Transcript Lincoln continental

THE CIVIL WAR ERA AND
AMERICAN POLITICAL PARTIES
Richard M. Skinner
SLAVERY IN AMERICA
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Slavery was present in all of the British colonies on the Atlantic
seaboard.
But only in the South was it central to the economy. (Although
the economies of New England, New York and Pennsylvania were
deeply tied to those of the slaveholding West Indies).
Before the Revolution, few questioned the morality of slavery.
SLAVERY AND THE AMERICAN
REVOLUTION
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The American Revolution led to the first major anti-slavery
movement in American history.
During and after the war, most Northern states abolished
slavery. NY and NJ retained slavery for another
generation.
Black troops played a prominent role in the Continental
Army.
THE FOUNDERS AND SLAVERY
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Most of the leaders of the American Revolution believed blacks
were inferior to whites. Nonetheless, many turned against
slavery.
Benjamin Franklin, once a slaveholder, lent his support to an
anti-slavery society.
George Washington freed his slaves on his death.
Even Thomas Jefferson sought to prevent the spread of slavery to
the West. He envisioned the institution eventually dying out.
SLAVERY AND THE SOUTH
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But the Revolution actually strengthened the hold of
slavery on the South.
In 1794, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, which
set off a cotton boom in the Deep South, with slaves
providing the labor.
The growing textile industries of the UK and New
England provided a market for Southern cotton.
THE REGIONS DIVERGE
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By the 1820s and 1830s, slavery had become central to the
Southern economy and “way of life.”
Southern thinkers increasingly argued that slavery wasn’t
a necessary evil, but a positive good.
In the wake of a series of slave rebellions, Southerners
hushed talk of eventual emancipation, and even censored
anti-slavery mail.
Meanwhile, a new abolitionist movement began in the
North, as part of a wave of agitation for social change.
THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE
19th Century Americans believed that their nation was
meant to dominate the continent.
 But would the opening West be slave or free?
 In 1820, Missouri was admitted as a slave state. In
exchange, Maine was admitted as a free state, and
slavery was banned north of a line extending from
MO’s southern border.
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WHIGS AND DEMOCRATS
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The mass political parties that emerged in the 1820s and
1830s spanned the North-South divide.
Pragmatists such as Martin Van Buren (a Democrat) and
Henry Clay (a Whig), sought to keep slavery out of party
politics.
But many Northern Whigs were turning anti-slavery. The
abolitionist Liberty Party attracted enough votes to cost
Clay the presidency in 1844.
TEXAS
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Texas, once Spanish and then Mexican, had long tempted
American settlers.
In 1819, Anglo-American settlement began in Texas. In
1835-36, they won their independence from Mexico, and
immediately sought entry into the USA.
Texas had many slaveholders, and the issue delayed its
admission into the union.
But in 1845, President John Tyler annexed Texas.
WAR WITH MEXICO
A border dispute in Texas led to war with Mexico.
 As President James K. Polk had hoped, a U.S.
victory led to the annexation of California, New
Mexico, and the rest of today’s Southwest.
 But many Northerners saw the war as a landgrab for slavery.
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FREE SOIL
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Controversy erupted over whether slavery would be
allowed in the new territories.
In 1848, a new “Free Soil” Party was founded, dedicated to
keeping slavery out of the West.
While the party attracted veterans of the Liberty Party and
the abolitionist movement, it also drew in Martin Van
Buren, whose enemies within the Democratic Party were
strongly pro-slavery.
As the Free Soil nominee, Van Buren won 10% of the 1848
presidential vote. An anti-slavery stand could win votes.
THE COMPROMISE OF 1850
The Whigs elected Gen. Zachary Taylor, a hero of
the Mexican War – and a Southern slaveholder –
as president.
 Henry Clay devised the “Compromise of 1850,” to
resolve the post-war crisis.
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California was admitted as a free state.
 The rest of the Southwest was organized as
territories without provisions regarding slavery.
 The slave trade was abolished in DC.
 A new, stronger “Fugitive Slave” law was passed.
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Civil war was avoided, but neither side was
satisfied.
THE “CONSCIENCE WHIGS”
After Taylor suddenly died, he was replaced by
VP Millard Fillmore, who proved unpopular.
