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Section 1 Sectionalism and Secession

INTRODUCE

OutlineA. North Carolinians

and AbolitionB. North Carolinians

and the Mexican WarC. The 1860 ElectionD. The Failure of Unionism

MaterialsTextbook, pages 285-291Blackline Masters

Steps to War, page 82Tough Decision, page 83

Teacher CD-ROMTransparencieswww.mystatehistory.com

Online textbook Strategies for U.S. History Test Preparation

“Missouri Compromise, 1820,” page 48“The Annexation of Texas, 1845,” page 50“The Mexican-American War, 1846,” page 51“Compromise of 1850,” page 52“Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854,” page 53“Dred Scott Decision, 1857,” page 53“Growing Sectionalism in the United States, 1850s,” page 54“The Election of 1860,” pages 62-63

Getting StartedAsk students to define section-

alism and secession in their own words. Discuss their ideas about how the two words are related in the context of North Carolina history.

Map 24 SkillIn the North

Objectives8.3.04 Describe the development of the institution of slavery in the State and nation, and assess its impact on the economic, social, and political conditions.8.3.08 Examine the impact of national events such as the Louisiana Purchase, the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the War with Mexico, and the California Gold Rush, and technological advances on North Carolina.8.4.01 Identify and analyze the significance of the causes of secession from the Union, and compare reactions in North Carolina to reactions in other regions of the nation.

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Map 24The MissouriCompromise

Map Skill: Where were all ofthe free states located?

Sectionalism and Secession

The prosperity of the 1850saggravated the divisions overslavery. Areas in western NorthCarolina grew less cotton and morewheat, which meant that thoseareas needed slaves less than theyhad in the past. In turn, the hugeincreases in cotton productionturned easterners into defendersof slavery. Henry K. Burgwyn, Sr.,the father of the “boy colonel,”had been a critic of slavery before1830. He wrote a pamphlet defend-ing it in 1860.

North Carolinians andAbolition

After the War of 1812, North Carolinians and other Americans arguedthe great question of the day: Should slavery be continued? In 1820, NorthCarolina’s leadership supported a compromise that allowed slavery tospread across the South but not the North. The Missouri Compromiseresulted in a line being drawn westward from the southern border ofMissouri. Below the line, slavery could continue in new states likeArkansas. Above the line, in places like Wisconsin, it could not. The linepleased southerners more than northerners. By the 1830s, the numberof opponents to slavery had grown in the North. These abolitionistswanted to abolish slavery in the United States as soon as possible.

Sectionalism and Secession

As you read, look for:• the growing antislavery movement in the country• the issues that led to North Carolina’s secession• vocabulary terms Missouri Compromise, abolitionist,

North Carolina Manumission Society, manifestdestiny, annex, secession, Compromise of 1850,Republican Party, Confederate States of America,Unionist

This section will help you meet thefollowing objectives:8.3.04 Describe the developmentand impact of slavery in the Stateand nation.8.3.08 Examine the impact ofnational events on North Carolina.8.4.01 Identify and assess the causesof secession, and compare statereactions to those in other regions.

SpanishTerritory

OregonCountry

Unorganized TerritoryClosed to Slavery in 1820

MichiganTerritory

FloridaTerritory

Arkansas TerritoryOpened to Slavery

in 1820

MissouriCompromise

LineMissouri

Admitted as Slave

State, 1821

Maine Admittedas Free State

Free States

Slave States

Section 1: Sectionalism and Secession 285

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TEACH

Strategies for U.S. History Test Preparation

This book addresses many of the issues and events leading up to the Civil War. You may want students to read “Missouri Com-promise, 1820” (page 48) now.

Technology ActivityHave students go to web site

www.accessgenealogy.com/scripts/data/database.cgi?file= Data&report=SingleArticle& ArticleID=0012081 to answer the following questions:1. The first record of the North

Carolina Manumission Society was the minutes from a meeting held when? (July 19, 1816)

2. From the recording of that first meeting, who was elected the president of the group? (Moses Swain)

3. How many members were recorded in April 1819? (281)

4. In what area was there a female branch of the Manumission Society? (Jamestown)

Differentiated Instruction – For Advanced Readers

Have students find a book about the Underground Railroad in your school or community library. Students can read the book and prepare a short oral presentation for the class, showing what they learned about this passage to freedom. Tar Heel Trivia

People opposing slavery tended to be concentrated in the western part of the state, while those favoring it were concentrated in the eastern part of the state.

