Download Chapter 19

Chapter 19
Drifting Toward Disunion
1852 / 1854-1861
Stowe and Helper: Literary
Incendiaries
(1) Uncle Tom’s Cabin – Harriet Beecher Stowe (Abolitionist from Ohio) - 1852
*Written in response to the ungodliness of slavery and the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.
Focus: Immorality of slavery (especially the splitting of families)
- “God wrote it.” – Stowe
Connect to Second Great Awakening (religious reform)
- post Calvinistic mentality (pre-destination/pre- determination)
- focused on individuality
When introduced to Lincoln- “So, you’re the Little lady that started this great war!”
International reactions – Commoners of London and Paris enjoyed the portrayal
of Northern American life against slavery - “Tom Mania”
(2) Impending Crisis of the South – Hinton Helper from North Carolina
Point: Argue statistics of the economic blow to the non-slave holder.
- Hated the Southern planter (*elite)
Kansas-Nebraska
Territory
• Remember: Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854): Stephen Douglas
Provided: Popular Sovereignty
• Both Northern abolitionists and Southern slavocrats (border ruffians from
Missouri) turned this into a battleground due to slavery.
Northern Response: New England Emigrant Aid Company by: Eli Thayer
Purpose: to transport immigrants to KANSAS to support freedom of slavery
(HO, for Kansas)
• Outcome: tension
• Weapon of choice: “Beecher’s Bible”
• Story: pro-Southern "border ruffians" jumped over from Missouri to
Kansas to "vote early and vote often." The South "won" the election for
Kansas to become a slave state and set up a government
*FREE-SOILERS / NEEAC set up their own government in Lawrence, Kansas
Leads to : THE SACK OF LAWRENCE
May 21, 1856
John Brown’s Revenge / Bleeding Kansas
John Brown (1800-1859)
- abolitionist Sent by God “in revenge for Sack of Lawrence”
“a man made of the stuff of saints”
- Moved to Kansas from Ohio to abolish the slavery argument
- Spilled into Osawatomie Creek then into Pottawatomie
“Pottawatomie Massacre” (1856)
*John Brown hacks up “proslaveryites” and cascades the pieces
into the river.
This Massacre triggered others….therefore “Bleeding Kansas”
- nickname of territory due to the level of violence and for the
opportunity of popular sovereignty .
Kansas Statehood?
• Kansas wants to become a state and writes up the
LECOMPTON CONSTITUTION
- Kansas has slavery and it was sent to Washington
- President Buchanan (1856-1860) passed it and then it went to the Senate
- Tricky Issue: only voting on a constitution “with” or “without” slaver/ not
voting on the constitution as a “whole”.
- (*) Vote AGAINST slavery = slave owners already present are protected
and no FUTURE importing of slaves!
- (*) Vote FOR slavery = slavocrats win
- ****Either way: Slaves exist in the territory
- Stephen Douglas (Congressmen) killed the LECOMPTON CONSTITUTION
because it did not apply “popular sovereignty”
- *Lecompton Constitution NEVER passed and Kansas remained a territory
until 1861
- Problem: Slavery issue is still not answered
Violence in the Senate / Sumner Vs. Brooks /
Caning of Sumner (May, 1856)
• Sen. Charles Sumner (Mass. / northerner abolitionist)
writes a speech entitled “Crime against Kansas” (attacks slavery issues, fugitive
slave laws and the Kansas-Nebraska Act) – later to become the “rallying or battle
cry against slavery”
• Congressman Preston Brooks (South Carolina Congressman / southerner)
attacks Sumner in the Senate Chamber
• Brooks caned Sumner in the head until it broke (brain damage) / Southerners
presented Brooks with an other cane with the inscription “Hit Him Again!!!!!
• Sumner went to Europe for surgery
• Mass. Elected Sumner, ceremoniously,
to an empty seat.
Dred Scott
1857
(1856) Slave owner took Dred Scott (slave) from Missouri & lived in a FREE territory (Illinois) for 4
years
- later, returned to Missouri, owner died…Dred Scott begins a lawsuit for the grant of freedom for
him and his wife
• Missouri Supreme Court ruled against
• Dred Scott appeals and Supreme Court “upheld” the Missouri Decision
•
Dred Scott V. Sandford
CHIEF JUSTICE: ROGER B. TANEY
4 OUTCOMES OF THE DRED SCOTT DECISION
1.Dred Scott (and all slaves) are not citizens and therefore not entitled to sue
and
2. Slaves are considered “PROPERTY”
3. Congress cannot outlaw slavery (5th Amendment – protection of property)
4. Missouri Compromise had been unconstitutional all along (because it’d
banned slavery north of the 36° 30’ line and property is protected under the
5th Amendment
Financial Clash of 1857
• More negative psychologically than economically (lack of trust in banking,
federal government)
• Causes:
– Cali gold leads to inflated prices of goods
– Crimean War *(overstimulated the growth of wheat and grain) = leads to
“Speculation”
Results: (1) thousands of businesses failed
(2) Unemployment
(3) Federal government Homestead Acts – 160 acres of free land for Westerners
(4) Higher Tariffs (tax on imported goods/effect: American people buy American
goods)
Famous slogan – “Bread or Death”
North – hit hard
South – Connections to foreign markets helped them
*proved Cotton was truly KING
1858 Senatorial Race
• Democrats: Stephen Douglas
• Republicans: Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln –Douglas Debates of ’58
Lincoln challenges Douglas to 7 debates in Illinois to a captivated nation
Underdog: Lincoln
FAMOUS SPEECH: “HOUSE DIVIDED SPEECH” delivered by Lincoln –
“a house divided against itself cannot stand…..”
