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Chapter 15
The Road to Civil War
DISPUTES OVER NEW LANDS
The Missouri Compromise
In 1818, there were 11 free and 11 slave states.
 Missouri wanted to join the Union as a slave
state. This would upset the balance between
slave and free states
 Henry Clay suggested a plan called the Missouri
Compromise (1820)
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Missouri would enter as a slave state
Maine would enter as a free state (keeping the
balance)
Slavery would not be permitted in areas north of 36
30’
DISPUTES OVER NEW LANDS
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TEXAS (annexation of Texas was the main
issue in the 1844 election)
Lands from the War with Mexico
Wilmot Proviso and Calhoun’s proposal
California, New Mexico and Utah
Territories ????
The Election of 1848
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The Whig party chose “Old Rough and
Ready” Zachary Taylor as the candidate
(southerner and hero of the Mexican War)
The Democrats chose Senator Lewis Cass
from Michigan
Neither candidate took a stand regarding
slavery in the new territories.
A New Political Party
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The two main parties failure to take a
stand on slavery angered many voters.
Many anti-slavery democrats and whigs
left their parties and joined forces with the
Liberty Party to form the Free Soil Party.
“Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labor and
Free Men”
Endorsed the Wilmot Proviso
Nominated former president Martin Van
Buren as their candidate
1848 Election results
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Zachary Taylor defeated Cass 163 to 127
MVB only received 14% of the vote in the
North
Many Free-Soilers won seats in Congress
President Taylor
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Once in office, ZT urged the two territories
of CA and NM to apply for statehood
immediately.
Decide on slavery for themselves.
CA applied, NM did not
Taylor’s plan runs into trouble
Upset the balance of power (15-15)
What about the future (OR, UT, NM)
Compromise of 1850
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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
5 part plan initiated by Henry Clay to settle the
differences between North and South over
California’s statehood.
California enters as a “free state”
New Mexico and Utah decide slavery for
themselves
Slave trading in DC must stop…slavery ok
Tougher fugitive slave law
settled a border dispute with Texas
Compromise of 1850
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Clay’s proposals sparked bitter debate in
Congress
Southern states threaten to secede
President Taylor (Whig, elected in 1848 #12)
would use force if the Southern states left
Taylor dies (Washington Monument
7/4/1850..iced milk and cold cherries)
New Prez. Millard Fillmore (#13) supported
some form of compromise
Compromise of 1850
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Stephen Douglass, a young Senator from
IL, took charge by dividing Clay’s plan into
5 separate measures.
Pres. Fillmore persuaded several Whigs to
abstain from measures they opposed and
they all passed.
Fillmore would call this the “final
settlement” of the conflict between North
and South
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
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Required ALL citizens to help catch
runaway slaves.
Anyone who aided a runaway slave could
be fined or imprisoned.
South believed that this law would force
Northerners to recognize their rights
Led to anger in the North…Northerners
refused to cooperate
Kansas-Nebraska Act
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1852- Franklin Pierce (Dem- NH. ..#14)
elected prez (vs. Whig candidate Gen.
Winfield Scott)
FP intended to enforce the FSA
Kansas-Nebraska Act was proposed by
Steven Douglas
Created the Kansas and Nebraska Territories
Encourage settlement, TC Railroad
invalidated the MC line
“popular sovereignty”
Are You Kidding Me???
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Many northerners protested the K-N A
strongly
Invalidating the MC line would open up
slavery to lands that had been free for
more than 30 years
Southerners supported the bill. They
hoped that Kansas would be settled in
large part by slave-holders from Missouri
Passed (support by some Northern
Democrats and President Pierce_
Bleeding Kansas
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pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces swept
into Kansas
border ruffians
violence erupts
two governments, two capitals
Pro-slavery (supported by Pres. Pierce and
the Senate)
Anti-slavery (supported by the House of
Reps.)
