Slavery Divides the Nation

Download Report

Transcript Slavery Divides the Nation

Slavery Divides the
Nation
Chapter 16
1820-1861
Missouri Compromise
 1819: Missouri applied for statehood.
At the time there were 11 free states and 11 slave states in
the US Senate
 Missouri would upset the balance in the Senate
 Crisis occur for several months
 Missouri Compromise
 Brainchild of Henry Clay
 Missouri apply as a slave state
 Maine apply as a free state
 Congress drew a line at 36’ 30” N and stated that slavery
was permitted below that line from the lands of the Louisiana
Purchase and slavery was banned north of that line in the
Louisiana Purchase

Wilmot Proviso
 Wilmot Proviso


Missouri Compromise applied only to lands of the Louisiana Purchase
Mexican War added new lands


Slavery issue arises to these new lands
David Wilmot


Pennsylvania Congressman
Called for a law to ban slavery in any territories won from Mexico
 Wilmot Proviso
 Passed in the House in 1846 but failed in the Senate
 Views on Slavery
 Southerners: Slavery should be allowed anywhere and all runaway
slaves should be returned
 Abolitionists: wanted slavery abolished throughout the entire country
 Moderates had two views: 1. extend the Missouri Compromise Line, 2.
idea of Popular Sovereignty
Popular Sovereignty
 Brainchild of Lewis Cass a Democrat
 Definition: the right of people to create their
own government
 How it effects the territories:

Voters in a new territory would decide for
themselves whether or not to allow slavery
Free Soil Party Arise
 1848




Zachary Taylor
Lewis Cass
Martin Van Buren
Campaign issues:


Whig
Democratic
Free Soil
163
127
0
How to deal with all of the new territory
That is why the Free Soil party arises:
 No slavery in the new territories



Cass supported the voice of the people in territories known
as Popular Sovereignty
Taylor a slave owner did not speak on the issues but
Southerners figured he favored slavery
Slavery now became a political issue
California
 1850

California request entry into the Union as a Free State


This would upset the balance of free and slave states in the Senate
Some southerners even suggested to secede from the Union
 Clay vs. Calhoun debates

Calhoun:




Clay:


Slavery be allowed into the territories
Fugitive slave law
If both demands are not met that the states should part in peace.
Called for a compromise
Webster:

Spoke after the two men and warned that the nation could not separate
in peace, but a civil war would occur instead
 He viewed slavery as evil but the breaking of the union was worse then
slavery.
Compromise of 1850

Compromise of 1850


Headed by Henry Clay and Stephen Douglas
Five Parts


1. California is allowed to enter the Union as a free state
2. Mexican Cession territory would be divided into New Mexico and Utah
territories





3. It ended the slave trade in Washington, D.C.
4. It included a strict fugitive slave law
5. It settled a border dispute between Texas and New Mexico
Fugitive Slave Act of 1850



Voters would decide on the issue of slavery according to popular sovereignty
Required all citizens to help catch runaway slaves
Those who did not follow the law could be fined
Reaction to Compromise

FSA enraged the abolitionists


By enforcing it, abolitionist became unwilling supporters of slavery
Tension remained high because neither side got what they wanted
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
 Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Northerners embraced the book
 Saw slavery as a moral evil now
 Congress could no longer avoid it

Southerners claimed it did not give a true picture
of slavery
Kansas-Nebraska Act
 Nebraska Territory

Was divided into two territories

Nebraska and Kansas
 With the settlers deciding the issue of slavery by popular-sovereignty
 This was settled in the Kansas-Nebraska Act
 Stephen Douglas was creator of this act
 President Franklin Pierce supported the bill and helped it pass through
Congress
 Act goes against the Missouri Compromise and angers many
northerners
Kansas

New arrivals in Kansas
 Proslavery and Anti-slavery settlers rush into Kansas
 Border Ruffians: proslavery settlers from Missouri who roughed up anti-slavery settlers

Two Governments


1855:

Border Ruffians and Proslavery settlers elected a proslavery legislature illegally

Anti-slavery settlers refused to accept that government and elected their own
government
“Bleeding Kansas”

1856:

Proslavery settlers attacked an anti-slavery settlement in Lawrence, Kansas

John Brown, an abolitionist, decided to strike back

Pottawatomie Creek
 Brown and six other men dragged out 5 proslavery settlers and murdered them
 This caused both sides to engage in guerrilla warfare, that resulted in 200 dead
Charles Sumner
 Charles Sumner




Massachusetts Senator
Leading abolitionist senator
Denounced the proslavery legislature in Kansas
Criticized and singled out South Carolina, Senator Andrew
Butler

Congressman Preston Brooks
 Butler’s nephew
 Marched into the Senator chamber and beat Sumner until he
laid unconscious on the Senate floor.
 Sumner did not recover from injuries for 3 years
 Massachusetts left Sumner’s seat vacant in defiance of
the south
Dred Scott Case

Dred Scott


A slave
Lived in Missouri and then his master moved him to Illinois then to Wisconsin,
where slavery was illegal



Scott’s master dies while in Wisconsin
Scott filed a lawsuit declaring he had lived in a free territory and became a free
man
Dred Scott v. Sanford


