Download Southern views Missouri Compromise

Brenton Montie 2009
Union to Disunion
The Events leading to the Civil
War
SOCIETY
"With us, the two great divisions of society are not
rich and poor, but white and black. And all the
former, the poor as well as the rich, belong to the
upper class and are respected and treated as
equals."
~John C. Calhoun
Do we always need to feel better than someone else?
Why should there always be someone worse than
me? This is a recurring theme!
Why do these people feel so strongly about
slavery?
Southern views
Think Af. Ams. are inferior:
• Poor whites support it because it keeps them off
the bottom of society
• Slaveholders are helping slaves by:
o introducing them to Christianity
o providing food, shelter, and clothing
• They also say that northern factory work is far
worse, that the workers are slaves without
masters, subject to moral collapse
Missouri Compromise
Missouri applies for statehood in 1817,
wreaking havoc: Senate WAS balanced...
• Adding Missouri as a slave state (which it would be) would
upset the balance in the Senate
• New York introduces a bill to ban slavery in MO, Southerners
say the Gov't banning slavery is unconstitutional
• Maine wanted in as well, so Henry Clay suggests they add MO
as a slave state, and ME as a free state, keeping balance.
Crisis averted...or is it?!?!?!?
Missouri Compromise
• The plan also banned slavery in the Louisiana Territory, any
areas north of Missouri's southern border
• This was the only way to get northerners to support a plan
that brought slavery so far north
So this is why southerners see the need to expand:
their options are limited
Remember the Wilmot Proviso as well!
QUIZ!
What were two parts of the Missouri Compromise?
How did the Missouri Compromise lead to the
Mexican War?
What were the excuses Southerners had for the
enslavement of a group of people?
Why would poor Southern whites support slavery?
5 minutes!
Calhoun and the Nullification Crisis
• Calhoun proposes nullification: a state can nullify a federal law:
o This was a way to stop SC from leaving the union, as it would
if this certain tariff remained.
Calhoun said that Congress had no right to pass a law that harmed
one area of the country to the aid of another.
• Jackson proposed a lower tariff rate, but SC still threatened
secession (withdrawal from the union)
As you remember, Jackson then threatened federal force to make
sure SC complied.
Webster and Clay
• States rights debate: Daniel Webster of Mass. argues that the
union was made of the people, not the states
• Freedom and the union are one and the same
• "Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable"
Jackson took Webster's side, not Calhoun's (his VP)
• Clay, the great compromiser, settles the issue with a
compromise tariff that slowly lowered rates. Clay always fought
to keep the union intact, no matter what
Compromise of 1850
• California tries to gain statehood, causing a huge uproar, again,
because it would be a free state
o Slave states wanted it to be split in half
Congress, after long debate, led by the Great Compromiser Henry
Clay, passes the Compromise of 1850:
1. To please the North: California is admitted as a free state, and
the slave trade is abolished in Washington D.C.
California would then send one pro-slavery senator and one antislavery senator
2. To please the South: Congress will not pass laws about slavery
in the rest of the Mexican Cession territories... and will pass a
strict fugitive slave law
• This would help slaveholders capture runaway slaves
This was also the last major accomplishment of Clay, Calhoun,
and Webster
Both sides thought they gave up too much,
and it failed to solve the slavery issue
Senate Debate over the compromise
Fugitive Slave Act
• People accused of being fugitives could be held without an
arrest warrant
• There was no jury trial: Commissioner chose. He got 5 bucks if
he let the person go, and 10 if they went back into slavery
• Southerners liked it: They view slaves as property
• Northerners are quite displeased: They are required to help
recapture fugitives (if they didn't help they would be fined)
Naturally, many free Af. Ams. were captured
Slave catchers roaming the north bring the moral question:
Should we obey the law or break the law because it is wrong?
So what would you do, as a northerner? Do you follow the law
and help them capture slaves or do you help a slave escape and
face jail yourself?
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Uncle Tom's Cabin is published in 1852: it portrays slavery in a
direct way that brings the horrors of the institution to the people
of the north, dramatically increasing abolition demands.
