Download The Nation Breaking Apart 1846-1861

The Nation Breaking Apart
1846-1861
Chapter 15
Growing Tensions
Between North and
South
Section One
North and South Take Different
Paths
• North:
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Industry and commerce
Led to rapid growth of cities
Immigrants and Easterners moved west and built farms
Canals and railroads connected Midwest and East:
developed strong ties
North and South Take
Different Paths
• South
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Plantation farming was focus of economy
A few wealthy planters controlled Southern society
Great profits from trade
Great profits from labor of slave
Relied on exports: cotton
Invested in slaves instead of industry
Even poor farmers supported slavery: kept them off
the bottom of society
Antislavery and Racism
In the North:
• Tensions were rising
• Many Northern workers feared slaves would replace
them in the factories
• Abolitionists felt slavery was unjust and should be
abolished.
• Most Northerners would not go to school, work
with or live near African Americans
Antislavery and Racism
• In the South:
• Slaveholders defended slavery
• Whites were superior
• Helped slaves by introducing them to Christianity
• Gave them food, clothing and shelter
The Wilmot Proviso
• Outlawed slavery in any territory gained in the
Mexican War
• Southerners claimed the bill was unconstitutional
• Slaves were property
• Removed the right to take property (slaves) anywhere in
U.S.
• Congress was divided along regional lines
• Passed the House but was defeated in the Southern
controlled Senate
Free-Soil Party
• Born from the Wilmot Proviso
• A political party dedicated to
stopping the expansion of slavery
• Won more than 10 seats in
Congress in 1848
• Made slavery a key issue in
national politics
• Politicians could not ignore slavery
anymore
Controversy over Territories
• 1848: debate on how to deal with slavery in new
territories gained by Mexican War
• Balance of Congress threatened
• California wanted to be free
• Southerners wanted to divide California
• President Taylor proposed CA apply for statehood
before a territory,
• Did not give time for slaveholders to move in
The Compromise of 1850
• Henry Clay drafted a plan:
• CA admitted as free state
• Slave trade abolished in Washington D.C.
• Congress would not pass laws regarding slavery for
the rest of the territories won from Mexico
• Popular Sovereignty: People of that area will decide
• Fugitive Slave Act
The Crisis Deepens
Section Two
The Fugitive Slave Act
• Helped slaveholders recapture runaway slaves
• Fugitives held without arrest warrant
• No jury
• Jail terms and fines for those who aided fugitive
slaves
• Presence of slave catchers in North reminded people
of how they were supporting the slave trade
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
• Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe in
1852
• Portrayed moral issues of slavery
• Uncle Tom, an older slave and his life
with 3 owners
• Popular in North
• South felt it falsely criticized the
South and slavery
The Kansas-Nebraska Act
• 1854: Stephen A. Douglass of IL propsed that
Nebraska territory be divided into NE and KS
• Proposed Popular Sovereignty in these territories
• People could vote for slavery
• Would repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1820
• Banned slavery in territories north of MO
• Southerners supported and it was passed
Bleeding Kansas
• Proslavery and anti slavery settlers rushed to Kansas
territory
• At time there were more proslavery settlers
• Kansas legislature was packed with proslavery
representatives
• Antislavery settlers boycotted official government
and formed own government
Sack of Lawrence, KS
• In May a proslavery mob attacked the town of
Lawrence
• Destroyed offices, house of the governor of the
antislavery movement
Pottawatomie Massacre
• John Brown, extreme abolitionist, led
• Took seven men to cabins of proslavery neighbors
and murdered five people
• To avenge Sack of Lawrence
• Civil War broke out in KS in response
• “Bleeding Kansas” went on for 3 years
Violence in Congress
• May of 1856, at the Capital, Charles Sumner
delivered speech toward proslavery forces in KS
• Packed with insults
• Made fun of A.P. Butler , a senator from SC
• Preston Brooks defended Butler by beating Sumner
with his cane 30 times.