Critical ThinkingStudy Hinton Rowan Helper’s quote

at the bottom of the page. Can you think of other practices kept by North Carolinians that could also be the refer-ence of this quote?

As with everything else, North Carolinians dis-agreed among themselves about abolition. NorthCarolina was notable for having more of its citizensspeak out against slavery than any other southernstate. Most of the antislavery sentiment was in thewest. This was logical since slaveholding was far lesswidespread west of the fall line.

One group consistently worked to end slavery. In1816, Quakers in the Uwharries had formed theNorthCarolina Manumission Society, which raisedmoney to buy slaves from their masters. (Manumis-sion is the act of releasing someone from slavery.)The society helped more than one thousand blacksin the fifteen years of its operation. Some Quakersalso joined the North Carolina Colonization Society,which worked to pay the ship passage back to Af-rica for free blacks who wished to move there. OtherQuakers moved to Indiana to get away from slaveryand its effects. Many became involved with theUnderground Railroad, a series of roads, houses, rivercrossings, and people who helped southern slavesescape to the North or Canada.

After 1830, however, most North Caroliniansstrongly supported slavery. They were following thelead of citizens in other southern states, who werebeginning to profit from the growing demand for

cotton. Southerners believed that cheap slave labor was the key reasoncotton was so profitable. As North Carolina grew prosperous after 1835,the defenders of slavery gained a stronger hold on the state. A newspa-per declared in 1837 that the state’s support was “unalterable, firm, fixed,and decided.”

Citizens who thought otherwise did so at their peril. Soon after mis-sionaries of an abolitionist-friendly church, the Wesleyans, came intoRandolph County to set up congregations, they were run out of the state.One Uwharrie native, Benjamin Hedrick, lost his job as a professor atthe University when he admitted that he agreed with the abolitionists.Hedrick barely escaped being tarred and feathered by a mob in Salisbury.

One opponent of slavery was Hinton Rowan Helper, a native of DavieCounty. Helper spent his young adulthood traveling the country, evengoing to California to look for gold in 1849. He concluded from his trav-els that places without slavery provided more prosperity for more people.While working in Salisbury in 1857, Helper wrote a long essay calledThe Impending Crisis of the South, where he argued that slavery workedagainst the interests of many North Carolinians. “It makes us poor,” wroteHelper of farm families like his. “Poverty makes us ignorant; ignorancemakes us wretched; [and] wretchedness makes us wicked.” Once Helper’sbook was published, he too had to leave the state.

One North CarolinaQuaker who opposed

slavery was Levi Coffin ofGuilford County. In 1826,

he moved to Indianaand became active in the

underground railroad.It is estimated that Levi

helped some 3,000 slavesescape to freedom.

Above: Antislavery Quaker RichardMendenhall built MendenhallPlantation around 1811. It was astop on the Underground Railroad.

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Strategies for U.S. History Test Preparation

Coverage of the annexation of Texas and the resulting Mexican War appear on pages 50-51. You can also have students read about the Kansas-Nebraska Act (page 53), the Dred Scott decision (page 53), and the growing sectionalism in the country (page 54).

Differentiated Instruction – For Gifted and Talented Students

Have these students explore further the concept of manifest destiny. How do they think this idea was initiated? Do they think religion played a part in the spread and acceptance of this idea? Do they think the United States still has some vestiges of this idea today? They should consider the country’s foreign policy in their answer.

Critical ThinkingUsing what they know about

the viewpoints of many people in the western part of North Carolina, have students explain why some western leaders spoke out against the Mexican War.

Geography ActivityOn an outline map of the

United States, have students mark the following locations of events discussed on this page: (a) border of the state Polk moved to annex (Texas); (b) location of a conven-tion where secession was under consideration (Nashville, Tennes-see); (c) state that was entered into the Union as a free state as part of the Compromise of 1850. (California)

Reviewing InformationWhy did James Polk feel we

needed to annex Texas?

