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DRIFTING TOWARD DISUNION
1854-1861
Chapter 19
I. Antislavery Literature
A. Harriet Beecher Stowe:
Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)
1. Wanted to show the North the
evils of slavery; focused onHarriet Beecher Stowe
splitting up slave families
on torture inflicted on slaves.
- Inspired by Fugitive Slave Law.
- Said “God wrote it.”
- She was a product of the
Second Great Awakening.
(Uncle Tom’s Cabin continued…)
2. Sold 300,000 in first year; best seller of all
time in proportion to the population
3. More social impact than any American
literary piece
- Millions of Union soldiers had read it
during their youth
- Boosted
abolitionist
movement.
4. South said it
was lies.
B. Hinton R. Helper: The Impending Crisis of
the South (1857)
1. Non-aristocratic white from NC;
hated both slavery and blacks.
2. Crisis thesis: Non-slaveholding
(poor) whites indirectly suffered
the most from slavery.
3. Published in New York Tribune
4. Impact:
- Target audience (poor whites) –
negligible; most couldn't read.
- Banned in South
II. “Bleeding Kansas”
A. New England Emigrant
Aid Co. sent 2,000 into
Kansas to prevent slavery from
taking hold (also to make a profit!)
- Came armed with rifles (“Beecher’s Bibles” –
Henry Ward Beecher raised $$ for their travel)
B. Southerners furious at Northern attempts
to “abolitionize” Kansas.
1. Douglas’ scheme informally implied that
Kansas would become slave & Nebraska free.
(Bleeding Kansas continued…)
2. Armed Southerners sent into Kansas (many
from Missouri) to thwart Northerners’ goal.
3. Ironically, there were only two slaves in
Kansas in 1860
C. 1855 – Kansas territorial legislature election
1. Proslavery “border ruffians” from Missouri
poured in to vote repeatedly.
- Pro-slaveryites won; created
a “puppet government”
2. Free-soilers established a
government in Topeka.
D. In 1856, a gang of proslavery raiders shot up
and burned part of free-soil Lawrence, Kansas.
E. The caning of Charles Sumner
1. Sumner (abolitionist Mass. senator)
gave speech “Crime Against
Kansas;" blamed Southern proslaveryites; insulted a SC senator. Charles Sumner
2. SC Rep. Preston Brooks (cousin of the
insulted senator) retaliated on the floor of the
Senate; hit Sumner's head 30 times with cane!
Preston
3. North: "Sumner’s
Brooks
caning a symbol of slave
system's evil nature.
4. South: "Brooks is a
hero!"
F. Pottawatomie Massacre –
John Brown and followers
(May 1856) hacked 5 men to
pieces with broadswords in
response to attack on Lawrence
(and the caning of Sumner)
1. Extreme abolitionist who
saw himself as a “holy warrior”; followers
were a “cult.”
2. Attack went unpunished by legal process.
G. Civil war in Kansas ensued from 1856 and
merged with the Civil War of 1861-1865.
H. Lecompton Constitution (1857)
1. Kansas applied for statehood on popular
sovereignty basis.
2. Pro-slavery forces devised a tricky document:
a. Voters could only vote on the constitution
with or without slavery.
b. Rights of slaveholders in Ks would be
protected; their state constitution only
prevented the importation of slaves.
3. Infuriated free-soilers boycotted the polls.
4. Slaveryites approved the constitution with
slavery.
Lecompton Constitution, with a slavery provision,
was approved in 1857.
I. Federal debate on Kansas
1. Pres. Buchanan supported
Lecompton Constitution.
2. Sen. Douglas fought furiously
against it; the House defeated it.
James Buchanan
3. Compromise: Entire Lecompton
Constitution was resubmitted to popular vote
in KS; pro-slavery KS rejected the proposal;
KS statehood remained in limbo.
4. Result: Free-soilers victorious but KS denied
statehood until 1861 when Southern
secessionists left Congress.
J. Impact on Democrat Party
1. Buchanan’s support for KS split the Democrat
party along sectional lines.
2. Republicans would win in 1860 at the
expense of split Dems.
