Download Part I Causes of the Civil War- 1850

Part I
Causes of the Civil War- 1850-1861
Chapter 10
Slavery becomes the dominant issue in U.S. politics, leading to the birth of new political parties,
the election of Abraham Lincoln, and the secession of Southern states.
Industry and Immigration in the North
•1850s North industrialized, makes large amount & variety of products.
•Railroads carry raw materials east
- small towns become cities
- telegraph wires provide fast communication
•Immigrants become industrial workers; fear the expansion of slavery.
- slave labor might compete with free labor
- could reduce status of white workers unable to compete
Agriculture and Slavery in the South
•South predominantly rural, mostly plantations and small farms.
•Economy relies on cash crops; manufacture under 10% of US goods.
•Few immigrants; free, enslaved Africans Americans meet labor needs.
•In 3 states, blacks are the majority; in 2 others they are half.
•Whites fear restriction of slavery will change society and the economy.
Slavery and the North
Slavery and the South
Few people had slaves and
slavery ended by 1860.
Slavery was an integral part
of life with over 1 million enslaved African Americans.
Early in the 1800s, some northerners began to work
for the abolition of slavery.
Many believed God intended blacks to provide labor
for whites.
Many northern states limited the rights and migration of
free African Americans, so many white northerners
had little contact
with them.
Southerners claimed that enslaved
people were healthier and happier than northern
wage earners.
Part I
Slavery in the Territories
The Wilmot Proviso
-No slavery in territory acquired from Mexico.
-North: slave territory adds slave states; no jobs for free workers.
-South: slavery are property under Constitution, fear more free states.
Statehood for California
-1850, California writes constitution, elects leaders, applies for statehood.
-President Taylor supports admission of California as Free State.
-Recommends to angry South that slavery be decided by each territory.
•Congress was paralyzed in the question of organizing new territories.
•California, New Mexico, and other new territories became hot issues.
•The admission as California and New Mexico into the Union would upset the balance
between free and slave states in Congress (15 free and 15 slave).
•Zachary Taylor wanted to settle the dispute over California and New Mexico and send
delegates to the territory of California to set up statehood.
•This infuriated Congress because statehood should be decided by elections.
Three Old Senators Debate
Calhoun and Webster’s positions on Clay’s compromise during Senate debate:
•
•
•
Henry Clay
Clay’s compromise did not
give the South enough
protection.
The South would break away
from the Union if it did not get
its demands on the slavery
issue.
Any state had the right to
secede if it disagreed with
national laws.
•
•
•
Daniel Webster
The states should rally to the
cause of unity.
Sectional compromise was
needed in order to preserve
the Union.
Webster supported popular
sovereignty.
Part I
•
Zachary Taylor felt the compromise appeased the south and refused to sign
anything he did not like.
•
In, 1849, after Taylor gave a speech, he died of disease later known as cholera
(Maybe not), after eating spoiled cherries and milk.
•
Vice President Millard Fillmore became President Millard Fillmore.
Compromise of 1850
•Clay proposed a series of 7 resolutions that carefully balanced the interests of the North
& South.
1. California to be a free state.
2. More effective fugitive slave law.
3. Popular sovereignty- residents of territory votes to decide slavery.
4. Utah should be separated from NM.
5. Gov’t to pay Texas $10 million for its claim to eastern New Mexico.
6. Pay debts of Texas incurred before annexation
7. Slave trade banned in D.C., but permitted.
Protest, Resistance, Violence
•The calm that followed the passage of the Compromise of 1850 did not last long.
•
Many in the North could not accept the Fugitive Slave Act, which was a key part of the
compromise.
Fugitive Slave Act
-Very harsh terms
-Alleged fugitives denied trial jury and the right to testify on their own behalf.
-Federal commissioners paid more for returning than freeing accused.
-People convicted of helping a fugitive was fined ($1,000.00), imprisoned, or both.
Part I
William Lloyd Garrison
Frederick Douglass (1817-1895)
Sojourner Truth (1787-1883) or Isabella Baumfree
Resisting the Law
•Some Northern states passed personal liberty laws.
