Transcript The 1850s

The Fiery Fifties
Prelude to War

Events leading to war
Economic Differences in North &
South
 Missouri Compromise
 Compromise of 1850
 Uncle Tom’s Cabin book
 Kansas-Nebraska Act
 Dred Scott
 Lincoln Douglas debates
 Lincoln elected president
From the
beginning the
North and South
evolved into
different types of
societies and
economies. The
hope was that
they would be
symbiotic.
The south with its
rich fertile soil,
long growing
seasons, and
large, slow
moving rivers
became mostly
agrarian.
The north with its thin,
rocky soil, short
growing seasons, and
fast running smaller
rivers evolved into a
manufacturing
region..
which also turned
to the sea with
ship building,
whaling, and
trade.
For this industrial
economy they
relied on a large
labor pool fed by
immigration
from Europe.
In 1819 the Missouri Territory
was being considered for
admission into the United
States. The problem arose when
it was suggested in Congress
that slavery be restricted in
Missouri as a condition of
admission.
At the time, there were an
equal number of slave
states and free states in the
Union. The admission of
Missouri, whether slave or
free, would upset the
balance of power that
existed between these rival
factions in the Senate.
Provisions of The Missouri
Compromise 1820
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Missouri was to be a
slave state
Maine was to be a
free state
There was to be no
slavery in the
Louisiana territory
north of latitude 36
degrees 30 minutes
except in Missouri.
Henry Clay the Great
Compromiser
The issues which thrust him into
the political limelight were the
Missouri Compromise, the
banking issues, opposition to
Andrew Jackson, and promotion
of his American System.
Most important of
these was the
negotiation of the
Missouri
Compromise which
was fundamental in
maintaining
American unity,
providing a
workable sectional
policy regarding
slavery expansion,
and a western
policy.
John Calhoun
A senator from
South Carolina who
calls slavery a
positive good, is
powerful, has a
strong southern
following and will
be a major leader in
the fights for
nullification and
secession.
Daniel Webster
A Senator who is
considered one of
the greatest orators
of his time.
He made his last
speech to save the
Union.
He agreed to
compromise....and
agreed to the
fugitive slave law as
part of the
compromise of
1850.
Compromise of 1850
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California is
admitted as a free
state.
New Mexico and
Utah will become
territories.
A fugitive slave
law will be
enforced and
runaway slaves
who make it to
free states must
be returned to
their owners.
Slaves may no
longer be bought
and sold in
Washington D.C.
but slavery will
still be legal.
The Fugitive
Slave Law
makes
abolitionists
out of people
who had no
opinion
before it was
passed.
Fugitive Slave law passed
The fugitive slave law
authorized slave owners to
cross state lines to retrieve
their "property." Slave
owners could go before any
local magistrate or federal
court to prove ownership.
The slaves had no
rights to a trial, a
hearing, or even
the right to
testify in their
own behalf.
In practice,
many slave
owners never
bothered going
to a magistrate,
but instead just
captured the
fugitive and
returned home.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
1852
Harriet Beecher
Stowe wrote
the book as a
response to the
Fugitive Slave
Act.
Drawing on accounts
of fugitive slaves and
her experience with
blacks during a stay
in Ohio the book was
first published in
serial form in an
Abolitionist
newspaper and then
in book form in 1852.
Ten thousand
copies sold the
first week and
300 thousand
the first year
earning her
$10,000 in
royalties the first
three months.
Within 5 years five hundred
thousand copies of the book
were sold in the U.S. and
eventually translated into 20
languages.
Impact of Book on Slavery
Debate
Dry
political
discussions
on slavery
were now
humanized
in the
stories of
the Christlike Tom….
a pious slave torn from his
family in Kentucky and sold
into the deep South
eventually killed by the
sadistic overseer Simon
Legree.
People who had
previously not
been much
interested began
to take sides on
the slavery issue.
The book was
banned in the
South.
The book
was
translated
into many
languages
and was
performe
d on
stage as a
play.
The impact can
not be
overstated.
Abraham Lincoln
called Harriet
Beecher Stowe
“the little woman
who started this
great big war”!
Kansas Nebraska Act
On January 4,
1854, Stephen A.
Douglas, wanting
to ensure a
northern
transcontinental
railroad route
that would
benefit his
Illinois
constituents,
introduced a bill
to organize the
territory of
Nebraska in
order to bring
the area under
civil control.
But southern senators objected;
the region lay north of latitude
36°30 and so under the terms
of the Missouri Compromise of
1820 would become a free state.
To gain the
southerners'
support, Douglas
proposed
creating two
territories in the
area—Kansas
and Nebraska—
and repealing
the Missouri
Compromise line.
The question of
whether the
territories would
be slave or free
would be left to
the settlers
under Douglas's
principle of
popular
sovereignty.
The Know Nothing’s
Ideal American
Anti slavery
meeting
announcement
Peace
ConventionFort Scott, KS
"...A stain
that shall
never bleach
out in the
sun! ..."