3. Result: One of last strands binding the
Union together – the Democrat Party –
was severed.
DEMO
PAR
CRAT
TY
III. Election of 1856
A. James Buchanan – Dem nominee
(Pierce seen as too weak; Douglas
alienated Southern Dems when he
denounced Lecompton Constitution)
1. PA lawyer; sympathized with Southern views
2. Party platform heavily supported popular
sovereignty in the territories.
B. Republicans (“GOP”) nominated
John C. Fremont; explorer/soldier.
1. 1st presidential election for GOP
2. Against slavery in the territories.
C. American Party (“Know-Nothing”) – nativist
1. Mostly Protestants reacting to
recent wave of Irish, German,
Mexican, and Chinese
immigration; anti-Catholic.
2. Millard Fillmore nominated.
3. Supported by remnants of dying
Whig party.
Millard Fillmore
D. Buchanan won 174-114; Fillmore 8.
- Violent threats from Southern “fire-eaters;”
claimed Fremont win would lead them
to secede; caused many Northerners to vote
for Buchanan (to preserve the Union).
IV. The Dred Scott Decision (1857)
A. Dred Scott had lived with master for 5 yrs.
in free Illinois and Wisconsin territory.
1. Sued for freedom since he had lived on free
soil; he lost.
2. Scott appealed to the Supreme Court.
B. (Md) Chief Justice Roger Taney wrote opinion.
1. Taney - Jacksonian Sec. of Treasury
who helped destroy Bank of US.
2. Main theme of his 22-yr Court
tenure: defense of slavery.
C. Taney’s Dred Scott decision said:
1. Dred Scott was a black slave,
not a citizen; could not sue
in federal court.
2. Slaves could not be taken away
from owners without due
process. As private property
Chief Justice
Roger Taney
(5th Amend), slaves could be
taken into free territory and held there.
3. Missouri Compromise was ruled
unconstitutional; Congress could not forbid
slavery in territories even if states wanted
Congress to do so.
D. Impact of Dred Scott decision:
1. Many Northerners for popular sovereignty
were horrified, including Stephen Douglas.
Further split Dems along sectional lines
2. Republicans furious! Many
claimed the decision was only an
opinion and thus was non-binding.
3. South claimed that
We are so getting
North’s unwillingness outta here!!!
to honor Court’s
decision was more cause
for disunion (secession).
V. Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1858) – running for
Senate from Illinois.
A. Lincoln’s nomination speech:
“A house divided cannot stand.”
“A house divided against itself cannot
stand. I believe this government
cannot endure, permanently half
slave and half free. I do not expect
the Union to be dissolved -- I do not
Abraham Lincoln
expect the house to fall – but I do
Republican
expect it will cease to be divided. It
will become all one thing or all the other.”
B. Lincoln challenged Douglas to series of seven
joint debates.
C. Freeport debate most famous
- Freeport Doctrine
1. Lincoln forced Douglas to
answer whether or not a
territory could vote down
slavery despite Dred Scott
decision.
2. Douglas answered that territories could
refuse to pass laws protecting slavery, thus
effectively ending slavery in that territory.
3. Douglas’s position led to a bigger split in the
Democrat party and an end to his chances to ever
be President. (Southerners would not vote for
him.)
4. Douglas’s popular sovereignty position prevailed in
this election; Douglas won the Senate seat....BUT.....
5. Despite his loss,
Lincoln was now
in the national
spotlight &
would be the
GOP nominee
for president
in 1860.
Question:
Illinois was a Northern state. Most Northerners
were opposed to the spread of slavery.
Why, then, do you think that the people of Illinois
re-elected the candidate that – through popular
sovereignty – would allow slavery to expand into the
territories?
Were there other issues that were more important to
the voters? Do voters have “special interests” today?
What are some of them?
VI. John Brown Attacks Harper’s Ferry
A. Brown’s scheme: invade
the South secretly with a few
followers; lead slaves in
revolt.
- Gained financial assistance
from northern abolitionists.
B. October 1859 - Seized arsenal
at Harper’s Ferry, Va.
