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APUSH

APUSH. DAY 5. The Rise of "King Cotton". Prior to 1793, the Southern economy was weak: depressed prices, unmarketable         products, over cropped lands, and an unprofitable slave system.

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APUSH

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  1. APUSH DAY 5

  2. The Rise of "King Cotton" • Prior to 1793, the Southern economy was weak: depressed prices, unmarketable        products, over cropped lands, and an unprofitable slave system. • Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin (1793) 1. Impact: Cotton production now profitable; 50x more effective than picking cotton by hand. 2. Cotton Kingdom developed into a huge agricultural factory • Trade  1. Cotton exported to England; $ from sale of cotton used to buy northern goods  2. For a time, prosperity of both North and South rested on slave labor  3. Cotton accounted for 50% of all American exports after 1840. THE SLAVERY ISSUE

  3. The Three South's: Border South: Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, & Missouri • 1. Plantations scarcer; cotton cultivation almost nonexistent; Tobacco main slave crop (as in Middle South); More grain production (as in Middle South) • 2. Unionists would overcome Disunionists during and after the Civil War. • 3. 1850, Slaves = 17% of population.; Avg. 5 slaves per slaveholder • 4. 1850, over 21% of Border South’s blacks free; 46% of South’s free blacks • 5. 22% of white families owned slaves • 6. Of all who owned more than 20 slaves in South: 6%; Ultra-wealthy = 1% • 7. Produced over 50% of South’s industrial products (e.g., Tredegar Iron Works in VA) THE SLAVERY ISSUE

  4. The Three South's:Middle South: Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas. • 1. Each state had one section resembling more the Border South and another resembling the Lower South. • 2. Unionists would prevail after Lincoln elected; Disunionists would prevail after war began • 3. Many plantations in eastern Virginia and western Tennessee • 4. 1850, slaves = 30% of population; Avg. 8 slaves per slaveholder • 5. 36% of white families owned slaves • 6. Of all who owned more than 20 slaves in South: 32%; Ultra-wealthy = 14% THE SLAVERY ISSUE

  5. The Three South’s: Lower South: South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas • 1. Plantations prevalent; cotton was king; grew 95% of Dixie’s cotton & almost all of its sugar, rice, and indigo • 2. Disunionists (secessionists) would prevail after Lincoln was elected • 3. 1850, slaves = 47% of population; Avg. 12 slaves per slaveholder • 4. Less than 2% of blacks free; only 15% of South’s free blacks • 5. 43% of white families owned slaves • 6. Of all who owned more than 20 slaves in South: 62%; Ultra-wealthy = 85% • 7. Produced less than 20% of South’s industrial products THE SLAVERY ISSUE

  6. Slaves and the slave system (the "Peculiar Institution") • Economic structure of South was monopolistic, dominated by wealthy plantation owners • Plantation system       • 1. Risky : Slaves might die of disease, injure themselves, or run away.       • 2. One-crop economy       • 3. Repelled large-scale European immigration THE SLAVERY ISSUE

  7. Slaves and the slave system (the "Peculiar Institution") • Plantation slavery      • 1. Nearly 4 million slaves by 1860; quadrupled in number since 1800        • 2. Slaves seen as valuable assets and primary source of wealth               • 3. Punishment often brutal to send a message to other slaves not to defy master’s authority • 4. Life in the newly emerging western areas particularly harsh (LA, TX, MS, AL) • 5. Afro-American slave culture developed THE SLAVERY ISSUE

  8. Slaves and the slave system (the "Peculiar Institution") Burdens of slavery   • 1. Slaves deprived of dignity and sense of responsibility that free people have, suffered cruel physical and psychological treatment, and were ultimately convinced that they were inferior and deserved their lot in life.         • 2. Denied an education since; seen as dangerous to give slaves ideas of freedom      • 3. Slaves often insidiously sabotaged their master’s system • 4. Many attempted to escape THE SLAVERY ISSUE

  9. Slaves and the slave system (the "Peculiar Institution") Slave Revolts  1. Stono Rebellion, 1739  2. Gabriel Prosser, 1800 3. Denmark Vesey, a mulatto in Charleston, devised the largest revolt ever in 1822. 4. Nat Turner’s revolt -- 1831 Southern white paranoia        1. Feared more reprisals by slaves (like Nat Turner’s revolt) 2. Infuriated by abolitionist propaganda in the North they saw as enflaming slaves.         3. Settled into a theory of biological racial superiority as a justification for slavery. THE SLAVERY ISSUE

