Civil War Dbq

In the early to mid 1800s, the changing economy and conflicting views of the north and south regarding slavery caused conflict which eventually led to the civil war. In the 1830s, people mainly did everything for themselves and did not rely on the government. After the invention of the cotton gin, looms and machines replaced the manual way of doing things. Also, people now wanted land to plant and grow cotton and workers to harvest it, so the need for slaves increased. The cotton gin turned America from a self-sufficient farm economy to a capitalist market economy. Instead of relying on themselves, people now went to stores and markets and worked to earn wages. In 1803 the Louisiana Purchase took place, and it doubled the size of the

The compromise of 1850 was a series of resolutions to the issue of slavery. As part of the Compromise of 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act was amended and the slave trade in Washington, D.C., was abolished. Also, California entered the Union as a free state and a territorial government was created in Utah. The Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed by the U.S. Congress on May 30, 1854. It allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders. The Act was also meant to repeal the Missouri Compromise. The Dred Scott decision was an influential political action. The Missouri compromise was deemed unconstitutional and all states in which slavery was illegal become legal because slaves were considered property and the government can’t take away property. All of these events contributed to the Civil War but, the Dred Scott decision made it

This caused armed Missouri slave-owners who were fearful that their slaves might escape into Kansas if it remained free land to travel over the borders to vote. Less than 2,000 people qualified to vote were enrolled but, the number of votes cast that day exceeded 6,000, most of them supporting slavery. The new legislature set up a code of laws providing prison sentences for those who said slavery was not legal in Kansas. It said that the death penalty would be given for anyone that helped a slave escape and 2 years in jail for having abolitionists readings (Hughes 46). This angered the anti-slavery party even more which called a new convention in Topeka, drafted a new constitution, and set up a separate government. This shows how the Kansas-Nebraska Bill did more harm than good and ended up divided Americans and ultimately causing more conflict between the anti-slavery party and supporters of slavery. The Kansas-Nebraska act was the first real act of violence that helped to fuel the war but it did not make it inevitable