The Union in Peril

1. What do you know? Read the quote above and answer the following: • In Lincoln’s view, which is more important, abolishing slavery or having a unified country? • Do you think American society today would be better or worse if the Union had peaceably broken up into two nations? CHAPTER The Union in Peril 10 HOME “Can we as a nation continue together permanently —forever—half slave and half free?” Abraham Lincoln, 1855

2. 1850Harriet Tubman becomes a conductor on the Underground Railroad. Congress passes Compromise of 1850. California enters the Union. 1852Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes Uncle Tom’s Cabin. 1854The Republican Party forms.Congress approves the Kansas- Nebraska Act. 1857Chief Justice Roger Taney announces decision in case involving Dred Scott. 1859John Brown attacks the arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. 1861The Confederacy forms. CHAPTER Time Line 10 HOME The United States

3. Terms and Names SECTION 1 The Divisive Politics of Slavery HOME Wilmot Proviso: introduced an amendment proposing that “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist” in any territory the United States might acquire as a result of the war with Mexico. • Territories of California, Utah, and New Mexico Secession: the formal withdrawal of a state from the Union. Compromise of 1850: Proposed by Henry Clay. Chart on page 308. Popular Sovereignty: the right of residents of a territory to vote for or against slavery. *New Mexico & Utah Stephen A. Douglas: Proposed the idea of popular sovereignty. Picked up the pro-compromise reins when Henry Clay left Washington. Reintroduced the terms of the Compromise of 1850 one at a time, which resulted in the passing of the Compromise of 1850. Millard Fillmore: successor of President Tyler upon Tyler’s death. Supported the Compromise of 1850.

4. SOUTH TREND OR ISSUE NORTH 1. INDUSTRY AND RAILROADS Extensive industry and railroads. Little industry and few railroads. High immigration. Little immigration. 2. IMMIGRATION Supported internal improvements. Opposed internal improvements. 3. INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS Supported Wilmot Proviso. Opposed Wilmot Proviso. 4. WILMOT PROVISO 5. SLAVERY IN CALIFORNIA Opposed slavery in California. Supported slavery in California. SECTION 1 The Divisive Politics of Slavery HOME 1 What was each region’s position on the following issues or how was each region affected by the following trends?

5. California • 1849 Gold Rush-skipped territorial phase and joined the union as a state in 1850 • California’s new constitution forbade slavery • Southerners upset because most of California lay South of the Missouri Compromise line instituted in 1820. • Southerners begin to question whether they should remain in the Union.

6. The Senate Debates • Topics • California Statehood • Secession • Clay’s Compromise (page 308) • Popular Sovereignty • Calhoun and Webster (page 308)

7. The Compromise is Adopted • Stephen A. Douglass • Millard Fillmore • California was entered as a free state. • New Mexico and Utah were each allowed to use popular sovereignty to decide the issue of slavery. • The Republic of Texas gave up lands that it claimed in present day New Mexico and received $10 million to pay its debt to Mexico. • The slave trade was abolished in the District of Columbia. • The Fugitive Slave Act made any federal official who did not arrest a runaway slave liable to pay a fine. This was the most controversial part of the Compromise of 1850 and caused many abolitionists to increase their efforts against slavery.

8. HYPOTHESIZING After reviewing issues and events in this section that reflect the growing conflict between the North and the South, do you think there were any points at which a different action or leader might have resolved the conflict? THINK ABOUT • issues raised by the Wilmot Proviso, California’s statehood, and the Compromise of 1850 • reasons for Northerners’ anger with the South • constitutional concerns raised by Southerners • the political impact of adding new free states SECTION 1 The Divisive Politics of Slavery HOME 1 Section Assessment

9. Learn About the Fugitive Slave Act and the Kansas-Nebraska Act. To Understand how the controversy over slavery became increasingly violent. SECTION 2 Protest, Resistance, and Violence HOME

