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Follow the timeline to learn about the causes of the Civil War. Record a summary of each event in your gallery walk chart.

Along the way, there are videos, prompts for you to consider, and documents to explore as you follow the path to war.

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1619 - The First Africans Arrive in Virginia

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1619 - The First Africans Arrive in Virginia

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As tobacco farmers and other cash-crop farmers prospered in the colonies, they greatly expanded the size of their farms. Because of the resulting need for workers to plant, grow, and harvest the crops, farmers turned to African slaves to fulfill their growing labor needs. The first Africans arrived in Virginia in 1619. During the colonial period, approximately 250,000 Africans were imported to the colonies. The vast majority of these slaves were concentrated in the agriculturally intensive Southern Colonies, although all of the English colonies allowed and had slaves during the colonial period.

The African slaves who were forced to fill this labor role in the American colonies were brought to North America on crowded and dangerous slave ships along the previously mentioned Middle Passage portion of the trans-Atlantic trade routes. The slaves were originally captured through the African slave trade within the African continent and then brought to the West African coast for barter with European slavers. Rum, cloth, weapons, and other manufactured goods from Europe were traded for Africans. Between three and four hundred slaves were packed into cargo holds of slave ships bound for North America. Sickness, fear, and brutality was the common experience for slaves on the Middle Passage. About two of every ten slaves died during the Middle Passage.

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Do you think the Civil War could have been avoided? Why or why not?

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July 4, 1776 – The Final Draft of the Declaration of Independence is Written

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July 4, 1776 – The Final Draft of the Declaration of Independence is Written

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The Declaration of Independence was the ideological explanation for American independence. Although Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the document, he was one member of the Committee of Five who had been tasked with drafting a statement to represent the Continental Congress delegates’ decision to seek independence from Britain. After about two weeks of diligent work, Jefferson presented the draft to some of the other members of the Committee of Five for review. They made only a few minor adjustments and the document was provided to the full Continental Congress on June 28, 1776 for consideration. A few sticking points emerged that caused more revisions to be made to Jefferson’s draft. In all, there were eighty-sixchanges made by the Continental Congress to Jefferson’s draft before it was finally adopted on July 4, 1776. The major revisions to the document concerned slavery. Some of the delegates from Southern Colonies refused to sign the document as written by Jefferson because it was critical of slavery. All references to slavery were consequently struck from the document.

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In this scene, John Adams, Ben Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson are discussing whether or not to include an anti-slavery statement in the Declaration of Independence.

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John Adams - Writing the Declaration of Independence (with subs)

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1787 – The 3/5 Compromise Leads to the U.S. Constitution

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1787 – The 3/5 Compromise Leads to the U.S. Constitution

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A divisive and controversial issue that confronted delegates at the Constitutional Convention was slavery. Though slavery existed in all the states, southern states depended on slave labor because their economies were based on producing cash crops. When it became clear that states with large populations might have more representatives in the new national government, states with large slave populations demanded to be allowed to count their slaves as a part of their population. Northern states resisted. Both sides compromised and agreed to the provisions of the Three-Fifths Compromise in the final plan for the new government. The Three-Fifths Compromise allowed states to count three-fifths of their slaves when calculating their entire population. Also, to protect the practice of slavery, states with large numbers of slaves demanded that the compromise include provisions for the new government to allow for the continuation of the slave trade for 20 years and for northern states to return runaway slaves to their owners. Thirty-nine of the fifty-five delegates signed the final draft of the new United States Constitution on September 17, 1787. The proposed Constitution was then sent to each state for ratification at state conventions.

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What is an example of a compromise that you have made in your life?

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The issue of slavery has been present in American politics since the nation’s inception. Slavery was an issue when Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence. The delegates to the Constitutional Convention created a series of compromises addressing slavery to placate Southerners at Philadelphia. Jefferson and Washington spoke out against slavery and freed their own slaves upon death. Both historical figures have been scrutinized for the contradiction of owning slaves while speaking out against the practice. Slavery was prohibited in the Northwest Territories by federal law so that slave holding was confined to those states south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

Prior to the cotton gin, slavery was nearly dead in the Upper South, awaiting its final benediction by state legislatures, and was dying a slow death in the Lower South. The cotton gin and westward expansion revived slavery. Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in 1793. It is a machine that rapidly removes cotton plant seeds from the valuable cotton fiber used to make thread and fabric. By producing more cotton in a day than any person could clean by hand, the gin reduced the cost of processing cotton and greatly raised the profit from growing it. To further cut costs and raise profits, unskilled slaves were often put to work running the cotton gins in southern states.

