Transcript Unit-06-09-Ch-20

Chapter 20:
Drifting Toward Disunion
AP US Unit 6
December 7-8, 2009
Harriet
Beecher
Stowe
(1811 – 1896)
So this is the lady who
started the Civil War.
-- Abraham Lincoln
Uncle Tom’s
Cabin
1852
 Sold 300,000
copies in
the first year.
 2 million in a
decade!
The Impending Crisis of the South
(1857)
• Written by Hinton R. Helper
• Republished by the anti-slavery movement
in 1859 when it gained a following
• Said slavery hurt the economy of the South,
especially the poor, non-slaveholding whites
Kansas
• Both Northern and Southern groups financed the
immigration of pro or anti slavery people to
Kansas
– The South had assumed that Nebraska would be free
and Kansas slave and was angry when they found out
that anti-slavery voters were moving into Kansas
• On election day in 1855, “border ruffians” from
Missouri crossed the line to vote in Kansas,
swinging the vote pro-slavery
• The abolitionists cried fraud and declared their
own government…now Kansas had two
• Abolitionist and
slightly crazy
• Had at least 20 kids
• Let the attack on
Pottawatomie Creek
in May 1856
John Brown
– In response to the
burning of
Lawrence by proslavery forces
• Became known for
his violence against
slavery
John Brown and Bleeding Kansas
The Lecompton Constitution
• Pro-slave forces had enough of a majority for a
vote on the constitution
– Vote for the constitution with or without slavery
– Even if voted for without, there was still a provision to
protect slavery that was already there
• Anti-slave forces boycotted the polls and the
constitution passed with slavery
• Douglas refused to have this semi-popular
sovereignty and championed a resolution to have
the ENTIRE constitution put to a vote
– It failed and Kansas remained a territory until 1861
“The Crime Against Kansas”
In response to attacks
against his cousin,
Senator Andrew Butler
(D-SC)
Senator Charles
Sumner
(R-MA)
Congressman
Preston Brooks
(D-SC)
Bleeding Kansas
• Death Runs Riot from Ken Burns The West
1856 Presidential Election
James Buchanan John C. Frémont
Democrat
Republican
Millard Fillmore
Whig / American
•Buchanan beat Pierce for the Dem nomination because he was Kansasless
•Fremont was a soldier and explorer: Free speech, free press, free soil, free men,
Fremont!
•Fillmore got the remnants of the Whigs and the anti-immigrant explosion of 18541856
1856
Election
Results
Birth of the Republican Party
 Northern Whigs
 Northern Democrats
 Free-Soilers
 Know-Nothings
 Other miscellaneous opponents
of the Kansas-Nebraska Act
Dred Scott v. Sanford, 1857
•Dred Scott lived for
5 years with his
master in Illinois
and Wisconsin
Territory – free
territory
•He sued for his
freedom with the
backing of
abolitionists
Dred Scott v. Sanford, 1857
• Chief Justice Taney (from Maryland)
declared
– Because a slave was property, they could be
taken anywhere in the US and be kept as a
slave
• 5th Amendment protected property rights
– Compromise of 1820 and any bans on
slavery had been unconstitutional all along
– Slaves were also not citizens and therefore
could not sue in court
– Republicans and abolitionists felt that this
decision was made solely because the
majority of the court was from the South
• Causes:
– Inflation
The Panic of 1857
• Gold
• Wheat production
– Overspeculation in Western Land
• Again
• Effects:
– Panic, closing of businesses, unemployment
– North suffered more than the South
• South felt that this proved that cotton and the southern
economy was king
– Pro-homestead feelings in the North
• Homestead Act passed in 1860 – but vetoed by Buchanan,
passed by Lincoln in 1862
– Tariff of 1857 and its lower rates was attacked by
Republicans
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates, 1858
Illinois Senate Debates
A House divided
against itself,
cannot stand
Stephen
Douglas
& the
Freeport
Doctrine
Popular
Sovereignty?
