Problems of Sectional Balance in 1850

1. Problems of Sectional Balancein 1850 • California statehood. • Southern “fire-eaters” threateningsecession. • Underground RR & fugitive slave issues: • Personal liberty laws

2. Compromise of 1850 • Admission of California as a free state • Organizing Utah & New Mexico into 2 territories: • allowing the settlers in these territories to decide the slavery issue by majority vote in those territories • Adjustment of the Texas/New Mexico border in return for the federal gov’t assuming Texas’ public debt of 10 million • abolition of slave trade in District of Columbia(permit whites to hold slaves as before) • tougher fugitive slave laws.

3. Compromise of 1850 • Its passage was hailed as a solution to the threat of national division. • Henry Clay, Daniel Webester & John Calhoun delivered the last great speeches of their lives • Northern opposition looked promising until Pres. Taylor died in 1850 who opposed Clay’s plan • VP Millard Fillmore supported compromise

4. Compromise of 1850

5. HarrietBeecherStowe(1811 – 1896) So this is the lady who started the Civil War. -- Abraham Lincoln

6. Uncle Tom’s Cabin 1852 • Sold 300,000 copies inthe first year. • 2 million in a decade!

7. Uncle Tom’s Cabin, 1852 • awakened the passions of the North toward the evils of slavery • About the splitting up of a slave family & the cruel mistreatment of likeable Uncle Tom by a cruel slave master.

8. Uncle Tom’s Cabin, 1852 • South said Stowe’s portrayal of slavery = wrong & unfair. • Book helped Britain stay out of the Civil War • British people sympathized with Uncle Tom, wouldn’t allow intervention on behalf of the South.

9. Uncle Tom’s Cabin, 1852

10. The “Know-Nothings” [The American Party] • Nativists. • Anti-Catholics. • Anti-immigrants. 1849  Secret Order of the Star-Spangled Banner created in NYC.

11. 1852 Presidential Election √ Franklin Pierce Gen. Winfield Scott John Parker Hale Democrat Whig Free Soil

12. 1852Election Results

13. The North-South Contest for Kansas • Northerners pour into Kansas, and Southerners = outraged • they supported the Compromise of 1850 believing that Kansas would = a slave state. • Election day 1855: • hordes of Southerners “border ruffians” from Missouri flooded the polls & elected Kansas tobe a slave state • free-soilers = upset and set up their own government in Topeka.

14. Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854

15. The North-South Contest for Kansas • Kansans had to chose between two governments: • one illegal (free government in Topeka) • the other fraudulent (slavery government in Shawnee). • 1856, a group of pro-slavery raiders shot up and burnt part of Lawrence, thus starting violence.

16. “Bleeding Kansas” Border “Ruffians”(pro-slavery Missourians)

17. John Brown: Madman, Hero or Martyr? John Brown: led a band of followers toPottawatomie Creek (May 1856) & hacked to death five presumablepro-slaveryites. This brutal violence surprised even the most ardent abolitionists and brought swift retaliation from pro-slaveryites. “Bleeding Kansas” was earning its name. Mural in the Kansas Capitol buildingby John Steuart Curry (20c)

18. The Battle Continues in Kansas • By 1857: Kansas had enough people to apply for statehood • Those for slavery devised the Lecompton Constitution • provided that the people were only allowed to vote for the constitution “withslavery” or “without slavery.” • ***even if the constitution was passed “without slavery,” those slaveholders already in the state would still be protected. So, slaves would be in Kansas, despite the vote. • Angry free-soilers boycotted the polls and Kansas approved the constitution with slavery

19. And continues…. • In Washington, Buchanan had succeeds Pierce • but like Pierce, Buchanan was more towards the South, and firmly supported the Lecompton Constitution. • Senator Stephen Douglas, refusing to have this fraudulent vote by saying this wasn’t true popular sovereignty, threw away his Southern support and called for a fair re-vote. • Thus, the Democratic Party was hopelessly divided, ending the last remaining national party for years to come (the Whigs were dead and the Republicans were a sectional party).

20. “The Crime Against Kansas” Congr. Preston Brooks(D-SC) Sen. Charles Sumner(R-MA) “Bleeding Kansas” spills into Congress: Senator Charles Sumner = vocal anti-slaveryite, & his blistering speeches condemned all slavery supporters. Congressman Preston S. Brooks decided that since Sumner was not a gentleman he couldn’t challenge him to a duel, so Brooks beat Sumner with a cane until it broke; nearby, Senators did nothing but watched, & Brooks was cheered on by the South.

21. Birth of the Republican Party, 1854 • Northern Whigs. • Northern Democrats. • Free-Soilers. • Know-Nothings. • Other miscellaneous opponents of the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

22. 1856 Presidential Election √ James Buchanan John C. Frémont Millard Fillmore Democrat Republican Whig

23. 1856Election Results

24. Dred Scott Case • The situation: • Dred Scott =slave whose master took him north into free states where he lived for many years • his master dies & he sued for his freedom from his new master • claiming that he had been in free territory and was therefore free. • The Missouri Supreme Court agreed, freeing him, but his new master appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which overruled the decision.

25. Dred Scott Case • Outcomes or decisions of the case… • Chief Justice Roger Taney said; • no slave could be a citizen of the U.S. in his justification. • The Court said: • a legislature/Congress cannot outlaw slavery, as that would go against the 5th Amendment saying a person’s property cannot be taken without due process of law. This was the bombshell statement. • The Court concludes: • the Missouri Compromise had been unconstitutional all along (because it’d banned slavery north of the 36° 30’ line and doing so was against the second point listed above).

