Download Chapter 19 Drifting Towards Disunion

Chapter 19
Drifting Towards Disunion
1854-1861
Emma Buckley
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Uncle Toms Cabin (1852)
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Harriet Beecher Stowe
Revealed the terrible ways slaves and fugitives were treated.
She hoped to make people realize the evil of slavery, putting
an end to it
Lincoln said the book helped to start “this great war”
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The north refused the Fugitive Slave Law after realizing how
wrong slavery was, some people even volunteered to fight in the
Civil War
The south was angered by the book, it depicted them as bad
people
The Impending Crisis of the South (1857)
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Hinton R. Helper tried to prove nonslaveholding whites were
the only people suffering
South elite’s feared that the nonslaveholding would leave them
because of the book and it was banned in the South
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The North-South Contest for Kansas
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People coming to Kansas
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Most northerners were people searching for richer lands
Some were northern abolitionists or free-soilers including the New
England Emigrant Aid Company (1854)
South was angry because they heard Kansas was defying the
Kansas-Nebraska Act by wanting to end slavery in both
territories
Slave owners would not take their slaves to Kansas
In 1855 proslavery members were elected to the territorial
legislature causing a confusion in Kansas over two
governments, free-soilers or people for slavery
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1856 proslavery people destroyed the towns of free-soiler
• Kansas in Convulsion
– John Brown, moved from Kansas to Ohio and led people to
Pottawatomie Creek killing 5 men (1856)
• This ruined the reputation of the free-soilers and angered people in
favor of slavery
– 1857 Kansas applied for a popular sovereignty basis
– Lecompton Constitution
• People could vote for slavery or no slavery but no matter what,
blacks in Kansas would still not be completely free
– James Buchanan became president over Pierce and relied on
the Lecompton Constitution
– Senator Stephen Douglas strongly opposed the document and
campaigned against it
– A compromise was reached that let the people of Kansas vote
on the Constitution
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It was revoked by the free-soil voters, but Kansas remained a
territory until 1861, when the southern states seceded from the
Union.
– President Buchanan divided the Democratic Party
• “Bully” Brooks and His Bludgeon
– Bleeding Kansas-Civil War fought in Kansas over the issue of
slavery fought from 1856-1861 when it merged into the greater
Civil War
– Senator Charles Sumner gave a speech condemning pro-slavery
men. During this speech, he also insulted Senator Andrew Butler
– Preston S. Brooks was angry because of the speech
• May 22, 1856 he pounded Sumner with a cane until it broke and he
was unconscious and bleeding, causing him to leave for 3 ½ years
– Brooks resigned but was reelected
– This whole incident caused more tension between the North and
South
• “Old Buck” Versus “The Pathfinder”
– Democrats chose James Buchanan as their presidential
candidate to run in the election of 1856 because he wasn't
influenced by the Kansas-Nebraska Act
– Republicans choose Captain John C. Fremont for the similar
reasons as the Democrats
– Immigrants from Ireland and Germany scared Americans,
leading to the formation of the Know-Nothing party
– Both Buchanan and Fremont were attacked
• Buchanan was a bachelor
• Fremont had illegitimate birth
• The Electoral Fruits of 1856
– Buchanan won the election of 1856 against Fremont and
Fillmore
• Southerners threatened that if a Republican won, that would be a
declaration of war, forcing them to secede
• Caused northerners to vote for Buchanan, hoping to preserve the
Union
• The Dred Scott Bombshell
– Dred Scott v. Sandford- Supreme court decision that extended
federal protection to slavery by ruling that Congress did not have
the power to prohibit slavery in any territory, slaves were not
citizens of the US
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Dred sued his owner for living in free territory for 5 years
Black slaves can’t sue in federal court
Missouri compromise was still looked at in the North
Compromise of 1820 had always been unconstitutional
– Tensions grew between the North and the South based on the
new court decisions and Dred Scott case
• The Financial Crash of 1857
