Download Sectional Conflict Intensifies (1848

Sectional Conflict Intensifies (18481860)
10 Events Leading to the Civil War
Chapter 10
Slavery and the Westward
Expansion
Section 1
1. Popular Sovereignty
• Senator Lewis Cass of Michigan proposed the
idea of popular sovereignty – allow the
people in the territory/state to decide if it
would be free or slave
– Many people felt this would be a democratic way
of deciding on the issue
• Abolitionists will argue that it denied African
Americans their right to be free – choice.
2. Compromise of 1850
• Discovery of gold in CA – Settlers called 49ners
– CA applied for statehood (skipped territorial
status because of the number of settlers in CA)
– CA wanted to be a free state, but it would make
the South a minority in the Senate & feared
slavery & states’ rights would be limited.
• Southern response to the possible upset of
the balance of power = Secession
– Withdrawing from the Union
– Considered an act of treason
2. Compromise of 1850
• Henry Clay = “Great Compromiser”
– Solved the MO issue; proposed 8 resolutions to
solve the new crisis—the expansion of slavery
– He needed support of John C. Calhoun – Calhoun
believed the Northern hatred of slavery
threatened to destroy the South
– South needed to defend 2 rights: (1) return of
fugitive slaves, (2) guarantee balance of power
– Honorable solution = secession
2. Compromise of 1850
• President Taylor – unsupportive of the
compromise resolutions of Clay
– Taylor dies, Fillmore takes over – he is supportive
of the resolutions
• Senator Stephen Douglas from Illinois takes
on the fight of the aging Clay & divides the
resolutions into smaller parts so they are
passed
• Compromise of 1850 will temporarily quell
the increasing tensions
Mounting Violence
Section 2
3. Uncle Tom’s Cabin
• Published in 1852; written by Harriet Beecher
Stowe
– Sold 300,000 copies
– Uncle Tom = runaway slave; Simon Legree = slaveholder
– The book will change the North’s view of African
Americans and slavery
• Book persuaded those not moved by rational arguments
• Book was banned in the South – Stowe accused of writing
falsehoods & distortions
4. Fugitive Slave Act
• Sworn statement of a white person needed to take the
“runaway” back to the South
• African Americans did not have the right to a trial or to
testify in court
• Commissioners - awarded $10.00 for siding with the slave
holder & $5.00 if the African America was free
• Federal marshals could deputize citizens & force them to
look for escaped slaves
– Northerners refused to help, but were threatened to be
sent to jail
5. Underground Railroad & Harriet
Tubman
• Fugitive Slave Act punished those who helped
runaway slaves by fining them $$, but Northerners
& African Americans still operated the Underground
Railroad
– Informal but organized
– Members called conductors & gave runaway slaves
food, shelter, and money to start a new life in the North
– Harriet Tubman, most famous conductor
– The RR will deepen the South’s mistrust of the North
Crisis Deepens
Section 3
6. Kansas-Nebraska Act
• Kansas & Nebraska – first experiment with
popular sovereignty
• Nebraska is one large territory & Stephen
Douglas wanted to organize it.
– In order for popular sovereignty to work, the
Missouri Compromise would need to be repealed
so that Nebraska could be a slave state.
– Douglas knew if a repeal was made, it would
divide the country, but he still wanted to open the
Nebraska Territory.
6. Kansas-Nebraska Act
• Douglas misjudged the anti-slavery feelings in the
North
• Proposed to divide the territory into 2 territories
– North – Nebraska – Free (in theory)
– South – Kansas – Slave (in theory)
• Kansas-Nebraska Act passed in May 1856
– Kansas – fighting for the extension of slavery
– “Bleeding Kansas” – min-Civil War
• Pro & Anti Slavery; temporary settlers to vote
• 200 died, $2 million of property destroyed
7. Dred Scott Decision
• President James Buchannan takes office in 1857
– Suggests that Supreme Court should decide on the issue
of slavery in the territories
• South thought it would favor slavery – majority of justices from
South
• Dred Scott v. Sandford
• Dred Scott was a slave in Missouri – his master took
him to a free state & abolitionists argued he should
sue for his freedom
– Case went to the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Rodger B.
Taney presided
7. Dred Scott Decision
• The Supreme Court ruled that African
Americans were not citizens & did not have
the right to sue in court
• Supreme Court ruled that the federal
government could not prohibit slavery in the
territories – Supported by the South,
condemned by the North
The Union Dissolves
Section 4
8. John Brown’s Raid
• John Brown – abolitionist who wanted to
“break the jaws of the wicked” – the
slaveholders
• Harper’s Ferry, Virginia: he planed to take over
an arsenal & start an insurrection
– Brown & 18 followers, but Marines from
Washington, DC stopped Brown & he was
captured 36 hours later
• Sentenced to death
• Became a martyr for abolitionist cause – strengthened
cause
9. Lincoln’s Election to the
Presidency
• Election of 1860
– Lincoln – Republican, Douglas – Northern
Democrats, Bell – Constitutional Union,
Breckinridge – Southern Democrat
• South upset with raid at Harper’s Ferry – saw
election of 1860 as a turning point – North
would try to arm slaves & start a rebellion
• Lincoln – abolitionist – victory for the North –
Southerners threatened & secession only
option
10. Session & the CSA
• South Carolina becomes the first state to
secede from the Union in 1860
• By Feb 1861, six other states secede:
– Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Texas,
and Louisiana
• Federal government tries to compromise, but all
attempts fail.
• Delegates meet in Montgomery, AL – new
nation – Confederate States of America
10. Session & CSA
• The CSA Created a constitution that
guaranteed slavery
• First president of the CSA – Jefferson Davis
– Only serves 6-year term
• Lincoln decides to re-supply Ft. Sumter –
located near Charleston, SC
– Jefferson did not want this to happen because the
fort was in a Confederate state
– He knew if he fired on the supply ship it would
start a war
Fort Sumter
• Davis asked Lincoln to turn over Ft. Sumter to
the Confederacy & not re-supply the ft. –
“NO”
• Confederates began firing on the fort – Major
Robert Anderson defended the fort
– Confederates fired for 33 hours, until Anderson
surrendered
– The Civil War begins!
Seccession
• Upper South secedes – Virginia, Arkansas,
Tennessee, and North Carolina
• Capitol of the CSA is moved to Richmond,
Viriginia