• Southerners cheered Brooks defense of the South
• Northerners were shocked at violence in the Senate
Slavery Dominates
Politics
Section Three
The Republican Party Forms
• Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 split the Whig party
• Northern Whigs formed the Republican party
• “Bleeding Kansas” key to Republican rise
• Many people blamed Democrats for violence
• Nominated John C. Fremont for President in 1856
• Republican position on slavery so unpopular in South
that his name didn’t appear on the ballot
The Election of 1856
• Democrats nominated James Buchanan
• Had been out of the country since 1853
• His goal was to maintain the Union
• Didn’t speak out against or for slavery
• Know-Nothing Party nominated Millard Fillmore
• Party split over slavery
• North: Buchanan vs. Fremont
• South: Buchanan vs. Fillmore
• Buchanan won but Fremont won 11 Northern states
The Case of Dred Scott
• A slave in Missouri
• Owner had taken him into territories where slavery was
illegal
• After owner’s death he sued for his Freedom
• Case reached the Supreme Court in 1856
• Ruled against him since he was not a U.S. citizen and was
considered property by the 5th Amendment
• Northerners outraged and turned to the Republican party
to halt power of Southern slaveholders
Lincoln and Douglas
Debate
• 1858 Republicans nominated Lincoln to run against
Democrat Douglass for IL seat in Senate
• Lincoln stood against expansion of slavery, “a
moral, a social and a political wrong” but didn’t
suggest abolishing it.
• Douglas argued that popular sovereignty was the
best way to address it, most democratic way
• Lincoln lost but became popular and strengthened
the Republican party
John Brown Attacks Harpers
Ferry
• Brown wanted to inspire slaves to fight for their freedom
• Wanted to capture weapons at the U.S. arsenal at
Harper’s Ferry, VA
• October 18, 1859, 13 whites and 5 blacks killed 4 people
in the raid
• Sent out the word for slaves to join them but none came
• U.S. Marines attacked and Brown and 6 others were
captured
Reaction to Harper’s Ferry
• John Brown was tried and
hanged
• Abolitionists tolled bells
and fired guns in salute.
• Southerners were enraged
by Brown’s actions and
horrified by Northern
reactions
Lincoln’s Election and
Southern Secession
Section Four
Political Parties Splinter
• Republicans nominate Abraham Lincoln for election
of 1860
• Democratic party split on slavery and popular
sovereignty
• Northern Democrats nominate Stephen A. Douglass
• Southern Democrats nominate John Breckinridge
• Constitutional Union Party nominates John Bell
The Election of 1860
• North race and South race
• Lincoln won North
• Breckinridge carried most of South
• North had more people so Lincoln won Presidency
• South felt Republicans wanted to ban slavery so saw
the victory as a threat to the Southern way of life
Southern States Secede
• Southerners had threatened to secede if Lincoln
won.
• Felt they voluntarily joined the Union so they had
right to leave
• December 20, 1860 South Carolina seceded from the
Union
• Within 6 weeks: Mississippi, Florida, Alabama,
Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas
Confederate States of America
• February 1861 became the
Confederate States of America
• Jefferson Davis elected President
• Drafted a Constitution modeled
after the Union one
• Supported state’s rights
The Union Responds to
Secession
• Secession raised issue of majority rule
• Southerners were afraid Northerners would use
majority rule to abolish slavery
• Northerners felt Southerners did not want to live by
rules of democracy.
Efforts to Compromise Fail
• Crittenden Plan: extend the MO Compromise line
to CA, but it failed
• Lincoln tried to assure the South that he would not
abolish slavery, he would not invade or press the
South. Tried to appeal to friendship….
• BUT, he would not abandon U.S. government forts
in South and they would need supplied soon…….
To Be Continued
Take Home Quiz
Answer the questions in the summary part of the last page
of your packet. Provide at least one paragraph for each
question (total of 3) that includes facts and details to
support your answer. Each question is worth 5 points.
1. Why did you think that your #1 most important event
was the most influential cause of the Civil War?
2. Do you think that the war would have happened if that
event never took place? Why or why not?
3. Which other events did you think were absolutely key
causes for war? Why?