•These laws:
-nullified the Fugitive Slave Act.
-enabled state officials to arrest slave catchers for kidnapping free African
Americans.
-increased northern white support of abolitionism.
The Underground Railroad
•Secret network of people who help slaves escape.
•Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery, become conductor on 19 trips.
•Fugitives go on foot at night, often no food, avoiding armed patrols.
•Some fugitives stayed in North; others moved onto Canada.
Harriet Tubman (1820-1913):
• Helped over 300 slaves to freedom.
•
$40,000 bounty on her head.
•
Served as a Union spy during the Civil War.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin 1852
• Life Among the Lowly
•
Anti-Slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe
•
Novel had a profound effect on attitude toward African Americans and slavery in
the United States
•
Intensified the sectional conflict leading to the American Civil War
Part I
1852 Presidential Election:
Franklin Pierce
Gen. Winfield Scott
Democrat
Whig
John Parker Hale
Free Soil
Democratic Convention
•The Democratic convention was held in Baltimore, Maryland. During this time, the
party had the 2/3rd’s rule, which meant in order to receive the democratic nomination for
the presidency, the candidate must receive 2/3rd’s vote.
•Many candidates including Lewis Cass, James Buchanan of Pennsylvania, and Stephen
Arnold Douglas ran for the nomination and no candidate could receive the 2/3rd’s vote.
•Finally, after 49 ballots, a “dark horse candidate,” Franklin Pierce received the
nomination.
The Whig Convention
•The Whigs held their convention in Baltimore as well. The great Henry Clay and Daniel
Webster were in attendance. Incumbent Millard Fillmore and military hero during the
Mexican War, Winfield Scott also ran for the nomination.
•Fillmore and Scott were fighting over a deadlock for 52 ballots. And, finally, on the
53rd ballot, the Whig nomination went to Winfield Scott.
New Political Parties Emerge
•Slavery divides the Whigs
-Northern & Southern Whigs split over slavery in the 1852 election.
•Nativism – belief in favoring native born Americans over immigrants.
-Form American Party (1854)- “Know-Nothing Party.
-Middle-class Protestants afraid of Catholicism; split over slavery
Franklin Pierce and Sectional Problems
•Franklin Pierce was a weak president and dominated by the southern wing of the
Democratic Party.
•He supported the Fugitive Slave Act, and intended to enforce the legislation, and his
actions angered northern opposition.
Part I
Tension in Kansas and Nebraska
•In 1854, Stephen Douglas introduced a bill to organize the Nebraska Territory. It lays
completely above the 36* 30’
•The bill (Kansas-Nebraska Act) divided the territory: southern portion=Kansas; northern
portion= Nebraska
•It also repealed the Missouri Compromise; under K-N Act, territories would be granted
popular sovereignty.
•Douglas seeks the South’s support, but doesn’t feel slavery would survive in prairie
farms.
Border Ruffians – Lecompton Constitution
•In the spring of 1855, elections took place in Kansas and a proslavery legislature was
elected.
•Prior to the election, border ruffians from Missouri crossed the border into Kansas and
casted ballots in favor of a proslavery legislature. Although only about 1,500 voters lived
in Kansas, more than 6,000 votes were casted.
An Anti Slavery Legislature – Topeka Constitution
•Refusing
to accept the proslavery laws of Kansas, antislavery people armed themselves,
held their own elections, and adopted a constitution that banned slavery.
“Bleeding Kansas”
•Kansas was a frontier society; violence and lawlessness were common- mostly made up
of young single men who were quick to fight.
•“The Sack of Lawrence”
- Proslavery grand jury brands Free-Soilers/antislavery traitors .
- Posse of 800 burns down tiny town.
•John Brown, a religious and quite fanatical abolitionist, wanted revenge for the attack on
Lawrence. Believing he was chosen by God to end slavery in the United States, Brown
with four of his sons and two other men massacred five unarmed helpless slaveholders
along Pottawatomie Creek. (Pottawatomie Massacre)
•Violence followed between the bitter rivals. Not until the fall of 1856, could the United States
Army stop the bloodshed. By then, more than 200 people were killed.