Download Chapter 19 The American Pageant

Chapter 19 class notes
The American Pageant 13th edition
A. P. United States History
Mrs. Civitella
I. Uncle Tom’s Cabin
A. Written in 1852 by Harriet Beecher Stowe
B. Inspired by the Second Great Awakening
C. Stowe was determined to let northerners know of the cruelties of slavery
D. Focused on physical and mental abuse and especially the separation of family members
E. Hundreds of thousands of copies were sold in US and abroad
F. Translated into many different languages
G. Popularity in Great Britain and France caused public pressure for these countries not to
help the South
H. Widely read and discussed “Tom Shows” produced a theatrical version of the story
I. The book helped to unite northerners not to enforce the Fugitive Slave Law
II. The Impending Crisis of the South
A. Book written by Hinton R. Helper who was a poorer white from North Carolina
B. Statistically proved that non-slaveholding whites were the ones who suffered most from
slavery. Using statistics from the 1850 census, Helper claimed that the south suffered
from:
 economic backwardness
 widespread illiteracy
 poverty for the masses
 great wealth for the elite
the book contrasted this picture of the south with that of the north:
 near-universal literacy
 neat farms
 progressive social and political institutions
“Slavery lies at the root of all the shame, poverty, ignorance, tyranny, and imbecility of the
South”
C. Helper’s solution was that the non-slaveholding whites must organize and use their votes
to overthrow the slavery oligarchy
D. Was refused publication and was banned in the south after publication in the north
E. Created paranoia among slaveholding elite that the white majority would abandon them
in a fight over slavery
F. Abolitionists used the book as propaganda and distributed it in the north
III. “Bleeding Kansas”
A. Kansas was seen by both North and South as being too important to lose
B. 1854-1855 proslavery men crossed from Missouri into Kansas
C. The New England Emigrant Aid Company sent 2,000 people to Kansas with
“Beecher’s Bibles” breech-loading Sharps’ rifles named for Rev. Henry Ward Beecher
(Harriet Beecher Stowe’s brother) who helped raise the money to arm the settlers
D. Elections in 1855 for the territorial legislature were tarnished by Missourians who
crossed the border and voted again and again
E. Pro-slavery government was established in Shawnee Mission, KS
F. Free-soilers established their own government in Topeka, KS
G. Proslavery supporters raided and burnt part of Lawrence, KS which was free-soil territory
H. John Brown a militant abolitionist moved to KS from OH
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I.
1856 Brown and his followers stormed Pottawatomie Creek, KS and killed 5 proslavery
settlers
J. This event blemished the free-soil cause and brought retaliation from pro-slavery forces
K. “Bleeding Kansas” skirmishes, ambushes, and outright massacres marked a miniature
Civil War playing out in Kansas
L. The violence in KS continued until the outbreak of the Civil War
IV. Kansas slave or free?
M. In 1857 a meeting was held in Lecompton, KS to draft a constitution
N. The constitution would make Kansas a slave state (only 200 slaves lived in KS at the
time)
O. Free-state supporters protested the convention claiming that it was rigged
P. President Buchanan, who was influenced by southern advisers and politically dependent
upon southern congressmen, decided to support the Lecompton convention
Q. When the constitution went to the US congress for approval, it passed the Senate (many
Democrats voted with Buchanan) but in the House a bill was passed to put the
Lecompton Constitution to a popular vote in Kansas
R. The bill required that voters vote for the constitution “with slavery” or “with no slavery”
S. If the voters rejected slavery, they would be rejecting the constitution and postpone
statehood until the population reached 90,000
T. August 2, 1858, KS voters rejected the Lecompton Constitution
U. With that vote, KS was now firmly in the hands of its anti-slavery legislature
V. KS remained a territory until 1861 when the Southern secessionists left the Union and KS
entered the Union as a free state
V. The Brooks Sumner Affair
A. May 19, 1856 Senator Charles Sumner (MA) delivered a dramatic abolitionist speech
on the floor of the senate called “The Crime Against Kansas”
B. Denounced proslavery senators
C. May 22, 1857 Senator Preston S. Brooks (SC) attacked Sumner on the Senate floor by
beating him with his cane
D. Brooks was condemned but not impeached
E. He resigned, but was re-elected
F. Sumner suffered serious injuries and had to seek medical attention in Europe
G. His constituents from Massachusetts re-elected him in absentia for the next 3 ½ years
H. Abolitionists used the following to further their cause
 “Bully Brooks”
 “Bleeding Sumner”
 “Bleeding Kansas”
VI. The New Politics of Sectionalism
A. The Whig party (was the anti-Jackson alliance between Southern Republicans and
Northern Democrats) disintegrated in the 1850s over the Kansas-Nebraska issue
B. Northern Whigs were divided between the nativist American Party “Know-Nothing
