Union to Disunion

The Events leading to the Civil War

Brenton Montie 2009

"With us, the two great divisions of society are not rich and poor, but white and black. And all the former, the poor as well as the rich, belong to the upper class and are respected and treated as equals."~John C. Calhoun

Do we always need to feel better than someone else? Why should there always be someone worse than me? This is a recurring theme!

Why do these people feel so strongly about slavery?

SOCIETY

Think Af. Ams. are inferior:• Poor whites support it because it keeps

them off the bottom of society• Slaveholders are helping slaves by: 

o introducing them to Christianity o providing food, shelter, and clothing

  • They also say that northern factory work is

far worse, that  the workers are slaves without masters, subject to moral collapse

Southern views

Missouri Compromise

Missouri applies for statehood in 1817, wreaking havoc: Senate WAS balanced...

• Adding Missouri as a slave state (which it would be) would upset the balance in the Senate

 • New York introduces a bill to ban slavery in MO,

Southerners say the Gov't banning slavery is unconstitutional

 

• Maine wanted in as well, so Henry Clay suggests they add MO as a slave state, and ME as a free state, keeping balance.

 Crisis averted...or is it?!?!?!?

 So this is why southerners see the need to expand: their options are limited Remember the Wilmot Proviso as well!

Missouri Compromise  • The plan also banned slavery in the Louisiana

Territory, any areas north of Missouri's southern border

  • This was the only way to get northerners to support

a plan that brought slavery so far north

What were two parts of the Missouri Compromise?

How did the Missouri Compromise lead to the Mexican War? What were the excuses Southerners had for the enslavement of a group of people?

Why would poor Southern whites support slavery?

5 minutes!

QUIZ!

 Calhoun and the Nullification Crisis

• Calhoun proposes nullification: a state can nullify a federal law:o This was a way to stop SC from leaving the union, as

it would if this certain tariff remained.  Calhoun said that Congress had no right to pass a law that harmed one area of the country to the aid of another.

• Jackson proposed a lower tariff rate, but SC still threatened secession (withdrawal from the union)

 As you remember, Jackson then threatened federal force to make sure SC complied.

Webster and Clay

• States rights debate: Daniel Webster of Mass. argues that the union was made of the people, not the states

• Freedom and the union are one and the same

• "Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable"

Jackson took Webster's side, not Calhoun's (his VP)

• Clay, the great compromiser, settles the issue with a compromise tariff that slowly lowered rates. Clay always fought to keep the union intact, no matter what

 Compromise of 1850

• California tries to gain statehood, causing a huge uproar, again, because it would be a free stateo Slave states wanted it to be split in half

 Congress, after long debate, led by the Great Compromiser Henry Clay, passes the Compromise of 1850:

• To please the North: California is admitted as a free state, and the slave trade is abolished in Washington D.C.

 California would then send one pro-slavery senator and one anti-slavery senator

 Both sides thought they gave up too much, and it failed to solve the slavery issue

2. To please the South: Congress will not pass laws about slavery in the rest of the Mexican Cession territories... and will pass a strict fugitive slave law• This would help slaveholders capture runaway slaves

 This was also the last major accomplishment of Clay, Calhoun, and Webster

Senate Debate over the compromise

Fugitive Slave Act

• People accused of being fugitives could be held without an arrest warrant

 • There was no jury trial: Commissioner chose. He got 5

bucks if he let the person go, and 10 if they went back into slavery

• Southerners liked it: They view slaves as property• Northerners are quite displeased: They are required

to help recapture fugitives (if they didn't help they would be fined)

 Naturally, many free Af. Ams. were capturedSlave catchers roaming the north bring the moral question: Should we obey the law or break the law because it is wrong?

So what would you do, as a northerner? Do you follow the law and help them capture slaves or do you help a slave escape and face jail yourself?