  10. The White Majority • By 1860, only 1/4 of white southerners owned slaves or belonged to slave-owning families         1. Over 2/3 of slave owners owned less than ten slaves each.         2. Small slave owners made up a majority of masters. • 75% of white southerners owned no slaves at all.         1. Located predominantly in the backcountry and the mountain valleys.         2. Mostly subsistence farmers; didn’t participate in market economy.         3. Raised corn, hogs         4. Some of the poorest known as "white trash", "hillbillies", "crackers", "clay eaters"         5. Fiercely defended the slave system as it proved white superiority • Mountain whites        1. Lived in the valleys of the Appalachian range from West Virginia to northern GA & AL 2. Independent small farmers 100’s of miles from the cotton kingdom.         3. Lived in rough frontier environment         4. Hated wealthy planters and slaves        5. During Civil War were Unionist; significant in crippling Confederacy THE SLAVERY ISSUE

  11. Free Blacks • Numbered about 250,000 in the South by 1860         1. In Border South, emancipation from revolutionary days increased         2. In Lower South, many free blacks were mulattos (white father, black mother)         3. Some had purchased their freedom with earnings from labor after hours.         4. Some owned property; New Orleans had a sizable prosperous mulatto community.             -- A few even owned slaves (although this was rare) • Discrimination in the South        1. Prohibited from certain occupations and from testifying against whites in court        2. Always in danger of being forced back into slavery by slave traders.         3. Became a fearful symbol of what might be achieved by emancipation • Discrimination in the North         1. Blacks also numbered about 250,000         2. Some states forbade their entrance or denied them public education         3. Most states denied them suffrage         4. Some states segregated blacks in public facilities.         5. Especially hated by Irish immigrants with whom they competed with for jobs.         6. Much of Northern sentiment against spread of slavery into new territories due to intense race prejudice, not humanitarianism. THE SLAVERY ISSUE

  12. Early Abolitionism • Definition: Abolitionism: Movement in the North that demanded the immediate end of slavery • First abolitionist movements began around the time of the Revolution esp. Quakers • American colonization Society 1. Founded in 1817 to create practical solution vis-à-vis free blacks if slavery was ended            -- Re-colonization was the solution 2. Republic of Liberia established W. African Coast for former slaves in 1822.         3. Colonization appealed to most Northerners and some anti-slaveryites (including Lincoln) who believed that blacks and whites could not coexist in a free society. THE SLAVERY ISSUE

  13. Early Abolitionism • Abolitionists in the 1830s         1. Second Great Awakening convinced abolitionists of the sin of slavery.         2. Abolitionists inspired that Britain emancipated their slaves in the West Indies in 1833 THE SLAVERY ISSUE

  14. Radical Abolitionism • William Lloyd Garrison a. Published 1st issue of his Liberator, a militant antislavery newspaper in Boston in1831 b. Demanded "virtuous" North secede from the "wicked" South.         c. Inspired dedicated abolitionists to found the American Anti-Slavery Society • American Anti-Slavery Society a. Theodore Dwight Weld                 - Traveled with his followers, preaching abolitionism in Old Northwest - American Slavery As It Is (1839): Among most effective abolitionist writings          - Married Angelina Grimke, a southern abolitionist b. Wendell Phillips -- ostracized Boston patrician; "abolition’s golden trumpet" -Perhaps most important abolitionist; major impact on politics during the Civil War for emancipation -One of the finest orators of the 19th century.            -Product of the Puritanical fervor of the 2nd Great Awakening.            -Followed Garrison’s views until political reason took him in new direction in 1860s.   c. Angelina and Sarah Grimke            -Only white southern women to become leading abolitionists             -Also involved in women’s rights -Angelina married to Theodore Weld; Sarah remained part of their household  d. Arthur and Lewis Tappan - wealthy New York silk merchants.                 -- Funded the society as well as the Liberator, the Lane Seminary in Cincinnati, and Oberlin College. *** Organization would eventually split along gender lines; women’s rights issues*** THE SLAVERY ISSUE

