21. The Road to Secession, pt. II

1. 21. The Road to Secession, pt. II • Purpose: To understand the chain of events that led to the secession of the South and the Civil War, specifically: • The development of the third party system • Key controversies that further inflamed the conflict over slavery • The splintering of the Democratic Party • The fateful election of 1860 • The secession of the Deep South • The Battle of Fort Sumter and the second secession. • Timeframe: 1854-1861 21. The Road to Secession, pt. II

2. 1.1 From the Second to the Third Party System • The 2nd Party system had developed to address the largely economic issues of the early republic: tariffs, banking, internal improvements. • The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 split the Whigs along sectional lines in “conscience whigs” and “cotton whigs”. The 2nd party system came to an end. The demise of the Whigs created a power vacuum. • The Democrats also had sectional divisions but could better bridge them. • Small, radical parties like the Liberty or the Free Soil party could not fill this gap by themselves. • After 1854 at first the American Party (or Know-Nothing Party) and then the Republican Party rose to prominence. • James Buchanan, a Pennsylvania Democrat with strong ties to the south carried the presidential race in 1856. • In 1856 the third party system was formed: Democrats versus Republicans. 21. The Road to Secession, pt. II

3. 1.2 The American Party or Know-Nothing Party • The American Party or Know-Nothing Party had huge successes in the 1850s in North England. • The party was an Anti-immigrant platform, pro-temperance, also attractive to northerners moderately opposed to slavery. • The Know-Nothings were also divided over the Kansas-Nebraska Act. “Bleeding Kansas” shifted their attention away from immigration towards slavery as a central issue. • In 1856, southern Know-Nothings ran Millard Fillmore for president, unsuccessfully. The Party diminished greatly afterward. 1854 pro-American Party sheet music 21. The Road to Secession, pt. II

4. 1.3 Free Soil and the Republican Party • As a result of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, “free soil“ became a popular position in the north, also defended by many non-abolitionist workingmen who feared the competition of slave labor. Freesoilers believed that the introduction of slavery into any territory demeaned free labor. • Founded in several northern states in 1854-55, the Republican party became the party of all political forces that rallied behind the doctrine of free soil. They attracted: • Conscience Whigs, • Northern anti-slavery Democrats, • native-born farmers and laborers • German Immigrants • Members of the older Liberty Party Early Republican campaign slogans 21. The Road to Secession, pt. II

5. 2.1 Dred Scott vs. Sandford, 1857 • 1857 Supreme Court decided the case of Dred Scott, a slave from Missouri who had been taken into free Illinois and Wisconsin territory, then sued for his freedom. The arguments were: • As a slave, Scott had no standing in court • Slaves could never become US citizens • Slaves were property, protected by the Constitution • The Missouri Compromise and the Northwest Ordinance were unconstitutional • The case greatly diminished the hope for a compromise, even popular sovereignty was now in question. Dred Scott (1795-1858)Roger B. Taney (1777–1864), Supreme Court chief justice (1836-64) 21. The Road to Secession, pt. II

6. 2.2 The Lecompton Constitution, 1857-58 • Hoping to defuse “Bleeding Kansas”, Buchanan called for elections in Kansas, and admission as a state. The elections were boycotted by antislavery forces. • Buchanan urged Congress to admit Kansas as a slave state with the Lecompton Constitution. Congress – led by northern Democrat Stephen Douglas – demanded a new referendum. In 1858, the Kansas electorate rejected the Lecompton constitution. • Controversy revealed a split within the Democratic party between radically pro-slavery southerners - plus the president Buchanan - and pro-popular sovereignty northerners like Douglas. James Buchanan ( 1791-1868 ) 21. The Road to Secession, pt. II

7. 2.3 The Lincoln-Douglas Debates, 1858 • The 1858 Senate race in Illinois pitted Stephen Douglas against Republican Abraham Lincoln. In a series of very eloquent debates, they discussed the constitutional implications of slavery in the territories. • Lincoln warned that the “slave power” wanted to extend slavery throughout the union. • Douglas argued that popular sovereignty was still possible despite the Dred Scott case and accused Lincoln of abolitionism. • Even though Lincoln lost, the Illinois race made him the most prominent Republican leader. • Stephen Douglas, leader of the northern Democrats seemed pre-destined to win the 1860 presidential elections. Figures from the 1858 race,showing Douglas and Lincoln 21. The Road to Secession, pt. II

