Download 2.) Why did the Whig Party collapse after the Kansas

INTRODUCTION
1.) How did the Fugitive Slave Act lead to the
undoing of the Compromise of 1850?
2.) Why did the Whig Party collapse after the KansasNebraska Act while the Democratic Party
survived?
3.) How did the Republican doctrine of free soil unify
northerners against the South?
4.) Why did southerners conclude that the North was
bent on extinguishing slavery in the southern
states?
THE COMPROMISE OF 1850
Introduction
 When the treaty ending the Mexican War was signed in 1848, a
delicate balance existed between free and slave states
 15 of each
 All the proposed solutions for handling slavery in the Mexican
cession were controversial
 Whether to prohibit it
 Open the whole area to slaveholders
 Extend the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific
 Or apply popular sovereignty
 Other issues also divided the North and South
 CA and UT asked Congress for admission to the Union as free
states
1.) Admit CA as a free state
2.) Divide the rest of the Mexican cession into NM and UT
territories, with the future of slavery in each left up to its residents
3.) Settle the border dispute between TX and NM in NM’s favor
4.) Compensate TX by having the federal govt. pay off the state’s
past public debt
5.) Allow slavery to continue in Washington D.C. but ban slave
trading there
6.) Pass and enforce a tough new fugitive slave law
After heated debate and much maneuvering, the compromise passed
ASSESSING THE COMPROMISE
• The Compromise of 1850 did not settle the
underlying differences between the sections
• The one clear advantage that the South gained,
the passage of the stringent Fugitive Slave Act,
backfired
ENFORCEMENT OF THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT
• Sent federal marshals all over the country looking for
runaways
• Caused widespread opposition in the North
Northern mobs attacked marshals to rescue arrested fugitives
Vigilance committees helped runaways escape to Canada
9 states passed personal liberty laws designed to interfere with
enforcement of the Act
• The Act made the northerners resent the South, while
southerners resented the North’s refusal to live up to
the terms of the Compromise
Uncle Tom’s Cabin- 1852
• Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe
• By 1853, 1.2 million copies had been sold
• Caused many anti-southern feelings and
sympathy for slaves
• “So you’re the little woman who started this
great war,” – Lincoln
THE ELECTION OF 1852
•The Whigs=General Winfield Scott
 War hero
•Democrats=Franklin Pierce
•The Democrats rallied behind the
Compromise of 1850 and popular
sovereignty in the territories
•Whigs were torn apart into northern
Whigs and southern Whigs over the
sectional controversy
THE ELECTION OF 1852 (CONT.)
THE COLLAPSE OF THE SECOND PARTY SYSTEM, 1853-1856
During Pierce’s administration the 2nd party system
(Whigs vs. Democrats) collapsed
In the 1850’s, the issues (banking, internal
improvements, tariffs, and temperance) that had been
the main focus of partisan politics were pushed from
center stage
New debate was over slavery’s extension
The Whig Party was internally divided over the issue
Disintegrated when Stephan A. Douglas’s Kansas-Nebraska bill
threw the future of slavery in the territories wide open
THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT
• Passage of this act in 1854 dealt a shattering blow to the
second party system
• It also renewed the sectional strife that Clay’s compromise
had aimed to quiet
• Stephen A. Douglas was eager to advance the settlement of
Kansas and Nebraska and to promote the building of a
transcontinental railroad through the area
THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT (CONT.)
• To accomplish these goals, he needed to organize a
territorial govt. for the region
• But he was running into southern opposition
because the area was north of the Missouri
Compromise line and would therefore be free
• To gain southern support, Douglas introduced the
Kansas-Nebraska Bill
THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT (CONT.)