  15. Radical Abolitionism • David Walker -- Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World (1829)                 -- Advocated bloody end to white supremacy. • Sojourner Truth: Freed black woman in NY; fought for emancipation & women’s rights • Elijah Lovejoy: Militant editor of antislavery newspaper in Illinois.             a. Printing press destroyed four times; 4th time press thrown into a river and Lovejoy was killed by a mob who promptly burned his warehouse.             b. Became an abolitionist martyr • Martin Delaney            -- One of few blacks to seriously advocate black mass re-colonization in Africa. • Frederick Douglass            a. Greatest of the black abolitionists                 -- Published The North Star, his own abolitionist newspaper.             b. Former slave who escaped slavery at age 21.             c. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass                 -- Depicted his life as a slave, his struggle to read & write & his escape to North.             d. Flexibly practical (in contrast to Garrison who was stubbornly principled)             e. Looked to politics to end slavery.                 -- Backed the Liberty party in 1840 and the Republican party in the 1850s. • Eventually, most abolitionists (including pacifist Garrison) would support the Civil War to end slavery THE SLAVERY ISSUE

  16. Pro-slavery whites responded by launching a massive defense of slavery as a positive good. • Slavery supported by the Bible (Genesis) and Aristotle (slavery existed in ancient Greece). • It was good for barbarous Africans who were civilized and Christianized • Master-slave relationships resembled those of a "family." • George Fitzhugh -- most famous of pro-slavery apologists’ - “Gag resolution" -- 1836, southerners drove it through Congress 1. All antislavery appeals in Congress to be ended without debate; antislavery petitions also prohibited -- Seen by northerners as a threat to the 1st Amendment 2. Rep. John Quincy. Adams waged a successful 8-year fight against it; repealed in 1844 3. (Banning of antislavery materials in the mails was a separate issue) THE SLAVERY ISSUE

  17. Abolitionist impact in the North • Abolitionists, esp. Garrison, were unpopular in many parts of the North.         1. Northerners brought up to revere the Constitution; slavery was protected and part of a lasting bargain.         2. Ideal of Union (advocated by Webster & others) had taken deep root; Garrison’s pleas to disunite were seen as dangerously radical.         3. North dependent on the South for economic well-being             a. Northern bankers owed by southern planters; about $300 million             b. New England mills fed by southern cotton • Many mob outbursts in response to extreme abolitionists        1. Lewis Tappan’s NY house ran-sacked in 1834 to a cheering crowd        2. 1835, Garrison dragged through the streets of Boston with a rope tied around him.         3. Rev. Elijah P. Lovejoy killed • Ambitious politicians avoided abolitionists (e.g., Lincoln) – abolitionism was political suicide • By 1850, abolitionism had had a deep effect on the Northern psyche.         1. Many saw slavery as unjust, undemocratic, and barbaric.         2. Many opposed extending slavery to the newly acquired territories.             -- "Free-soilers" swelled their ranks during the 1850s. THE SLAVERY ISSUE

  18. Popular Sovereignty and the Mexican Cession • Intense debate over what to do with the Mexican Cession. • Wilmot Proviso: New territory should be free of slavery • Issue threatened to split both Whigs and Democrats along sectional lines • "Popular Sovereignty" • Lewis Cass, 1812 War vet, became Democratic candidate for president in 1848 • Definition: Sovereign people of a territory, under general principles of the Constitution, should determine themselves the status of slavery. • Supported by many because it kept in line with democratic tradition of self-determination. • Fatal flaw: It could spread the "peculiar institution" to new territories. Road To Civil War

  19. Election of 1848 • Whigs nominated Zachary Taylor, "Hero of Buena Vista" • Free-Soil party  - Coalition of northern antislavery Whig, Democrat, and Liberty Party men in the North distrusting Cass & Taylor - Supported Wilmot Proviso; against slavery in the territories     - Advocated federal aid for internal improvements & free gov’t homesteads for settlers. - Van Buren nominated as presidential candidate Result: Taylor 163, Cass 127, Van Buren 0         -- Free-Soilers won no states and did not actually affect the outcome of the election. Road To Civil War

  20. California Statehood • Gold discovered in 1848 at Sutter’s Mill; prospectors in 1848 known as "forty-eighters“ • 1849 -- Masses of adventurers flocked to northern California. • Gold essentially paved the way for rapid economic growth in California • CA drafted a Constitution in 1849 that excluded slavery and asked Congress for admission Road To Civil War