– Panic of 1857- financial crash brought on by gold-fueled inflation,
overspeculation, and excess grain production
• Over 5 thousand businesses failed, unemployment, and hunger
meetings in urban areas took place
– It effected the North most because they were the biggest North
government decided to give 160 acres of farming land to
pioneers for free
• Eastern Industrialists opposed, fearing that their underpaid workers
would all go to the West
• The South opposed because slavery could not thrive on such a
limited amount of land
• Homestead Act passed, making public land accessible for 25 cents
an acre
– Tariff of 1857- Lowered duties on imports in response to a high
Treasury surplus and pressure from Southern farmers
• Lowered duties to 20%
• Gave Republicans 2 economic issues for election of 1960
• An Illinois Rail-Splitter Emerges
– Abraham Lincoln (Honest Abe) decided to run against Stephan
Douglas
• Served one term in Congress from 1847-1849 but had an otherwise
private, uneventful life before running for President
• The Great Debate: Lincoln v. Douglas
– Lincoln-Douglas Debates- (August to October 1858)
• Most famous debate at Freeport, Illinois and Lincoln brought up an
issue named the Freeport question
» Freepost question-asked whether the court or the people should
decide the future of slavery in the territories
• Douglas’ answer to this question is called the Freeport Doctrinedeclared that since slavery could not exist without laws to protect it,
territorial legislatures, not the Supreme Court, would have the final
say on the slavery question
– More Pro-Douglas members were elected for senate seats but
Lincoln won a moral victory
• John Brown: Murderer or Martyr
– John Brown created a plan to invade the South gathering all the
slaves and giving them weapons to stand up for themselves,
hoping to establish a black free state
• At Harpers Ferry, he accidentally killed 7 people and the slaves
refused to follow him
– Brown was captured by the U.S. Marines and killed
• He died proud that he failed fighting against slavery than live any
other way
– The South saw Harpers Ferry as an awful, murderous event by
Brown along with some northerners
– Abolitionists and free-soilers were angered about Brown’s
execution and went to his hanging and to rebel
• The Disruption of the Democrats
– Many southerners resented Douglas due to this dislike for the
Freeport Doctrine and Lecompton Constitution
• The democrats could not get enough votes for Douglas so they
backed out
– After Democrats tried again in Baltimore, and Douglas was
elected
– Democrats selected John C. Breckinridge as their vice president
which favored the extension of slavery into the territories
– Constitutional Union Party- (1860) formed by moderate Whigs
and Know-Nothings in an effort to elect a compromise candidate
and avert a sectional crisis
• Nominated John Bell for presidency
• A Rail-Splitter Splits the Union
– Republicans gathered in Chicago and nominated Abraham
Lincoln as presidential candidate
– Southern secessionists believed that Lincolns election would
contribute to the split of the Union
– Lincoln was not an abolitionist and did not want to calm the
southern fears
• The electoral Upheaval of 1860
– Lincoln was victorious, despite the fact that he was a minority
president
– Because Lincoln won, South Caroline now had an excuse to
secede from the Union
– The South was not completely negatively affected by election
• 5 to 4 majority on Supreme Court
• Republicans did not control House of Representatives or Senate
• The Secessionist Exodus
– South Carolina met and seceded with a unanimous cote
(December 1860)
• AL, MS, FL, GA, LA, and TX all seceded too
– The 7 seceded states created the Confederate States of America
and choose Jefferson Davis as their president
– Buchanan replaced Lincoln for the first 4 months he could not be
in office yet and was blamed for the 7 states seceding
• Did not resort to force because the tiny army he had of 15,000 men
was needed to control Indians in the West
• The Collapse of Compromise
– Crittenden amendments- (1860) attempted to please the South,
the failed Constitutional amendments would have given federal
protection for slavery in all territories south of 36’30’ where
slavery was supported by popular sovereignty
• Lincoln rejected the amendments
• Farewell to Union
– The southern states seceded fearing that the Republican Party
would threaten their rights to own slaves
– Many southerners felt that their secession would be unopposed
by the North
• Northern manufacturers were dependant on southern economics
– The South experienced nationalism
– Almost none of the seceded states felt that they were doing
anything wrong by seceding