  • 1854-1859
  • 1859

Where

  • Washington D.C 0
  • Kansas
  • Lecompton Kansas

Why

  • California attracted thousands of adventurers, and California eventually would want to join the union. People were conflicted with whether or not California should join as a free state or a slave state. The debate of entering as a free or slave state also emerged in Nebraska and Kansas, where Congress needed to decide how to admit the states.
  • As Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska act, people began settling to Kansas to gain political power. Abolitionists and pro-slavery tensions eventually lead to bloody conflicts, hence the name "Bleeding Kansas"
  • The Lecompton Constituion was created after Border Ruffians went to Kansas and persuaded the residence

Significance

  • The Compromise of 1850 delayed the Civil War by a decade by keeping the Union from splitting.
  • Bleeding Kansas, 55 was killed and was a key event before and similar to the Civil War since they both debated about the future of slavery.
  • The Lecompton Constitution had stuff protecting slave-holding and the bill of rights excluding free black people which added more feuds that led to the Civil War.

Timeline

1850

The Compromise of 1850

1855

Proslavery settlers set up a territorial government near the border of Missouri

1856

Topkean government had petition Congress for statehood, Border Ruffians raided the antislavery, violent outbreaks occurred in various locales around Lawrence

1859

Lecompton Constitution proposed

Annotated Bibliography

Compromise of 1850 - Summary, Significance & Facts - History. www.history.com/topics/abolitionist-movement/compromise-of-1850

Lapsansky-Werner, Emma J., et al. US History Interactive. Savvas Learning, 2022.