Above left: The Battle ofChapultapec was the final battle ofthe Mexican War. Above: Duringthe presidency of James K. Polk,the United States acquired morethan 50,000 square miles of land.

North Carolinians and the Mexican WarWhile North Carolina worked hard to shed its Rip Van Winkle image

in the 1830s and 1840s, many Americans rushed to the American Westto settle new lands and set up new lives. Americans came to believe inthe idea of manifest destiny, a term coined by a New York journalist,that the United States had been “chosen” to control all the land betweenthe Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The president who strongly supportedmanifest destiny in this period was a native North Carolinian.

James K. Polk had been born near Charlotte and educated at theUniversity. He, like Andrew Jackson, had moved to Tennessee at an earlyage. Polk had been elected president in 1844. To fulfill manifest destiny,Polk moved to annex (add) Texas to the United States and acquire otherwestern territory. Mexico was angry about the annexation and cut tieswith the United States. There were several skirmishes between the twocountries, and in May 1846, the United States declared war on Mexico.

Although several thousand North Carolinians volunteered to fight inthe war, some western leaders spoke out against the conflict. One con-gressman called the Mexican War “an unjust war against a weak neigh-bor.” One reason the Whigs lost control of the state after 1850 was theimpression that they had been against the war with Mexico.

The nation came close to civil war in 1850 because of the dispute overwhat to do with the lands taken from Mexico. Worshippers at the RockSpring camp meeting that year held special services to pray for peace.Some North Carolinians advocated joining the rest of the South in form-ing a new, separate nation. The state, however, failed to send delegatesto a convention in Nashville, Tennessee, where secession, the action tobe taken if a state decided to leave the Union, was under consideration.

No war occurred, however. Congress passed the Compromise of 1850,which allowed California to enter the Union as a free state. It also guar-anteed the protection of slavery with a stronger fugitive slave law thatordered every American citizen to return escaped slaves.

Braxton Bragg, Robert E.Lee, Thomas “Stonewall”

Jackson, Ulysses S.Grant, and William T.Sherman were amongthe Civil War militaryleaders who served in

the Mexican War.

Section 1: Sectionalism and Secession 287

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Critical ThinkingAsk: Why didn’t North Carolin-

ians who opposed slavery demand to have Republican Abraham Lincoln, a candidate who was against slavery, put on the 1860 presidential ballot?

Research ActivityAllow students to do further

research into the political parties mentioned on this page: the Consti-tutional Union Party, the southern Democratic Party, the northern Democratic Party, and the Whig/Republican Party. They can make a chart comparing and contrasting the basic positions of each party.

Map 25 Skill23

Multidisciplinary ActivitiesMath: (1) Have students calcu-

late the approximate percentage of electoral votes that Abraham Lincoln received. (180/303 = 60%) (2) Have students turn the informa-tion in Figure 17 into one or more circle graphs.

Strategies for U.S. History Test Preparation

This booklet has an additional discussion of the election of 1860 (pages 62-63).

TransparenciesA list of the causes of the Civil

War is set out in Transparency 22. A list of the differences between the North and the South is pre-sented in Transparency 23.

The 1860 ElectionAlthough North Carolina was divided over slavery, the state would

not side with the North. In 1860, the Republican Party, a new politicalorganization that replaced the Whig Party, nominated Abraham Lincolnof Illinois as its candidate for president. There were, however, no Repub-licans in North Carolina to support him. In fact, Lincoln was not even onthe ballot in North Carolina or any other southern state. The other can-didates in the election were John Bell of Tennessee, the ConstitutionalUnion Party; John Breckinridge of Kentucky, the southern Democratic

Party; and Stephen A. Douglasof Illinois, the northern Demo-cratic Party.

John Breckinridge carriedNorth Carolina, but AbrahamLincoln got more votes acrossthe country. After Lincoln wonthe election, his outspokenopposition to the growth ofslavery convinced southernersthat they had to act to protectthe means of their livelihood.South Carolina and sevensouthern states seceded fromthe Union. In early 1861, theyformed the Confederate Statesof America.

