Section #1 - Causal Factors
Voting Power
The South loses crucial voting power in the House when its population growth lags the North.
| Year | Event | Description | Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1787 | Constitutional Convention walk-out threat. | Once legislative seats are tied to population, the South demands their African captives be included in the count; Northern opposition nearly ends the talk of Union. | Chapter 9 |
| 1787 | 3/5th Compromise. | James Wilson’s resolution solves Southern seat demands, but at the expense of officially declaring Blacks as forever an inferior, fractional race. | Chapter 9 |
| 1787 | Senate and Electoral College structural changes. | Smaller states, concerned with being overwhelmed by larger ones, gain power through the creation of the Senate (two seats per state) and the Electoral College. | Chapter 9 |
| 1787 | Madison and the 10th Amendment. | Crucial guarantee identifying that powers not delegated to the central government are reserved to the States or the people, preventing total federal dominance. | Chapter 13 |
| 1801 | Election of Thomas Jefferson. | Signals a shift to States’ Rights and the “Virginia Dynasty,” giving the South significant control over government policies for twenty-four years. | Chapter 21 |
| 1819 | Tallmadge Amendments debate. | The House supports a sectional ban on slavery in Missouri by 87-76; the South panics as voting patterns shift away from party lines to regional ones. | Chapter 42 |
| 1840 | Biennial Census results. | The North gains a sizable edge in the allocation of seats and voting power in the House, reporting a 57-43% population split in their favor. | Interlude 4 |
| 1848 | Proposed slavery ban in D.C. | The House passes the bill 98-88 before the Senate stalls it, serving as a stark example of the South’s dwindling control over the lower chamber. | Chapter 144 |
| 1849 | Zachary Taylor’s surprise. | Southern moderate Robert Toombs leads a 63-ballot boycott of the Speaker election to protest Taylor’s support for a Free California. | Chapter 145 |
| 1850 | Biennial Census confirming shift. | Results show Northern states now hold an overwhelming 60-40% population advantage, cementing their dominance in House seat allocation. | Chapter 144 |
| 1856 | The Toombs Bill. | While passing twice in the Senate, the bill for a Kansas re-vote is consistently rejected by the House, where Northern voting power resides. | Chapter 205 |
| 1858 | Republican Mid-term majority. | Republicans win control of the House for the first time, dominating the Free States 115 to 33 and taking only one seat in the Slave States. | Chapter 235 |
| 1860 | Lincoln’s Presidential election. | Lincoln carries the North to win 180 electoral votes despite only receiving 39.8% of the popular vote and not appearing on Southern ballots. | Chapter 255 |