Chapter 10 Section 4

The System Fails

Free Soilers

• These people worked to end slavery in the territories– Came to Kansas

• Pro slavery did as well

• By 1855, Kansas had 2 competing capitals– Antislavery Topeka– Proslavery Lecompton

– The 2 sides would eventually become violent

What did free soilers hope to accomplish in Kansas?

• To make sure Kansas entered the Union as a free state

How did the free soilers plan to accomplish their goals in Kansas?

• By settling the territory and defending it against slavery advocates as necessary

Bleeding Kansas

• Pro slavery supporters looted abolitionist newspaper offices and homes

• John Brown retaliated by kindnapping 5 men and killing them in front of their families

• This set off a summer of violence in Kansas

Bleeding Sumner

On the afternoon of May 22, 1856, Preston Smith Brooks (a Democratic Congressman from South Carolina) physically attacked Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts in the Senate chambers, hitting him on the head with his thick cane. Sumner was blinded by his own blood, and staggered away until he collapsed, lapsing into unconsciousness. Brooks continued to beat Sumner until he broke his cane. Several other senators attempted to help Sumner, but were blocked by Rep. Laurence Keitt, who was holding a pistol and shouting "Let them be!" This was in retaliation for insulting language Sumner used against Brooks's relative in a speech Sumner made that denounced Southerners for proslavery violence in Kansas. Sumner was beaten severely and did not return to his Senate desk for three years as a result of his injuries to the head and neck area; he became regarded as an antislavery martyr.

Explain how the events that occurred in Kansas and in Congress in 1856 support the message of the section’s title: “The System Fails.”

• The divisions between political parties and regions made the nation unable to find a compromise over slavery that would last

• The violence in Kansas and in the Senate is proof that the system failed as it existed

Dred Scott v Sanford

• Dred Scott (a slave) • Living in Missouri• Filed a suit against his

owner• Argued that because he

had once lived in a state where slavery was illegal, he should be free

• Supreme Court Rules 7-2 against Scott

What was the legal impact of Dred Scott v. Sanford on the issue of slavery in the territories?

• Slaves could not sue in court because they were not citizens

• Slaves could not obtain freedom simply by living in a free state

• All territories open to slavery– Regardless if they were

in the North or South

Lincoln Douglas Debates

• A series of 7 debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas on the issue of slavery in the territories

In your own words, describe the difference between Lincoln’s and Douglas’s views on slavery?

• Lincoln believed slavery was wrong

• Believed slavery was a moral issue

• Did not believe that a majority (popular sovereignty) could deny minority rights

• Never proposed ending slavery until the Civil war– Just wanted to halt its

expansion

• Douglas was more tolerant of slavery

• He believed in the absolute right of white citizens to choose the society and government (slave or free) that they wanted

Arsenal

• A place where weapons are made or stored

• John Brown raided the arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia

• Hoped to seize the weapons, give them to slaves and start a rebellion

• Troops under Robert E Lee put down the attack

• Brown sentenced to death

What do you believe was the greatest impact of John Brown’s raid?

• The raid deepened the division between the North and South

• Brown became a martyr to the abolitionist movement

• South outraged by this• South saw Brown as a

criminal• Feared more attacks from

abolitionists