10. Fugitive Slaves & the Underground Railroad • Fugitive Slave Act: component of the Compromise of 1850 • Fugitives were not entitled to a trial by jury • Were not allowed to testify on their own behalf • Federal Commissioners charged with enforcing the law were to receive a $10 fee from the government if they returned an alleged fugitive and $5 if they freed the slave • Anyone charged with helping a fugitive slave was subject to a fine of up to $1,000 and/or imprisonment for 6 months

11. Resisting the Law • Northerners sent slaves to Canada • Personal Liberty Laws: forbade the imprisonment of runaway slaves and guaranteed that they would have jury trials

12. Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad • Underground Railroad: free African Americans and white abolitionists developed a secret network of people who would, at great risk to themselves, aid fugitive slaves in their escape • “Conductors”: leaders of the Underground Railroad who hid fugitive slaves in secret tunnels and false cupboards, provided food and shelter, and sent them to the next station • Harriet Tubman: Famous Conductor • As a young girl she suffered a severe head injury from a plantation overseer who hit her with a lead weight • Made 19 trips to the South and helped free 300 slaves • Neither she nor any slaves she helped were ever captured • http://www.nationalgeographic.com/railroad/j1.html

13. Uncle Tom’s Cabin • Harriet Beecher Stowe: author • The books message was that slavery was not just a political contest but also a great moral struggle • Legend has it that President Lincoln met Stowe during the Civil War and said “So this is the little lady who made the big war” displaying the significance of the book

14. Tension in Kansas & Nebraska • Stephen A. Douglass leading • Thought popular sovereignty would be accepted by the people again • Nebraska/Kansas lay North of the Missouri Compromise • Douglass still assumed that Nebraska would be admitted as a free state and Kansas as a slave state to maintain balance in Senate • Douglass decides to support repeal of the Missouri Compromise which would make slavery legal in North

15. The Kansas/Nebraska Act • In 1854 Douglass introduced the bill • If passed the bill would repeal the Missouri Compromise and establish popular sovereignty for both territories • With the help of President Franklin Pierce the Kansas/Nebraska Act became law in 1854 • This act outraged Northerners and Douglass lost all support in the North

16. The Crisis Deepens • Turmoil over slavery led to acts of violence • Violence can make compromise more difficult ONE AMERICAN'S STORY Harriet Beecher Stowe was outraged when she heard about the part of the Compromise of 1850 that would help slaveholders recapture runaway slaves. She described her feelings about the law. A VOICE FROM THE PAST Since the legislative act of 1850, when [I] heard . . . Christian and humane people actually recommending the remanding [returning of] escaped fugitives into slavery, as a duty binding on good citizens, . . . [I] could only think, These men and Christians cannot know what slavery is. Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin Stowe's anger motivated her to write Uncle Tom's Cabin, a novel that portrayed slavery as brutal and immoral. In this section, you will learn how the Compromise of 1850 deepened the division between the North and the South. The Fugitive Slave Act The 1850 law to help slaveholders recapture runaway slaves was called the Fugitive Slave Act. People accused of being fugitives under this law could be held without an arrest warrant. In addition, they had no right to a jury trial. Instead, a federal commissioner ruled on each case. The commissioner received five dollars for releasing the defendant and ten dollars for turning the defendant over to a slaveholder. Southerners felt that the Fugitive Slave Act was justified because they considered slaves to be property. But Northerners resented the Fugitive Slave Act. It required Northerners to help recapture runaway slaves. It placed fines on people who would not cooperate and jail terms on people who helped the fugitives escape. In addition, Southern slave catchers roamed the North, sometimes capturing free African Americans. The presence of slave catchers throughout the North brought home the issue of slavery to Northerners. They could no longer ignore the fact that, by supporting the Fugitive Slave Act, they played an important role in supporting slavery. They faced a moral choice. Should they obey the law and support slavery, or should they break the law and oppose slavery? Uncle Tom's Cabin "Bleeding Kansas" Proslavery and antislavery settlers rushed into the Kansas Territory, just west of Missouri, to vote for the territorial legislature. At the time of the election in March 1855, there were more proslavery settlers than antislavery settlers in the territory. But the proslavery forces did not want to risk losing the election. Five thousand Missourians came and voted in the election illegally. As a result, the official Kansas legislature was packed with proslavery representatives. Antislavery settlers boycotted the official government and formed a government of their own. With political authority in dispute, settlers on both sides armed themselves. In May, a proslavery mob attacked the town of Lawrence, Kansas. The attackers destroyed offices and the house of the governor of the antislavery government. This attack came to be known as the Sack of Lawrence. Onto this explosive scene came John Brown, an extreme abolitionist. To avenge the Sack of Lawrence, Brown and seven other men went to the cabins of several of his proslavery neighbors and murdered five people. This attack is known as the Pottawatomie Massacre, after the creek near where the victims were found. As news of the violence spread, civil war broke out in Kansas. It continued for three years, and the territory came to be called "Bleeding Kansas." Violence in Congress While violence was spreading in Kansas in the spring of 1856, blood was also being shed in the nation's capital. In late May, Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts delivered a speech attacking the proslavery forces in Kansas. His speech was packed with insults. Sumner even made fun of A. P. Butler, a senator from South Carolina. Preston Brooks, a relative of Butler, heard about Sumner's speech. To defend Butler and the South, he attacked Sumner, who was sitting at his desk. Brooks hit Sumner over the head with his cane. Sumner tried to defend himself, but his legs were trapped. Brooks hit him 30 times or more, breaking his cane in the assault. Many Southerners cheered Brooks's defense of the South. But most Northerners were shocked at the violence in the Senate. "Bleeding Kansas" and "Bleeding Sumner" became rallying cries for antislavery Northerners and slogans for a new political party….. The Republican Party.

