Transcript Chapter 15 (A Nation Divided)

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Popular sovereignty = idea that political power belongs to
the people
Many people believed states and territories, not the federal
government, should decide if they wanted to permit
slavery
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Document written by Representative David Wilmot
Idea was proposed to Congress to prohibit slavery in all
parts of the Mexican Cession
Document stated that “neither slavery nor involuntary
servitude shall ever exist in any part of the territory”
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The Wilmot Proviso created a debated that showed
growing sectionalism in the U.S.
Sectionalism = favoring the interests of one section or
region over the interests of the entire country
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Party supported the Wilmot Proviso
Northerners who supported the abolition of slavery
They feared slave labor would take jobs away from white
workers
Martin Van Buren was a member
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Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky proposed that California enter the Union as a
free state
Senator John C. Calhoun of South Carolina believed slave states should
separate peacefully from the Union
Secede = formally withdraw from the Union
Compromise of 1850 = California entered as a free state and the Mexican
Cession was divided into two territories – Utah and New Mexico
The question of whether to allow slavery would be decided by popular
sovereignty in the new territories
A consequence of the Compromise was the balance between free and slave
states ended
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Act made it a crime to help runaway slaves and allowed officials to
arrest those slaves in free areas
Slaveholders took fugitives to U.S. commissioners who decided their
fate
Northerners opposed the act because it gave commissioners too much
power and should have allowed slaves the right to jury trials
Northerners were horrified that some free African Americans were
captured and sent to the South
PRO-SLAVERY
ANTI-SLAVERY
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Anti-slavery novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Published in 1852 and within a decade it sold over 2 million copies
Spoke out powerfully against slavery
Stowe was inspired to write the novel after talking to fugitive slaves she
met in Ohio
She was outraged by the cruelties of slavery and the Fugitive Slave Act
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Franklin Pierce (Democrat from New Hampshire) was
elected the 14th President
Southern Democrats supported him because he promised
to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act
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January 1854
Introduced by Stephen Douglas
Divided the Louisiana Territory into two territories – Kansas and
Nebraska
It would allow people in each territory to decide on the question of
slavery
It led to the return of the slavery issue between the North and South
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Anti-slavery government in Kansas was declared illegal by
a pro-slavery grand jury
Pro-slavery forces accused antislavery leaders of treason,
so they set fires and looted the city of Lawrence, Kansas
One man was killed
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Abolitionist John Brown wanted revenge for the Sack of Lawrence
May 24th, 1856 – five pro-slavery men were killed in Kansas
Result – Kansas collapsed into a civil war and many citizens were killed
“Bleeding Kansas” - abolitionists and pro-slavery forces clashed in
Kansas
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The Republican Party was formed after the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed
The party was against the spread of slavery in the West
In 1854, the party rallied around the spread of slavery in the West
(Do not copy) - Political cartoonist Thomas Nast was responsible for the
Republican Party elephant. In a cartoon that appeared in Harper's Weekly in
1874, Nast drew a donkey clothed in lion's skin, scaring away all the animals at
the zoo. One of those animals, the elephant, was labeled "The Republican Vote."
That's all it took for the elephant to become associated with the Republican
Party.
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Democrat
Won the election of 1856
Became the 16th President
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Supreme Court ruled that African Americans, whether free
or slave, were not considered citizens of the United States
The Court also ruled that the Missouri Compromise’s
restriction on slavery was unconstitutional
Republicans were angry that Congress did not have the
power to ban slavery
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Abraham Lincoln (Republican) accused Democrats of wanting to
spread slavery in the West
Lincoln said African Americans were entitled to all the natural rights
(life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness) listed in the Declaration of
Independence
Stephen Douglas (Democrat) stated that Republicans wanted to make
every state a free state, and that would eventually lead to war
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October 16th, 1859 - John Brown led an armed resistance in Harpers Ferry,
Virginia
They attempted to steal weapons from an arsenal and bring them to local
slaves
U.S. Marines defeated Brown’s men and he was convicted of treason, murder,
and conspiracy and was hanged
It failed because he did not have enough supporters
Southerners feared another Northern attack
Lincoln said the anti-slavery movement should not be one of violence
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Abraham Lincoln won both the electoral and popular
votes and became the 16th President
This election showed that the South was losing power in
the nation
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December 20, 1860 – South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama,
Georgia, and Texas seceded (separated) from the Union to form the
CSA (also called the Confederacy)
They formed a constitution that gave its citizens the right to own slaves
Jefferson Davis was elected President of the CSA
They were afraid the southern economy and way of life would be
destroyed