 The Whigs nominated Gen. Winfield Scott in
1852, who lost badly to Democrat Franklin
Pierce.
 The party was in deep decline, with many
Northern “Conscience Whigs” tired of
compromising on slavery.
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“THE LITTLE GIANT”
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Pierce proved to be a weak, incompetent president.
The leading Democrat was instead Sen. Stephen
Douglas (D-IL), known as the “Little Giant.”
Douglas disliked the slavery issue, preferring to focus
on expansionism, a proven vote-getter for Democrats.
Douglas proposed that settlers in western territories
be allowed to decide for themselves whether they
wanted to allow slavery, a position known as “popular
sovereignty.”
THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT (1854)
Close to Chicago business interests, Douglas was
eager to see a railroad built that would connect
the city to the Pacific.
 But to do so, order needed to be established on
the lawless Great Plains.
 To so, Douglas proposed the creation of the
Kansas and Nebraska Territories.
 To win Southern support, Douglas proposed that
both territories be organized along popular
sovereignty lines.
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“ANTI-NEBRASKA MEN”
Douglas’s proposal infuriated Northerners. Both
Kansas and Nebraska were north of the Missouri
Compromise line – and many assumed that
Kansas was meant to become a slave state.
 The Kansas-Nebraska Act passed with Southern
& Democratic votes.
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WHAT NOW?
The Kansas-Nebraska Act shattered the Whig
Party. It also discredited the Democratic Party
in the eyes of many Northerners.
 Ex-Whigs and many Democrats looked for a new
alternative.
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A NEW PARTY SYSTEM
1852
1856
1860
Anti-Nebraska Democrats
Southern Whigs
American Party
Nativism
Constitutional
Union
Party
Northern Whigs
Free Soilers
Republican Party
Anti-Slavery
Moral Reform
Pro-Business Economic Policy
NATIVISM
Slavery was not the only issue facing the United States in
the 1850s.
 For its first half century of independence, the USA had
been virtually all-Protestant, with most whites of British
descent.
 But between 1840 and 1860, more than 4 million
immigrants arrived, primarily from Ireland, Germany,
and the UK. Most of the Irish and about half of the
Germans were Catholic.
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NO POPERY?
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Anti-Catholicism had been strong in the USA from the earliest
English settlements. To many, Protestantism = Liberty =
Americanism.
The Vatican only fed the fears by denouncing democracy, the
separation of church & state, and the “American way of life.”
Fleeing famine and overpopulation, many Irish Catholics were
desperately poor, crowding into the slums of Eastern cities. Crime
and relief rates soared.
Irish Catholics backed the Democratic Party almost exclusively,
opposing Whig plans for moral reform, especially anti-slavery, public
education and temperance.
AMERICANS TO RULE AMERICA?
In 1854, nativists and ex-Whigs founded the American
Party to combat the power of immigrants and the
Catholic Church.
 Since one secretive order of nativists told their
followers to declare “I know nothing” if asked about
their group, the party was nicknamed the “KnowNothings.”
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THE AMERICAN PARTY
The Americans attracted many ex-Whigs in both
sections, who were looking for a new political
home.
 They performed well in the 1854 and 1856
elections.
 The party declined afterwards, as slavery
surpassed nativism as the dominant political
issue.
 In 1860, many Americans and ex-Whigs backed
the Constitutional Union Party in a last search
for compromise.
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THE REPUBLICAN PARTY
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In 1854-55, northerners of various political backgrounds formed the
Republican Party, taking their name from Thomas Jefferson.
The party was all-Northern and committed to keeping slavery out of
the Western territories. Many Northerners who opposed abolitionism
nonetheless wanted the frontier kept “free.”
In 1856, they nominated John C. Fremont, a hero of the Mexican
War, for president. He finished second, winning 38% of the vote, and
carrying 11 states.
THE BUSINESS OF AMERICA IS BUSINESS
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While the Republicans attracted many
Democrats and Free Soilers, the bulk of their
support came from Northern ex-Whigs, and the
party shared its predecessor’s support for policies
backing capitalist growth including:
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A protective tariff.
Subsidies for railroad construction.
A stable national currency.