17. Violence Erupts in “Bleeding Kansas” • Settlers from the North and South poured into Kansas. • Some were simply farmers looking for land • March 1855 Kansas had enough settlers to hold an election for a territorial • legislature • Thousands of “border ruffians” from the slave state of Missouri crossed into • Kansas and voted illegally • Kansas becomes proslavery by a fraudulent vote

18. “The Sack of Lawrence” & “Pottawatomie Massacre” • Antislavery settlers had formed a town known as Lawrence • 1856 Proslavery posse burned down headquarters, destroyed newspapers, and looted houses and stores in Lawrence • This became known as the “Sack of Lawrence” • “The Pottawatomie Massacre” • John Brown: abolitionist who believed God had called upon him to fight slavery • Mistakenly thought five men had been killed in Lawrence • John Brown and his followers captured five proslavery men and cut off their hands and stabbed them with broadswords…this attack became known as “The Pottawatomie Massacre”

19. Violence in the Senate • Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner gave a two day speech attacking his colleagues for their support of slavery • He was especially abusive toward South Carolina Senator Andrew Butler • Butler’s nephew, Preston Brooks, walked into the Senate chamber and continuously hit Sumner over the head with his cane • Sumner suffered brain damage and did not return to his Senate seat for three years

20. 1849 Harriet Tubman escapes slavery and reaches Philadelphia. 1855Two governments are established in Kansas. 1852Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes Uncle Tom’s Cabin. 1854Congress passes the Kansas-Nebraska Act. 1856The sack of Lawrence and the Pottawatomie massacre occur. 1850 Congress passes Fugitive Slave Act. SECTION 2 Protest, Resistance, and Violence HOME 2 Section Assessment SUMMARIZING What were the major events in the growing conflict between the North and the South?

