Transcript Divisive Politics of Slavery

Divisive Politics
of Slavery
“I have, Senators, believed from
the first that the agitation of the
subject of slavery would, if not
prevented by some timely and
effective measure, end in
disunion. … The agitation has
been permitted to proceed…
until it has reached a period
when it can no longer be
disguised or denied that the
Union is in danger. You have thus
had forced upon you the greatest
and the gravest question that can
ever come under your
consideration: How can the
Union be preserved?”
- Senator John C. Calhoun,
Compromise of 1850 (pg. 156)
Please write these questions
below last Friday’s notes &
answer them
 What was the Southern economy based on?
 What was the main cash crop of the South?
 What does Antebellum mean?
 What percentage of the South were African
Americans?
 What percentage of the U.S. population lived
in the South (total)?
Missouri Compromise, 1820
Characteristics of the Antebellum* South
1. Primarily agrarian (farms).
2. “Cotton Is King!”
a. 1860 5 mil. bales a yr.
(57% of total US exports).
3. Very slow development of industrialization.
4. Rudimentary (basic) financial system.
5. Inadequate transportation system.
* pre-Civil War era
Southern Society (1850)
6,000,000
“Slavocracy”
[plantation owners]
The “Plain Folk”
[white yeoman farmers]
Black Freemen
250,000
Black Slaves
3,200,000
Total US Population  23,000,000
[9,450,000 in the South = 40%]
Slave-Owning Families (1850)
Southern Population
Changes in Cotton Production
1820
1860
Slavery in New States?
 Republic of CA applied for statehood in 1850.
 CA’s constitution forbade slavery.
 Southerners believed CA should allow slavery
due to the Missouri Compromise.
 S. states threaten secession (to secede/
leave the Union of the States)
Compromise of 1850
 Henry Clay, “The Great Compromiser,” worked to
form a compromise.



CA would be a free state.
stronger fugitive slave laws written
New territories (NM & UT) would
be given popular sovereignty.
 People in those states vote to decide
whether to be slave or free
Compromise of 1850
The Underground Railroad
 See page 159.
 A network of escape routes slaves
used to escape from the South w/
the help of “conductors”
 Harriet Tubman, a former slave,
was the most famous conductor.
 She helped 300 slaves escape.
Quilt Patterns as Secret Messages
The Monkey Wrench pattern, on the left,
alerted escapees to gather up tools and
prepare to flee; the Drunkard Path
design, on the right, warned escapees not
to follow a straight route.
Runaway Slave Ads
Harriet
Beecher
Stowe
(1811 – 1896)
“Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, 1852
 Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe
 Exposed the horrors of slavery
 Argued slavery was not just a political issue, but
also a moral issue
“So this is the
lady who started
the Civil War…”
 Abolitionists get “fired up!”
 Southern slave owners get angry
Uncle Tom’s
Cabin
1852
 Sold 300,000
copies in
the first year.
 2 million in a
decade!
Kansas and Nebraska
 KA & NB are north of the Missouri Comp. line
 Which applies: MO. Comp. or Pop. Sovereignty?
 The Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)
 divided the territory into two states (Nebraska
in the N, Kansas in the S).
 Allowed popular sovereignty in both states.

This prompted a race to settle the territory by
both abolitionists (north) and pro-slave (south)
Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854
Bleeding Kansas- Mini Civil War?
 In 1855, a vote was held in KS to est. the slavery
policy.
 Citizens from Missouri & Iowa crossed the
border to tip the votes in favor of their
respective sides.

Bloody violence broke out b/t abolitionists and
proslavery people.
 This led to increased bitterness between North
and South.
“Bleeding Kansas”
Border
“Ruffians”
(pro-slavery
Missourians)
The Crime Against Kansas =
Violence in the Senate
 Charles Sumner spoke against slavery to the
senate.
 He singled out southern senator Andrew Butler
who favored slavery.
 Butler’s nephew, Preston Brooks, attacked.
 Sumner has brain damage & cannot serve for
3 years
New Political Parties
 Whig party falls apart

(split on slavery): former Whigs look for a new party
 American/Know-Nothing Party: nativists





anti-immigration, split on slavery
Democratic Party: pro-slavery
Republicans: abolitionist
Liberty Party: abolitionist
Free Soil Party: opposed slavery b/c slavery
competed w/ the cheap labor of whites.

Many were racists.
Dred Scott vs. Sanford, 1857
 Dred Scott, a slave, sued for
freedom.
 Argument: He had been illegally
enslaved.
 Supreme Court: ruled against Scott

Cited 5th amendment: property rights
Son of a slave owner, Chief Justice Taney.
Most of the Justices on the Supreme Court
were from the South.
Lincoln-Douglas Debate, 1858
 Senate race between Steven Douglas and
Abraham Lincoln
 Both opposed slavery
 Douglas – supported popular sovereignty
 Lincoln – slavery is immoral.

Wants to stop it from spreading,
but not outlaw it already in
effect
Anti-Slavery Rebellions!
 Nat Turner: VA slave who,
w/ 50 other slaves, killed 60
whites. (1831)
 John Brown: attempted to
start a slave uprising (1859)
 he, w/ 21 other men, to raid
a Federal arsenal of weapons
in Harper’s Ferry VA.
 failed.
 He was tried and executed.
Lincoln Becomes President,
1860
“A house divided against
itself cannot stand”
Abraham Lincoln
 Moderate views on slavery: didn’t want it to
expand, but would allow it to continue in the
states that already had it
◊ Dec. 1860: S. Carolina secedes from the Union
Followed by MS, FL, AL, GA, LA, TX in 1860
◊ VA, AK, NC, TN secede 1861
◊ VA splits, creating W. VA= Union State
(1863)
The Confederate States of
America
 Formed by States that
Seceded
 Jefferson Davis is
named President
 They write a new
constitution

Surprise! Slavery is
legal…
Please write and answer the following
questions below your notes
1. Which state had to do with the Compromise of
1850?
2. Which laws became stronger b/c of the Compromise
1850?
3. What does popular sovereignty mean?
4. Due to the Kansas-Nebraska Act, what happened?
5. What did Harriet Beecher Stowe do?
6. Who was Dred Scott?
7. Who was the 1st President of the Confederate States
of America?