John
Greenleaf
Whittier
The Marais
Des Cygnes
Massacre
published
September
1858
Murder and Mayhem in Bleeding
Kansas
The years of 1854-1861
were a turbulent time in
Kansas territory.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854
established the territorial
boundaries of Kansas and Nebraska
and opened the land to legal
settlement.
In Kansas,
people on all
sides of this
controversial
issue flooded
the territory,
trying to
influence the
vote in their
favor.
Rival
territorial
government
s, election
fraud, and
squabbles
over land
claims all
contributed
to the
violence of
this era.
John Brown in Kansas
John Brown
was a failed
farmer and
tanner from
New England
and a rabid
Abolitionist.
Brown would
end up involved
in a bloody
conflict in
Kansas Territory
between those
who hated
slavery and
those who
favored it.
The Sumner-Brooks Affair
Abolitionist senator
Sumner stood up in
Congress and spoke
for two days.
He called the
Missourians
murderous
robbers and
hirelings picked
from the drunken
spew and vomit
of an uneasy
civilization.
Then he
insulted
South
Carolina’s
Senator
Andrew P.
Butler and
talked
about South
Carolina’s
shameful
imbecility.
Two days later Preston Brooks
who was a cousin of Andrew
Butler walked into the Senate
and up to Sumner. He began
beating him on the head with a
gold-topped cane.
Sumner’s legs
were trapped
under the
bolted down
desk and he
couldn’t
move. He
was almost
killed.
He was absent
4 years
because of his
injuries. The
Richmond
Virginia
Enquirer
praised
Brooks’ action
and he
received new
canes from all
over the south.
The Dred Scott Decision
Dred Scott was a slave. His
master took him from the
slave state of Missouri to the
free state of Illinois. Scott
lived as a slave for four years
in a free state.
Then his
master took
him back to
Missouri.
Abolitionists
thought it was
a good case to
test slavery.
Abolitionists paid
for a lawyer so
Scott could sue
his master for
freedom.
The case went to
the Supreme
Court. On March
6, 1857 the court
decided Scott
had no right to
freedom because
he was property,
not a person, and
could be moved
anywhere.
It also said it was
unconstitutional
for Congress to
limit slavery
anywhere.
Stephen Douglas: The Little
Giant
He was 5’ tall, born in
Vermont, then moved
to Illinois, he was a rich
political leader, lawyer,
businessman, who
made a fortune in land
speculation and
railroads.
If the
transcontinental
RR went from
Chicago to San
Francisco his
Chicago property
would be more
valuable but
Indian territory
west of Missouri,
Iowa and
Minnesota stood
in the way.
Jefferson Davis
wanted the RR to
take a southern
route through New
Mexico and
Arizona.
“Honest Abe” the rail-splitter
Abraham Lincoln
an attorney from
Springfield,
Illinois, ran against
Douglas for the
Senate seat in that
state
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
1858
They held a
series of 7
debates where
the candidates
threw insults in
the heat and cold
and rain of
frontier Illinois.
The issue between
them was slavery.
Douglas portrayed
Lincoln as a
fanatical
abolitionist, a black
Republican who
wanted to put
slaves on equal
footing with whites.
Scene from
a LincolnDouglas
Debate in
the Illinois
Senate
campaign
of 1858
Freeport Doctrine
Lincoln asks
Douglas if
people can
keep slavery
out of their
territory if they
don’t want it.
Douglas says
they can by not
enacting slave
codes.
Douglas wins
election to the
Senate, but
alienates the
entire south
John Brown’s raid on Harpers
Ferry
John Brown and
some of his sons
lead a raid on the
government
arsenal at
Harpers’ Ferry
They believe that
an “army of
slaves” will rise
up and join them
in a revolution
John Brown's Last Prophecy
Charlestown, Va, 2nd,
December, 1859
I John Brown am now
quite certain that the
crimes of this guilty,
land: will never be
purged away; but with
Blood. I had as I now
think: vainly flattered
myself that withought
very much bloodshed; it
might be done.
(John Brown's last
letter, written on day he
hanged. From "John
Brown: a Biography,"
After his capture, a
jury finds Brown guilty
of murder, treason,
and inciting a slave
insurrection after a
week of trial and fortyfive minutes of
deliberation. He was
sentenced to hang.
The election of 1860
The Candidates
1. Abraham Lincoln (Republican)
2. Stephen Douglas (Democrat – North)
3. John Breckenridge (Democrat – South)
4. John Bell (Constitutional Union
Stephen A.
Douglas
John Breckinridge
Breckinridge would
later serve as a
Confederate general
and Secretary of
War in the cabinet
of Jefferson Davis
John Bell
The competition for
votes was further
fragmented by the
newly-organized
Constitutional Union
Party that
supported
compromise to
maintain the Union
without advancing a
specific agenda.
Political Cartoons of 1860
Election results
The Fiery Fifties
Prelude to War