Download Sectional Crisis

Compromise of 1850

 Proposed by Henry Clay, 29 Jan 1850
 California enters Union as a free state
 Territory disputed by Texas and New Mexico was
given to New Mexico
 Slave trade was banned in Washington, DC.
 Stricter Fugitive Slave Laws
 South received the remainder of the Mexican Cession
 Became the territories of New Mexico and Utah and
were open to slavery and popular sovereignty.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin

 AKA Life Among the Lowly
 Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe 1852
 Anti-slavery novel that changed how Americans
viewed slavery
 Demanded that the United States deliver on the
promise of freedom and equality
 Galvanized the abolition movement
 Contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War
 Sold 10,000 copies in the United States in its first
week and 300,000 in the first year
Harriet Beecher Stowe 1811-1896
"So you are the little woman who wrote the book that
started this great war!" A. Lincoln 1862
Harriet Tubman
1820-1913
Escaped slave herself
who risked her life many
times leading other
escaped slaves along the
Underground Railroad
“Moses of her People”
Acted as a spy for the
Union Army
Frederick Douglass 1818-1895
From slave to social reformer
Died in
office after
participating
in
ceremonies
at the
Washington
Monument
on a hot July
4th day
Last of the
Whig
presidents
AKA
“Fainting
Frank”
Presided over
the turmoil in
Kansas
Kansas-Nebraska Act

 Proposed by Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois
 Passed by Congress in May 1854
 Allowed people in the territories of Kansas and
Nebraska to decide for themselves (Popular
Sovereignty) whether or not to allow slavery within
their borders.
 Repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which
prohibited slavery north of latitude 36°30´.
Cont.

Infuriated many in the North who
considered the Missouri Compromise
to be a long-standing binding
agreement.
 In the pro-slavery South it was
strongly supported
Stephen Douglas
AKA
“The Little Giant”
Cont.

 Pro-slavery and anti-slavery supporters rushed in to
settle Kansas to affect the outcome of the first
election
 Pro-slavery settlers carried the election but were
charged with fraud by anti-slavery settlers, and the
results were not accepted by them.
 The anti-slavery settlers held another election,
however pro-slavery settlers refused to vote
 Resulted in the establishment of two opposing
legislatures within the Kansas territory.
Lecompton Constitution

 Pro-slavery state constitution of Kansas
 Named after the town in which the document was
written
Topeka Constitution

Anti-slavery constitution of
Kansas
Written by the “Free Staters”
who opposed slavery
“Bleeding Kansas”

Nickname given to Kansas
due to amount of violence
over slavery issues
John Brown’s Holy War

Militant abolitionist
Advocated and practiced armed insurrection
against slavery
In Kansas Territory, he became the leader of
antislavery guerillas
Pottawatomie Massacre, May 24 and 25, 1856
Brown and his sons attack and kill 5 proslavery men
John Brown
Brooks-Sumner Incident

May 22, 1856
South Carolina Representative Preston S.
Brooks entered the chamber to avenge the
insults of Massachusetts Senator Charles
Sumner
Sumner was rendered unconscious
Signaled the end of an era of compromise
Franklin Pierce

 Supported pro-slavery settlers
 Sent in Federal troops to stop the violence and
disperse the anti-slavery legislature.
 Another election was called with pro-slavery
supporters winning
 They were charged with election fraud.
 Congress did not recognize the constitution adopted
by the pro-slavery settlers and Kansas was not
allowed to become a state.
Cont.

 Eventually anti-slavery settlers outnumbered proslavery settlers
 A new constitution was drawn up
 January 29, 1861, just before the start of the Civil
War:
 Kansas was admitted to the Union as a free state.
Dred Scott Decision

 Slave who had lived in the free state of Illinois and
the free territory of Wisconsin before moving back to
the slave state of Missouri
 Scott had appealed to the Supreme Court in hopes of
being granted his freedom.
 March 1857, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, declared
that all blacks, slaves as well as free, were not and
could never become citizens of the United States
 Court also declared the 1820 Missouri Compromise
unconstitutional, thus permitting slavery in all of the
country's territories.
Dred Scott
1795-1858
Chief Justice Roger Taney
“because Scott was black, he was
not a citizen and therefore had no
right to sue.”
"had no rights which the white
man was bound to respect; and
that the negro might justly and
lawfully be reduced to slavery for
his benefit. He was bought and
sold and treated as an ordinary
article of merchandise and traffic,
whenever profit could be made
by it."
National Reaction

 Increased resentment of abolitionists
 Frederick Douglass, found a bright side to the
decision and announced:
 “My hopes were never brighter than now."
 The decision would bring slavery to the attention of
the nation and was a step toward slavery's ultimate
destruction.
Raid on Harper’s Ferry

 October 16, 1859
 Location of a Federal arsenal in Virginia
 Plan of John Brown to capture the arsenal and lead
an army of slaves across the South
 Brown seized the federal arsenal, killing seven
people, and injuring ten or more
 The slaves, unlike what Brown predicted, didn't
rebel, and he and his followers were captured by the
US Marines (Led by Robert E. Lee)
Cont.

 Brown was convicted of murder and treason and
was hanged.
Election of 1856

 James Buchanan: Democrat, warned that the
Republicans were extremists who would lead the
country into civil war.
 John C. Fremont: Newly formed Republican Party,
condemned the Kansas-Nebraska Act and expansion
of slavery
 Millard Fillmore: Know Nothing Party, focused on
anti-immigration issues
John C. Fremont
1st Republican
candidate for
president
Free Soil, Free
Men, and
Fremont
Lincoln-Douglas Debates

Series of debates in 1858 spanning 4
months over election to the Senate from
Illinois
Democratic Senator Stephen Douglas
Republican candidate A. Lincoln
“A house
divided against
itself cannot
stand”
Debate cont.

 Douglas's strategy in the debates:
 Picture Lincoln as a fanatical "Black Republican"
whose goal was to incite civil war
 Emancipate the slaves
 Make blacks the social and political equals of whites.
 Lincoln denied that he was a radical
 He supported the Fugitive Slave Law and opposed
any interference with slavery in the states where it
already existed.
Debate Cont.

When election time comes, people of Illinois
did not get to vote
State legislature chose the winner, Douglas is
reelected
Sends Lincoln into the national spotlight and
makes him a serious republican candidate for
1860 presidential election.
Election of 1860

Republican: Abraham Lincoln (IL)
Democrats broke into two parties:
Northern Democrats: Stephen Douglas (IL)
Southern Democrats: John Breckenridge
(Proslavery from KY also current VP)
Constitutional Union Party: John Bell (TN)