Slavery and Politics in 1856: Lincoln-Douglas Debates and John Brown's Raid

1. Copy the following onto Portfolio p40 15.3Class Notes #2 1. Who was nominated by the Republicans in the election of 1856 and earned the nickname of “Pathfinder?” 2. Who was minister to Great Britain and nominated by the Democrats in the election of 1856? 3. Who was the slave who sued for his freedom after his master’s death, until the Supreme Court denied his claim? 4. Who was the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court who argued that any ban on slavery in the territories would violate the slaveholders’ property rights? 5. Who was nominated by the Republicans in 1858 to run for the senate seat from Illinois? 6. Who faced Abraham Lincoln in a series of debates that became famous as models of political debate? 7. Who led the attack against the arsenal at Harpers Ferry as a way of starting a slave rebellion?

2. Section 15.3b – Slavery Dominates Politics Today we will analyze the Lincoln-Douglas debates and evaluate the impact of John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry.

3. Vocabulary • analyze – look at something closely by breaking it down into smaller parts • debate – formal discussion between political opponents about the issues of the day • arsenal – place where weapons are stored

4. Check for Understanding • What does it mean to evaluate? • What does it mean to analyze? • Why would someone break into an arsenal?

5. What We Already Know The Republican Party was created by Northern Whigs, Free Soilers, and other slavery opponents out of the problems caused by the Kansas–Nebraska Act and a desire to keep slavery from spreading into the territories.

6. What We Already Know The election results in 1856 showed how the nation was sharply split over slavery.

7. What We Already Know • In the Dred Scott case, the Supreme Court ruled that Congress could not ban slavery anywhere, including the territories, since slaves were property protected by the Constitution. • This would do away with the Missouri Compromise, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and any future laws that would try to limit where slavery could be.

8. Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1858) • The Dred Scott decision angered Republicans. • They claimed that Democrats wanted to open up the whole country to slavery. • They planned to use this argument to challenge Stephen Douglas and other Democrats in the 1858 elections.

9. Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1858) • Abraham Lincoln was nominated by Illinois Republicans to run against Douglas for his U.S. Senate seat. • In his first campaign speech, Lincoln expressed Republican fears that Democrats threatened to expand slavery across the whole country.

10. Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1858) Lincoln warned, “A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved—I do not expect the house to fall—but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other.”

11. Lincoln and Douglas Debates (1858) Lincoln called slavery was “a moral, a social and a political wrong,” but did not suggest abolishing slavery where it already existed, only that it should not be expanded. Douglas argued for popular sovereignty as the most democratic method to do deal with slavery.

12. The Problem of Popular Sovereignty • The Dred Scott decision overturned popular sovereignty. • Lincoln asked Douglas if people could legally prohibit slavery despite the Dred Scott decision. • Douglas replied with the Freeport Doctrine:People could exclude slavery by refusing to pass laws that supported slavery.

13. The Problem of Popular Sovereignty Douglas won reelection, but Lincoln became a national figure and a leader in the Republican Party.

14. Get your whiteboards and markers ready!

15. 19. What was the main issue in the Lincoln–Douglas debates? the Dred Scott ruling South Carolina's decision to secede slavery in the territories the trial of John Brown

16. John Brown Attacks Harpers Ferry In 1859, John Brown planned to capture the U.S. arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, and use its weapons to start a slave uprising across the South.

17. John Brown Attacks Harpers Ferry Brown’s group captured the arsenal, but no slaves joined the fight.

18. John Brown Attacks Harpers Ferry The U.S. Marines captured Brown and six others were captured, and ten men were killed.

19. John Brown Attacks Harpers Ferry In 1859, John Brown planned to capture the U.S. arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, and use its weapons to start a slave uprising across the South. The U.S. Marines captured Brown and six others were captured, and ten men were killed. Brown’s group captured the arsenal, but no slaves joined the fight. Brown was tried and convicted for murder and treason, and was hanged.

20. Reaction to John Brown and Harpers Ferry • In the North, abolitionists mourned Brown’s death and called him a hero. • Southerners were enraged by Brown’s actions and horrified by Northerners’ sympathetic reactions to his death. • With the election of 1860 drawing near, the issue of slavery had raised sectional tensions to the breaking point.

21. Get your whiteboards and markers ready!

22. Who was John Brown? John Brown was an extreme abolitionist who tried to steal guns from a federal arsenal in Harper’s Ferry, Virginia.

23. 20. Why did John Brown attack the arsenal at Harpers Ferry? Choose all that are true!

24. 20. Why did John Brown attack the arsenal at Harpers Ferry? To seize the U.S. arsenal located there To call public attention to "Bleeding Kansas” To arm slaves with captured weapons To start a slave uprising To get weapons for South Carolina’s militia Choose all that are true!

25. 21. How did John Brown’s attack on Harper’s Ferry increase tensions between the North and the South? Choose all that are true!

26. 21. How did John Brown’s attack on Harper’s Ferry increase tensions between the North and the South? Southerners were enraged by Brown's actions. Northerners were horrified by Southern tributes honoring Brown. Southerners were horrified by Northern tributes honoring Brown. Some Northerners made a hero out of Brown for his actions against slavery. Some Southerners praised Brown for his violence against abolitionists. Choose all that are true!