Discovering Our Past: The American Journey to World War I

Chapter 12: Road to Civil War

Chapter Overview

The abolitionist movement grew in numbers and in strength during this time. William Lloyd Garrison and the Grimké sisters spoke out publicly against slavery. Although these and other white abolitionists drew public attention to the cause, African Americans themselves played a major role in antislavery efforts. Frederick Douglass was the most widely known African American abolitionist. Others took more direct action in leading enslaved people to freedom. The Underground Railroad helped runaway slaves from the South reach freedom and safety in the North. The most famous “conductor” on this train was Harriet Tubman.

Between 1819 and 1860 events led the United States closer to a civil war. The major issue in these events was slavery in the territories. In 1819 Missouri applied to Congress to join the United States. The admission of Missouri, a slave state, would have upset the balance of 11 slave states and 11 free states that existed in the Union. The Missouri Compromise offset the admission of Missouri with that of a free state, Maine. When California sought statehood in 1850 another compromise was needed. The Compromise of 1850 admitted California as a free state, but removed restrictions on slavery in the New Mexico territory and created a stronger fugitive slave law. When conflict arose again over the Kansas and Nebraska territories, Stephen A. Douglas's plan—popular sovereignty—was applied to the new territories. In Kansas, proslavery and antislavery forces clashed violently.

As the issue of slavery divided the nation, antislavery Whigs and Democrats joined with Free-Soilers to form the Republican party. The Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision also contributed to the sectional controversy. Chief Justice Taney's ruling stated that there was no constitutional provision that could prohibit slavery anywhere. By 1860 many Southerners felt that they could no longer stay in the Union. The election of Republican Abraham Lincoln led several Southern states to secede. They formed the Confederate States of America. After Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter, a federal fort in Charleston Harbor in South Carolina, President Lincoln issued a call for troops. The Civil War had begun.