Dissention Over Slavery Leads to Secession

Dissention Over Slavery Leads to Secession Chapters 10.3 – 10.4

New Political Parties Emerge • 1852, the Whig party divided when General Winfield Scott became the Whig nominee for president • 1852, Democratic candidate Franklin Pierce becomes president • 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska Act brought the end to the Whig party • One alternative was the secret, Order of the Star-Spangled Banner who believed in nativism • Nativists formed the American Party in 1854 - soon became known as the Know-Nothing Party • According to the nativists, Catholic immigrants were too influenced by the Pope and might one day try to overthrow Democracy • Know-Nothing Party members eventually split over slavery as well

Antislavery Parties Form • 1848, the Free Soil Party elected Martin Van Buren for the presidency • Many Northerners were anti-abolitionist Free-Soilers • Free-Soliers were convinced a conspiracy existed to extend slavery throughout the entire U.S.

The Republican Party • February 1854, the new Republican Party was organized in Jackson, Michigan • Horace Greeley became one of the parties founders • The party was united against the Kansas-Nebraska Act and in keeping slavery out of new territories

The Republican Party – Election of 1856 • 1856, the Republicans chose John C. Fremont as their presidential candidate • The Democrats nominated James Buchanan of Pennsylvania • Buchanan won the election – temporarily keeping the South satisfied • The election showed the Democrats could win with a national candidate who could compete in the North without alienating southerners, the Know-Nothings were in decline, and the Republicans were a force to be reckoned with in the North

Slavery Dominates Politics • 1856, the Supreme Court case of Dred Scott took center stage in America • March 6, 1857 – Chief Justice Roger B. Taney handed down the decision: • Ruled that slaves did not have the rights of citizens • Scott had no claim to freedom, since he was in a slave state when he began his suit • Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional • Americans had extreme reactions to this decision • President Buchanan made the mistake of endorsing the Lecompton Constitution • Stephen Douglas helped draw up another referendum to the constitution

Lincoln-Douglas Debates • The 1858 race for the Illinois senate seat became one of the most famous in American history – Stephen Douglas vs. Abraham Lincoln • Lincoln challenged Douglas to a series of debates on the issue of slavery in the territories • Douglas believed in Popular Sovereignty • Lincoln declared that slavery was immoral • Biggest difference was that Douglas thought slavery would disappear on its own, while Lincoln believed this would happen only with legislation outlawing it in the territories • Both men tried to slander the other to make them look bad

The Freeport Doctrine • Lincoln built on the Dred Scott decision in order to prove that Popular Sovereignty was an empty phrase • Douglas’ response to this became known as the Freeport Doctrine • Douglas eventually won the senate seat, but his response worsened the split between Northern and Southern Democrats

Passions Ignite • October 16, 1859 – John Brown led a slave revolt into Harpers Ferry, VA • Brown held sixty prominent citizens hostage while waiting for their slaves to join his revolt • Brown was eventually hanged after being convicted of treason • Harpers Ferry terrified Southern slaveholders

Lincoln is Elected President • The Republican Convention took place in Chicago • Lincoln was able to take the nomination over the much more experienced Senator William H. Seward • The South saw Lincoln’s nomination as a “black Republican whose election would be the greatest evil that has ever befallen this country” • Lincoln emerged as the winner of the 1860 presidential election

Southern Secession • After Lincoln’s victory, Southerners were convinced that they lost their political voice in the national government • South Carolina led the way, and seceded on December 20, 1860 • Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas soon followed SC • February 4, 1861 – the secessionist states formed the Confederacy • Feb 9, Jefferson Davis is elected president of the Confederacy • The rest of the nation waited anxiously for Lincoln’s inauguration in March

Dissention Over Slavery Leads to Secession