John Brown and Harper’s Ferry
• John Brown, with 20
followers, decided to stage
a slave rebellion in Virginia
in October, 1859
– Would seize an arsenal to
arm the slaves
– Didn’t advertise very well
• Was trapped inside the arsenal and captured by
the US Marines under Lt. Colonel Robert E. Lee
• Was tried and convicted of treason
John Brown and Harpers Ferry
• John Brown was hanged on
December 2, 1859
• Instead of fading into oblivion:
– He became a martyr for
abolitionists with violent
leanings
– He became the stereotype of
Northerners that southerners
feared
• Brown caused the southern militia system to be
reinvigorated – further assisting in making the
South comfortable for secession
Democratic Party in 1860
• Southern democrats broke off and
nominated John C. Breckinridge (KY)
with a platform of slavery in the
territories and the annexation of Cuba
• Northern democrats nominated
Stephen Douglas (IL) with a platform
of popular sovereignty and the
enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act
The Constitutional Union Party in 1860
• The Constitutional Union Party (Do
Nothing or Old Gentleman’s Party)
nominated John Bell (TN) with a platform
of “The Union, The Constitution, and the
Enforcement of Laws”
The Republican Party in 1860
• The Republican Party nominated Abraham
Lincoln (IL). Seward was best known but
had made too many inflammatory speeches.
Platform appealed to all non-slavery groups:
Group
Appealing Part of Platform
Free Soilers
No Slavery in Territories
Northern Manufacturers
Protective Tariff
Immigrants
No abridgement of rights
Northwest
Transcontinental Railroad
West
Internal improvements from the feds
Farmers
Free Homesteads
1860
Election
Results
The Election of 1860
• Lincoln won with a majority of electoral votes
but only 40% of the popular votes.
• He wasn’t even on the ballot in 10 southern
states.
• Even though this angered the South they still
controlled 4/5 of the Supreme Court and the
Republicans did not control Congress.
• Also the slave states had the numbers to
override any amendment and an amendment
was necessary to outlaw slavery
Secession
• South Carolina, true to its word, seceded within 4
days of Lincoln’s election.
• Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana,
and Texas joined within 6 weeks.
• 4 more states would join after Sumter.
• The first 7 would meet in Montgomery, Alabama
in February 1861 to establish the Confederate
States of America
– Jefferson Davis was the president of the Confederacy
Secession!: SC left on Dec. 20,1860
Secessionitis
Buchanan’s Plan…or Not
• President Buchanan (until March 4, 1861)
maintained a “wait and see” policy.
• Neither Constitution nor precedent helped him
decide what to do and he thought the small
army was more needed in the West.
• Also, he thought that not going to blows meant
the possibility of reconciliation.
• It worked out better for the North when the
South attacked first, because prior to that
many Northerners didn’t want a war
The Crittenden Amendments
• James Henry Crittenden (KY) came up with a
plan: The Crittenden Amendments.
– Under these, slavery in the territories would be
prohibited north of 36° 30’ and allowed south of
it. When they became states they could choose.
• Lincoln turned this down since he had been
elected to keep slavery out of the territories
and he thought it would force America’s
expansionism to take over southern regions to
make more territories.
Southern Reasoning for Secession
• Tired of being attacked
– Underground Railroad, John Brown
– Abolitionists and Free Soilers
• Felt unrepresented when Lincoln got elected
• Thought North wouldn’t attack
– Especially because the South thought that the
North was too dependent on cotton to attack
• Felt that they were the second American
Revolution
Historiography
• Nationalist School: late 19th C James Rhodes: all about slavery and
preserving the union
• Progressives: early 20th C Charles and Mary Beard: inherent economic
differences – 2nd American Revolution moved power to the businesses and
away from planters
• Post WWI: James Randall and Avery Craven unnecessary war (like WWI)
• Neo-nationalist: Post WWII Allan Nevins and David Potter: irreconcilable
differences in morality, politics, culture, social values, and economy eroded
the ties between the sections and set them on the path to war
• Paranoia: Foner and Genovese: each side saw their way of life being
threatened
• Party Politics: Destruction of Whigs and breakdown of Jacksonian party
system tore apart the last thing that was holding the country together
• Ethnocultural School: Michael Holt, Late 20th century: Breakdown of parties
because before parties had agreed NOT to talk about slavery and had ended
up agreeing on most other things. After that slavery was the only issues left