March 16, 2007 - On the Edge of War, Part II

Today's agenda:
1. On the Edge of Civil War (pg 45)
2. Benchmark Review (pg 48-49)
HW: Benchmark Review and Prepare INB
REMINDER: INB Check on Tuesday, 3/20; Benchmark Exam on Thursday, 3/22

Today we finished our discussion as America is "On the Edge of Civil War." Our discussion focused on four different events that led us up to the Civil War: the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry, the Election of 1860, and the firing on Fort Sumter.

Two of these events, the John Brown raid and Lincoln's victory in 1860, were the two events that just sent the South over the edge. The Harpers Ferry incident created a fear within white Southerners that one day a slave revolt might come to their own hometown. Lincoln's Presidential victory demonstrated that a Northerner no longer needed the electoral votes of the South to get elected to the most powerful position in the United States. By December 1860, Southerners felt both fearful and politically powerless. South Carolina had had enough, and voted for secession on December 20.

By the time Lincoln was inaugurated on March 4, 1861, seven slave states had left the Union. Lincoln faced the first challenge to his Constitutional authority at Fort Sumter. With less than 100 troops at the fort facing starvation, he knew he had to resupply his men. He also saw his opportunity to draw the South into a conflict without looking like the aggressor. The rest is Civil War history.

RVI