21. Learn About the impact of slavery, immigration, and sectionalism on U.S. politics. To Understand why new political parties emerged in the mid-19th century. SECTION 3 The Birth of the Republican Party HOME

22. SECTION 3 The Birth of the Republican Party HOME Many factors—including an increase in immigration and the collapse of the Whig Party—lead to a political split over the issue of slavery. Key Idea

23. New Political Parties Emerge • Slavery divides Whigs • Northern Whigs opposed the Fugitive Slave Act and gave little support to the Compromise of 1850 • Southern Whigs backed the Compromise of 1850 to appear proslavery and pro-Union • Kansas-Nebraska Act brought about the demise of the Whigs • Southern members looked for a proslavery, pro-Union party to join while northern Whigs sought a political alternative • The American Party formed in 1854 • Nativism: the favoring of native born Americans over immigrants • Used secret handshakes and passwords, members were told to answer questions by saying “I know nothing” • The American Party soon became known as the Know-Nothing Party • Primarily made up of middle-class Protestants who were anti-immigration and anti-Catholic • The Know-Nothing Party later split over the issue of slavery in the territories

24. Antislavery Parties • Free-Soil Party opposed the extension of slavery into the territories…they wanted the jobs and land for themselves • Nominated former Democratic president Martin Van Buren Republican Party 1854 Republican Party was formed by Horace Greeley and others Party members came from Northern Whigs, Anti-Slavery Democrats, and Free-Soilers United in opposing Kansas-Nebraska Act and in keeping slavery out of the territories

25. 1856 Election • Republican Party endorsed John C. Fremont • He mapped the Oregon Trail • The Know-Nothings split their alliance • Northerners endorsed Fremont • Southerners endorsed former President Millard Fillmore • Democrats nominated James Buchanan • He was a northerner but most of his friends were southerners • The only truly nation candidate who had not antagonized the North or the South • Chose John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky as his running mate • This was to balance support between the North and South • Buchanan wins the election with 45% of the popular vote, he won the entire South except for Maryland • Fremont received 33% of popular vote • South may have seceded if he won

26. Know-Nothing Party divides over slavery. Free-Soil Party opposes slavery in the territories. Growth of the Republican Party Temperance advocates support Republicans. Small farmers want land grants in the West. Commercial farmers and manufacturers want internal improvements. Bleeding Kansas angers opponents of slavery. Caning of Sumnerangers Northerners. SECTION 3 The Birth of the Republican Party HOME 3 Section Assessment SUMMARIZING Which events led to the growth of the Republican Party in the 1850s? Whig Party divides over slavery.

27. SYNTHESIZING Imagine that you are living in a small town in Illinois in 1855. Make a flyer attracting people to a meeting of the new Republican Party in Illinois. THINK ABOUT • issues that concern voters • reasons that people might want to leave their current political parties • signs that the Republican Party will be successful SECTION 3 The Birth of the Republican Party HOME 3 Section Assessment

28. Learn About the increasingly divisive effects of slavery on national politics in the late 1850s. To Understand why the South seceded. SECTION 4 Slavery and Secession HOME

29. SECTION 4 Slavery and Secession HOME A series of controversial events heighten the sectional conflict and bring the nation to the brink of war under President Buchanan’s weak leadership.

30. Slavery Dominates Politics • During Buchanan’s Presidency • Dred Scott: slave from Missouri whose owner took him North of the Missouri compromise line for 4 years … later they returned to Missouri where Scott’s owner died … Scott claimed he became a free person while living in free territory • In 1857 Supreme Court Justice Roger B. Taney ruled slaves did not have the rights of citizens • Court ruled that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional because doing so would interfere with slaveholders right to own property

31. Slavery Dominates Politics cont… • Lecompton Constitution:1857 Kansas proslavery government wrote a constitution and applied for admission to the Union • Free-Soilers (who out numbered proslavery settlers by 10:1) rejected the proposed constitution • Lecompton Constitution voted down by the people of Kansas • President Buchanan endorsed the proslavery Lecompton Constitution • Democrat Steven A. Douglas challenged Buchanan’s endorsement and called for popular sovereignty to be endorsed • 1858 the voters, again, rejected Lecompton Constitution • A big WIN for Douglas as he won back some Northern support

32. The Lincoln-Douglas Debate of 1858 • 1858 Illinois’s US Senate race between Democrat Douglas and Republican Lincoln • Douglas was a heavy favorite going into race • Lincoln was a relatively unknown lawyer/politician • Served 1 term in Congress as Whig before becoming Republican

