Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
The Antebellum Period Part IV The Inevitable War Texas and Florida • In 1845, Texas and Florida were admitted into the United States. • Prior to that, slaves fled southern states to join the Mexicans in the fight for Texas. • There are even accounts of slaves fighting on both sides at the Alamo. • After Texas became a state, the slave population grew to 58,000 by 1850. Florida • While slavery in Florida was legal, the slaves themselves had other ideas. • The slaves joined the Seminole, Creek, and Mikasuki Indians and fought in the Second Seminole Wars from 1835-1842. • Slaves in the northern part of Florida were not so lucky as slavery took hold until the end of the Civil War in 1850 slaves numbered 25,000. United States & Mexico • War was declared after Texas was admitted to the union and Mexico refused to cede the lands and leave Texas. • The federal government tried to enact the Wilmot Proviso to eradicate all lands acquired during the war which included Florida and Texas. • Some in the Whigs party created the “Free Soil Party” when the Wilmot Proviso would not pass. The Election of 1848 • A northern Democrat was nominated to run for president but he was not for slavery. • Southern jumped rank to support the Whig candidate, Zachary Taylor a war hero. • Taylor died after 4 months in office and Millard Fillmore was now president. • Fillmore detested slavery and wanted to get rid of it but did not want to destroy the union to do it. Fillmore Continues to Split Nation • Fillmore was president and supported the admission of California as a free state. • This angered southerners so much that now they start threatening succession. • Fillmore rushes to enact the Compromise of 1850. • This was not one single compromise but five separate laws to help balance the power between slave and free states. Compromise of 1850 • (1) The fugitive slave act allowed southerners to finally go into northern cities legally and reclaim their “property”, slaves. • This really steamed Abolitionist leaders in the north as massive protests followed many attempts to return slaves to their masters. • One particular in Boston turned very violent. Continued • (2) California and New Mexico were admitted as free states. • (3) It created areas (Utah, Wyoming, and Arizona) to be “popular sovereignty” where states could vote if they wanted slavery or not. • (4) The slave trade was forever stopped in Washington, D.C. • (5) Texas paid its national debt. Kansas-Nebraska Act • In 1854, the fragile peace created by the Compromise of 1850 was shattered by the K-N act. • Designed by senator Stephen A. Douglas democratic senator from Illinois, he hoped by letting territories decide whether to vote for slavery in their states or not would finally put an end to the slavery question. • HE WAS WRONG!!! Bleeding Kansas • The Nebraska territories were divided into 2 states, Kansas and Nebraska. • Both pro-slavery and abolitionists sent farmers into the territories to set up shop and claim the territories as they wanted. • The conflict resulted in murders of settlers in both areas as they retaliated against each other. John Brown’s Raid • John Brown was hired to protect anti-slave farmers in Kansas and massacred farmers at the Pottawatomie Massacre. • He protected voters with guns from being intimidated in voting booths. • He cemented his place in history with an unsuccessful raid at a ferry near present day West Virginia as he tried to arm slaves in Virginia with guns. The Inevitable • Robert E. Lee first came into prominence by capturing John Brown and Brown was hung in Charles Town, Virginia. • Robert E. Lee would become almost God-like to southerners then and during the Civil War. • Kansas was admitted as a free state and Nebraska did not get voted in until after the Civil War began. War Looms Close • James Henry Hammond set the stage for succession by stating at the senate floor, "If Kansas is driven out of the Union for being a slave state, can any Southern state remain within it with honor?“ • The Republican Party came to power and Lincoln was elected and the states that made up the south began seceding shortly after. Dred Scott Case • A side note was a legal battle fought by an escaped slave trying to beat the legality of the fugitive slave act. • The resulting vote by the supreme court decided that African descent imported into the United States and held as slaves, or their descendants whether or not they were slaves—were not legal persons and could never be citizens of the United States, and that the United States Congress had no authority to prohibit slavery in federal territories. The Court also ruled that slaves could not sue in court, and that slaves—as chattel or private property—could not be taken away from their owners without due process. By the Way • This decision should have not surprised anyone. • Remember, through the 3/5 rule the south had nominated 18 of the 31 supreme court justices over a period of 50 years. • How else would the judges have voted? • Of course they would support slavery.