Day 71 : Drifting Toward Disunion

1. Day 71: Drifting Toward Disunion Baltimore Polytechnic Institute December 17, 2012 A/A.P. U.S. History Mr. Green

2. Drifting toward disunion Objectives: Enumerate the sequence of major crises, beginning with the Kansas-Nebraska Act, that led up to secession, and explain the significance of each event. Explain how and why the territory of bleeding Kansas became the scene of a dress rehearsal for the Civil War. Trace the growing power of the Republican party in the 1850s and the increasing domination of the Democratic party by its militantly proslavery wing. AP Focus In their attempt to take the White House, the Republicans are defeated when John Frémont loses to Democrat James Buchanan. Nativists, concerned by German and Irish immigration, organize the American, or Know-Nothing, Party, which probably takes votes from the Republicans. In March 1857, the Supreme Court rules that Dred Scott is not a citizen because of his race. The decision goes even further, stating that Congress has no authority to exclude slavery from any part of the nation or its territories. The Missouri Compromise is therefore ruled unconstitutional. The financial crash of 1857 primarily affects the North and West. The South is essentially unaffected because of high cotton prices. Southerners cite this as an example of the superiority of their economic system over the North’s, which exploits the “wage-slaves.”

3. Chapter Focus Chapter Themes A series of major North-South crises in the late 1850s culminated in the election of the antislavery Republican Lincoln to the presidency in 1860. His election caused seven southern states to secede from the union and form the Confederate States of America.

4. Announcements Election Charts 1852, 1856, 1860, 1864 Decades Chart 1850’s Due on Thursday

5. Stowe and Helper: Literary Incendiaries Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)-Harriet Beecher Stowe never witnessed slavery firsthand North would not enforce the Fugitive Slave Law popular abroad The Impending Crisis of the South (1857)-Hinton R. Helper prove that non-slaveholding whites were the ones who suffered most from slavery

6. The North-South contest for Kansas Small part of pioneers to Kansas were financed by northern abolitionists New England Emigrant Aid Company-sent 2,000 people to the area to forestall the South Kansas was the unspoken slave state from the Kansas-Nebraska Act, while Nebraska was to be free 1855 State elections in Kansas turned into a fiasco-border ruffians from MO voted early and often in Kansas 2 governments set up in Kansas-Shawnee Mission and Topeka

7. Kansas in Convulsion May 1856 John Brown and followers hacked 5 surprised men to death-caused a vicious retaliation from pro-slavery forces 1857 Kansas had enough population to apply for statehood on a popular-sovereignty basis Lecompton Constitution-vote for the constitution either “with slavery” or “with no slavery” against slavery still offered protections to owners of slaves ALREADY in Kansas Late 1857 Kansas becomes a slave state

8. “Bully” Brooks and His Bludgeon Charles Sumner of MA-leading abolitionist gave a speech that attacked the South Preston S. Brooks of SC took the attacks on SC personally and attacked Sumner on May 22, 1856 Brooks resigned and was re-elected Revealed the inflamed passions between the North and the South

9. Election of 1856 Democrat James Buchanan Well to do PA lawyer Anti-foreignism Slavery 174 Electoral Votes Republican John C. Fremont Pathfinder of the West Anti-foreignism Slavery 114 Electoral Votes American Party/Know-Nothing Party Millard Fillmore 8 electoral votes Immigrants from Ireland/Germany

10. The Dred Scott Bombshell Dred Scott v. Stanford (1857) Scott lived with his master for 5 years in Illinois and Wisconsin Territory Backed by abolitionists Taney ruled that he was slave and not a citizen and could not sue in federal court Taney took it one step further Since a slave was private property, he or she could be taken into any territory and legally held there in slavery used the 5th amendment to protect people of their property without due process of law Nullified the Compromise of 1820: Congress has no power to ban slavery from the territories, regardless of what the territories decide

11. Financial Crash of 1857 Causes: inpouring California gold-inflated currency Crimean War in Russia-commodities Speculation in land/railroads Tariff of 1857??? Not so fast my friend reduced duties to 20%/placed on books just before the crash Effects: 5,000 business failed in the year “Bread or Dead” Northern grain growers hurt King Cotton no impacted Next Steps: free land or homesteads take away workers More free-soilers Buchanan vetoed it in 1860

12. Homework • Finish Reading Chapter 19 • Work on Charts.