Roger Taney, Chief Justice
Decision




1st. Dred Scott could not file a lawsuit because he was not a citizen
2nd Slaves were considered property
3rd Congress did not have power to outlaw slavery in the territories
4th Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional
Election of 1852
 Election of 1852



Franklin Pierce
Winfield Scott
John Hale
Democrat
Whig
Free Soil
254
42
0
 The Whig party was in turmoil which lead to the Democrats easily
winning the White House

Whigs were divided over the issue of slavery
Republican Party emerges
 Republican Party


Made up from Free-Soilers, northern
Democrats and antislavery Whigs
Main goal:



Keep slavery out of the territories
New party grew in members quickly
By 1856: they were a national party and ran a
candidate for president
Election of 1856
 Election of 1856
James Buchanan
Democrat
 John C. Fremont
Republican
 Millard Fillmore
American (Know-Nothing)
 Buchanan was from Pennsylvania who was a northerner with southern
principles.
 Fillmore and American party was fearful that a Republican victory would
split the Union


They voiced a goal of unity
 Without a single southern vote, Fremont received 1/3 of the popular
vote
Harpers Ferry
 Harpers Ferry, Virginia

Site of an arsenal
 John Brown plan to raid the arsenal and arm slaves for an insurrection



Brown easily took control of the arsenal
No slave uprising occur, so no help for Brown and his gang
US Army was sent in to crush the raid



Brown’s trial



Lead by Robert E. Lee
Killed ten raiders and captured Brown
Court found him guilty of murder and treason
Sentenced to death
Brown became a martyr for the abolitionist’s cause
ELECTION
of 1860
Abraham Lincoln
:
The Emergence of the
Republican Party
The Candidates of 1860
Abraham Lincoln
of Illinois
Republican Party
Stephen A.
Douglas
John C.
Breckinridge
John Bell
of Illinois
of Kentucky
Democratic Party
Democratic Party
Constitutional Union
Party
of Tennessee
Abraham Lincoln
 Life: 1809-1865
 Occupation: Lawyer
 Political Parties:
Whig, Republican
 Political Career:
 Postmaster of Salem, Illinois 18331836
 Illinois State Representative: 1834 1842
 United States Representative: 18471849
 Other:
 Lost US Senate race to Stephen A.
Douglas in 1858
 A Captain in the Black Hawk War

Republican Platform
 The Republican Party absorbed antislavery Whigs, Democrats, Free-Soilers
and most American (Know-Nothings) .
 It became more moderate in its stance
on the exclusion of slavery and
denounced John Brown's raid.
 They were firm on no extension of
slavery into the new territories.
 The platform endorsed a protective tariff,
the Homestead Act, and internal
improvements.
Stephen A. Douglas
• Life: 1813-1861
• Occupation: Teacher and Lawyer
•Political Party:
– Democratic Party
• Political Career:
– State Attorney: 1835
– Illinois State Representative: 1836-1837
– United State Representative: 1843-1847
– United State Senator: 1847-1861
John C. Breckinridge
 Life: 1821-1875
 Occupation: Lawyer
 Military Career:
Mexican War: 1847-1848, Major
 Political Party: Democrat
 Political Career:
 Kentucky State Representative: 1849
 United States Representative: 1851-1855
 Vice President for James Buchanan 18561860
 United States Senator 1861

Democratic Party
The Democratic Party split completely
along sectional lines.
Northern Democrats nominated Stephen
A. Douglas on a popular sovereignty
platform and against obstruction of the
Fugitive Slave Law by the states.
Southern Democrats nominated John C.
Breckenridge on a slave code ticket. The
platform favored the extension of slavery
into the territories and the annexation of
slave-populated Cuba.
John Bell
 Life: 1797-1869
 Occupation: Lawyer
 Political Parties:
Whig, American (Know-Nothing),
Constitutional Party
 Political Career:
 Tennessee State Senator: 1817-1823
 United States Representative 18271841
 United States Senator 1847-1859
 Other:
 Secretary of War 1841

Constitutional Union Party
The Constitutional Union Party was
the middle-of-the-road political group.
The party consisted mainly of former
Whigs and American (Know-Nothings).
Their platform was the Union, the
Constitution, and the Enforcement of
the Laws.
Electoral College Breakdown
Last attempt at Peace
 Crittenden Compromise



Extend Missouri Compromise Line to the
Pacific
“Unamendable” amendment that would
guarantee forever the right to hold slaves in
states south of the compromise line
Received little support and failed
Result of the Election of 1860
 Southern states start to secede from the Union
 First being South Carolina on December 20,1860
 By late February of 1861:
 Alabama (AL), Florida (FL), Georgia (GA), Louisiana
(LA), Mississippi (MS) and Texas (TX) had also
seceded from the Union.
 They created the Confederate States of America
 Jefferson Davis became its first and only President
Fort Sumter
 April 11, 1861



First shot of the Civil War is fired
Confederates (South) fired onto the Union fort
Major Anderson of the Union Army (North)
refused to give up the fort

When the union ran out of ammunition they
surrender
Thus began the Civil War