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Section 3: Slavery Dominates Politics
Section 4: Lincoln’s Election and Southern Secession
There used to be a political party called
“The Whigs”
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After the Kansas –
Nebraska Act, the
Northern and Southern
Whigs couldn’t
compromise and split into
2 groups.
Some joined the
Democrats.
Others started their own
political party – called the
Republicans
Another of those problems that helped
cause the Civil War was what to do with…
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Dred Scott
The Dred Scott Decision
(A famous court case – 1847)
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His case was based on the fact that Dred Scott –
a slave - and his wife Harriet had once lived,
while slaves, in states and territories where
slavery was illegal, including Illinois and parts of
the Louisiana Purchase.
The court ruled 7 to 2 against Scott, stating that
slaves were property, and the court could not
deprive people of their property without due
process of law according to the Fifth
Amendment.
There was also a series of political
debates between Stephen A. Douglas…
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And Abraham Lincoln.
Both were running for a
state Senator position in
Illinois.
Even though he lost, it’s
the first time the country
began to hear Lincoln’s
ideas and views about
slavery.
The last of those 4 “sparks” to
ignite the Civil War
John Brown’s Raid
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One of the first white abolitionists to
advocate, and to practice, guerrilla
warfare as a means to the abolition of
slavery.
Brown's most famous deed was the raid
he led on the federal armory at Harpers
Ferry, Virginia.
Brown had been considering an invasion
of the South, and began to collect arms
and men for that purpose in 1857.
His idea seems to have been to raid the
United States arsenal at Harpers Ferry,
Virginia (now West Virginia), and then
encourage slaves to rebel
John Brown was caught, tried, and
hanged. He’s seen as a martyr in the
anti-slavery movement.
In this famous painting he’s even
shown as a “Moses” type leader
In the election for president (1860):
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Candidates: Lincoln and
Stephen Douglas
competed for votes in
the North.
John Breckenridge and
John Bell competed for
votes in the South.
(You know who won)
The South had said all along that if Lincoln won,
they would secede from the Union (north)
Quit and leave
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South Carolina was first,
followed by Mississippi,
Florida, Alabama,
Georgia, Louisiana, and
Texas.
These states formed the
Confederate (southern)
States of America and
chose Jefferson Davis as
their president
The North had to do something
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There was an attempt at
compromise – which
didn’t work.
It was clear the South
had no intention to either
abolish slavery, or rejoin
the Union.
Lincoln didn’t want to
invade the South – and
tried to appeal to them to
change their minds.