Transcript Sectional Conflicts

Sectional Conflict
Intensifies
Slavery and Western Expansion
• The spread of slavery into new
territory became the overriding
political issue of the 1850s.
• Missouri Compromise
• Missouri Slave
• Maine Free
• Now What?
The Search for Compromise
• The gains from the Mexican War opened vast new lands for
settlement and raised the issue of extending slavery westward.
Gadsden Purchase –
Land purchased for
$10 million from
Mexico
The Wilmot Proviso
– 1846 - David Wilmot proposed an amendment to a bill,
which became known as the Wilmot Proviso.
– It proposed that slavery not be allowed in any territory
gained from Mexico.
– This proposal angered
– They feared that slavery would be threatened
Southerners
everywhere else as well.
Popular Sovereignty
• Senator Lewis Cass proposed an idea known as popular
sovereignty.
• This stated that citizens of each new territory should decide
for themselves whether or not they wanted slavery.
• VOTE ON IT!
The Free-Soil Party Emerges
• The idea of popular sovereignty split the Whig Party
during the 1848 election.
• Political party opposing slavery arguing that “free men
on free soil” in the western territories
Election of 1848
• The three candidates for the presidency in 1848 were:
– Democrat Lewis Cass who supported popular sovereignty.
– Free Soil Party candidate Martin Van Buren took a strong stand against slavery and
backed the Wilmot Proviso.
– Whig candidate was General Zachary Taylor who avoided the issue altogether.
• On Election Day, support for the Free-Soilers split the Democratic vote in New
York.
• This enabled Taylor to win the state, and with it, enough electoral votes to win
the election.
The Forty-Niners Head to California
• In 1848, gold was discovered in
California attracting thousands of
people hoping to get rich.
• By the end of 1849, more than
80,000 “Forty-Niners” had arrived to
look for gold.
• California soon applied for statehood
as a free state.
The Great Debate Begins
• If California became a free state, the slaveholding states
would be in the minority in the Senate.
• Southern leaders began to talk openly about secession, or
taking their states out of the Union.
Clay’s Proposal
– Henry Clay, known as “The
Great Compromiser” because
of his role in promoting the
Missouri Compromise in 1820,
proposed eight resolutions.
– Clay’s proposals triggered a
massive debate.
• The compromise, drafted by Whig Henry Clay avoided secession or civil war at the
time and quieted sectional conflict for four years.
• According to the compromise, Texas would relinquish the land in dispute but, in
compensation, be given 10 million dollars -- money it would use to pay off its
debt to Mexico. Also, the territories of New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah
would be organized without mention of slavery. (The decision would be made by
the territories' inhabitants later, when they applied for statehood.)
• Regarding Washington, the slave trade would be abolished in the District of
Columbia, although slavery would still be permitted. Finally, California would be
admitted as a free state. To pacify slave-state politicians, who would have
objected to the imbalance created by adding another free state, the Fugitive Slave
Act was passed.
North and South Response
• John C. Calhoun believed that Northern
agitation against slavery threatened to destroy
the South.
• He did not think Clay’s compromise would
save the Union.
• Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts
responded to Calhoun’s talk of secession 3
days later.
• He accepted Clay’s proposal declaring it
was the only hope to preserve the Union.
The Compromise of 1850
• Congress admitted California as a free state
• Other territories would be free as well
• Utah and New Mexico would decide the issue by popular
sovereignty
The Fugitive Slave Act
• Attached to the Compromise
• Congress passed the Fugitive
Slave Act of 1850, to help
Southerners recover enslaved
African Americans who fled north.
• Abolitionists made speeches
against this law.
The Underground Railroad
– Despite heavy fines and prison
terms, whites and free African
Americans helped runaway slaves
escape through the Underground
Railroad.
– This was an organized system in
which enslaved persons were
sheltered transported north.
Black codes – laws that limited the
actions of slaves. Very harsh
treatment of slaves in the South.
• Many African Americans
made dangerous trips into
the south to guide enslaved
persons along the
Underground Railroad to
freedom.
• The most famous of these
conductors was Harriet
Tubman, a runaway slave.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
• In response to the new Fugitive
Slave Act, Harriet Beecher Stowe
wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin to show
the horrors of slavery.
• Her book stirred up people’s
feelings and changed many
Northerners’ attitudes about
slavery.
– Southerners tried to have the book
banned. They attacked her
portrayal of slavery as unjust.
– The book sold millions of copies.
– Supposedly when Abraham
Lincoln met Stowe he exclaimed,
“So you’re the little woman who
wrote the book that started this
Great War!”
The Kansas-Nebraska Act
• 1854, Kansas and Nebraska would choose whether or not to
permit slavery (popular sovereignty) VOTE!
• Repealed the Missouri Compromise
• People flocked to Kansas to vote in the matter.
• Kansas became known as “Bleeding Kansas” as armed clashes
between pro-slavery forces and abolitionist settlers created a
territorial civil war. 200 people died
The Caning of Charles Sumner
• A debate occurred in Congress of the
future of the western territories.
• Senator Charles Sumner of Mass. (fiery
abolitionist) delivered a speech
denouncing the act in a speech that
spanned two days.
• Sumner attacked the act and the
senators who authored it (Stephen A.
Douglas and Andrew Butler).
• Preston Brooks was insulted by Sumner because he was from the
South and because he was related to Butler.
• Brooks beat Sumner with a heavy cane, almost killing him and
causing him to be absent from the Senate for three years while he
recovered from the attack.
