Transcript Civil War - Willis High School

Civil War
Vocabulary
• Amendment – a change made to a law
• Federalism – power is distributed between a national
government and the states
• Freedmen – a person who has been freed from slavery.
• Martial Law – rule by an army instead of civil
authorities.
• Secede – to withdraw, in this case, from the U.S.
• Sectionalism – excessive devotion to local interests and
customs to a region of a nation.
• Sharecropper – a tenant farmer who receives a share
of the value of the crop minus charges for rent and
other expenses.
A Nation Divided
• 1861 Texas joins ten
other southern states
that withdrew from the
US
– Formed the
Confederate States of
America
• Differences:
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Taxes
Public land
State rights
Slavery
Southern States Vow to Secede
• Southern states
threatened to secede if
Lincoln won in 1860
• Abraham Lincoln won and
six states seceded
– South Carolina, Mississippi,
Florida, Alabama, Georgia,
Louisiana
• Governor Sam Houston
was urged to secede, but
he opposed secession
– Believed Texas could
preserve its interests by
staying in the Union
Texas Secession Convention
• Even though Sam
Houston opposed
secession, Texans that
favored leaving the union
called a convention
– Believed the citizens
should have the right to
vote secede or remain
• Most delegates opposed
secession and did not
participate in the
convention
Texas Secession Convention
• Those that did attend
favored secession
– Adopted the Ordinance
of Secession
– Stated the US had
abused its power and
Texas was freed from its
allegiance to the US
• Texas became the sixth
state to secede
– Followed by Virginia,
Arkansas, Tennessee,
North Carolina
Confederacy Formed
• February 4, 1861
Confederate States of
America adopted a
constitution
• Constitution favored
states rights and
protected slavery
• Texas then adopted the
Texas Constitution of
1861
– Replaced references to
the US with Confederacy
Houston Removed
• Texas Secession
Committee ordered all
state officials to take an
oath of allegiance to
the Confederacy
• Governor Sam Houston
refused to take the oath
and the governor’s
position became vacant
• Lt. Governor Edward
Clark replaced Sam
Houston
Assignment
• Place the following events in chronological
order
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–
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Texas joins the Confederacy
Abraham Lincoln elected president
Texas Secession Convention meets
Sam Houston removed as Governor
South threatens secession during presidential
campaign