9. 2.4 John Brown’s Raid at Harper’s Ferry, 1859 • In 1859, John Brown, a violent abolitionist attacked the federal arsenal in Harper’s Ferry, Virginia with ca. 20 followers in order to seize weapons for a general slave insurrection. • After two days fighting he was defeated, tried and sentenced to death in Virginia. • In the South, Brown was considered a terrorist. He seemed their worst fears come true. • In the North, many abolitionists supported Brown, who also had had financial backing from prominent Northern abolitionists. 21. The Road to Secession, pt. II

11. 3.1 Republican Issues and Constitutional Union • Addressing the economic crisis of 1857, the Republicans adopted an economic policy beyond free soil and nativism, with • protective tariffs • internal improvements • granting of 160-acre homestead farms to settlers, including immigrants. • Lincoln was the Republican candidate. “Don’t touch slavery in existing slave states, but no extension anywhere else. • Southern moderates created the Constitutional Union Party, nominating John Bell of Tennessee as candidate. Their goal was to preserve the union. Carl Schurz, an 1848 German political refugee, became a leading Republican politician 21. The Road to Secession, pt. II

12. 3.2 The Democrats and the Election of 1860 • Many southern Democrats came to reject any limits on slavery at all. Stephen Douglas only gained the nomination of the northern Democrats. The southern Democrats nominated vice president John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky instead. • This decision transformed the Democrats into a sectional southern party. • In 1860 there were four candidates: Lincoln, Douglas, Breckinridge and Bell. • Lincoln won the election with a majority of the electoral vote, but he had only ca. 40% of the popular vote – almost exclusively in the North. • Never had a presidential election been so massively divided along sectional lines. 21. The Road to Secession, pt. II

13. 4.1 The First Secession • Lincoln, a man massively unpopular in the South, was now president-elect. Some southern states had threatened secession in that case, although Lincoln promised to leave slavery alone in slave states. • South Carolina seceded in Dec. 1860 by an act of the state legislature. Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas followed in early 1861. • In February 1861, delegates from these states convened in Montgomery, AL, and founded the Confederate States of America. Jefferson Davis became the CSA’s president • However, only the Lower South had seceded. Jefferson Davis (1808 - 1889) 21. The Road to Secession, pt. II

14. 21. The Road to Secession, pt. II

15. 4.2 The Battle of Fort Sumter • Lincoln faced the problem of federal military installations in the Confederate States of America after his inauguration. • In April, Lincoln ordered the navy to send food to Fort Sumter in Charleston, SC – but not men or ammunitions. He informed the governor of SC of his intentions. • Jefferson Davis wanted to demonstrate the CSA’s sovereignty over one of its most important harbors and decided to bombard Fort Sumter on 12 April 1861. The garrison surrendered the next day. • The fist shots of the Civil War were fired. Fort Sumter and Charleston Harbor 21. The Road to Secession, pt. II

16. 4.3 The Second Secession • President Lincoln proclaimed an insurrection in the South and called for 75,000 militiamen from the loyal states to put it down. • This threat of a northern invasion brought about the secession of the Upper South, of: Arkansas Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia. • The capital of the Confederate States of America was moved to Richmond, Virginia. • However, Missouri, Kentucky, Delaware, and Maryland – slaveholding border states – did not secede. • Secession brought about difficult decisions of personal loyalty. Robert E. Lee resigned from the US army rather than fight against his native Virginia. He came to lead the Confederate army – although he had opposed secession. 21. The Road to Secession, pt. II

18. Dred Scott v. Sandford 1857 Supreme Court case. Scott, a slave from Missouri who had spent some time in free Illinois and Wisconsin, sued for his freedom. The court decision (by Roger Taney) denied Scott’s suit, holding that blacks could not be US citizens and that Congress had no authority to outlaw slavery in the territories. This decision radicalized the demands of pro-slavery southerners and increased northern fears of an evil “slave power” controlling the US. Sample Keyword 21. The Road to Secession, pt. II