Transcript On The Brink Of War

Chapter 17 section 3
 The new crisis over slavery rocked the nation in
March, 1857. In the Dred Scott case, the Supreme
Court ruled that the Missouri Compromise was
unconstitutional, and slavery could not be banned in
any territory. (Dred Scott v. Sanford 1857)
 Dred Scott had been a slave of a Missouri surgeon, who
had taken him to Illinois and Wisconsin Territory.
They lived there for several years before returning to
Missouri. In 1846, Scott claimed in court that the years
he lived on free northern soil had made him a free
man. The jury ruled in his favor, but the Missouri
Supreme Court overruled the decision (7-2). The
justices said that Scott did not have a right to trial.
African Americans, enslaved or free, were not citizens
hence they could not bring suits in federal court.
James Buchanan
15th POTUS-Born
and elected in from
Pennsylvania,
Buchanan was what
Northerners called a
“doughface”. A
doughface is a
Northerner who
sympathized with
the South.
 Angry that President Buchanan had supported the
court’s decision in The Dred Scott case, Abraham
Lincoln agreed to help overthrow the Democrats.
 Abraham Lincoln ran for senator against Stephen A.
Douglas in Illinois. Lincoln became nationally known
when he debated the issue of slavery against Douglas.
Lincoln lost the election but won the debates. This put
the presidency in his reach, in 1860 the young
Republican Party nominated him for the White House.
Stephen A. Douglas
Abraham Lincoln
 In 1859, John Brown, the Kansas abolitionist, led a raid
on a federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, hoping
to ignite a slave revolt. Brown and 21 followers seized
the federal arsenal.
 Colonel Robert E. Lee led a force of marines and
captured Brown, and killed ten of his men, including
two of Brown’s sons. Brown was convicted of treason
and hung. Southerners now believed that the North
would stop at nothing to destroy slavery.
John Brown
Robert E. Lee
 The Election of 1860 drove the final wedge between the
North and the South.
The Democratic Party split. Northern Democrats
nominated Stephen A. Douglas and came out for popular
sovereignty in the territories. Southern Democrats
nominated John C. Breckinridge, (V.P. under Buchanan),
who supported slavery in all territories.
The Republican party nominated Abraham Lincoln.
A fourth candidate, John Bell of Tennessee was nominated
by the Constitutional Union party.( This new party avoided
the issue of slavery and supported the Union.)
Stephen A. Douglas
(Northern Democrats)
John C. Breckinridge
(Southern Democrats)
John Bell -Constitutional Union Party
Abraham Lincoln-Republican
 Candidate




Popular Vote
Abraham Lincoln
1,865,593
John C. Breckinridge 848,356
John Bell
592,906
Stephen A. Douglas 1,382,713
Electoral Vote
180
72
39
12
 Abraham Lincoln won the Election of 1860 and
became the 16th POTUS. The Vice President was
Hannibal Hamlin. (www.potus.com)
 When Lincoln was elected President in 1860, seven
southern states seceded from the Union and formed
the Confederate States of America. Lincoln declared
that he was determined to hold the Union together but
hoped to avoid bloodshed. However, Confederate
forces seized Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston,
South Carolina, on April 13,1861. The Civil war had
begun.
 7 Southern states that seceded to form CSA,
Confederate States of America- South Carolina,
Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, and
Texas. President of the CSA was Jefferson Davis.