Learn about the time before the Civil War that helped lead to the conflict. Pre-War, Secession, the Dred Scott decision, as well as the causes of the Civil War.
Bleeding Kansas was the name given to the violence that occurred in the Kansas territory between 1854-58 when anti- and pro-slavery forces fought for control of the territory. Learn more about this event in American History.
Read the text of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.
The Compromise of 1850 was a group of five bills that were intended to stave off sectional strife that would eventually lead to the Civil War. Learn more about the background and content of these bills.
The Wilmot Proviso was an inflammatory piece of legislation in the 1840's that was proposed by David Wilmot of Pennsylvania.
This nice little timeline from the History Place is easy to read, and includes several photos that are "clickable" for a larger view.
On March 6, 1857, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney read the majority opinion of the Supreme Court, which was that black people were not citizens of the United States and, that Congress had no authority to ban slavery from a federal territory. From Washington University (MO.) site.
The Crittenden Compromise was perhaps the last-ditch effort to resolve the secession crisis of 1860-61 by political negotiation. Authored by Kentucky Senator John Crittenden it was an attempt to resolve the crisis by addressing the concerns that led the states of the Lower South to contemplate secession.
Jim Epperson's site shows how the causes were many, involving many thoughts, documents and decisions. Look through them all, and you will find a very thorough work here.
Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas give their causes for secession. A lengthy text site, but then, they had a lot to say.
This section is from the wonderful Valley of the Shadow site. This outline looks at the secession votes, the formation of the Confederacy, and final attempts to preserve the Union before the war.
Want to find out about the causes of the Civil War from the primary source documents? Here are the 1856 and 1860 Republican Platforms along with four state Declarations of Causes of Secession and more.