26. Sectional implications of Dred Scott • The North—South scoreboard now favored the South undeniably.The South had (1) the Supreme Court, (2) the president, and (3) theConstitution on its side. The North had only Congress (which was nowbanned from outlawing slavery). • Reasons the Constitution favored the South… • the Supreme Court just said so with the Dred Scott decision and it is the Supreme Court that interprets the Constitution • the 5th Amendment said Congress could not take away property, in this case, slaves • it could be argued that slavery is in the Constitution by way of the Three-Fifths Compromise • it could be argued slavery is not in the Constitution since the word “slavery” is not present, but using this argument, the 10th Amendment said anything not in the Constitution is left up to the states, and the Southern states would vote for slavery.

27. Dred Scott v. Sanford, 1857

28. What caused thePanic of 1857?? What were itsaffects on the nation?

29. Panic of 1857 • Psychologically, the Panic of 1857 = the worst of the 19C • it really wasn’t as bad as the Panic of 1837. • It’s causes: • California gold causing inflation • over-growth of grain • over-speculation in land and railroads. • North = especially hard hit • South rode it out proving that cotton was indeed king & raising Southern egos. • Also, in 1860, Congress passed a Homestead Act • Provide 160 acres of land at a cheap price for those who were less-fortunate, (vetoed by Buchanan) • Homestead Act = disliked by Northeast • Long unfriendly to extension of land & feared that it would drain its population • Panic brought calls for a higher tariff rate • had been lowered to about 20% only months before.

30. Lincoln's Battle for the Senate • 1858, Senator Stephen Douglas’ term was about to expire • against him = Republican Abraham Lincoln. • Lincoln challenged Douglas to a series of 7 debates • most famous debate = Freeport, Illinois, • Lincoln essentially asked, “Mr. Douglas, if the people of a territory voted slavery down, despite the Supreme Court saying that they could not do so (point #2 of the Dred Scott decision), which side would you support, the people or the Supreme Court?” • “Mr. Popular Sovereignty,” Douglas replied with his “Freeport Doctrine,” which said that no matter how the Supreme Court ruled, slavery would stay down if the people voted it down; since power was held by the people.

31. The Lincoln-Douglas (Illinois Senate) Debates, 1858 A House divided against itself, cannot stand.

32. Stephen Douglas & the Freeport Doctrine PopularSovereignty?

33. John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry, VA • plan = invade the South, seize its arms, call upon the slaves to rise up and revolt, and take over the South and free it of slaves • slaves didn’t revolt • captured by the U.S. Marines under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Robert E. Lee & convicted of treason, sentenced to death, and hanged. • Brown portrayed himself as a martyr against slavery, and when he was hanged, he instantly became a martyr for abolitionists • northerners rallied around his memory • Abolitionists were infuriated by his execution (as they’d conveniently forgotten his violent past). • South = happy & saw justice. They also felt his actions were typical of the radical North

34. John Brown’s Raidon Harper’s Ferry, 1859

35. Election of 1860 • After failing to nominate a candidate in Charleston, South Carolina, the Democrats split into Northern and Southern factions • at Baltimore, the Northern Democrats nominated Stephen Douglas for president • Southern Democrats chose John C. Breckinridge. • Meanwhile, the “Know-Nothings” chose John Bell ofTennessee and called themselves the Constitutional Union party. They tried to mend fences and offered as their platform, simply, the Constitution.

36. 1860PresidentialElection √Abraham LincolnRepublican John BellConstitutional Union Stephen A. DouglasNorthern Democrat John C. BreckinridgeSouthern Democrat

37. Republican Party Platform in 1860 • Non-extension of slavery [for the Free-Soilers. • Protective tariff [for the No. Industrialists]. • No abridgment of rights for immigrants [a disappointment for the “Know-Nothings”]. • Government aid to build a Pacific RR [for the Northwest]. • Internal improvements [for the West] at federal expense. • Free homesteads for the public domain [for farmers].

38. 1860 Election Results

39. The Electoral Upheaval of 1860 • Abe Lincoln won the election despite not even being on the ballot in the South. • Lincoln won with only 40% of the popular vote • had the Democratic Party been more organized and energetic, they might have won. • It was a very sectional race: • the North went to Lincoln, • the South to Breckinridge • the “middle-ground” to the middle-of-the-road candidate in Bell • popular-sovereignty-land went to Douglas. • Republicans did not control the House or the Senate, and the South still had a five-to-four majority in the Supreme Court, but the South still decided to secede.

40. The Secessionist Exodus • South Carolina threatened to secede if Lincoln was elected president • SC seceded in December of 1860. • Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas (the Deep South) followed in next 6 weeks, before Abe was inaugurated. • Secession states met in Montgomery, Alabama in February of 1861 • created the Confederate States of America • chose Jefferson Davis as president. • President Buchanan? • did nothing to force the confederacy back into the Union, Why? • Union troops were needed in the West • North was still apathetic toward secession • left the issue for Lincoln to handle when he got sworn in.

41. Secession!: SC Dec. 20, 1860

42. Crittenden Compromise:A Last Ditch Appeal to Sanity Senator John J. Crittenden(Know-Nothing-KY)

43. The Collapse of Compromise • James Henry Crittenden proposed the Crittenden Compromise • ban slavery north of the 36°30’ line extended to the Pacific • would leave the issue in territories south of the line up to thepeople • existing slavery south of the line would be protected. • Lincoln opposed the compromise • his party had preached against the extension of slavery, & he had to stick to principle.

44. Farewell to Union • Why secession? • feared that their rights as a slaveholding minority were being threatened • alarmed at the growing power of the Republicans • they believed that they would be unopposed despite what the Northerners claimed • South hoped to develop its own banking and shipping, and to prosper. • In 1776, the 13 colonies had seceded from Britain and had won; now the South could do the same thing.