The Failure of UnionismNorth Carolina, however, hesitated to join the Confederacy. Since cot-

ton and slaves were not as widespread in the state, Unionists (those lead-ers who wanted to stay in the Union) were more influential. To oppose

Figure 17 The 1860 Election

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North Carolina National Totals Electoral Votes

John Bell 45,129 (46.7%) 590,901 (12.6%) 39

John Breckinridge 48,846 (50.5%) 848,019 (18.1%) 72

Stephen A. Douglas 2,737 (2.8%) 1,380,202 (29.5%) 12

Abraham Lincoln Not on ballot 1,865,908 (39.8%) 180

Totals 96,712 4,685,030 303

Map 25The Union andthe Confederacy

Map Skill: How many statesremained in the Union?

MN

KS

IndianTerritory

Nebraska Territory

New MexicoTerritory

ColoradoTerritory

UtahTerr.

NevadaTerritory

WashingtonTerritory

Dakota Territory

CA

OR

TX LA

AR

MO

IA

WIMI

IL IN OH

KY

TN

MS AL

FL

GA

SC

NC

VAWV

MD

PANJ

NY

ME

NHMA

CT RI

VT

DE

Union statesConfederate before Ft. SumterConfederate after Ft. SumterBorder statesTerritories

288 Chapter 9: Civil War and Reconstruction

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Multidisciplinary ActivityMath: Using information from

the text, have students determine the approximate percentage of votes that separated holding the convention and not holding the convention. (0.7%--less than 1%; Solution: 47,323 - 46,672 = 651 vote difference, 47,323 + 46,672 = 93,995 total votes, 651/93,995 = .0069 = .69% = .7%)

Map 26 SkillStudent answers will vary.

Lesson ClosureBased on what they have

learned in this section about sec-tionalism and related issues, can students think of other alternatives to secession that North Carolina might have been able to try?

ASSESS

It’s Your Turn1. Quakers2. He believed “It makes us poor;

poverty makes us ignorant; ignorance makes us wretched; [and] wretchedness makes us wicked.”

3. The idea that the United States was “chosen” to control all the land between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans

4. Republican Abraham Lincoln

Teacher CD-ROMYou can use the ExamView

test generator software on the CD to create a quiz or a test on this section.

North Carolina joinedthe Confederacy on

May 21, 1861.

Map 26The February1861 Voteon Secession

Map Skill: Which way did yourcounty vote on the convention?

them, secessionists called for an election to choose delegates to a conven-tion to discuss what to do.

The February 28 vote on the convention showed just how much NorthCarolina was divided. The people voted 47,323 to 46,672 against holdingthe convention. The highest Unionist returns were in counties like Randolphand Wilkes in the west. In turn, the largest turnouts for secession were inplaces like Edgecombe and Wayne counties in the east. Since only thirtyof eighty-six counties voted for secession, no convention was held.

Unionists, however, only “conditionally” supported the Union. Theydid not want any military action taken against their fellow southern states.When Confederates fired upon Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor on April12 and President Lincoln called for volunteers to “put down the rebel-lion,” the die was cast for many Unionists.

As Zebulon B. Vance of Asheville remembered, he learned of Fort Sumterwhile he was “pleading for the Union” with hand upraised. “When myhand came down,” he recalled, “it fell slowly and sadly by the side of asecessionist.” On May 20, the state held another convention to discusssecession. The delegates to that convention voted unanimously to secede.

Zeb Vance, who was to become North Carolina’s wartime governor,was not the only sad person. Four years of Civil War impacted every stateresident, rich or poor; free or slave; white, black, and even red.

It’s Your Turn

1. Which group in North Carolina particularly worked to end slavery?2. What did Hinton Rowan Helper have to say about slavery?3. What is the idea of manifest destiny?4. Who won the presidential election of 1860?

Section 1: Sectionalism and Secession 289

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Differentiated Instruction – For English Language Learners

This feature opens with some quotations from Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley. Have students read those quotations and discuss what they mean. Pay special attention to the phrases/words God-like thought and fettered. Help students use context to understand meanings of words, even if they don’t know the specific words.

Using TechnologyFor more information on Eliza-

beth Hobbs Keckley, go to web site lkwdpl.org/wihohio/keck-eli.htm. Have students answer these questions:1. Where did she learn her seam-

stress skills? (From her mother)2. How did she come to be

“owned” by the Colonel’s son? (She was given to him as a wedding gift.)

