Challenges to Slavery & Seccession

1. Challenges to Slavery & Seccession

2. Republican Party • Antislavery political party formed in 1854 • Free-Soilers joined with antislavery Democrats & Whigs • Message = government should ban slavery from new territories • Supported by Northerners • Democrats were becoming the Southern party

3. Election of 1856 • Democratic Candidate James Buchanan won the election • He was from Pennsylvania and supported the idea of popular sovereignty

4. Dred Scott Decision • Until 1857 some slaves who had lived in free states or territories were successful when they sued for their freedom Biddy Mason had done this • Dred Scott’s case went all the way to the Supreme Court & changed this • Dred Scott was owned by an army doctor in Missouri, but was then moved to free territory & then back to Missouri where the doctor died • Scott sued for his freedom claiming he should be free because he once lived on free territory Dred Scott

5. Dred Scott Decision, continued • His case went to the Supreme Court & this gave the court a chance to address the issue of slavery in the territories • Chief Justice Roger B. Taney said that Dred Scott was still a slave • Scott was not a citizen & had no right to bring a lawsuit • Taney said that an enslaved person was property & under the 5th Amend. Congress could not take away property without “due process of law” • Taney also said that the Missouri Compromise and popular sovereignty were also unconstitutional for the same reason • Southerners were glad that nothing could legally prevent the spread of slavery

6. Lincoln-Douglas Debates • Stephen Douglas & Abraham Lincoln were running against one another in the Illinois senate race of 1858 • Douglas– believed slavery issue could be resolved through popular sovereignty • Thought people could exclude slavery by refusing to pass laws protecting slave holders • Lincoln – thought slavery was wrong all together • Douglas wins the Senate seat, but Lincoln became more well-known as a result of the election Scene from a Lincoln-Douglas Debate in the Illinois Senate campaign of 1858

7. Raid on Harpers Ferry • Abolitionist John Brown led 18 men, both whites & African Americans, on a raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia • His target was a federal arsenal (storage place for weapons) • The raid was quickly stopped by local citizens & federal troops • Brown was convicted of treason & murder and sentenced to hang • Some viewed Brown as a hero and a martyr • A martyr is a person who dies for a cause • Southerners fear that a great Northern conspiracy against them would continue to grow

8. The South Secedes • Lincoln wins the election of 1860 • Lincoln & Republicans promise to not disturb slavery where it already exists, South doesn’t trust this promise • Dec. 20, 1860 – South Carolina secedes (withdraws) from the Union • Senator John Crittenden makes one last effort to save the Union & proposes amendments that would protect slavery south of the Missouri Compromise line --- but Compromise was just not possible at this point

9. Confederacy • The Confederate States of America • Formed by the states who had seceded from the Union • South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, & Texas • Chose Jefferson Davis as their president • Southerners justified (or backed up) their right to secession with the theory of states’ rights • Saw the Constitution as a contract that had been violated by the national government • refused to enforce Fugitive Slave Act & denied Southern states equal rights in territories

10. Secession http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/ward_1912/us_secession_1860.jpg

11. Presidential Responses • Pres. James Buchanan was in office until March 4, 1861 – he told Congress that the Southern states had no right to secede, but that he had no power to stop them • Question of what would happen with the slave states that chose to remain in the Union – many were afraid that use of force against the Confederacy would force those states to secede • Pres. Lincoln vowed to hold federal property in the South & enforce laws of U.S. in his inaugural address

12. Fort Sumter • By the time Lincoln took office only two Southern forts remained under Union Control – Fort Pickens & Fort Sumter • Fort Sumter was located on an island in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina • Fort Sumter was low on supplies & Confederates demanded its surrender • Lincoln sends an unarmed expedition with supplies to Fort Sumter • Lincoln left the decision to start shooting up to the Confederates

13. The War Begins • Confederates ordered their forces to attack Fort Sumter before the Union supplies could arrive • April 12, 1861 • Fort Sumter surrendered • This was a small Confederacy victory, but it convinced the North that war was necessary

14. Call to Arms • North & South take Action • Pres. Lincoln calls for 75,000 troops to fight to save the Union • Volunteers also rush to sign up to fight in the South • Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, & Arkansas vote to join the Confederacy