Sectionalism and Secession

1. Sectionalism and Secession

2. King Cotton • Factors that contributed to rise of Cotton Kingdom: • Demand from British textile mills • Invention of cotton gin, 1793 • Availability of land in the “Old Southwest” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Cotton-gin.jpg

3. Non-Cotton Agriculture • Sugar (Texas and Louisiana) • Rice (S.C.) • Tobacco (Md., N.C., Tenn., Ky.) • Hemp (Ky., Tenn., and Mo.) • Wheat (Md., Va., Ky., and Tenn.) • Corn (everywhere) • Livestock (Southeast)

4. Sectionalism • Southerners dominated early national politics • Early sectional divisions led by New Englanders • opposition to the Louisiana Purchase • Opposition to War of 1812 • Hartford Convention, 1814

5. Nullification • J. C. Calhoun proposed doctrine of nullification in opposition to tariffs • States should decide what was constitutional • 1832 Tariff • S.C. called for a state convention to determine the constitutionality of the tariff bill • Calhoun resigned as vice-president as part of the protest • convention ruled the tariffs null and void in S.C. • Congress passes Force Bill • S.C. nullifies Force Bill • Conflict averted with passage of the compromise tariff

6. Abolition • William Lloyd Garrison • 1831, the Liberator. • Reject "gradualism" • freedom, and equality • 1833, founded American Antislavery Society • Frederick Douglass • Born a slave in Md., Douglass escaped in 1838 • Published the North Star • 1845, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass • Uncle Tom’s Cabin, 1852 • Harriet Beecher Stowe • Sold 300,000+ copies first year • Brought abolitionism to an enormous new audience

7. Anti-Abolition • Bible, history and biology used to justify slavery • Josiah Nott, Types of Manhood (1855) • John C. Calhoun was perhaps the greatest pro-slavery advocate, arguing: • the end of slavery would mean a race war • no reason to destroy a system that benefited the U.S. • slavery had civilized Africans from a “low, degraded and savage condition” • tariffs, not slavery, retarded economic development • Southern slavery was superior to Northern and European“wage slavery”

8. Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854 • opened two territories (Kansas, Nebraska) to slavery by declaring that they would become free or slave states as their constitutions would allow when they applied for statehood – i.e. popular sovereignty would apply • effectively voided the 36’ 30” line of 1820

10. Bleeding Kansas • Between 1854-58 elections held in Kansas were marred by fraud and intimidation • pro-slavery forces gained control of the Kansas legislature, and passed a pro-slave constitution (Lecompton Constitution) • Free-soilers set up their own government in Topeka • War erupts between anti-slavery and pro-slavery forces • 1856, sack of the free-soil settlement of Lawrence • Pottawattomie Creek Massacre, 1856

11. Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857) • Dred Scott sued for his freedom, claiming that he was no longer a slave because he had lived on free soil. • In a 7 to 2 decision, the court declared that Scott was still a slave and not a citizen and so had no constitutional right to sue • Led to fears of the possible spread of slavery into free states • Outraged abolitionists

12. Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857) • Ruling provoked outrage among abolitionists in the North

13. John Brown’s Raid, October 1859 • John Brown planned to spark a slave rebellion which would force the South to emancipate. • attacked U.S. arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Va., with 18 followers • Brown and 6 of his followers were promptly captured, tried, found guilty, and executed • John Brown’s raid enflamed passions both north and south • After John Brown’s Raid, Southern militias—the beginnings of the Confederate Army—began to be raised, trained, and equipped

14. The Development of the Republican Party • People in both major parties who opposed the Kansas-Nebraska bill began to call themselves Anti-Nebraska Democrats and Anti-Nebraska Whigs. • In 1854, they formed the Republican Party • The GOP: • opposed the expansion of slavery into the territories • advocated high tariffs, homesteads, and internal improvements • G.O.P. a purely sectional party—no support in the South

15. “Bleeding Sumner” • 1856, abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner delivered speech entitled "The Crime Against Kansas." • attacked slavery and the South • Speech enraged S.C. Rep. Preston Brooks • Several days later Brooks attacked Sumner at his desk in the Senate with a cane • Sumner was injured severely, and became a symbol in the North as to the barbarism of the South •  Preston Brooks was hailed as a Southern hero

16. Lincoln-Douglas Debates 1858 • 1858 Senate campaign in IL • Abraham Lincoln - candidate for new Republican party • Lincoln claimed Dred Scott decision could force slavery into all states • Lincoln’s “House Divided Speech” • “I believe this government cannot endure permanently half Slave and half Free” • Republicans lost the campaign; Lincoln’s fame led to his nomination for President in 1860

17. Election of 1860—Democratic Conventions • Democratic Convention held at Charleston, S.C. • Many Southern delegates walked out and established their own convention with a pro-slavery platform • After failing to agree on a nominee, the regular convention adjourned • Baltimore Convention • Northerners and Southerners still could not agree and the party split into sectional halves • Northern Democrats nominated Stephen Douglas • Southern Democrats again walked out and established their own faction, the Constitutional Democrats • nominated VP John C. Breckenridge (TN) on a pro-slavery platform

18. Election of 1860—Republican Convention • Republican Convention held in Chicago • Only 5 of the 15 slave states represented • Republicans nominated Lincoln on 3rd ballot • GOP platform a direct threat to Southern interests • embodied the political and economic program of the North: • upward revision of the tariff • free farms in the West (Homestead Act) • railroad subsidies by federal government • Preservation of Union • No extension of slavery into the territories

19. Election of 1860 • Two separate elections in 1860: • Lincoln v. Douglas in the North • Breckenridge v. Bell (Constitutional Union) in South • GOP not even on the ticket in 10 Southern States. • Lincoln won the election due to Democratic split • Lincoln won only 39.8% of popular vote, easily won the Electoral College by sweeping the free states (except NJ). • Breckenridge won 44.7% of the South’s popular vote and 10 of the 15 slave states, but it was not nearly enough.

20. Election of 1860

21. Secession • December 20, 1860, the S.C. state convention voted unanimously to seceded from the Union • election of Lincoln deemed an “overt act” of aggression • By February 1861, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, and Texas had all seceded • February 8, 1861, delegates from the seceding states met in Montgomery, Ala., and established the Confederate States of America. • A provisional constitution was adopted • Jefferson Davis of Miss. was appointed President, with Alexander Stephens of Ga. named VP.

22. Causes for Secession • Southerners feared infringement of “right” to take their property, slaves, into western territories • Northern non-compliance with the Fugitive Slave Act

23. South believed that it had lost political weight in balance of the Union • Believed that the extension of slavery essential to preserving the rights of Southerners • Feared Lincoln presidency would mean subjugation of South and eventual emancipation of slaves