Download Harriet Beecher Stowe

Major Events leading to Disunion
 Gadsden Purchase 1853
 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act (repeal of
Missouri Compromise)
 1855 Kansas Territory erupted in violence
 1820 Missouri Compromise invalidated by
the Dred Scott decision
 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln for Pres
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Harriet Beecher Stowe
1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle
Tom’s Cabin:
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Source of antislavery sentiments lay in the
crusades of 2nd Great Awakening
Made slavery appear almost as evil as it was,
showing how family members were
separated.
Lincoln said to her, “So you’re the little
woman who wrote the book that made this
great war.”
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Hinton R. Helper: Views on Slavery
1857 Hinton R. Helper’s book: The Impending
Crisis of the South.
 He disliked slavery and African Americans.
 Book - banned and burned in the South.
 Believed that non-slaveholding whites suffered
most from slavery.
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Hinton R. Helper
TMWK CH 19
1. Pg 410 Advertisement List two pieces of
information you find in the advertisement.
2. Pg 412 Give a description of the conflict in
Kansas between pro-slaveryites and
abolitionists
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North-South Contest for Kansas:
Newcomers to Kansas
Northerners: Pioneers searching for richer lands.
Some financed by abolitionists or free soilers such as
the Emigrant Aid Company which sent 2,000 people.
1855 election for a legislature: proslavery “border
ruffians” poured into Kansas to vote early & often; this
won a victory for slave supporters and a govt was set
up in Shawnee Mission.
Free Soilers established an illegal govt in Topeka.
1860 Census: found 2 slaves out of 107,000 people in
Kansas; only 15 slaves in Nebraska.
1856 proslavery raiders burned part of the free-soil
town of Lawrence
Kansas in Convulsion
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John Brown - “Old Brown”: Dedicated
abolitionist
May 1856: led followers to Pottawatomie Creek murdered 5 pro-slaveryites.
Retaliation by proslavery forces, thus civil war
erupted in Kansas,1856.
1857: Kansas had enough people to apply for
statehood with popular sovereignty.
Proslavery forces wrote up Lecompton
Constitution – If people vote for or against it =
vote for or against slavery.
Part of constitution protected owners of slaves
already in Kansas, so no matter what, there
TMWK
3. Pg 414 What is being depicted by the
political cartoonist? Is this for or against
slavery?
4. Pg 417 Describe the geographic areas that
were won by the Democrats and the
Republicans in the 1856 election.
“Bully” Brooks Canes Sumner
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Senator Charles Sumner of Mass. (leading
abolitionist) delivered a speech “The Crime
Against Kansas”.
 Condemned proslavery men
 Insulted South Carolina and Senator Andrew
Butler
May 1856: Congressman Preston S. Brooks of
Carolina pounded Charles Sumner with a cane.
Brooks resigned and then was re-elected
North angered by “Bully Brooks” – Tens of
thousands of Sumner’s speech were sold.
Brook’s Beating of Charles Sumner
1856 Election
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Democrat Candidate: James Buchanan
(Lawyer)
 Nickname -“Old Buck” Buchanan
 Wanted popular sovereignty
Republican Candidate: Captain John C.
Fremont (pathfinder of the West)
 Against extending slavery to the West.
Know-Nothing Candidate: ex-pres Millard
Fillmore
 Secret American party organized by “nativists”
(old stock Protestants)
Buchanan wins Election
Dred Scott v. Sandford
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Dred Scott sued for his freedom because of his long
residence on free soil. He had lived with his “master”
for 5 years in Illinois and Wisconsin Territory.
Supreme Court under Chief Justice Taney ruled Dred
Scott was a black slave who was not protected by the
Constitution and could never be a citizen of the U.S.
Wasn’t a citizen, so he couldn’t sue the federal courts.
Dred Scott v. Sandford cont.
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Court ruled that because a slave was property, they
could be taken into any territory and legally held there
in slavery.
Reason: 5th Amendment forbade Congress to deprive
people of their property without due process of law.
1820 Missouri Compromise had been repealed
(slavery wasn’t banned above 36° 30’ anymore). Now
Court ruled the Bill had been unconstitutional all
along:
Why? Supreme Court determined Congress had no
power to ban slavery from territories.
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1857 Financial Crash
Causes:
 California gold helped inflate currency
 Demands of Crimean War over stimulated growing of
grain
 Over speculation in land and railroads
5,000 businesses failed, unemployment, hunger
North hit hardest while South still had good cotton
prices
Congress passed 1860 Homestead Act: Public lands
available for 25 cents/acre, but Pres. Buchanan vetoed
it.