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Document Analysis: Patent for the Cotton Gin

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Document Analysis: Patent for the Cotton Gin

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Click here to see Eli Whitney's original patent for the cotton gin.

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1818 – American Colonization Society is established

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1818 – American Colonization Society is established

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Abolition movements existed in America since the colonial period when the Quakers led the effort to end slavery. Their popularity waned after the American Revolution but were renewed in the 1830s as part of the Second Great Awakening reform movements. Three groups of abolitionists emerged during this period. One group, the American Colonization Society (1818) called for the emancipation and transportation of freed slaves back to Africa to be settled in the new colony of Liberia.

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Why do you think the American Colonization Society was so popular during this time period?

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Slavery was already a common practice in the Missouri territory that was applying to become a state, which concerned the Northern Senators. If Missouri came into the United States as a slave state, it would tip the balance of the Senate in favor of the South. Another issue that concerned the North about Missouri’s application for statehood was the fact that it was the first territory from the region of the Louisiana Purchase that was prepared to enter the Union as a state. Missouri’s slave status would set a precedent for future states forming from that area. The South also worried about attempts by Northern Senators to limit slavery within the new state.

Henry Clay, a leading Congressman from Kentucky, is credited with putting together a compromise that resolved the issue. A key component of his plan hinged on the fact that Maine had also petitioned the Senate for admission to the Union. Maine had previously been part of Massachusetts and was slated to become a separate state. Clay’s Missouri Compromise included the following provisions. First, Maine would enter as a free state and Missouri would enter as a slave state, thus preserving the balance in the Senate. Second, the rest of the Louisiana Territory would be subject to a geographic division at the 36’30’’ line of latitude (Missouri’s southern border). Slavery would be prohibited north of the line. Slavery would remain untouched south of the line.

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1830s – 1850s – “Perfect Equilibrium” Period

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1830s – 1850s – “Perfect Equilibrium” Period

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Politicians in the first third of the 1800s sought to maintain “a perfect equilibrium” on the issue of slavery in several ways. First, by maintaining an equal number of slave and free states. The second way to maintain peace was to prevent slavery from becoming a divisive issue through the passage of the “gag” rule, which prevented the discussion of slavery in the House of Representatives from 1836-1844. Third, division over slavery was minimized by continuing the process of working out compromises on the issue in the 1850s. However, as the mid-western and northern states continued to grow in economic power and population (political representation), slavery became increasingly entangled in every political issue facing the nation, such as nullification, states’ rights, and the admission of new territories as states.

Party politics were also affected by slavery. The two-party political system re-emerged in the early 1830s with the birth of the Whig Party. The party was short-lived as the issue of slavery fatally split the party by the end of the 1850s. New parties that were far more vocal on abolition, such as the Liberty Party and the Free-Soil Party, formed in the 1850s. These parties caused great fear among southerners who felt increasingly besieged, but by 1860 nearly all of these minor parties had self-destructed.

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How are politics in the 19th century similar and/or different from the politics of modern day America?

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Slave rebellions also began to occur and caused slave owners to implement even more harsh restrictions on slaves. The Black preacher, Nat Turner, believed his mission on Earth was to free his people from slavery. Seeing an 1831 solar eclipse as a message from God, he led a slave rebellion on four Virginia plantations. Approximately 60 whites were killed before Turner and his followers were captured, tried, and executed. Fear and anger over the murder of primarily white women and children led to many innocent Blacks becoming victims of mob violence. Virginia, a state that had been considering a ban on slavery, instead passed a series of laws to strengthen the institution of slavery.Other southern states quickly passed laws that emulated Virginia’s revised slave codes to reflect more strict control.

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Document Analysis: The Confession of Nat Turner

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Document Analysis: The Confession of Nat Turner

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Did slave rebellions like Nat Turner's help or hurt the anti-slavery cause?

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1833 – American Anti-Slavery Society is established

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1833 – American Anti-Slavery Society is established

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The American Anti-Slavery Society (1833), was led by William Lloyd Garrison and called for immediate emancipation by any means necessary. Some of the most notable abolitionists were William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, and the Grimke Sisters. Garrison was the leading voice for many reform movements and abolition was a particularly important cause to him. He was the founder and editor of the Liberator newspaper, the leading abolitionist newspaper known for graphic stories of the bad treatment slaves endured.

Frederick Douglass was a former slave who worked for Garrison in the abolitionist movement. Douglass traveled widely giving eloquent speeches and publishing his own autobiography and an antislavery newspaper – The North Star. Douglass is considered by many to be the most influential former slave or free Black in the abolitionist movement. Sarah and Angelina Grimke were white southern women who lectured publicly throughout the northern states about the evils of slavery they had witnessed growing up on a plantation.