Kansas-Nebraska Act

Uncle Tom's Cabin is published in 1852: it portrays slavery in a direct way that brings the horrors of the institution to the people of the north, dramatically increasing abolition demands. • 1854- Stephen Douglas of Illinois drafts a bill to organize

the Nebraska territory into Nebraska and Kansas • To get southern support, he proposes the principle of

POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY: the people in the territory get to decide if there will be slavery, not the Federal Gov't

 • This repeals the Missouri Compromise, but lawmakers

must support it or be accused of being against self government

 

Bleeding Kansas

Because of the Act, Kansas became a battleground: Anti-slavery forces and pro-slavery forces rushed into the territory to vote for the legislature (which would then decide if there would be slavery) Both sides ended up forming separate governments (the pro-slavery folks won at first because of some MO conspirators)  Settlers on both sides literally fight each other• Mobs attack the governor and offices of the anti-

slavery gov't• John Brown (an extreme abolitionist) kills 7 people at

the Pottawatomie Massacre in retribution

Whose side does this favor?

Perhaps the pen IS mightier than the sword...

The caning of Charles Sumner   Anti-Slavery Senator Sumner attacks the pro-slavery forces in Kansas in a speech packed with insults

Preston Brooks, a congressman, attacks Sumner at his desk with his cane, hitting him 30 times and breaking the cane.

• This attack proves to the northerners that the south is full of bloodthirsty savages and they become more eager to punish the south

Dred Scott

• Scott was a slave in MO, moved to free territory, then moved back. His master dies, he claims freedom because he had lived in a free area.

• Supreme Court: NO, you cannot sue for freedom, you are not a citizen, you are property, and Congress cannot ban slavery in territories

Again, enrages free state residents

• Basically outlaws popular sovereignty as well, because it would violate slaveholder's property rights

The Republicans

The Whig party collapsed because of the split over slavery So we get the Republican party, possibly formed in MI, based around Whigs and other anti-slavery forces• Increasingly: North and South split. Republicans do

not even show up on the ballot in the South. The Democrats attempt to remain a national party

 • Many people in the north blamed bleeding Kansas

on the Democrats, so Republicans gain power

 "A house divided against itself cannot stand"

Lincoln Douglas Debates     Page 452, read Lincoln's quote  • Lincoln: Slavery is a moral, political, and social wrong

o  He only argued that Slavery should not be extended 

• Douglas: Popular Sovereignty should rule, the most democratic way to deal with the issue (Dred Scott anyone?)

Lincoln lost the election, but won national stature

Harper's Ferry

• John Brown: (bleeding Kansas...) He wanted to inspire slaves to fight for their freedom

o Plan: Capture weapons at the arsenal at Harper's Ferry, VA.

• They seize the arsenal, and try to rally and arm local slaves. Brown is captured by the marines and is later hanged. 

• The sections of the country are now at a breaking point

John Brown: Hero or Terrorist?...crazy man?

The Election of 1860 The Democrats split over slavery in their platform, so the southern Democrats left...leaving the convention a stalemate. Eventually, northern Dems nominate Douglas, and southern Dems nominate John Breckenridge Lincoln is nominated as a surprise at the convention in Chicago • Two races emerge, North and South: Lincoln and

Breckenridge are most extreme: L = no more expansion of slavery. B = Feds must protect everywhere.

The country was tired of moderation: Lincoln wins the North and the presidency

The Candidates

The extreme candidates win the north and the south, and the moderates get the border states

The Southern States Secede

• The election of Lincoln is viewed as a threat to the Southern way of life, even though he said he would not abolish slavery

• They had warned if he was elected they would secede: They based it on states' rights = states could chose to remain or leave

• The deep south leaves first (Dec 1860), slavery is biggest there (cotton)

SC, MS, FL, AL, GA, LA, and TX leave first.

Everyone waited to see what the Union gov't would do...

The last attempts to stop war

• James Buchanan is considered the worst president because he failed to stop the war: he viewed secession as unconstitutional, but did nothing to stop it

Arguments about majority rule: The southerners just didn't want to follow democracy! 

Lincoln is inagurated in March of 1861. He argues against secession, and promises again not to abolish slavery, he appeals to friendship. However, he soon has to defend the nation

SO WE GET...

WAR!