33. Lincoln Challenges Douglas • 7 open air debates on the issues of slavery in the territories • Douglas did not think slavery was immoral but unsuitable for prairie agriculture • Lincoln believed slavery was immoral The Freeport Doctrine • In Second debate Lincoln asked Douglas “Could the settlers of a territory vote to exclude slavery before the territory became a state?” (Dred Scott decision said NO)…Popular Sovereignty was an empty phrase • Douglas’s response becomes known as Freeport Doctrine “Slavery cannot exist a day or an hour anywhere, unless it is supported by local police regulations.” • This was a loophole • Douglas won Senate seat but Lincoln’s views on slavery drew national attention

34. Passions Ignite • Harper Ferry: in 1859 John Brown led twenty-one men into Harpers Ferry, Virginia with the intent to seize the federal arsenal and give the arms to slaves in the area  starting a general slave uprising • Brown and his men are captured by Colonel Robert E. Lee • 1859 Brown is hanged for treason • Both North/South responded passionately to Brown’s hanging • North see Brown as a martyr • Southerners fearful that the North would plot slave uprisings everywhere

35. Lincoln is Elected President • Republican Convention: was believed Republican parties candidate would be Senator William H. Seward of New York • Lincoln upsets well-known Seward • Election of 1860 • Four Candidates • Northern Democrats – Steven Douglas …popular sovereignty • Southern Democrats – VP John Breckenridge • Constitutional Union Party – John Bell … ignored slavery • Republican Party – Abraham Lincoln • Lincoln emerged as winner, carrying every free state; however received less than ½ popular vote (chart on p.330)

36. Southern Secession • December 20, 1860 South Carolina • Mississippi January 1861 • Florida follows and within weeks Alabama, Georgia, Texas, and Louisiana • February 4, 1861 the Confederacy or Confederate States of America was formed • Jefferson Davis of Mississippi is elected President • Jefferson’s stance was clear, that the time for compromised had passed The Calm before the Storm • 7 slaves states had formed a new nation, 8 slave states remained within the Union • President Buchanan shows weakness again and announces secession illegal but also says there is nothing he can do about it • One key question remained … Would the North allow the South to leave the Union without a fight? • President Lincoln enters office having to answer that question

37. Event Result Northerners feared that slavery would expand everywhere. Divided the Democrats over slavery. Highlighted the debate over slavery. Southerners feared efforts to promote slavery rebellions. Northerners found a martyr for the antislavery cause. Led to Southern secession. SECTION 4 Slavery and Secession HOME 4 Section Assessment SUMMARIZING How did the following six events sharpen the North-South conflict? 1. Dred Scott decision 2. Lecompton constitution 3. Lincoln-Douglas debates 4. Harpers Ferry raid 5. John Brown’s hanging 6. Election of 1860

38. ANALYZING ISSUES Do you think Lincoln made the right decision in choosing not to free the slaves immediately once the Confederacy had been formed? THINK ABOUT • the number of states that had already seceded • the importance of the border states • possible reactions if he had freed the slaves SECTION 4 Slavery and Secession HOME 4 Section Assessment

39. 10 Chapter Assessment HOME 1. Describe the economic differences between the North and the South in the 1850s. 2. Explain why the Wilmot Proviso failed to pass in the Senate. 3. What were the major terms of the Compromise of 1850? 4. Compare the impact of Harriet Tubman and Harriet Beecher Stowe on antislavery attitudes in the North. 5. What were the basic provisions and results of the Kansas-Nebraska Act?

40. 10 Chapter Assessment HOME 6. Why did the Republican Party grow as the Whig and Know-Nothing parties declined in the 1850s? 7. Summarize the results of the election of 1856. 8. How did the Dred Scott decision affect slavery in the territories? 9. Compare and contrast Abraham Lincoln’s and Stephen A. Douglas’s view about slavery in the territories. 10. Why was the South so upset by Lincoln’s election?