3. How did she gain her freedom? (Her patrons loaned her the money to buy her freedom.)

4. Why do you suppose that Mary Todd’s eldest son had Keckley’s book removed from publica-tion? (It was controversial.)

Character EducationAccording to the text, Elizabeth

Hobbs Keckley was beaten for “her stubborn pride.” Ask: Why do you think this character trait was so threatening to white people? How did this character trait benefit Eliza-beth Hobbs Keckley?

Reviewing InformationTell students to make a list of details

from the Carolina Celebrities section about Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley that might make them believe that she did, indeed, have stubbornness as a person-ality trait.

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CAROLINA CELEBRIT IESCAROLINA CELEBRIT IES

Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley

“I was born a slave,” Elizabeth HobbsKeckley once wrote. “I came upon the earthfree in God-like thought, but fettered in ac-tion.” This Virginia native who lived part ofher life in North Carolina, however, didsomething about her life. She eventuallygained her freedom and became a little-known but important contributor to thegreat fight to free the slaves during the CivilWar. How? Early in life, Elizabeth found hertalent and turned it into her passion. Shecould sew expertly, and she used her abili-ties as a seamstress to advance through life.

Elizabeth lost her father at an early agewhen he was moved to the west with hismaster. Her mother, however, remained astrong influence in her life. As a teenager,she was separated from her mother for atime while she served as a domestic maidat a girls’ school in Hillsborough. Elizabethwas made to do the work of three slaves“but scolded and treated with distrust” forfive years. More than once she was beatenfor “her stubborn pride.”

Things got worse when Elizabeth andher mother were taken to Missouri, and hermother made to work even though she wastoo old. Elizabeth said later that she decidedto “work my fingers to the bone” to care for her mother.She used the sewing skills her mother had taught her tomake enough money to buy a substitute. In fact, she wassuch a good seamstress that soon she was making enoughmoney to support her bankrupted master.

She continued to struggle, however, even after she boughther freedom. She and her husband, James Keckley, sepa-

Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley

rated. She moved to Washington, D.C., to support her sonas a single parent and made dresses for the wives of RobertE. Lee and Senator Jefferson Davis, the later president of

Above: This portrait of Elizabeth Hobbs Keckleyappeared in her book Behind the Scenes, written in1868 about her life with the Lincolns.

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Teacher Notes________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Technology ActivityTell students to use the Internet

to find out more information about Wilberforce University in Ohio. Find out at least ten facts about the school and share the results with the class.

Critical ThinkingAsk: Why do you think Mrs.

Lincoln broke off the friendship with Keckley after the assassination of President Lincoln?

Using Photographs and Illustrations

Study the illustration of the inaugural gown. What does the style of the gown tell you about the role of women of that time period? Would a similar gown be worn today at an inauguration by a first lady? Why or why not?

Class DiscussionDiscuss the sad irony of the

circumstances of Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley’s death. Why do you think she died at such a place? Does this surprise you? Why or why not?

the Confederacy. She was so successful, she was able to sendher son to one of the first colleges to take black students,Wilberforce University in Ohio.

During the Civil War, Elizabeth’s reputation gained her areally famous client: Mary Todd Lincoln. She made more thana dozen dresses for her, including Mrs. Lincoln’s 1861 in-augural gown. The First Lady soon found Mrs. Keckley to bea good friend as well as a good employee. Both women lostsons during the war, and, during the tense times in the WhiteHouse, Elizabeth gave counsel both to the President and Mrs.Lincoln. She even sometimes brushed the president’s hairbefore he went to give speeches.

Unfortunately, after the assassination of the president in1865, Mrs. Lincoln became ill and broke off the friendship.

Elizabeth, however, kept a picture of the former First Ladywith her until her death. Although Mrs. Keckley

was one of the most celebrated blackwomen of the Civil War, she died in a home

for the destitute in Washington, D.C., in 1907.

Above: Elizabeth Keckley lived in the Burwell House inHillsborough for five years. Left: Elizabeth Keckleydesigned this inaugural dress for Mrs. Lincoln, which ison display at the Smithsonian.

Section 1: Sectionalism and Secession 291

Teacher Notes________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________