Most Noted Debate: Freeport, Illinois
Lincoln asks Douglas to choose
“WHO HAD THE POWER TO VOTE FOR / AGAINST SLAVERY, THE PEOPLE OR
THE SUPREME COURT?” (lose-lose = alienation of a voter group)
Douglas’ response: FREEPORT DOCTRINE: People have the power
OUTCOME: Douglas wins the 1858 Senate seat for Illinois, but lost the
confidence of the South to win the Presidential election of 1860.
John Brown: Murderer or Martyr?
John Brown’s Raid / Harper’s Ferry
John Brown re-emerged in Harper's Ferry, Virginia with a wild
plan to abolish slavery.
His plan: to take over the federal arsenal in Harper's Ferry,
pass out weapons to local slaves, initiate a huge revolt, and
thus free the slaves.
OUTCOME: he and his men took over a building but were
quickly captured by the U.S. Marines led by
Lt. Col. Robert E. Lee. He was captured, tried, convicted,
sentenced to death, and hanged.
JOHN BROWN’S DEATH:
Southern View: Justice has been served and the death was
deserving
Northern View: John Brown was a MARTYR and will be seen
as a cult hero
This “Martyr” image gave strength to the morality, or lack
there of, to slavery
1860 Presidential Race
• Lincoln – Republican
• Douglas – Northern Democrats
• Breckinridge – Southern Democrat: Didn’t prefer Douglas because of the
disconnection to the Lecompton Constitution and the Freeport Doctrine.
Promoted extension of slavery and annexation of slave-populated Cuba
• Bell – Constitutional Union Party – into compromise.
Charleston Meeting: DNC, resulting in walk-outs
Baltimore Meeting: 2nd DNC, hoping to bring the Democratic Party together.
Reasons why Douglas lost:
(1) Democratic Party is split
(2) Connection to the Freeport Doctrine
Lincoln’s view on slavery / 1860
Presidential Race
• Lincoln didn’t want to stop or preserve slavery…whatever it took to
“PRESERVE THE UNION”
• MAIN RESULT OF THE 1860 PRESIDENTIAL VICTORY FOR ABRAHAM
LINCOLN:
– South Carolina pledged the secede from the Union if Lincoln was
elected, and they did (Charleston meeting in 1860)
– Defense / claim: Loss of political voice
– South Carolina seceded the Union in December 1860!
– “Deep South” states followed after South Carolina
(Ex. Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas) and
then others (total -11)
Buchanan did not do a single thing to keep the Union intact
Montgomery, Alabama meeting (Formation of the CSA – Confederate
States of America – 1861)
*December 1860 to January 1861
(Buchanan was STILL President)
*Did little or nothing to stop the states from leaving the U.S.
Rationale:
(1) Northern troops had to concentrate on Native American attacks out
West
(2) Couldn’t use the U.S. army against itself (unconstitutional)
(3) Possibility of “peaceful settlement”
(4) Lincoln will fix it (Waiting it out)
Confederate States of America / C.S.A.
• Formed in February 1861
• Location: Met in Mobile, Alabama and formed the
Confederacy (Later moved to Richmond, VA) Why?
• President of the Confederacy (South) was
Jefferson Davis – former Secretary of War
“the time for compromise is over”
Southern rationale / hopes:
- become “economically” sound
- it worked in the American Revolution
- gain their political voice
- thought the North wouldn’t react (wrong)
Confederate States of America
Constitution
Crittenden Compromise (1860-1861)
• One last hopeful Compromise?
A final attempt at compromise was made by James Henry
Crittenden of Kentucky.
*Purpose: a series of constitutional amendments to
protect and honor slavery / sympathize with the South
proposed to extend the old Missouri Compromise line of
36°30’ to California; north of the line would be free in
territorial status, south of it would be enslaved and protected
(even with extension to areas such as Cuba and beyond)
*Reassertion of Monroe Doctrine Enforcement*
- Remember: lost enforcement of it through (1) 48 Grenada
Treaty and (2) 50 Clayton-Bulwer Treaty
Crittenden Compromise
REACTIONS:
Northern – Strict Constructionists were angry
Southern – Excited for the spread of slavery
Taney – Angry because of the Dred Scott Decision
Lincoln – vetoed the compromise, only worsen the problem
Effect on Compromise of 1850: repealed
Effect on Kansas-Nebraska Act: repealed
Stephen Douglas – Angry because of the
loss of popular sovereignty