Brooks
John Brown’s Raid
• Abolitionist
• Led the Pottawatomie Massacre in
Kansas
• Planned to seize an arsenal at
Harper’s Ferry (WV)
• Free and arm enslaved people
begin a insurrection or rebellion
against slaveholders
Northerners viewed him as a martyr in a
noble cause.
• Colonel Robert E. Lee put down the
revolt
Southerners believed this is all the proof
they needed that Northerners were actively
plotting the murder of slaveholders.
Republican Party
• Named after Jefferson’s original party.
• Intended to revive the spirit of the American Revolution.
• Feared Southern Planters were becoming an aristocracy that
controlled the federal government.
• Republicans – not to allow slavery in the territories
The Know-Nothings
• aka – the American Party
• Anti-Catholic and nativist party.
• Opposed immigration (especially Catholic immigration)
– helped win seats in Congress and State legislatures
in 1854.
• Kansas-Nebraska Act also split the Know-Nothings.
• Slavery became a more important issue than
immigration.
• Republican Party absorbed most Northern KnowNothings.
Election of 1856
• Winner James Buchanan!
• Life long bachelor.
• Inaugural address – let the Supreme
Court decide the question of slavery.
Dred Scott vs. Sandford
• Dred Scott – enslaved man whose
Missouri slave-owner had taken him
to live in free territory before returning
to Missouri.
• Scott sued to end his slavery, arguing
that the time he had spent in free
territory meant he was free.
The Decision
• Chief Justice Roger B. Taney ruled against Scott, because he claimed
that African Americans were not citizens and therefore could not sue.
• The court’s opinion also stated that Congress did not have the right
to prohibit slavery in the territories.
• Made the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional.
• Intensified sectional conflict.
Lecompton Constitution
• Town of Lecompton,
Kansas drafted a
constitution to allow
slavery in the territory.
• After two referendum,
Kansas voted to ban
slavery from their state.
• It did not become a state
until 1861.
Stephen A. Douglas broke with the Democratic party
leadership over the Lecompton Constitution, paving
the way for a Republican victory in the 1860
presidential election.
Abraham Lincoln vs. Stephen Douglas
The debates between Stephen A. Douglas and
Abraham Lincoln were held during the 1858
campaign for a US Senate seat from Illinois. The
debates were held at 7 sites throughout Illinois, one
in each of the 7 Congressional Districts
Douglas
– The incumbent
– Believed in Popular
Sovereignty can limit
slavery
– Believed the Dred Scott
decision does not matter
and that a territory will
determine on its own by
what type of policing it will
have slavery or be free
(Freeport Doctrine)
Made in Freeport, Illinois
Lincoln
– Unknown at beginning of
debates
– Said that the U.S. could not
survive as half-slave and
half-free states
– Dred Scott decision said
that slavery could not be
banned from a territory
– Established clear principles
of the Republican Party
The Union Dissolves
• Southerners blamed Republicans
for John Brown’s Raid
• Democrats split their support for
Stephen Douglas
• Southern Democrats John C.
Breckinridge
• Republicans nominate Abraham
Lincoln
• What will happen if Republicans
win?
Election of 1860: Electoral votes
Lincoln is Elected
• The Southerners
see the victory of
the Republican
party as a victory
for the
abolitionists.
• They believed
there was no
other choice but
to secede
(withdraw from
the U.S.)
Secession Begins
• Begins with South Carolina
• By Feb. 1, 1861, 6 other states follow (Mississippi, Florida,
Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas)
• The secessionists seized all federal property except for a few ports
including Fort Sumter.
Crittenden Compromise
• Unsuccessful proposal by Kentucky Senator John J. Crittenden
to resolve the U.S. secession crisis.
• Six proposed amendments and 4 proposed Congressional
resolutions.
• Lincoln rejected because he was elected on a platform that
opposed the expansion of slavery.
Founding the Confederacy
• The Confederate States of America
• Each state was independent and guaranteed the
existence of slavery in Confederate territory.
• Banned importation of slaves from other
countries.
• Banned tariffs and limited the presidency to 6
year terms.
• Jefferson Davis (former senator from Mississippi)
to become president.
Jefferson Davis
“The time for compromise has now
passed. The South is determined to
…make all who oppose her smell
Southern powder and feel Southern
steel.”
President of the
Confederate States of
America
Abraham Lincoln
• “I have no purpose, directly or
indirectly, to interfere with the
institution of slavery in the
States where it exists. I believe I
have no lawful right to do so,
and I have no inclination to do
so.”
President of the
United States
Wanted to preserve the Union
The Civil War Begins
Fort Sumter Falls
• Lincoln to re-supply Fort Sumter
• Davis takes over Fort Sumter before
supply ships arrive
• Robert Anderson asked to surrender. He
did not.
• Confederate forces bombarded Fort
Sumter for 33 hours.
• No one died in the affair.
• The Civil War begins!
The Upper South Secedes
• President Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to serve in the
military for 90 days.
• This upset upper Southern States and they felt they had no choice
but to secede.
• By early June of 1861, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and
Tennessee seceded.
Hanging on to Border States
• Fearing to be surrounded by Confederate territory, Lincoln imposed
martial law in Baltimore.
• Martial law – military takes control of an area, replaces civilian
authorities, and suspends many civil rights.
• Kentucky (neutral) until the South takes part of the state. The
North attacks the upper portion of the state as well.