THE PARTY OF MORALITY
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The Republicans also inherited the Whig tendency toward moralistic reform,
including
 Temperance (Maine becomes 1st state to ban alcohol in 1851).
 Sunday-closing laws.
 English-only laws.
 Public education.
 Women’s rights.
While Republicans often tended toward anti-Catholicism, they avoided open
attacks on immigrants, especially since there were many Protestant arrivals
from Germany, the U.K., and Scandinavia.
As the American Party declined, most of its Northern adherents joined the
Republicans.
JAMES BUCHANAN
Despite the rise of the Republicans, James
Buchanan, a political veteran and Democrat, was
elected president in 1856.
 Buchanan’s presidency turned out to be one of
the most disastrous in American history.
 A financial panic in 1857 led to an economic
depression.
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DRED SCOTT
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The Supreme Court handed down the Dred Scott
decision in 1857, declaring that the Federal
government had no power to ban slavery in the
federal territories. The Missouri Compromise was
unconstitutional.
It also declared that African-Americans were not
considered to be citizens.
Republicans were enraged, with the Court seeming to
declare their party’s agenda to be unconstitutional.
Many suspected the next move would be to declare
unconstitutional state laws against slavery.
“BLEEDING KANSAS”
Kansas Territory was rocked by violence and
political turmoil between pro- and anti-slavery
forces.
 John Brown, a veteran of “Bleeding Kansas,”
tried to set off a nationwide slave rebellion by
raiding a federal post at Harpers Ferry. He
turned out to have support from some leading
abolitionists.
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THE 1860 ELECTION
Democrats faced gloomy prospects in 1860.
 Their fortunes fell even lower when the party
split along regional lines, with Northerners
supporting Stephen Douglas for President, and
Southerners backing Vice President John
Breckinridge.
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THE 1860 ELECTION
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Seeking a likely winner, Republicans passed over
their best-known leaders, Sens. William Seward (NY)
and Salmon Chase (OH), who many saw as too
stridently anti-slavery to be elected.
Instead, they picked Abraham Lincoln, a little-known
Illinois lawyer and former Whig congressman.
Many moderate Southerners and former backers of
the Whigs and Americans supported the
Constitutional Union Party.
A REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT
Leading a four-way contest, Lincoln was able to
win the election with only Northern votes. He
didn’t even appear on the ballot in most of the
South.
 The nightmare of Clay and Van Buren had
appeared: a purely sectional party system.
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SECESSION
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Refusing to live under a Republican president, South
Carolina announced in December 1860 that it was
leaving the Union.
In April 1861, South Carolina troops fired upon Fort
Sumter in Charleston harbor. The Civil War had
begun. Ultimately, 11 Southern states seceded from
the union. Kentucky and Missouri had parallel
Confederate and Union governments.
It took four years of fighting and at least 618,000
dead to preserve the Union.
A REALIGNMENT?
The loyalties formed in the 1860 election and the
Civil War would last for many decades.
 The Democratic Party would dominate the
South, while the Republicans would be the
majority party in the North.
 African-Americans would be a solidly Republican
bloc until the New Deal.
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NOT EVERY DEMOCRAT WAS A TRAITOR…
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For many Northerners – especially those Protestants
with a moralistic bent – the Republican Party and the
Union were one and the same.
They would never forgive the Democrats.
The major group of Union veterans, the GAR (Grand
Army of the Republic) was sometimes known as
“Generally All Republicans.”
…BUT EVERY TRAITOR WAS A DEMOCRAT
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White Southerners blamed the Republicans for the Civil War,
ending slavery and for pursuing racial equality during
Reconstruction.
To them, the Democrats were the “white man’s party,” and few
would desert its side until the 1960s.
They also saw Republican economic policies – favoring
Northern industry, giving generous pensions to Union
veterans – as damaging the South.
Many Northern “Copperheads” had disliked the war –
especially as a struggle against slavery. They, too, would
remain loyal to the Democrats.
THE GILDED AGE
After Reconstruction ended in 1877, party
competition would remain close with neither
party having a secure majority.
 Campaigning was raucous, nasty, issueless. Both
parties were essentially conservative.
 Patronage, corruption, and voter fraud were
everywhere.
 Democrats intimidated blacks at Southern polls.
 But voter turnout hit an all-time high at 83% in
1876.
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