• 1854- Stephen Douglas of Illinois drafts a bill to organize the
Nebraska territory into Nebraska and Kansas
• To get southern support, he proposes the principle of
POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY: the people in the territory get to
decide if there will be slavery, not the Federal Gov't
• This repeals the Missouri Compromise, but lawmakers must
support it or be accused of being against self government
Bleeding Kansas
Because of the Act, Kansas became a battleground: Anti-slavery
forces and pro-slavery forces rushed into the territory to vote for
the legislature (which would then decide if there would be slavery)
Both sides ended up forming separate governments (the proslavery folks won at first because of some MO conspirators)
Settlers on both sides literally fight each other
• Mobs attack the governor and offices of the anti-slavery gov't
• John Brown (an extreme abolitionist) kills 7 people at the
Pottawatomie Massacre in retribution
Whose side does this favor?
Perhaps the pen IS mightier than
the sword...
The caning of Charles Sumner
Anti-Slavery Senator Sumner attacks the pro-slavery forces in
Kansas in a speech packed with insults
Preston Brooks, a congressman, attacks Sumner at his desk with
his cane, hitting him 30 times and breaking the cane.
• This attack proves to the northerners that the south is full of
bloodthirsty savages and they become more eager to punish
the south
Dred Scott
• Scott was a slave in MO, moved to free territory, then moved
back. His master dies, he claims freedom because he had lived
in a free area.
• Supreme Court: NO, you cannot sue for freedom, you are not a
citizen, you are property, and Congress cannot ban slavery in
territories
Again, enrages free state residents
• Basically outlaws popular sovereignty as well, because it would
violate slaveholder's property rights
The Republicans
The Whig party collapsed because of the split over slavery
So we get the Republican party, possibly formed in MI, based
around Whigs and other anti-slavery forces
• Increasingly: North and South split. Republicans do not
even show up on the ballot in the South. The Democrats
attempt to remain a national party
• Many people in the north blamed bleeding Kansas on the
Democrats, so Republicans gain power
Lincoln Douglas Debates
Page 452, read Lincoln's quote
• Lincoln: Slavery is a moral, political, and social wrong
o He only argued that Slavery should not be extended
• Douglas: Popular Sovereignty should rule, the most democratic
way to deal with the issue (Dred Scott anyone?)
Lincoln lost the election, but won national stature
"A house divided against itself cannot stand"
Harper's Ferry
• John Brown: (bleeding Kansas...) He wanted to inspire slaves
to fight for their freedom
o
Plan: Capture weapons at the arsenal at Harper's Ferry, VA.
• They seize the arsenal, and try to rally and arm local slaves.
Brown is captured by the marines and is later hanged.
• The sections of the country are now at a breaking point
John Brown: Hero or Terrorist?
...crazy man?
The Election of 1860
The Democrats split over slavery in their platform, so the
southern Democrats left...leaving the convention a stalemate.
Eventually, northern Dems nominate Douglas, and southern
Dems nominate John Breckenridge
Lincoln is nominated as a surprise at the convention in Chicago
• Two races emerge, North and South: Lincoln and
Breckenridge are most extreme: L = no more expansion of
slavery. B = Feds must protect everywhere.
The country was tired of moderation: Lincoln wins the North
and the presidency
The Candidates
The extreme candidates win the north and the south, and
the moderates get the border states
The Southern States Secede
• The election of Lincoln is viewed as a threat to the Southern
way of life, even though he said he would not abolish slavery
• They had warned if he was elected they would secede: They
based it on states' rights = states could chose to remain or leave
• The deep south leaves first (Dec 1860), slavery is biggest there
(cotton)
SC, MS, FL, AL, GA, LA, and TX leave first.
Everyone waited to see what the Union gov't would do...
The last attempts to stop war
• James Buchanan is considered the worst president because he
failed to stop the war: he viewed secession as unconstitutional,
but did nothing to stop it
Arguments about majority rule: The southerners just didn't want
to follow democracy!
Lincoln is inagurated in March of 1861. He argues against
secession, and promises again not to abolish slavery, he appeals to
friendship. However, he soon has to defend the nation
SO WE GET...
WAR!