Party” and the Republican Party which was anti-slavery
C. By 1856, the Republican Party arose as the chief political opposition to the Democrats
D. Election of 1856
1) The Democrats nominated James Buchanan (PA) for their presidential nominee
2) “Old Buck” had been minister to London and was not tarnished by the KansasNebraska conflict
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3) The Republicans nominated John C. Freemont- against slavery in the territories
4) The American Party nominated Millard Fillmore- anti-foreign, anti-Catholic
5) Buchanan won the election as a result of northern support to keep the union
together to salvage economic dependencies (the south owed millions to northern
bankers and merchants)
V. Dred Scott v. Sanford see reading
VI. New Tariff and the economic crash of 1857
A. Tariff Law of 1857
1) The US Treasury was experiencing a surplus
2) Southerners demanded a lower tariff
3) Tariff Law of 1857 set rates on imports at their lowest level since 1816
B. Economic crash of 1857
1) Increase in gold from CA, increase grain supply, land speculation led to inflation
2) 5,000 business failed in 1857
3) mostly from the north which provided the south with a sense of strength in “King Cotton”
and the southern notion that slave-based agriculture was superior to the free-labor system
of the north
4) Northerners blamed the economic crash of 1857 on the tariff being too low
VII. The Homestead Act of 1860
1. The failure of the Homestead Act of 1860
A. Northerners believed that government land should be given away free to Americans brave
enough to settle it
B. Homestead Act was opposed by:
1) Eastern industrialists who did not want their workers fleeing west for more
opportunity
2) Southerners who believed that the proposed 160 acre plots were a plan to
eliminate slavery in the territories (160 acres was not sufficient land for
plantation farming)
C. Buchanan vetoed the Homestead Act due to his southern support
The Tariff and free land became issues in the Election of 1860
VIII. Lincoln-Douglas debates
A. One term congressmen Abraham Lincoln challenged incumbent Stephen Douglas
“little giant” for his senate seat from IL in 1858
B. Lincoln challenged Douglas to a series of seven well argued, well attended, well covered
debates
C. Douglas advocated popular sovereignty
D. Lincoln wanted to stop the extension of slavery in new territories
E. Douglas tried to show that Lincoln was:
1) An abolitionist
2) Advocate of racial equality and racial mixing (still very unpopular even in the
north)
F. Lincoln tried to show that he was against slavery in the territories but would leave slavery
where it already existed.
G. Most notable debate took place in Freeport, IL
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1) Lincoln asked Douglas to answer how his popular sovereignty argument held up
against the recent decision of Dred Scott.
2) Douglas’s reply (known as the Freeport Doctrine) :
a) Territorial governments could effectively forbid slavery by refusing to
enact slave codes, even though the Dred Scott decision had explicitly
deprived Congress of the authority to restrict slavery in the territories.
b) “Slavery cannot exist a day or an hour anywhere, unless it is supported
by local police regulation”
What Douglas was saying was that if we were to stop protecting slavery it would die out
H. Douglas won the Senate seat but alienated Southern supporters by encouraging
disobedience of Dred Scott with his Freeport Doctrine
I. Lincoln emerged as a national political figure for antislavery interests
IX. John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry
A. Extreme abolitionists helped to fund John Brown’s plan to arm slaves and allow
them to raise up against their slave masters
B. October 1859, Brown and his followers seized the federal arsenal in Harper’s
Ferry, VA
C. Killed 7
D. Injured 10
E. Slaves did not revolt
F. Brown was arrested, convicted, and hung for murder and treason
G. (arrested by US Marine Robert E. Lee who would later lead the Confederate
Army)
H. John Brown became a martyr for the abolitionist cause
I. His raid fueled the paranoia that the south felt about the north violently
overtaking the south and allowing slaves to seek revenge
X. The Election of 1860
A. Split of the Democratic Party
1) As the Democratic Party met in Charleston, SC Stephen Douglas was the most
likely nominee
2) Southerners refused to approve Douglas’s candidacy unless he pledged to support
the Dred Scott decision (Freeport Doctrine). They also objected to his stand on
the Lecompton Constitution
3) The “fire-eaters” left the convention in protest because of the party’s refusal to
include federal protection of slavery in all of the territories in their platform
4) The Southern wing of the Democratic Party nominated Buchanan’s vice
president, John C. Breckinridge of KY
5) The Democratic Party nominated Douglas on a platform of popular
sovereignty
B. The Constitutional Union Party
1) The Constitutional Union Party, made up of Whigs and Know Nothings from
southern and Border States along with moderate southern Democrats,
nominated
2) John Bell of TN.