The abolition campaign included both men and women; Northerners and some Southerners. For the first time, Blacks began to play a significant role in the movement. Instead of a gradualist approach, the new abolitionists advocated for immediate emancipation without compensation for slave owners. Abolition became a divisive issue as the southern states reacted against growing hostility in the North toward slavery.

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AMERICAN EXPERIENCE | The Abolitionists - Angelina Grimké | PBS

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1844 – James K. Polk becomes President; Manifest Destiny begins

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1844 – James K. Polk becomes President; Manifest Destiny begins

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Manifest Destiny was a phrase coined to describe the belief that America was to expand and settle the entire continent of North America. Westward expansion was a pivotal issue in the 1844 Presidential election. Texas was not a state at the time and was a region heavily entrenched in slavery. Many Northerners were opposed to the annexation of Texas due to the slavery issue and its political implications. Southern Democrat James K. Polk was a true expansionist who believed in Manifest Destiny and wanted to annex Texas and take claim of Oregon and California. He became the eleventh President of the United States after winning a close election in 1844. Once in office, Polk added to the nation's western lands by annexing Texas and part of Oregon. Many Americans believed that expansion across the continent was the destiny of the United States. Others worried that the bold acquisition of land would lead to war.

The United States, under the leadership of President James K. Polk, took Texas into the Union in 1845. As a result, war broke out between the United States and Mexico over differing frontier claims in Texas. The war proved to be swift and decisive as Mexico lost not only their land claim in Texas, but also all of California and New Mexico to the United States. The victory in the Mexican War soon pitted the North and South against one another as the United States wrestled with the slavery issue in the newly acquired lands. Sectionalism became even more bitter and the United States was quickly headed down a path towards Civil War.

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Document Analysis: O'Sullivan on Manifest Destiny

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Document Analysis: O'Sullivan on Manifest Destiny

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The Mexican War began after the United States annexed Texas and insisted that the new border with Mexico was the Rio Grande River, while Mexico believed it was a river further north. Mexico believed that the United States had set its sights on the Mexican territories of New Mexico and California. The United States had twice attempted to purchase the territories from Mexico.

When President Polk sent American soldiers to the banks of the Rio Grande River, the Mexican Army attacked the army. The United States attacked on two fronts. First, US forces occupied California. Second, a large American force invaded Mexico from Texas. Mexican forces were defeated and the United States occupied much of northern Mexico.

As the war was coming to a quick conclusion, the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo was negotiated and signed in early 1848. The Mexican American War led to slavery tensions by expanding the free/slave state debate into additional territory and increasing the sectional tension between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions.

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Color the map on your gallery walk to show the expansion of the U.S.

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The discovery of gold in California in 1848 rapidly increased the population of the territory past the 100,000 citizens necessary for statehood. Californians drew up a state constitution that outlawed slavery. Southerners argued that the exclusion of slavery in the territory violated the Missouri Compromise (the 36’30 line split the state).Northerners already controlled the House of Representatives and Southerners feared the admission of California would upset the balance of free and slave states. Henry Clay, known as the Great Compromiser, and other senators finally presented a plan that he hoped would solve this heated impasse.

The provisions of the compromise included:
1. The state of New Mexico would be established by carving its borders from the state of Texas.
2. New Mexico's voters would determine whether the state would permit or prohibit slavery.
3. California would be admitted as a free state.
4. All citizens of the United States, regardless of region, would be required to apprehend runaway slaves and return them to their owners. Those who failed to do so would be fined or imprisoned.
5. The slave trade would be abolished in the District of Columbia, but the practice of slavery would be allowed to continue there.

Despite the Compromise of 1850's passage, sectional tension over slavery was eased for only a short time.

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The breathtaking courage of Harriet Tubman - Janell Hobson

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Map Analysis: Underground Railroad Routes

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Map Analysis: Underground Railroad Routes

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Use the map to respond to the questions on your gallery walk handout.

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In 1854, Congress again took up the issue of slavery in proposed states and territories. Stephen A. Douglas included a provision using popular sovereignty, which would allow the citizens of the territory to decide whether or not slavery would be allowed. Southerners hoped that by allowing the people to decide the issue that more slave states could be added. After a great deal of rancorous debate, the bill was approved and became known as the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

The passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act had several effects. First, the law virtually repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the Compromise of 1850. Settlers in all new territories would have the right to decide for themselves whether their new home would be a free or slave state. The second effect was that pro- and antislavery groups both hurried into Kansas in an attempt to create voting majorities there. Antislavery abolitionists came from eastern states; proslavery settlers came mainly from neighboring Missouri. Violence between the two sides created warlike conditions that led to the territory being referred to as "Bleeding Kansas." The third effect of the Kansas-Nebraska Act was that it split existing political parties into regional factions and gave rise to the new Republican Party. The common cause that attracted supporters to the Republican Party was opposition to slavery.

