Transcript Presidents…Choices, and the Civil War

Presidents…Choices, and the
Civil War
The Men Who Came
Before Lincoln
Presidents, Choices,
and the Civil War
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Presidents
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and the Civil War
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Presidents
• Millard Fillmore
– 1850-1853
– Whig party member
– “Unlucky” number 13
– Picked merely to balance the ticket
geographically and politically.
– Believed in compromise.
– Signs the Compromise of 1850 believing that
it would preserve the status quo.
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and the Civil War
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Presidents
• The Compromise of 1850
– Remember: a “compromise” tries to please as
many people as possible and, generally
speaking, ends up pleasing no one.
– The “Compromise” did nothing to settle the
rapidly escalating disputes between and
among Americans vis a vis slavery.
– Essentially postpones the issue.
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Presidents
• The Compromise provides for a “free”
California, resolves issues surrounding
Texas-New Mexico Territory, and enacts
the Fugitive Slave Laws—an effort to help
catch and punish slaves fleeing their
bondage.
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Presidents
• Fillmore supported slavery…mostly
because he didn’t want to see the death of
an economy—an economy based on
agriculture.
• Quite possibly one of the most forgettable
presidents in history.
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Presidents
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Presidents
• Franklin Pierce
– 1853-1857
– Democrat with strong ties to the South.
– Would leave office a hated man.
– Pierce folds in the face of congressional
pressure and signs the KANSAS-NEBRASKA
ACT.
• Designed to repeal the Missouri Compromise and,
in so doing, permits new states to choose in terms
of slavery. BLATANTLY PRO-SLAVERY.
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and the Civil War
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Presidents
• In Kansas Territory people are actually
fighting it out.
• Pierce never acknowledges his role in the
disintegration of the Union.
• One of the people horrified by Pierce’s
decision: Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln is so
appalled that he returns to politics.
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and the Civil War
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Presidents
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Presidents
• James Buchanan
– 1857-1861
– Democrat
– His actions hasten the outbreak of the Civil
War.
– Openly pro-South.
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and the Civil War
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Presidents
• He endorses the constitution written by the
pro-slavery settlers in Kansas despite the
fact that most of the people in the area are
ABOLITIONISTS.
• In the end, Buchanan does not preserve
and defend the Union. History has
accused him of treason.
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and the Civil War
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Presidents
• The issue of slavery becomes tied up with
the issue of states’ rights v. federal
government.
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and the Civil War
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and the Civil War
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Presidents
• Abraham Lincoln
– 1861-1865
– Republican
– A presidency completely defines by the War.
– Lincoln’s original intention had been to stop
the expansion of slavery. Like fire, Lincoln
believed that if you contained slavery, it would
extinguish itself.
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and the Civil War
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Presidents
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and the Civil War
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Political Cartoon: The Caning of Sumner
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and the Civil War
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and the Civil War
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and the Civil War
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and the Civil War
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