• It repealed the Missouri Compromise
• Organized the 2 territories
• Left the question of slavery in both KS and NE
up to popular sovereignty
• That gave the South a chance to gain at least KS
for the “peculiar institution
THE SURGE OF FREE-SOIL
•
Douglas was surprised at the angry reaction in the North
 Many regarded the law as part of a southern plot to spread slavery
into KS, the rest of the LA Territory, and even into the North
•
Free-soil sentiment had grown tremendously in the North
 Mostly because northerners wanted the territories to be the place
where upwardly mobile, enterprising, poor Americans could become
independent, self-employed farmers and businessmen
 Not really to end slavery
 If slavery invaded the territories, it would discourage and drive out
free labor
THE WHIGS DISINTEGRATE 1854-1855
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Southern Whigs had joined Democrats in voting for the KSNE Act
Northern “conscience” Whigs, led by Senator William
Seward, and free-soil Democrats reacted angrily against
both of the major parties
In the elections of 1854 and 1855, many of the disaffected
Whigs turned first to the Know-Nothing (American) Party
Later they voted increasingly to the new Republican Party
As a result of these moves, the Whig Party fell apart
THE RISE AND FALL OF THE KNOW-NOTHINGS, 1853-1856
• Know-Nothings was also called the American Party
• It evolved out of a secret nativist society called the
Order of the Star-Spangled Banner
• In the North, the party combined hatred of Catholics,
immigrants, and slavery-extension
• It took a conspiratorial view of the world in which the
Pope and Slave Power were both plotting to
extinguish the American democratic republic
• In 1854 and 1855, the Know-Nothings scored major
victories in northern states such as MA
THE RISE AND FALL OF THE KNOW-NOTHINGS,
1853-1856 (CONT.)
• However, the Party declined rapidly after 1855
• It was pulled apart by the slavery-expansion issue
• Its southern adherents supported the KS-NE Act
•
a position unacceptable to northern nativists, who
deserted to the emerging Republicans
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND THE CRISIS IN KANSAS, 18551856
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The Republican Party first appeared in northern states in
protest against the KS-NE Act
As the Know-Nothings faded by 1856, the Republicans
became the main opposition party to the Democrats
The Republicans were basically a group of former northern
Whigs and Democrats who wanted to restore the MO
Compromise, Liberty Party abolitionists, and free-soilers
• Little united them at first except their opposition to
the KS-NE Act
• Fighting in KS between proslavery and antislavery
forces (bleeding Kansas) strengthened the party and
its free-soil stand
BLEEDING KANSAS 1855-1856
• Both proslavery and antislavery settlers rushed to KS
• In 1855, when the first election for a territorial
legislature took place, thousands of proslavery
Missourians invaded KS for the day and voted illegally
• This fraud produced a proslavery legislature
 Which from its capital in Lecompton, KS, passed repressive
laws aimed at crushing the free-soilers
THE CRISIS IN KS, 1855-1856 (CONT.)
• The free-soilers, considering the Lecompton legislature a shame
 They organized a rival govt. in Topeka
• After the sack of Lawrence and John Brown’s Pottawatomie massacre
 A civil war broke out in KS
 Between the 2 govts. and their followers
• Popular sovereignty had not worked
• Popular sovereignty caused angry debate between Pierce and
Northern Democrats and Republicans
 Pierce and Northern Democrats=recognized the fraudulent
Lecompton gov’t.
 Republicans=decried the outcome as a shame
BROOKS SUMNER AFFAIR
• Crisis in Kansas (Bleeding Kansas) also spread violence to Congress with Preston
Brooks’ attack on Senator Charles Sumner
• Sumner gave a speech douncing the actions of the proslavery people in Kansas,
the South in general, and in particular a relative of Preston Brooks
• Brooks attacked Sumner with a cane
• Elicited two different responses from the north and south
• Sumner had to go to England for medical treatment, suffered migraines for the
rest of his life, but was able to eventually return to Congress
• Read the primary sources
about the attack
THE ELECTION OF 1856
• Republicans nominated John C. Fremont
 Platform called on Congress to exclude slavery from all
remaining territories
• Democrats nominated James Buchanan
 Backed popular sovereignty
• Know-Nothings nominated Millard Fillmore
• Buchanan won but the Republicans did remarkably
well in the North
 Had Fremont carried PA and either IL or IN, he would have
been elected despite receiving almost no southern votes
THE ELECTION OF 1856 (CONT.)