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How one piece of legislation divided a nation - Ben Labaree, Jr.

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1857 – Scott v. Sanford Supreme Court Decision

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1857 – Scott v. Sanford Supreme Court Decision

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Another event that led the country toward Civil War was the Supreme Court ruling in Scott v. Sanford. Often referred to as the Dred Scott decision, the 1857 ruling settled a lawsuit in which a slave named Dred Scott claimed he should be a free man. Scott had lived with his master in slave states and in free states and believed he had been held illegally in the free states. The Supreme Court rejected Scott's claim, ruling that no enslaved or free Black could be a citizen of the United States. The Court said Congress could not prohibit slavery in federal territories. Thus, the Court found that popular sovereignty and the Missouri Compromise of 1820 were unconstitutional.

The Dred Scott decision gave slavery the protection of the United States Constitution. In essence, nothing short of a constitutional amendment could end slavery - an event not likely to occur. Proslavery Americans welcomed the Court's ruling as proof they had been right during their long struggle against abolitionists. In contrast, abolitionists convinced many state legislatures to declare the Dred Scott decision not binding within their state borders. The new Republican Party said that if its candidate were elected President in 1860, he would appoint a new Supreme Court that would reverse the Dred Scott ruling.

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Charting History: How a Case Gets to the Supreme Court

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Charting History: How a Case Gets to the Supreme Court

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On your gallery walk handout, label the steps for a case to get to the Supreme Court.

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1859 – John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry

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1859 – John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry

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Violence over slavery escalated as the compromises were not producing a lasting policy. John Brown, an ardent abolitionist, decided to fight slavery with violence and killing. In 1856, believing he was chosen by God to end slavery, Brown commanded family members and other abolitionists to attack proslavery settlers in Kansas killing five men. Leaving Kansas, Brown decided to begin a slave war in the east by seizing arms and munitions and leading slaves in rebellion. In 1859, John Brown led a group of White and Black men in a raid on the federal armory at Harper's Ferry, Virginia (in modern-day West Virginia) in hopes of arming slaves for a rebellion. The raid failed and US Marines, led by Colonel Robert E. Lee, captured Brown. Eventually, Brown was convicted of treason against the state of Virginia and executed by hanging.

At first, many Northerners and Southerners were horrified by Brown's actions. Eventually, many Northerners came to respect what Brown had done, viewing him as a martyr for the abolitionist movement. Southerners were angered. Many in the South viewed Brown as a terrorist killer, a man that sought to incite a slave rebellion that would have led to the slaughter of hundreds of men, women, and children. Vocal Northern support of Brown's actions did little to calm an anxious South. Invoking the specter of the Nat Turner Rebellion nearly 20 years earlier, southern states began to strengthen and train their state militias. A war between the North and the South was becoming a real possibility.

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Spotlight: Lincoln and the Rise of the Republican Party

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Spotlight: Lincoln and the Rise of the Republican Party

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Abraham Lincoln and the Rise of the Republicans

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The trigger that set the Civil War in motion was the victory of the Republican candidate, Abraham Lincoln, in the election of 1860. The sectionalism of the 1850s led to a split within the Democratic Party. The Northern Democrats nominated Stephen Douglas of Illinois and the Southern Democrats nominated John Breckenridge of Kentucky to be the nominees in the 1860 Presidential election. Some of the old Whigs formed the Constitutional Union Party and nominated John Bell of Tennessee as their candidate. Their positions on slavery were important to the outcome of the election. Lincoln believed that slavery should not be allowed to expand to the territories, but he would not interfere in states where it already existed. Douglas believed in popular sovereignty. Breckenridge viewed slaves as property. Bell did not commit to a position on slavery but was most interested in the union of the United States. The election fell along regional lines with Lincoln carrying the more populated North and thus the Electoral College.

Upon Lincoln's election, South Carolina voted to secede (separate from) the United States. Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and then Texas followed South Carolina in their break from the United States. These Lower South states were the original seven members of the Confederate States of America. Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina also joined the Confederacy. All of the events of the 1850s contributed to the outbreak of Civil War, but it was the election of Lincoln that triggered its actual beginning.

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Excerpt: Alexander Stephens' "Cornerstone Speech," 1861

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Excerpt: Alexander Stephens' "Cornerstone Speech," 1861

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This is an excerpt from Stephens' speech that demonstrates Southern views of slavery and its role in the American Civil War.

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Which event was the most significant in the road to the Civil War? Why?