  21. Sectional Balance in 1850 • South        1. Had presidency, majority in the cabinet, and a majority in the Supreme Court         2. Equal number of states in Senate thus strong veto power • Yet, South deeply worried         1. In 1850, 15 free and 15 slave states         2. CA would tip the balance in the Senate and set a free-state precedent in the southwest         3. New Mexico and Utah territories seemed leaning toward free state status.         4. Texas claimed vast area east of Rio Grande (part of NM CO, KA & OK) and threatened to seize Santa Fe.         5. Southerners angered by Northern demands for abolition of slavery in Wash. DC.         6. Extremely angered over loss of runaway slaves, many assisted by North. • When CA applied, southern "fire-eaters" threatened secession Road To Civil War

  22. Underground Railroad and the Fugitive Slave issue • Consisted of informal chain of antislavery homes which hundreds of slaves were aided by black & white abolitionists in their escape to free soil Canada. • Harriet Tubman ("Moses") (ex-slave from Maryland who escaped to Canada) • Jerry Loguen: Led hundreds of slaves to their freedom • Prigg v. Pennsylvania, 1842         1. PA tried to prohibit capture and return of runaway slaves within its borders.             -- Violated federal government’s fugitive slave law of 1793         2. Supreme Court ruled state law unconstitutional since it was a federal power         3. Personal liberty laws passed by many Northern states which prohibited state officials from assisting anyone pursuing runaway slaves • Political. significance: by 1850 southerners demanded a new more stringent fugitive-slave law         1. Old law passed by Congress in 1793 now seemed inadequate vis-à-vis runaways         2. Unfriendly state authorities (e.g., Pennsylvania) failed to provide needed cooperation.         3. Southerners blamed abolitionists; claimed they operated outside the law. Road To Civil War

  23. Compromise of 1850 • Sunset of the "Great Triumvirate" 1. Clay initiated his 3rd great compromise             a. North & South should compromise; North should enact more effective fugitive slave legislation.             b. Supported by Stephen Douglas, the "Little Giant" 2. Calhoun (dying of TB) rejected Clay’s position as not being adequate safeguards.            a. Leave slavery alone, return runaway slaves, give South rights as a                 minority (Concurrent Majority), and restore political balance. 3. Webster supported Clay’s compromise (famous "7th of March speech" of 1850)             a. Urged all reasonable concessions to the South, including tough fugitive law.             b. Discouraged legislating on the territories since God had already passed the                 Wilmot Proviso -- climate prevented cotton in new territories.             c. Significance: Turned the North toward compromise             d. Abolitionists assailed Webster as a traitor; had regarded him as one them     4. Meanwhile, William H. Seward (nicknamed "Higher Law" Seward by his adversaries) a             younger northern radical, was against concession.             a. Stated Christian legislators must obey God’s moral law as well as man’s law             b. Slavery should be excluded from territories due to "higher law" than Constitution Road To Civil War

  24. "Compromise of 1850" (Omnibus legislation -- passed in separate parts) • California admitted as a free state ‘ • Abolition of the slave trade in District of Columbia • Popular sovereignty in remainder of Mexican Cession: New Mexico and Utah territories. • More stringent Fugitive Slave Law (than 1793) • Texas to receive $10 million from federal gov’t as compensation for its surrendering of disputed territory to New Mexico. Road To Civil War

  25. Result • North got better deal.             a. CA tipped Senate in favor of the North             b. Popular sovereignty in NM & UT territory probably in favor of North (desert)             c. $10 million to Texas a modest sum; new area almost certain to be free. • Fugitive Slave Law became the single most important frictional issue between north and south in the 1850s.             a. Fugitive slave law a major blunder by South; seen by North as appalling             b. Some states refused to accept the Fugitive Slave Law             c. Ableman v. Booth, 1859 -- Supreme Court upheld the Fugitive Slave Law. • Compromise of 1850 won the Civil War for the North            a. Bought ten precious years to expand economic growth and sentiment Union cause.             b. Many northerners unwilling to go to war in 1850 for the Union cause. Road To Civil War

  26. Election of 1852 • Democrats nominated Franklin Pierce (from NH) • Whigs nominated General Winfield Scott ("Old Fuss & Feathers") but party fatally split • Result: Pierce d. Scott 254 - 42 • Significance: Marked effective end of Whig party; complete death 2 years later • Significance of Whig party: Webster & Clay had kept idea of Union alive (both died in 1852) Road To Civil War