THE DRED SCOTT CASE, 1857
 the Supreme Court entered the controversy over slavery in the
territories
 The Supreme Court was composed mostly of southerners
 Ruled that blacks (slave or free) were not citizens of the United
States
 Also ruled that the Missouri Compromise had always been
unconstitutional because Congress had no right to exclude slavery
from any territory
 To do so violated the 5th Amendment protection of property and property
holders
 The Republicans denounced the decision and prepared to ignore it
THE LECOMPTON CONSTITUTION 1857
• In KS, the proslavery legislature proposed a state constitution that protected
slaveholders and gave the settlers the right to vote only on whether to allow
more slaves into KS
• President Buchanan backed the Lecompton constitution and called on Congress
to grant KS statehood under it
• Stephen Douglas (author of the KS-NE Act) broke with Buchanan and
denounced the actions of the Lecompton legislature
 Claimed it undermined the original intent of popular sovereignty
• Northern Democrats and Republicans applauded Douglas
• Southern Democrats applauded Buchanan
• Kansas is admitted as a free state in 1861
THE LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATES
• In 1858, Douglas ran for reelection to the Senate and Abraham Lincoln was the
Republican nominee
 Lincoln was not well-known or political successful at the time
 Lincoln challenged Douglas to a series of debates
• In the debates, Lincoln attacked slavery as morally evil but denied that
Congress had the right to abolish it in the South or that he favored equality for
blacks
 he stuck to his position that barring slavery from the territories
• Lincoln also forced Douglas into making his Freeport Doctrine statement
 Which pleased northern Democrats but made Douglas and his views
unacceptable to the South
• Douglas won the IL Senate seat, but the election further split the Democratic
Party
• Made Lincoln “famous in the North and infamous in the South”
EARLY ABOLITIONISM
•In the 1830s, abolitionism really took off, with the Second
Great Awakening
•Theodore Dwight Weld was among those who were inflamed
against slavery.
• preached against slavery and wrote
American Slavery As It Is.
ABOLITION
1831
 Militant white abolitionist movement began
 Led by William Lloyd Garrison
 The Liberator
 "I am in earnest — I will not equivocate — I will not
excuse — I will not retreat a single inch — AND I
WILL BE HEARD," clarified the position of the NEW
ABOLITIONISTS.
 He founded the NEW ENGLAND ANTI-SLAVERY
SOCIETY in 1832.
 In 1833, he met with delegates from around the
nation to form the American Anti-Slavery Society.
 Saw his cause as worldwide.
RADICAL ABOLITIONISM
•Sojourner Truth, a freed Black
woman who fought for black
emancipation and women’s rights
•Martin Delaney, one of the few
people who seriously reconsidered
Black relocation to Africa, also fought
for Black rights.
RADICAL ABOLITIONISM
•The greatest Black abolitionist was Frederick
Douglass
•His autobiography, Narrative of the Life of
Frederick Douglass, depicted his remarkable
struggle and his origins
•While Garrison seemed more concerned with
his own righteousness, Douglass increasingly
looked to politics to solve the slavery problem.
•He and others backed the Liberty Party in
1840, the Free Soil Party in 1848, and the
Republican Party in the 1850s.
•In the end, many abolitionists supported war
as the price for emancipation.