3) Their platform called for “the Constitution, the Union, and the enforcement
of laws”. The Constitutional Union party wanted to continue the policy of
compromise.
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C. The Republican Party
1) The Republican Party nominated Abraham Lincoln over the pre-convention
favorite William H. Seward.
2) The Republicans pledged strict opposition to the extension of slavery into
the territories and warned the South that it could not dominate the nation,
nor withdraw peaceably from it.
3) Platform also included free homesteads to farmers, a transcontinental
railroad, and a higher tariff. There was something for everyone within the
republican platform, except the slaveholder
group:
appeal:
free-soilers
non-extension of slavery in the territories
northern manufacturers
protective tariff
immigrants
protection of their rights
north westerners
a Pacific railroad
westerners
federal internal improvements
farmers
free homesteads
D. The election and its effects
1) Douglas believed that he could reconcile North and South and went on a
nationwide speaking tour.
2) On election day the voting went along strictly sectional lines:
3) Breckinridge- (D) carried the Deep South
4) Bell, the border states
5) Lincoln the North
6) Douglas carried only Missouri
7) Lincoln had a slight lead in the popular vote and a majority in the electoral
college
8) He received 40% of the popular vote
9) The two Democratic candidates together won more votes than Lincoln, but
Lincoln won the more populous states in the north and northwest
Electoral College results:
Lincoln
180
Breckinridge
72
Bell
39
Douglas
12
The election of 1860 was really a vote between North and South
South Carolina now had its justification for secession
XI. Secession
A. Four days after Lincoln’s election the state of South Carolina voted to hold a
special convention in Charleston, SC on the issue of secession
B. They unanimously voted to secede from the union
C. Within six weeks, six other states of the lower south also seceded
D. February 1861, southern states met in Montgomery Al and the seven seceded
states formed the Confederate States of America
E. They chose Jefferson Davis (former senator from Mississippi) to be their
president
F. Outgoing “lame duck” president James Buchanan (D-PA) did nothing for the
last months of his presidency (Nov. 1860-March 1861) to stop the seven states
from seceding
G. He took a “wait and see” attitude
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H. The U.S. Army was small and scattered along the western frontier fighting
Indians
XII. Crittenden Amendments
A. December, 1860: Sen. John J. Crittenden of KY tries for a compromise to save
the union
B. As the Southern states were declaring their secession, Crittenden worked with a
congressional committee to try to work out some form of agreement
C. The committee proposal consisted of a two-part plan:
1) A constitutional amendment to forever forbid federal
interference with slavery in the states where it already existed
2) Extension of the 36°30’ all of the way to the Pacific, with
slavery specifically protected in all the territories south of that
line (including Cuba or other not yet acquired territory)
D. President-elect Lincoln demanded that congressional
Republicans reject the second part of Crittenden’s plan
E. Lincoln was feared this compromise would encourage
the South to embark on new imperialist adventures in the
Caribbean and Latin America
F. He stated “a perpetual covenant of war against every
people, tribe, and State owning a foot of land between
here and Tierra del Fuego” (southern tip of South
America)
XIII. Reasons for southern secession
A. The south felt that the majority of Americans were against them (the census showed that
a majority of the American population lived in the North)
B. They were afraid that the sectional president Lincoln would take away their rights as a
minority
C. Afraid of abolitionists- ie John Brown’s armed raid at Harper’s Ferry
D. Southerners believed that the north was too weak and ineffective to fight them
E. Southerners thought that northerners would let them go because they were so tied
economically to the south, it would not benefit them to fight
F. Southerners thought that they had a right to self-determination as expressed in the
Declaration of Independence. They compared themselves to the patriots during the
Revolution
G. The south wanted independence so that they could set up trade directly with Europe
H. The culture of the south was significantly different than the North- they would not be
dishonored and they would not give up
I. Jefferson Davis sent a message to congress:
“All that we wish for is to be left alone”
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