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The House Divided 1846-1861

The House Divided 1846-1861. North vs South. North. South. N orthern states had either abolished slavery or put it on the road to extinction. S outhern states had built the largest slave society in the w orld. Mason-Dixon Line.

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The House Divided 1846-1861

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  1. The House Divided1846-1861

  2. North vs South North South • Northern states had either abolished slavery or put it on the road to extinction • Southern states had built the largest slave society in the world

  3. Mason-Dixon Line • The colonial surveyor’s line that came to represent the divide between slave and free

  4. Slave society The South was not merely a society with slaves. It had become a slave society. Slavery shaped the region’s economy, culture, social structure, and politics.

  5. White Supremacy Whites south of the Mason-Dixon line believed that slavery was necessary and just. By making all blacks outcasts, all whites bound themselves together

  6. White men in the South Argued about many things. The things they agreed on: Take land from Indians Promote agriculture Uphold white supremacy Maintain masculine privilege Defend all of the above from enemies

  7. Can one be anti-slavery in the South? Anti-slavery Southerners were hounded from speaking out; professors, clerics, or politicians who even were slightly anti-slavery were driven from jobs and in some cases the victims of violence

  8. Wilmot Proviso August 1846, Pennsylvania Democrat David Wilmot proposed that Congress bar slavery in all lands acquired in the War with Mexico Northerners of both parties supported it Southerners of both parties were outraged

  9. Political Parity • Southerners demanded political parity—equal power in Washington

  10. David Wilmot of Pennsylvania

  11. The Territories? • Should slavery be extended to the territories? • The Wilmot Proviso says no • A compromise of “popular sovereignty” is proposed—let those who live in the territory decide

  12. Congress Does not Act The House of Representatives passed the Wilmot Proviso (it is dominated by northern states) The Senate rejected the proviso (it is dominated by slave states) It becomes an issue in the election of 1848

  13. Political Parties All political parties were split between those advocating slavery and those against it

  14. Election of 1848 Democrats: Lewis Cass (‘popular sovereignty’) Whigs: Zachary Taylor (Mexican War hero) Free Soil Party: Martin Van Buren

  15. Free Soil Party Anti-slavery Whigs and anti-slavery Democrats founded the Free Soil Party, making slavery the central issue of the campaign Neither the Whigs nor Democrats took an official stand on slavery in the election of 1848

  16. Zachary Taylor • Taylor supported the Free Soil approach to the territories—surprising given that he was a Southerner and slaveholder • He encouraged California and New Mexico to draw up constitutions to apply for statehood promptly

  17. Congressional Session of 1849 • One of the most contentious and significant sessions in its history • Senator Henry Clay proposed a series of resolutions that sought to balance the interests of the slave and free states: The Omnibus Bill • both the anti-slavery people and the “fire-eaters” or radical secessionist Southerners hated Clay’s plan and it failed

  18. Senator Daniel Webster • Sanctioned compromise, stating that the new territories did not have the climate appropriate for slavery, making it a mute point • Northerners thought he abandoned their cause

  19. Senator Stephen Douglas • broke Clay’s compromise into its various parts and skillfully ushered each part through Congress • Combined, the various bills are known as the Compromise of 1850

  20. Compromise of 1850 California entered the Union as a free state New Mexico and Utah would be decided by popular sovereignty Texas accepted its boundary with New Mexico Slave trade in Washington DC would be abolished Fugitive slave laws would be more stringent

  21. Compromise of 1850

  22. The Compromise It is more a testament to Douglas’s political skills than to real compromise It preserved the Union, but only temporarily

  23. 1850 President Zachary Taylor died President Millard Fillmore succeeds him California is admitted to the Union Fugitive Slave Act is passed

  24. Fugitive Slave Act • The most explosive measure of the Compromise of 1850 • Southerners thought the North betrayed the Compromise • In the North there were some “personal liberty laws” that provided some fugitives with protection • Brutal enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act radicalized the North

  25. Kansas-Nebraska Act 1854

  26. John Brown

  27. Harriet Beecher Stowe

  28. Political Realignment

  29. John C. Fremont • First candidate of the Republican Party to run for president

  30. Anti-slavery candidate

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