The OTHER causes

In the last post, the main cause of the Civil War (slavery) was discussed. However, some other causes were mentioned, the second most important of these was States' Rights. States' Rights were the powers not awarded to the federal government. Many people in the South believed that it should be up to the state whether or not it should be a slave state or a free state. In order to try and remedy this issue, the federal government passed the Missouri compromise. This compromise stated that and state below 36º 30' was a slave state and any state above that line -except Missouri- was free. This compromise worked for a time but the ruling of the Dred Scott Case overturned the act. The Dred Scott v. Sanford was a legal suit where a slave (Dred Scott) claimed that since he had lived in a free state for a period of time, he was now free. This case was taken to the Supreme court and the justices ruled:

1. That since slaves were not citizens of the United States and could not sue in Federal courts.
2. The Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional and that Congress did not have the authority to prohibit slavery in the territories.
3. Dred Scott was still a slave.

With the Missouri Compromise overturned, a new act was introduced; The Compromise of 1850. This compromise brought California into the US as a free state and Texas as a slave state. It also created New Mexico and Utah, these states were given the right of "popular sovereignty" which allowed the citizens of said states vote on whether or not to be a slave state. The slave trade was also banned in Washington D.C. The most controversial part of the compromise was the Fugitive Slave act, this act required citizens to help recover runaway slaves. This compromise alleviated arguments for a while but inevitably caused more controversy. This resulted in the Kansas-Nebraska act (also called the Bleeding Kansas act). This created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska and also gave the new territories popular sovereignty. The Kansas- Nebraska act was the last legal attempt to unite the North and South once and for all.