Transcript Chapter 10
Chapter 10 Sect 3 & 4 In the presidential election of 1856 there were 5 political parties. Whig Party Failed to nominate a candidate Republican Party Won one-third of the popular vote and 11 northern states Know-Nothings Put up a candidate but dissolved over the slavery issue Democrats Won with James Buchanan promising to stop the “agitation of the slavery issue” Free-Soil Party Absorbed into the Republican Party Within a year of the election, another event intensified the divisions in the nation over slavery. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the case of Dred Scott, an enslaved man who had lived in a free state and sued for his freedom. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney handed down the controversial decision in March, 1857. The Dred Scott decision: • ruled against Scott. • said slaves were property and not allowed to sue in court. • said the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional. • pleased the South. • angered the North and abolitionists. In 1858, in a race for the Illinois senate seat, Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham Lincoln debated the issue of slavery. The seven debates got national attention. On the issue of slavery: Lincoln Douglas Spoke with direct and deliberate tone focusing on how slavery was a struggle between right and wrong. Had an energetic, commanding voice and spoke of the political issues. Opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, popular sovereignty, and the Scott decision. Supported the Kansas-Nebraska Act and popular sovereignty. Opposed the annexation of Texas. Supported the annexation of Texas. Both candidates believed the issue of slavery had to be resolved peacefully, within the framework of laws. Douglas won the Senate seat by a slim margin. The debates gave Abraham Lincoln national recognition that was important in the 1860 presidential election. John Brown organized a small party of men and attacked a federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry in Virginia. His goal was to inspire local slaves to join a revolution that would defeat slavery. Most abolitionists (black and white) refused to join Brown although a few sent money for guns. Brown was arrested, tried, and executed. Lincoln and other Republicans condemned Brown. The South was on alert and many prepared for war. John Brown’s raid failed but intensified national division. Near the end of the 1850s, attempts at compromise over slavery had failed. The possibility of war between the North and South loomed. The election of 1860 had four candidates. A Democrat, John C. Breckinridge was from Kentucky. He believed the federal government must protect slavery. A Democrat, Stephen A. Douglas was from Illinois. He believed popular sovereignty should decide the slavery issue when territories became states. A Republican, Abraham Lincoln was from Illinois. He believed slavery should not be allowed in the territories. Constitutional Unionist John Bell was from Tennessee. He believed the federal government should support slavery and defend the Union. With no national candidate dominating the campaign, Lincoln won with just over half of the electoral votes needed and 40 percent of the popular vote. The vote for Abraham Lincoln was mostly a vote for moderation toward the issue of slavery and a vote for the Union. However, the South felt it no longer had a voice in the national government and did not see how it could remain in the Union. South Carolina was the first southern state to leave the Union. X At a state convention held six weeks after Election Day, legislators voted to secede. It was a unanimous vote. Outgoing President Buchanan publicly condemned South Carolina’s action. However, he did not use force to prevent it. Within weeks, six other Southern states followed South Carolina. The states with the largest enslaved populations seceded. The constitution of the Confederate States of America: • closely resembled the U.S. Constitution. • stressed the independence of each state. • implied that states had the right to secede. • forbid importing new slaves from other countries. Jefferson Davis, former senator from Mississippi, became president of the Confederate States of America. When Lincoln took office: • he urged peace between the Confederacy and the Union. • he decided to try to hold on to the Union forts the Confederacy claimed, such as Fort Sumter. However, Confederate forces attacked and captured the fort in defiance of Lincoln. After Fort Sumter fell, Lincoln declared that insurrection existed. Four more southern states immediately joined the Confederacy. A Nation Divided by Civil War The issue of slavery had long divided the nation, even at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. The economic sectional differences in the mid-1800s also greatly contributed to the national division. Predictions were the Civil War would be short, but it lasted for four terrible years.