The 3 main causes of the Civil War:
Sectionalism,
Slavery, and
States' Rights

 

Suggested Activities from the Musical Media for Education, Volume I, CD and Teaching Guide:

1) Summary of the Causes of the Civil War
       Play the learning song. Ask students to explain how "sectionalism, slavery and states rights" led to the Civil War. Information in the lyrical footnotes will help, as well as material provided in class and in textbooks.

2) Class Chant
       Volunteers, a small group or the whole class can sing the interactive parts of the "Causes of the Civil War" song. See the "Introduction & Suggestions" section at the beginning of the Resource Book for ways to maximize participation. If you repeat the chant pattern at opportune moments during class it will reinforce the objectives of the learning song.        Students may complain that the chant is too repetitive, but they will remember it well. To add variety, divide the class into thirds and assign each group a different part of the chant (sectionalism, slavery or states rights), which they can sing in turn.

3) Test Reinforcement
       You will solidify students' perceptions of the educational seriousness of learning songs by linking assessment items directly to song content. A test question asking students to identify the three main causes of the Civil War would increase student attentiveness when listening to learning songs thereafter.

4) Interrelatedness of Causes
       The interrelated effects of what may appear to be separate causes is a worthwhile subject suggested by "Causes of the Civil War." Make students aware of the interdependent effects of sectionalism, slavery and state's rights, even if they are examined separately for heuristic reasons. For example, the Southern commitment to slavery was related to the defense of state's rights because the more populous North dominated the national/federal government. State's rights would help protect the "Southern way of life." Widespread support for slavery and state's rights in the South created a strong sectional identity. Historical causes generally operate together, reinforcing one another, building momentum and leading to outcomes greater than the sum of the parts.

       Included with each song in the Musical Media for Education, Volume I, CD and Teaching Guide are lesson suggestions and lyrical footnotes.  Lyrical footnotes enrich student understanding with supplemental information and supporting commentary.

       Sectionalism is the idea that the Civil War was caused by deep differences between the three main sections of the country, North, West and South. The economic, political and social differences in these areas led to three distinct cultures, each with interests that set them apart from the other two.
       The North was more urbanized than the other two regions, meaning that there was a larger population and more cities. The Northern economy was also based mainly on manufacturing. The South was more agricultural, and was heavily reliant upon cotton production with slave labor. The newest region of the nation was the West, which was also mainly a farming area, but the main crops were food grains such as wheat and corn.
       Although the interests of all three sections were different, before the Civil War, the South came to believe that the North and the West were ganging up on it, making it impossible to live in peace. As this feeling grew stronger, the South decided to leave the Union (secede).
       Most people recognize the importance of slavery when considering the causes of the Civil War but, among historians, there is serious debate about the extent to which slavery led to the War. If the North did not want slavery and the South depended on it, why did they have to fight? Why couldn't they simply leave each other alone and live in their different ways?
       There are two main reasons why slavery made clash likely if not inevitable. First, many people in the North viewed slavery as a moral issue; a matter of good and evil. They saw the forced enslavement of humans as wrong and felt that they could not stand by while the South kept millions of people in bondage. The feeling was aroused greatly by the activities of abolitionists, people in the North who publicized the evils of slavery and pressured people to take action against it. Abolitions aggravated Southerners in the extreme and made them feel unwilling to be a part of a nation in which their countrymen continuously criticized their way of life as immoral.
       A second link between slavery and the Civil War had to do with Western expansion. The nation was expanding
rapidly in the decades before the Civil War and with each new addition of territory the question arose, "will it be slave or free"? This was a political as well as an economic question because states newly admitted to the Union brought with them new representation in Congress. Additional Representatives or Senators on their side meant more political
power for the North or South. A series of compromises such as the Missouri Compromise (1820) and the Compromise of 1850 tried to maintain a balance of slave and free interests in the West and in Congress, but eventually tensions became soextreme that the balance could not be maintained and the South found it necessary to secede from the Union.
       States' rights: Southern states seceded, in part, to preserve the freedom of individual states and to prevent states, as they saw it, from being pushed around by the federal government. Southern states had long argued that individual states could not be told what to do by the national or federal government. After all, weren't the states closer to the people and more aware of their needs? Why should the federal government impose one policy for all?
       The South supported individual states acting as needed for the people who lived in those states. This viewpoint had deep roots in earlier American history and could be traced back to the arguments of such leading Anti-Federalists as Patrick Henry and George Mason during the debates over ratification (passage) of the Constitution. In 1828 South Carolina insisted that a state had the right to "nullify" (ignore) a federal law with which it did not agree.
       President Andrew Jackson did not see it that way but the South continued to believe in State's Rights. By 1860, the South felt backed into a corner by the North and declared that states had the right to secede from a union if that union did not serve their interests. They did so after the election of Lincoln in November.
       Ironically, strong Southern support for state's rights made it difficult to form a strong Confederate government during the Civil War. Sometimes Southern states would refuse the Confederate government's requests for troops or money.
After all, they argued, we seceded under the banner of state's rights, so individual statesdo not have to obey any central authority.