  27. Expansionism under President Pierce • War in Nicaragua seemed inevitable; Britain challenged Monroe Doctrine • Clayton-Bulwer Treaty (1850): Neither U.S. or Britain would fortify or secure exclusive control over any future isthmian waterway. • America looks toward Asia         1. Acquisition of California and Oregon territory gave U.S. access to the Pacific.         2. Pierce sent U.S. warships led by Commodore Matthew Perry to Japan to forcibly open trade with the 200-year isolationist Japan. Road To Civil War

  28. Expansionism under President Pierce • Cuba • Polk had offered Spain $100 million for Cuba; Spain categorically refused. • 1850-51 -- two expeditions by private southern adventurers into Cuba failed. • 1854, Spain seized U.S. steamer Black Warrior on a technicality. • Ostend Manifesto • Secret document whereby U.S. would offer $120 million for Cuba and if Spain U.S. would take it by force. • News leaked out and angry northern free-soilers forced Pierce to abandon it. Road To Civil War

  29. Gadsden Purchase (1853) • U.S. concerned that CA & Oregon inaccessible by land & sea routes too tough • Debate: Should transcontinental railroad route run through the North or South?         1. Too costly to have two railroads.         2. Railroad would provide enormous benefits to the regions receiving it.         3. Best route seemed partly below the Mexican border.     C. 1853, U.S. purchased Mesilla Valley from Santa Anna for $10 million. • Result:         1. South boosted its claim to railroad             a. Claimed all areas of line were either states or organized territory unlike North.             b. Geography favored southern route since Rocky Mountains were lower         2. North now tried to quickly organize Nebraska territory but the South opposed it. Road To Civil War

  30. The Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) • Stephen Douglas proposed carving Nebraska Territory into 2: Nebraska, Kansas        1. Slavery issue would be based on popular sovereignty         2. His main motive was to give Illinois the eastern terminus for the proposed Pacific railroad.         3. Kansas would presumably become slave; Nebraska free         4. 36-30 line prohibited slavery north of it; Kansas above it.             -- Solution: Repeal Compromise of 1820         5. Southerners fully supported it and pushed Pierce to support KS-NB Act • Douglas successfully rammed the bill through Congress; great orator of his generation         1. Northerners reacted furiously: some saw Compromise of 1820 as a sacred pact.         2. Douglas miscalculated effects of his proposal on the North; more concerned with railroad, his state, and his presidential prospects than slavery issue. Road To Civil War

  31. The Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) • Kansas-Nebraska Act passed in 1854 1. Northern reaction       a. Refused to honor Fugitive Slave Law       b. The antislavery movement grew significantly       c. North unwilling to compromise on future issues   2. Southern reaction       a. Angry that northern free-soilers tried to control Kansas, contrary to the presumed "deal."       b. Democratic party was shattered  3. Effectively wrecked the Compromises of 1820 & 1850 • Birth of the Republican party 1. Republican party formed in response to the Kansas-Nebraska Act. ***Abraham Lincoln came out of political retirement and ran for the senate.***      c. Became nation’s 2nd major political party overnight.    2. Republican party not allowed South of Mason-Dixon line. - Considered by historians to be the main short-term cause of the Civil War. Road To Civil War

  32. Antislavery literature • Harriet Beecher Stowe: Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) • Hinton R. Helper: The Impending Crisis of the South (1857) Road To Civil War

  33. "Bleeding Kansas" • New England Emigrant Aid Company: Sent 2,000 into Kansas to prevent slavery from taking hold and to make a profit. • Southerners infuriated by apparent northern betrayal -- attempts to abolitionize Kansas.         1. Douglas’ scheme informally implied that Kansas would become slave & NB free.         2. Armed Southerners sent into region (many from MO) to thwart northerners         3. Ironically, struggle fought over imaginary blacks (only 2 slaves in Kansas in 1860) • 1855 election in Kansas for first territorial legislature         1. Proslavery "border ruffians" from MO poured into KS to vote repeatedly.             -- Pro-slaveryites triumphed and created puppet government         2. Free-soilers ignored the bogus election and established extralegal gov’t in Topeka. • 1856, a gang of proslavery raiders shot up and burned part of free-soil Lawrence, Kansas. Road To Civil War

