Chapter 15

THE NATION BREAKING APART

(1846 – 1861)

Section 1:Growing Tensions Between North &

South

Main Idea: Disagreements between the North & South, especially over the issue of slavery,

led to political conflict.

Why it Matters: Regional differences can make national problems difficult to resolve.

•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

•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

•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

• California would be admitted as a free state.

• The slave trade would be abolished in Washington D.C.

To Please the North

• The New Mexico and Utah Territories would be able to decide the issue of slavery by a majority vote. The citizen's would decide whether or not to allow slavery. (popular sovereignty)

To Please the South

Section 2The Crisis Deepens

Main Idea: Turmoil over slavery led to acts of violence.

Why it Matters: Violence can make compromise more difficult.

•Congress also passed the Fugitive Slave Act. Made it illegal to

assist or help runaway slaves.• It denied a fugitive's right to a jury trial. As a result, many free blacks

were captured and taken back to the South.

•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”

“I tremble for my country when I

reflect that God is just. His justice

cannot sleep forever.”

Thomas Jefferson

“I am quite certain that the crimes

of this guilty land will never be

purged away, but with blood.”

John Brown

“I can not and WILL not live in a country where

my servant and field hand is my equal.”.

Senator Wigfall from Texas

“A house divided against itself can not stand”.

Abraham Lincoln

“If you persist, the Union will be dissolved. You have kindled

a fire which all the waters of the ocean cannot put out, which

seas of blood can only extinguish”

Thomas Cobb

14th President of the United States, (1853 to 1857)

Franklin Pierce - Democrat

•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 byDemocratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois.

•The act repealed the 36-30 line of the Missouri Compromise

•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.

•Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner gave a speech in Congress attacking proslavery forces in Kansas. He also insulted Senator Butler from South Carolina.

•Preston Brooks (S.C. Congressmen) attacked Sumner on the floor of Congress. He hit him over 30 times with a cane.

•Southerners cheered Brooks, Northerners chanted Bleeding Kansas, Bleeding Sumner.

(Violence in Congress)

Section 3Slavery Dominates Politics

Main Idea: Disagreement over slavery led to the formation of the Republican Party and heightened sectional tensions.

Why it Matters: The Democrats and the Republicans are the major political parties of today.

James Buchanan - Democrat

15th President 1857-1861

•Dred Scott sued for his

freedom.

•Abolitionists believed this

case could end slavery

•Supreme Court ruled African-

Americans were not citizens

and had NO RIGHTS

•Congress had no right to

ban slavery in any territory.

“Slavery was Lawful and

Legal”

•Slaves were property, thus

protected by the 5th

Amendment in the

Constitution.

•The Republican party was formed in

reaction to the Kansas-Nebraska Act of

1854.

•The party was created from the Northern

Whigs, Free-Soilers and a few Northern

Democrats who opposed slavery.

•The Republican Parties goal was to

oppose the spread of slavery.

•The parties new leader was a young

Illinois politician named Abraham Lincoln.

•1858 Republican Abe Lincoln

ran against Democrat

Stephen A. Douglas for the

Illinois US Senate seat.

•Lincoln argued in the

HOUSE DIVIDED SPEECH

“a house divided against itself

cannot stand”” Lincoln

believed slavery should not

be expanded.

•Douglas (Little Giant) argued

slavery should be decided by

popular sovereignty.

•Douglas won a close race,

but Lincoln made a name for

him and his new party.

•Abolitionist John Brown had a plan to inspire

slaves to fight for their freedom.

•Brown and several white and black men

attacked a US Marine arsenal to capture

weapons and supply a slave revolt.

•The attack failed and John Brown was

captured.

•He was hanged for murder and treason.

•Southerners were outraged by his actions,

Northerners praised his deeds.

“I am quite certain that the crimes of this guilty

land will never be purged away, but with

blood.”

John Brown

LAST MOMENTS OF JOHN BROWN

Section 4Lincoln’s Election and Southern

Secession

Main Idea: The election of Lincoln led the Southern states to secede from the Union.

Why it Matters: This was the only time in U.S. history that states seceded from the Union.

•In the election of 1860 the

Democrats split their vote

between 2 candidates.

•Douglas (popular sovereignty)

Breckinridge (States Rights)

•Others joined a new party

“Constitutional Union”

•John Bell (preserve the Union)

•Lincoln was the Republican

candidate.( Stop Slavery)

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

RESULTS OF THE ELECTION, CONTINUED:

•Outraged…the south threatens to secede.

•December 20, 1860 South Carolina Secedes. Mississippi,

Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas soon follow

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

•South Carolina seceded on

December 20, 1860……Mississippi,

Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana

and Texas also left.

•These states formed the

Confederate States of America and

named Jefferson Davis as President

“We ask only to be left alone”

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.

Lincoln had promised he would not abolish slavery,

but also promised he would NOT let the southern states

secede.

North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas and Virginia

joined the Confederate States of America after the

battle of Fort Sumter….bringing the total to 11 states

that seceded.

•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