Download Sectional Conflict Leads to Civil War

Sectional Conflict Leads to
Civil War

An Uneasy Balance
 Annexation of Texas
– Swayed balance
towards South
– Even gave Texas
ability to divide into
five states
 Popular Sovereignty
– Citizens will choose to
permit slavery or not
 Wilmont Proviso
– Idea to forbid slavery
in Mexican Cession
– South angrily shot
down the Proviso
Election of 1848
 Zachary Taylor
– Mexican War Hero
– Man above politics

Compromise of 1850
 Proposed by Henry Clay
– California admitted as Free State
– Slave trade abolished in Washington D.C.
– New Mexico split in to two territories (Utah)
and given popular sovereignty
– Tougher Fugitive Slave Laws
 Taylor opposes Compromise but dies in July
of 1850, Millard Fillmore takes office and
supports Compromise
Responses to Compromise
 John C. Calhoun – “if
something decisive is
not now done…the
South will be forced to
choose between
abolition and
secession…the
responsibility of
saving the Union rests
on the North, and not
the South.”

Election of 1852
 Franklin Pierce
– Democrat from New
Hampshire
– Won in a landslide
– Ineffective President
– Labeled “northern man
with southern
principles”

Fugitive Slave Act
 Law made assisting
runaway slaves a federal
crime
– Authorized arrest of
runaway slaves in free
states
– “we saw a man on
horseback riding at a quick
pace, and by his side a tall
negro coming steadily
along. We saw one chain
going from his wrists to the
saddle another was around
his ankles – giving him just
enough room to walk –
following them were two
large thick-headed fiercelooking dogs.”
 Northerners came face to
face with the reality of
slavery
 “we have submitted to
slavery long enough, and
must not stand it any
longer. I am done
catching [African
Americans] for the
South.”
 Many northerners became
strong abolitionists due to
this issue
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
 Novel by Harriet
Beecher Stowe which
depicted slavery in the
South
– Sold 2 million copies
by the end of the 1850s
 South accused Stowe
of misrepresentation
– Issued their own
response and proslavery propaganda
Kansas-Nebraska Act: 1854
 Territories would be organized based on
popular sovereignty
– Consequently repealing the Missouri
Compromise
 A “great scheme for extending and
perpetuating the supremacy of slave power”
– New York Times
1850

1854

Kansas Elections
 Pro and Anti Slavery
citizens were now pitted
against each other
– Emigrant Aid Company
helped anti-slavery families
move to territories
– Pro-Slavery countered –
“we are playing for a
mighty stake, if we win, we
can carry slavery to the
Pacific Ocean.” – Senator
David Atchinson of MO
 Kansas Elections
– 5,000 pro-slavery Missouri
residents crossed into
Kansas
– Voters had to “swear” to be
citizens of the territory
– Pro-slavery legislature
elected
• Ban of abolitionist
“propaganda”
– Abolitionists refused to
recognize new government
and set up their own
“Bleeding Kansas”
 Mob of 700 pro-slaverymen from Missouri
raided Lawrence, Kansas in 1856 –
headquarters of free state party
 Abolitionist, John Brown led Pottawatomie
Massacre
Violence Reaches Capitol
 Senator Charles Sumner declares “crime
against Kansas”
 Sumner ridicules pro-slavery Senator,
Andrew Butler
 Butler’s relative, Senator Preston Brooks
beat Sumner unconsciously with a cane
Republican Revival
 Made up of Anti-
Slavery Whigs and
Democrats
– Firmly opposed to the
expansion of slavery
– 1856 Election
• Pierce is overlooked by
own party and James
Buchanan was
nominated by the Dems
and wins fairly easily
 Lecompton Constitution
– Protected the rights of slave
holders in Kansas
– Gave voters the right to
decide if more slaves could
come to Kansas
– Stephen Douglas –
denounced constitution and
popular sovereignty was
discredited
– Eventually Kansas was
admitted to the Union in
1861 as a free state
Dred Scott Case
 After owner’s death, Scott
sued for his freedom due
to prior residency in IL,
and WI
 Supreme Court ruling –
Scott was not a citizen and
could not sue for freedom
 Chief Justice Taney –
“being of inferior order”
having “no rights which
the white man was bound
to respect” – concluded
that A-A would never have
rights of a U.S. citizen

Scott Decision Continued
 Taney says Government can not limit expansion of
slavery
 Missouri Compromise is a violation of 5th
Amendment
 Abolitionists were outraged and looked for action
to be taken
– “This atrocious decision furnishes final confirmation of
the already well-known fact that, under the Constitution
and government of the United States, the colored
people are nothing and can be nothing but an alien,
disfranchises, and degraded class” – angry remarks of
Robert Pervis
Prelude to 1860 Election
 1858 Illinois Senate
Election
– Rep. Abraham Lincoln
• Fervently against slavery
– Stephen Douglas –
incumbent seeking 3rd term
 Series of 7 heated debates
centered around the issue
of slavery
 Douglas narrowly wins
senate race

John Brown Raid’s
 Harper’s Ferry
– Brown’s raiders seized
a federal arsenal
– Brown’s receives no
additional support and
is attacked by federal
troops led by Robert E.
Lee
– Brown is hung on
December 2, 1859
– To many he died a
martyr

Election of 1860

Last Straw
 Lincoln’s victory seemed to the South as a victory
for abolition
 South responds by seceding from the Union
 Confederate States of America is formed with
Jefferson Davis at is president
– Confederate States began as South Carolina, Alabama,
Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas;
later joined by Arkansas, North Carolina, Virginia, and
Tennessee
– West Virginia separates from Virginia and becomes a
Union State in 1863