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Democracy in Crisis

Democracy in Crisis. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free . I do not expect the Union to be dissolved -- I do not expect the house to fall -- but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other.

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Democracy in Crisis

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  1. Democracy in Crisis

  2. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved -- I do not expect the house to fall -- but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. Abraham Lincoln, 1858

  3. An elite within an elite • 3 out of 4 white families owned no slaves • in 1850, majority of slaveowning families had 5 or fewer • less than 40,000 families possessed 20 or more • and only 2,000 families owned 100 or more

  4. Planters had: • Best land • Most money • Most political connections, representation, and influence

  5. Most whites lived in rugged, hilly land • Subsistence farmers • Outside of market revolution • Ex: western NC, piney woods of Georgia

  6. Why did poor whites go along with slavery?

  7. Racial solidarity • Democratic participation • Resistance to outside criticism • “masters of small worlds”

  8. Slavery: • Limited urbanization, industrialization, immigration • Made $$$ for planters, Northern merchants and industrialists • Supplied 3/4 of world’s cotton • Fueled industrialization in North, England, Europe

  9. Ideology of the South • Paternalism • Looked to Bible for support • Saw northern industrial society as ugly, unequal, crass

  10. Slave Life • Unofficial marriages • Families broken up • Sexual violence • Embrace of Christianity

  11. Slave Revolts • Lead to harsher laws • Slave revolts lead to strict laws • Attack on New Orleans (1811) • Denmark Vesey (1822) • Nat Turner (1831)

  12. Ominous Tides • Slavery on the rise in America (1820s-1850s) • Receding elsewhere • British Empire bans slavery in 1830s • So does Mexico

  13. Abolitionism Emerges in the North • William Lloyd Garrison starts The Liberator newspaper just before Turner rebellion

  14. Mixed race and gender movement • Hated by almost everyone

  15. Remember the Alamo! • White settlers bring slaves into Texas • Texas = part of Mexico • Texans gain independence to preserve slavery (1836)

  16. Polk the Imperialist • Democrats win 1844 election on pro-expansion platform • Pres. James K. Polk wants to buy California from Mexico

  17. The Mexican War (1846-1848) • Questionable evidence used to launch war on Mexico • US Army occupies Mexico City • Young Rep. Abraham Lincoln opposes

  18. The Result • US gains half-million square acres of land • = 1/3 of Mexico • Vindicates “Anglo Saxon” superiority • Indians and others lose rights in conquered territory

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