1. 7 innocent people killed
2. Most slaves unaware of plan;
did not rise up in rebellion.
Federal arsenal
at Harper’s Ferry
3. Brown trapped in armory; finally
surrendered to Capt. Robert E. Lee.
C. Brown & followers were hanged
after brief but legal trial.
D. Brown became a martyr in the
North among abolitionist and free-soilers
(NOT moderate Republicans.)
E. Southern view of Brown:
1. “Anti-slavery conspiracy.”
2. Southern states formed militias
3. One of the immediate causes of South’s
secession.
VII. Nominating Conventions of 1860
A. Democrat Party split in two.
1. Met first in SC; Douglas the
leading candidate of Northern wing.
- Southern “fire-eaters” regarded him as a
traitor for his positions on Lecompton
Constitution & Freeport Doctrine; 8
cotton
states walked out of convention in protest.
2. Next convention, Baltimore – again Douglas.
a. Platform: popular sovereignty and Fugitive
Slave Law.
3. Southern Dems nominated
John C. Breckinridge:
a. Ky moderate (not a secessionist)
John C.
Breckinridge
b. Platform: extend slavery to
territories; annex Cuba as a slave state
B. Constitutional Union Party – nominated
John Bell of Tennessee.
1. Wanted to preserve Union above all;
saw Bell as a compromise candidate.
John Bell
2. Consisted of former Whigs from upper
South and Know-Nothings.
3. Feared Lincoln victory Southern
C. Republicans (GOP) nominated Lincoln
1. GOP platform
a. Had a broad base
b. Something for almost
everyone
2. Secessionists: “Lincoln’s election will split the
Union!”
- Lincoln was
fairly quiet on
the abolition
issue.
PLATFORM PLANKS (ISSUES)
GOP PLATFORM
ELECTION OF 1860
No slavery in the territories (for Free-soilers)
Protective tariff (for Industrialists)
Rights for immigrants (disappointed nativists)
Pacific Railroad (for Northwest)
Federally funded state improvements (for West)
Free homesteads (for farmers)
VIII. Presidential Election of 1860
A. Lincoln elected with only 40% of the vote;
most sectional election in US history.
B. South still had control of Congress and a 5-4
majority on Supreme Court
C. Many from
South viewed
Lincoln’s
election as proof
that they had to
secede from
the Union.
IX. Southern States Secede from the Union
A. December, 1860, South Carolina voted to
secede from the other states.
B. Within six weeks, six other states seceded
(MS, FL, AL, GA, LA, TX)
- Four others seceded in April 1861, after start
of Civil War (VA, AK, NC, TN);
refused to fight fellow Southerners.
C. Confederate States of America
formed in Montgomery, AL meeting.
- Jefferson Davis chosen as
Jefferson Davis
President, CSA
president; capital - Richmond, VA.
D. Reasons for southern secession
(mostly related to slavery)
South
North
1. Alarm at political balance
tipping in favor of the North.
2. Horrified at Republican victory; appeared to
threaten rights as slaveholding minority.
3. Angry over free-soilers, abolitionism, and
Northern interference (Underground RR &
John Brown’s raid)
4. Felt North would not protest secession.
-- Thought North needed South economically
5. Opportunity to end generations of Southern
dependence on the North.
a. An independent South could develop its
own banking & shipping by trading
directly with Europe.
b. No longer at the mercy of northern
industrialists crying for higher tariffs.
6. Felt they had a moral right to secede.
a. “13 original states voluntarily entered
the Union; now voluntarily withdraw.”
b. Declaration of Independence: the right to
replace a gov’t with one that meets the
needs of the people.
X. Crittenden Amendments
A. Proposed by Senator John J. Crittenden (Ky)
– (heir to political throne of Clay)
B. Designed to appease the South
C. Provisions
1. Slavery in the territories to be prohibited
north of 36-30' but given full federal
protection south, whether already existing
or "hereafter to be acquired" (Cuba?)
2. Popular sovereignty for future states.
D. Lincoln rejected it; compromise hope gone.