Women’s Rights
•Many of the women’s rights leaders began their
reform careers in the abolitionist movement
•Seneca Falls, NY
• 1848
• Women’s rights convention
• Elizabeth Cady Stanton
• Lucretia Mott
• Declaration of Sentiments- Like Declaration of
Independence/Bill of Rights for Women
Harper’s Ferry- John Brown’s Raid 1859
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John Brown and 18 followers seized the federal arsenal and
armory at Harpers Ferry, VA
They intended to arm southern white and black protesters in
a holy war against slavery
• No one showed up to participate in the rebellion
Brown’s failed raid convinced southerners that they had
barely survived a northern plot to get them all murdered in a
slave insurrection
Northerners, while initially disavowing Brown, came, during
his trial, to sympathize with him
The whole incident set the stage for civil war
THE LEGACY OF HARPERS FERRY
• John Brown’s raid touched off a wave of fear and hysteria in
the South
• Southerners believed Brown had the backing of abolitionists
and Republicans who were plotting to incite more slave
rebellions
• These fears played into the hands of southern extremists
THE SOUTH CONTEMPLATES SECESSION
• Southerners began to speak of secession as the only
way to protect themselves
• They regarded northern opposition to the Fugitive
Slave Act and to slavery in KS as unconstitutional
• They also saw it as an offense to the South
 Which wounded southern pride
• Some argued that separation from the Union would
also permit the South to seize more territory in the
Caribbean and the West for slavery
THE COLLAPSE OF THE UNION 1860-1861
The Election of 1860
The Republicans broadened their appeal in the
free states in 1860 by supporting a protective
tariff, federal aid for internal improvements, and
a homestead act
Lincoln was their nominee for President
The northern and southern Democrats were
unable to agree on a platform so they split
THE ELECTION OF 1860 (CONT.)
•
Northern Democrats=Douglas
•
Southern Democrats=John C. Breckenridge
•
Constitutional Union Party=John Bell
•
Lincoln won
 Still advocated popular sovereignty
 Insisted that Congress must pass laws protecting slavery
in all territories
 Appealed mostly in the border states and Upper South
 His name did not appear on southern ballots
 Won a majority of electoral college
 Only 39% of popular vote
THE ELECTION OF 1860
THE MOVEMENT FOR SECESSION
• Believed that a Republican president would unleash
more John Browns on them
• The states of the Deep South began to secede even
before Lincoln took office
SC led the way on Dec. 1860
AL, MS, FL, GA, LA, TX
• On Feb. 4, 1861, delegates from those 7 states met in
Montgomery, AL to form the Confederate States of
America
THE SEARCH FOR COMPROMISE
• KY senator John Crittenden proposed a compromise
to bring the Deep South back into the Union
• It included constitutional amendments that
guaranteed the federal govt. would never interfere
with slavery in the South
• Drew the MO Compromise line across the remaining
territories
 with slavery permitted south of the line in all present and
future U.S. territory
THE SEARCH FOR COMPROMISE (CONT.)
• Lincoln rejected the Crittenden plan because he
would not abandon the free-soil promise on which
he had been elected
 He regarded the plan as an invitation to the South to seize
territory in the Caribbean for slavery
• He also felt that he had won an honest election
 That giving in to a losing minority would damage the
American tradition of majority rule
THE COMING OF WAR
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The Confederacy began to take over federal forts
within it region
Soon after Lincoln’s inauguration, the Confederacy
bombarded Fort Sumter in Charleston’s harbor
 thus firing the 1st shot in the rebellion that became the
Civil War
•
Lincoln responded by proclaiming that a rebellion
existed in the Lower South
 Called for 75,000 militia volunteers from the loyal states
to subdue it
THE COMING OF WAR (CONT.)
Rather than send their troops to fight against sister southern states, VA, NC, AR, and
TN seceded and joined the Confederacy
The North was now aroused and ready to fight to save the Union
 though not yet ready to abolish slavery
CONCLUSION
•
At no time prior to the Civil War, did the majority of
Americans call for the end of slavery in the South
•
Rather, in the 1850’s, the gulf between the North and
South widened over the spread of slavery into the
territories
•
Northerners believed their freedom to pursue
economic opportunity would be denied if they had to
compete against slave labor in the West
• Southerners claimed that to curtail slavery in the
territories violated their constitutional right to use
their property (slaves) as they saw fit
• Attempts to enforce the Fugitive Slave Law, the KSNE Act’s repeal of the MO Compromise, the
subsequent fighting in KS, the Dred Scott decision,
and John Brown’s raid all further embittered
intersectional conflict
• National political parties collapsed under the strain:
the Whigs disintegrated
The Democrats divided into northern and southern wings
A new strictly northern party, the Republicans, emerged
• By the end of the 1850’s, northerners were convinced the
South meant to impose slavery throughout the nation
• Southern states were ready for secession as the only way to
protect their “peculiar institution” from a North that they saw
as intent on destroying slavery even in the South