  34. The Caning of Charles Sumner • Sumner a leading abolitionist Senator from Massachusetts, gave speech "Crime Against Kansas" where he lashed out at southern pro-slaveryites and insulted a S.C. Senator • S.C. Congressman Preston Brooks retaliated by hitting Sumner over the head 30 times or more with an 11-oz gold-headed cane. • The House of Reps could not find enough votes (122 to 95-- 2/3 needed) to expel Brooks but he resigned nonetheless, and was unanimously reelected by S.C. • Sumner came to symbolize for the North the evils of the slavery system (along with bleeding Kansas issue) Road To Civil War

  35. Pottawatomie Massacre -- John Brown & followers, in May 1856, hacked 5 men to pieces with broadswords in response to attack on Lawrence (and the caning of Sumner) • Civil war in Kansas ensued from 1856 and merged with Civil War of 1861-1865 Road To Civil War

  36. Lecompton Constitution (1857) • Kansas had enough people to apply for statehood on popular sovereignty basis. • Southerners, still in power since 1855, devised a tricky document • People were not allowed to vote for or against constitution as a whole but voted for the constitution. with or w/o slavery. • If people voted no on slavery, rights of slaveholders already in KS protected • Infuriated free-soilers boycotted the polls • Slaveryites approved constitution with slavery late in 1857. Road To Civil War

  37. Election of 1856 • James Buchanan chosen as Democratic nominee over Pierce (seen as too weak) and Douglas (who alienated the southern wing of the party after denouncing Lecompton constitution.) • Republicans nominated Captain John C. Ferment "Pathfinder of the West" • American Party ("know-nothing") Nativist in orientation • Buchanan d. Fremont 174 to 114; Fillmore 8.          -- Violent threats of southern "fire-eaters", who claimed the election of a "Black Republican" would lead them to secede, forced many northerners to support Buck. Road To Civil War

  38. The Dred Scott Decision (March 6, 1857) • Dred Scott had lived with his master for 5 years in Illinois and Wisconsin Territory.   • 80-year-old Marylander Chief Justice Roger B. Taney wrote the 55 page opinion. • Decision:         1. Dred Scott was a black slave and not a citizen and could not sue in federal courts.             -- As a result, all blacks, north & south, were no longer citizens.         2. Slaves could not be taken away from owners w/o due process of law. As private property (5th Amendment) slaves could be taken into any territory and held there.         3. The Missouri Compromise was ruled unconstitutional; Congress could not forbid slavery in territories even if states wanted to. (KS-NB Act had already done this) • Impact         1. Many northern proponents of popular sovereignty horrified, including Douglas             -- Further split Democratic party along sectional lines.         2. Republicans infuriated; many claimed decision was merely an opinion not a decision and thus nonbinding.             -- Southerners claimed that northern unwillingness to honor the Supreme Court’s decisions was further cause for disunion. Road To Civil War

  39. Financial Crash of 1857 • Not as bad as Panic of 1837 but probably the worst psychologically in 19th c. • Causes         1. Influx of California gold into economy inflated currency.         2. Crimean War over stimulated growing of grain         3. Speculation in land and railroads backfired. • Results         1. Over 5,000 businesses failed within a year.         2. Unemployment widespread 3. Renewed demand for free farms of 160 acres from public domain land.         4. Demand for higher tariff rates         5. Republicans had two major issues for 1860: higher tariffs & Homestead Act Road To Civil War

  40. Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1858) – Senate seat in Illinois • Lincoln’s nomination speech: "A house divided cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure; permanently half slave and half free. • Lincoln challenged Douglas to a series of seven joint debates • Freeport debate most famous -- Freeport Doctrine        1. Lincoln forced Douglas to answer whether or not a territory could vote down slavery despite the Dred Scott decision.         2. Douglas answered that territories could refuse to pass laws protecting             slavery thus effectively ending slavery in that territory.         3. Although Douglas and others had publicly answered this question before in Kansas issue, his position led to a split in his party and an end to his chances to win the presidency.         4. Douglas’ popular sovereignty position prevailed in the election         5. Despite his loss, the debates catapulted Lincoln into the national spotlight and became the political stepping stone to the Republican nomination in 1860. Road To Civil War

