CHAPTER 15

The Nation Breaking Apart

15.1

North and South Take Different Paths Both were mostly agricultural, but the

North began to develop more factories and trade.

The South relied on plantation farming. The growth of factories led to the rapid

growth of Northern cities. That growth came from immigration.

Antislavery and Racism in the 1830’s

Caused tension Abolitionists wanted slavery ended

because it was unjust Many Northerners who also opposed

slavery took a less extreme position. Some Northern workers and

immigrants opposed it because they were afraid that they would lose their jobs to slaves that wouldn’t have to be paid.

Most People Were Still Racists By Modern Standards

Despite their opposition to slavery, most Northerners, even abolitionists, were racist.

Many whites refused to go to school with, or live near African Americans

In most states, even free African Americans could not vote.

Defending Their Way of Life Northern attacks on slavery

increased Most Southerners were openly racist

and said white people were superior to blacks.

Many also said slavery helped slaves by introducing them to Christianity.

They also said slavery provided slaves with food, clothing and shelter.

•The issue of slavery was tearing apart the nation. To keep the Union together, Congress had created a series of compromises.

•The Missouri Compromise of 1820 maintained a balance between slave and free states.

•Maine was a free state and Missouri a slave state

•A Line was drawn (36-30 degrees) to end any future debate over slavery…..…at least they thought

Missouri Compromise

A better view on next slide.

•The vast land acquired in Manifest Destiny would soon created new problems over the old issue of slavery

•Should the new territories allow slavery or be free? Many Northerners feared the southerners would soon rush into the new territories and bring their slaves.

Manifest Destiny = Problems

Wilmot Proviso 1847

•Wanted to outlaw slavery in any new territory

• It divided Congress and never became a law. It did lead to the creation of the Free-Soil Party (dedicated to stopping the expansion of slavery.

•By 1849, California had enough citizens to apply for statehood, but this would disrupt the balance in Congress.

•Henry Clay stepped in to settle the California problem

WILMOT PROVISOA bill that UNSUCESSFULLY attempted to ban slavery in any territory gained from the War with Mexico

Free Soil Party A political party that was dedicated to stopping the expansion of slavery.

Stephen A. Douglas

You may have heard of him… What was his nickname? Hint: He

was only 5’4” tall He debated Lincoln in the famous

Lincoln –Douglas Debates for Senator

Controversy Over Territories By 1848, leaders began to debate

how to deal with slavery in the land gained from the War with Mexico.

They were trying to maintain a balance in Congress.

Stephen A. Douglas has to win passage of a plan called the Compromise of 1850.

Compromise of 1850

A bill that settled the controversy over slavery in California and in the rest of the Mexican Cession.

Section 2

The Crisis Deepens

Fugitive Slave Act

A law that aroused great opposition and widespread disobedience in the North.

•Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) to portray slavery as brutal and immoral.

•The novel follows the life of a old slave named Uncle Tom. Stowe showed the evils of slavery throughout his life.

•Uncle Tom’s Cabin heightened the conflict between North and South

•President Lincoln is quoted as having declared, "So this is the little lady who made this big war”

•The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska.

•Allowed the settlers to decide whether or not to have slavery within those territories.

•popular sovereignty=people rule

•The act was created by Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois.

•The act repealed the 36-30 line of the Missouri Compromise

Kansas-Nebraska Act:

Ended the Missouri Compromise’s limits on slavery

Northerners were outraged that slavery may be extended

The Republican Party was formed in response to the Kansas-Nebraska Act

One new Republican was Abraham Lincoln

•Proslavery and antislavery settlers rushed into the Kansas Territory (1855).

•5000 proslavery Missourians came and voted illegally giving legislative power in Kansas to the proslavery group.

• Antislavery settlers boycotted and created their own government.

•A proslavery mob attacked and destroyed Lawrence Kansas, killing antislavery members.

•To avenge the Sack of Lawrence, John Brown (an extreme abolitionist) attacked and murdered 7 proslavery neighbors.

Sumner v. Brooks

In May 1856, abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts delivered a two-day speech entitled The Crime Against Kansas. He described the 1854 events of “Bleeding Kansas” that occurred there and the South’s agreement with them.

During the speech Sumner blamed two politicians, Stephen A. Douglas and Andrew Butler for causing the problems in Kasas.

He called Douglas, who was present for the speech, "a noise-some, squat, and nameless animal...not a proper model for an American senator...”