Pressure from South: Tariff of 1857- lowered duty tax.
Republicans given 2 economic issues for the next
election in 1860: a protective tariff and farms for
farmless.
1858 Illinois Senatorial Election
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Democrat Senator - Stephen Douglas from Illinois
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Term about to end
For popular sovereignty
Republican candidate: Abraham Lincoln
 Born in Kentucky - poor parents, self-educated
 Trial lawyer in Illinois
 Had served one term in Congress 1847-1849
 Challenged Douglas to series of debates
Great Debates: Lincoln vs.
Douglas
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7 debates - Aug to Oct 1858.
Most famous debate at Freeport, Illinois.
 Lincoln asked: What if the people of a territory
should vote against slavery. The Supreme
Court in the Dred Scott decision had decreed
that they couldn’t. Who would prevail - the
Supreme Court or the people?
 Douglas’s response (AKA “Freeport
Doctrine”) aimed toward the people and
stated that “No matter how the Supreme Court
ruled, slavery would stay down if the people
voted it down.” Laws to protect slavery would
have to be passed by the legislatures of the
territories.
John Brown Murder or Martyr?
John Brown’s plan: invade south, call slaves to
rise, give them arms, establish a black, free
state.
 Oct 1859 - Harpers Ferry: seized federal arsenal
and killed 7 innocent people.
 Slaves didn’t rise up in rebellion.
 Brown and followers captured by U.S. Marines.
He was convicted of murder/treason and was
hung.
Effects:
-Abolitionists/free-soilers angered by his execution.
-Stirred up South’s desire to leave the Union.
Many in South believed most abolitionists were
violent and shared Brown’s views.
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Democrats Divide at Nominating
Conventions
Democrats: Met in Charleston, S. Carolina – Douglas
was leading candidate, but some felt he was a traitor –
they walked out.
Met again in Baltimore – Douglas nominated with a
platform of popular sovereignty and support for
Fugitive Slave Law.
Rival Democratic Convention: John C.
Breckinridge nominated with a platform that favored
extension of slavery and annexation of Cuba.
Constitutional Union Party was organized:
nominated John Bell of Tennessee: platform believed in the “Union, the Constitution, the
Enforcement of the Laws.”
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Republican Nominating
Convention
Republicans
met in Chicago: Abraham Lincoln
nominated
Republican Platform: Non-extension of slavery,
protective tariff for Northerners, Pacific railroad for the
Northwest, internal improvements at federal expense
for the West, free homesteads from public lands for
the farmers, for immigrants – no removal of rights.
TMWK
5. Pg 425 How many electoral votes did Lincoln
win in the 1860 presidential election? And
Douglas?
6. Pg. 426 Electoral Map Describe the
geographical area that Lincoln won in the
presidential election. And Douglas?
7. Pg. 427 Map Describe the areas that were
most against seceding from the United States.
Which state was the most fervent for
secession? How did you determine this?
1860 Presidential Election
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Virtually 2 elections: in North and South.
Lincoln wasn’t even on the ballot in 10 Southern
states.
If Democrats didn’t split, they might have won
with better organization and higher enthusiasm.
Lincoln wins election with only 40% of popular
vote.
South still had five-to-four majority in Supreme
Court.
Federal govt couldn’t touch slavery in those
states where it existed, except by constitutional
amendment.
Southern States Secede
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S. Carolina: legislature votes to secede from the
Union Dec 1860.
6 other states in lower South secede also:
Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia,
Louisiana, Texas.
The 7 states met at Montgomery, Alabama and
created a new govt: Confederate States of
America with Jefferson Davis as Pres.
Lincoln didn’t take office until March 4, 1861.
Buchanan blamed for not holding the Union
together by force. (one reason why – the small
standing army was scattered, trying to control
Indians in the West).
TMWK
8. Pg 429 Map and paragraph What was the
Crittenden Compromise?
Collapse of Compromise
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Senator James Henry Crittenden of Kentucky
proposed the Crittenden amendments to the
Constitution, designed to appease the South.
Slavery in territories would be allowed south of 36° 30’
and given federal protection in those territories as well
as future territories such as Cuba.
Future states, north or south of 36° 30’, could come
into Union w/or without slavery.
Lincoln rejected the Crittenden plan because he
opposed the extension of slavery
Farewell to Union
South’s concerns:
 Political imbalance against South.
 Threat of losing their rights as slaveholding minority.
 Tired of Northern interference – Underground
Railroad, abolitionists (John Brown’s raid.)
 South believed northern manufacturers and bankers
depended on South’s cotton and their markets.
 An independent South could develop its own banking,
shipping and trade with Europe.
“Act of Secession”