Violence in Congress
15-3
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A NEW POLITICAL PARTY
The Republicans
anti-slavery Whigs, anti-slavery Democrats
and former Free Soilers combined to form
the Republican Party
“the establishment of liberty and the
overthrow of slave power”
main message was to ban slavery in the
new territories
support in the North…gained control of
the House of Representatives (1854)
Election of 1856
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Republicans chose John C. Fremont
(Western explorer)
“Free Soil, Free Speech and Fremont”
Democrats chose James Buchanan. They
endorsed the idea of popular sovereignty
American Party (Know Nothings—antiimmigrant) ran former president Millard
Fillmore
Election of 1856 results
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votes were along sectional lines
Buchanan won all the Southern states
except MD
Fremont carried 11 of the 16 free states
no EC votes in the South
Electoral College
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Fillmore 8
Fremont 114
Buchanan 174 (#15)
The Dred Scott Decision
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Supreme Court decision (1857—2 days
after Buchanan’s inauguration.
The Case of Dred Scott
SC ruled against Scott
* not a citizen
* slaves are property
* attempts to limit slavery are
unconstitutional
Reactions to Dred Scott
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South…”I told you so!”
North… outrage “a wicked and false
judgment”…”the greatest crime” ever
committed in the nation’s courts
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates
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Lincoln and Douglas (incumbent) were running
for the US Senate seat from Illinois
The main topic of their debates was slavery
Douglas was for “popular sovereignty”, Lincoln
was opposed to slavery
FREEPORT DOCTRINE of Douglas said that
people could exclude slavery from an area by
refusing to pass laws protecting slaveholder’s
rights
Douglas won the election.
The Raid at Harper’s Ferry
click picture to play video
15-4
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The Election of 1860
The Democratic party split into Northern and
Southern factions.
The Northern democrats selected Stephen
Douglas as their candidate
The Southern democrats chose John
Breckenridge from Kentucky as their candidate.
The newly formed Republican party chose Abe
Lincoln
A fourth candidate, John Bell from Tennessee,
entered the race and was chosen by moderates
from the North and South. He took no position
on the issue of slavery.
1860 ELECTION RESULTS
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Although Lincoln’s name did not even appear on
the ballot of many Southern states he captured
40% of the popular vote.
The voting was purely on sectional lines with
Lincoln taking most of the Northern states,
Breckenridge carried the Southern states, Bell
carried the border states and Douglas the state
of Mississippi and 3 of New Jersey’s seven
electoral college votes.
Lincoln (180), Breckenridge (72) , Bell (39),
Douglas (1)
Secession of Southern States
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After Lincoln’s victory in the presidential election, many
Southern states saw no other choice bit to secede from
(or leave) the United States. They viewed Lincoln as a
devout abolitionist and a threat to their way of life.
South Carolina was the first to leave on December 20,
1860
By the first of February 1861, Texas, Louisiana,
Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Georgia had all
seceded from the Union.
The Southern States justified their leaving the Union
under the theory of STATES RIGHTS. This theory held
that since states joined the Union voluntarily than they
should also be allowed to leave the Union if they
desired,.
A New Country
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Reaction over secession of the Southern
states was divided in the North and the
South.
The seceding Southern states became
their own country calling themselves the
CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA.
They chose Jefferson Davis from
Mississippi as the president.
Presidential Response
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Although Lincoln had won the election he had
not been sworn in. James Buchanan was still
president.
On December 1860, Buchanan sent a message
to Congress. He said that the South had no right
to leave but the Union was powerless to stop
them.
Lincoln disagreed and in his inaugural address
he mixed toughness with peace and pleaded
with the South for reconciliation at the same
time vowing to enforce the laws on the US and
to hold on to federal property in the South.
Fort Sumter
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The South soon tested Lincoln’s resolve on
holding federal property in the South.
On April 12, 1861 Confederate forces
attacked a Union held fort located in the
Charleston, SC harbor.
The first shots of the Civil War had been
fired