He accused Butler, who was in South Carolina on his deathbed, of "taking a mistress..the harlot Slavery." He mocked Butler by stuttering when he used his name (Butler had a stutter).

Sumner v. Brooks

Several days later, Butler’s cousin, Congressman Preston Brooks, attacked Sumner with a cane while he was seated at his desk in the Senate chamber. Sumner was beaten into unconsciousness, rendering him incapable of resuming his duties for more than three years.

As a mark of how deep the divide was between the two sections, “Bully” Brooks became an instant hero in the South. He was the honored guest at testimonial dinners and amassed a large collection of canes sent to him from admirers. Some were inscribed with “Hit him again.”

Sumner, for his part, was seen as a near martyr in the North. Massachusetts re-elected him while he was still unable to take his seat in the Senate.

Section 3Slavery Dominates

Politics

Republican Party

Antislavery politicians from various parties, including the Whigs, Free-Soilers, and some Democrats, had settled their differences.

They met to form a new party. In 1854, the Republican Party was

created to stop the spread of slavery.

Presidential Election of 1856 Republicans nominate John C. Fremont, a

national hero from his exploration of the West. Democrats nominate James Buchanan. The American or Know-Nothing party

nominated Millard Fillmore. Democrat Buchanan won, but the election

showed that the Republicans were very strong in the North, and that the issue of slavery had divided the country.

Dred Scott

Background

Scott was the slave of an Army surgeon who took him from Missouri to posts in Illinois and modern day Minnesota.

Scott’s owner died and the man’s widow inherited him

White friends of Scott advised him in 1846 to sue for his freedom on grounds of prolonged residence in a free state and a free territory

Supreme Court

When Scott’s owner moved (with him) to New York his lawyers took the case to federal courts citing the diverse-citizenship clause of the Constitution. Gives federal courts jurisdiction over

cases involving citizens of different states.

1854: Federal circuit court for Missouri takes Scott’s case

DOES THIS AFFIRM DRED SCOTT’S STATUS AS A CITIZEN?

Major questions before the court1. As a black man, was Scott a citizen

with a right to sue in federal courts?2. Had prolonged residence (two yrs.

in each place) in a free state & territory made Scott free?

3. Was Fort Snelling actually a free territory? (Did congress have the right in 1820 to ban slavery in the Louisiana Purchase north of the 36-30?

The Ruling (1857)

The Supreme Court’s southern majority ruled against Scott.

Why?

The court initially was prepared to avoid questions 1 & 3 by upholding precedent set by earlier courts, which deferred to state law.

Instead the court decided to rule more thoroughly on all aspects of the case.

Northern judges would not go along w/ the less thorough decision – this would give the appearance of geographically divided court. (not good)

Why? Chief Justice Roger B. Taney’s Majority Opinion

Question 1: Negroes had not been a part of the

“sovereign people” who made the Constitution; they were not included in the “all men” whom the Declaration of Independence proclaimed “created equal.”

Negroes “had for more than a century before been regarded as beings of an inferior order . . . So far inferior, that they had no rights which a white man was bound to respect.”

R.B. Taney

Question 1 cont.

Dissenting opinion (Curtis & McLean) Free blacks in 1788 and beyond had

several legal rights: Hold and bequeath property Make contracts Seek redress in courts

Five of thirteen states that ratified the Constitution allowed black men to vote and they participated in the ratification process.

Question 2 (Taney)

Dred Scott’s time in Illinois and Fort Snelling did not make him free upon returning to Missouri.

Curtis & McLean dissented

Question 3 (Taney)

Congress had never had the right to prohibit slavery in the territories.

Article IV sec. 3 of the Constitution did not apply because “needful rules and regulations” are not laws.

The 5th Amendment protects life, liberty, and property. Slavery was not different from any other property, therefore a ban on slavery was unconstitutional.

Question 3 (Curtis & McLean)

Scott was a free man by virtue of his extended stays in free territory

Scott was also a citizen under the Constitution

The Constitution did empower Congress to prohibit slavery in territories. “All needful rules and regulations” meant exactly what it said. The first Congress upheld the 1787

Northwest Ordinance banning slavery in the Northwest Territory. Many examples pre-1820

Became the Republican viewpoint on slavery

Effects

Southerners thought it would crush the anti-slavery movement because slavery was now the supreme law of the land “Black Republicanism is dead”

Politicized the issue of slavery even more

Republican Party effectively used the court decision as a propaganda tool

The Republican party gained support and momentum

Lincoln elected president in next election - 1860

Dred Scott

His lawsuit to gain freedom was denied in a landmark Supreme Court decision.

Dred Scott PBS video 2:57

Lincoln and Douglas Debates In 1858, Abraham Lincoln challenged Stephan Douglas for senator from Illinois.

Douglas and Lincoln had debates over the issues.

The major issue was slavery. Lincoln had called slavery “a

moral, a social, and political wrong.”

Douglas said that slavery was up to the people.

Douglas won, but Lincoln became a national figure after the debates.

LINCOLN- DOUGLAS DEBATES IN 1858

The Lincoln-Douglas debates were a series of formal political debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas in a campaign for one of Illinois' two United States Senate seats. Although Lincoln lost the election, these debates launched him into national prominence which eventually led to his election as President of the United States.

Lincoln’s House Divided Speech

A house divided against itself cannot stand." I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved, I do not expect the house to fall, but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other.

Abraham LincolnHe opposed the

expansion of slavery into the Western territories.

John Brown Attacks Harpers Ferry

1859, John Brown, who had murdered proslavery Kansans three years earlier wanted to inspire slaves to fight for their freedom.

He planned to capture the weapons in the U.S arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia.

Brown and 18 followers, 13 white and 5 black, captured the weapons.

They wanted to give the weapons to slaves so they could start a slave revolt.

They killed four people. Cont.

No slaves joined the fight and Brown and six others were captured and hanged.

On the day that Brown was put to death, abolitionists rang bells in his honor. Southerners were horrified by the reaction of the North.

The issue of slavery was becoming very tense.

“I am quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away, but with blood.”John Brown

Read History Through Art p.454

John Brown

He captured the U.S. arsenal at Harper’s Ferry

Section 4Lincoln’s Election and

Southern Secession

Crash Course: Election of 1860

platform

A statement of a political party’s beliefs

The Candidates

Southern Democrats: Nominated John Breckenridge Platform called for slave code for territories

Northern Democrats: Nominated Stephen Douglas Platform endorsed Freeport Doctrine

Republicans: Nominated Abraham Lincoln Platform denounced slavery but also

Brown’s raid Constitutional Union party:

Nominated John Bell

Stephen A. Douglas

Was nominated by Northern Democrats to be their presidential candidate in 1860.

The Election of 1860

Republicans focused on corruption in Buchanan Administration

Southern Democrats spread rumors of slave uprisings

Douglas spent last weeks of campaign in South, warning against secession

Lincoln won without receiving any Southern votes

Teach History from visuals in manual p. 457 Also, look at next slide!

Lincoln 40%Douglass 30%Breckinridge 18%Bell 12%Lincoln wins the election, but only receives 40% of the popular vote….and not 1 electoral vote from the South.

Results of the Election

I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln’s First Inauguration, 1861

We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

Abraham Lincoln’sFirst Inaugural Address

March 4, 1861Washington, D.C.

Secession

The states break apart! A month after Lincoln’s election, SC

became the first state to secede, followed within months by MS, FL, AL, GA, LA, and TX.

VA, NC, TN, and AR warned that if the federal government made any attempt to use force against a state, they would also secede.

The Confederate States of America

Constitutional convention met in Montgomery, Ala. Feb. 4, 1861 Mostly copied U.S.

Constitution Emphasized states’ rights Guaranteed protection of

slavery Provisional government

established: Jefferson Davis named

President Alexander Stephens named

Vice President

Jefferson Davis

The Confederate States of America select him as their president after seceding from the Union.

The War Begins

Lincoln’s decision to resupply Ft. Sumter was stroke of genius Fulfilled Inaugural Address pledge to hold

federal property in rebel states Forced rebels to make decision to start war

Davis decided to take fort before resupply ships arrived Beauregard shelled fort April 12-13, 1861 Anderson surrendered April 13

Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to put down rebellion on April 15

Va., N.C., Tenn. & Ark. Seceded & joined CSA

•Lincoln’s first choice to led the Union Army was General Robert E. Lee of Virginia. Lee did not believe in slavery or secession.

•“I can not raise my hand against my birthplace, my home, my children”

•General Robert E. Lee of Virginia was selected as Commander of the Confederate Army.

Border States“Choosing Sides”

•Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland and Delaware were slave states that were against secession.

• They joined the Union and tipped the balance of power to the North……24 Union States v 11 Confederate States