  41. John Brown attacks Harper’s Ferry • Brown’s scheme: invade the South secretly with a few followers and lead slaves to rise, give them arms, and establish a kind of black free state. • October, 1859 -- Seized the arsenal at Harper’s Ferry • Brown and his followers were hanged after a brief but legal trial. • Brown became a martyr in the North • Effects of Harper’s Ferry were ominous in southern eyes.         1. Brown seen as an agent of northern abolitionism and anti-slavery conspiracy.         2. Southern states began to organize militias for protection against future threats.             -- Essentially, this was the beginning of the Confederate army.         3. Perhaps the most immediate cause of disunion besides Lincoln’s election. Road To Civil War

  42. Nominating Conventions of 1860 • Democratic party split in two        1. Met first in South Carolina with Douglas as leading candidate of northern wing        2. Next convention in Baltimore nominated Douglas while the Democratic party split in two         3. Southern Democratic Party nominated John C. Breckinridge: • Constitutional Union Party nominated John Bell of Tennessee • Republicans nominate Abraham Lincoln         1. Seward the front-runner but perceived as too radical for victory in general election.         2. Republican platform (broadly based)         3. Southern secessionists warned that the election of Lincoln would split the Union. Road To Civil War

  43. Presidential election of 1860 • Lincoln elected president with only 40% of the vote; most sectional election in history.         1. Lincoln won all Northern states except NJ and MO (180 electoral votes to 123)         2. Breckinridge won all the Deep South states plus AK, MD, and DE         3. Bell won Border States of VA KY and mid-slave state of TN         4. Douglas won only MO and NJ but finished 2nd in popular votes • South still had control of both Houses of Congress and a 5-4 majority on Supreme Court         -- Antislavery amendment could be defeated by only 1/4 of states yet South had 15 states (nearly half) that would prevent such an amendment. Road To Civil War

  44. Southern states secede from the Union • Four days after the election of Lincoln, the "Black Republican", South Carolina legislature unanimously called for a special convention in Charleston. • December, 1860, 170 South Carolina unanimously voted to secede from the other states. • Within six weeks, six other states seceded (MS, FL, AL, GA, LA, TX) all during Buchanan’s "lame-duck" period. • Four others seceded in April, 1861, after beginning of Civil War (VA, AK, NC, TN) as they refused to fight their fellow southerners and agree to Lincoln’s call for volunteers. • Confederate States of America formed in Montgomery Alabama meeting. • Jefferson Davis chosen as president of provisional government to be located at Richmond, VA (after Fort Sumter) Road To Civil War

  45. Southern states secede from the Union • President Buchanan did little to prevent southern secession.         1. Claimed the Constitution did not give him authority to stop secession with force.         2. More significantly, northern army was small and weak and scattered on the frontier.         3. Many of his advisors pro-southern         4. Northern sentiment predominantly for peaceful reconciliation rather than war 5. Ironically, Lincoln continued Buchanan’s vacillating policy when he became president.         6. Buchanan’s serendipitous wait-and-see policy probably helped save the Union.             -- Use of immediate force would have probably driven border states of MD and KY to                 the South. This would have sealed the Union’s fate. Road To Civil War

  46. Reasons for southern secession (mostly related in some form to slavery) • Alarmed at the political balance tipping in favor of the North • Horrified at victory of the sectional Republican party which appeared to threaten their rights as a slaveholding minority. • Angry over free-soil criticism and abolitionism, and northern interference such as the Underground Railroad and John Brown’s raid. • Many southerners felt secession would be unopposed • Opportunity to end generations of dependence to the North. • Morally they were in the right Road To Civil War

  47. Crittenden amendments -- final attempt at compromise • Proposed by Senator John J. Crittenden of Kentucky (heir to political throne of Clay) • Designed to appease the South • Provisions         1. Slavery in the territories was to be prohibited north of 36-30 but was to be given full federal protection south of that line existing or "hereafter to be acquired" (as in the case of Cuba)         2. Popular sovereignty for future states • Rejected by Lincoln; all hope of compromise was gone.         -- Lincoln saw himself elected on the principle of non-extension of slavery. Road To Civil War

  48. Union War Strategy • Initial attempts to strike decisive blows in Virginia failed miserably (Bull Run, Peninsula Campaign, Vicksburg, Chancellorsville) • Later, developed into four phases: strategy geared more toward attrition. WAR

  49. WAR IN THE EAST: 1861 • Battle of Bull Run (Manassas) -- July 21, 1861 (30 southwest of Washington)         1. By summer, 1861, public pressure and prodding from the press urged a quick decisive battle to defeat the Confederacy.         2. Battle initially went well for Union forces but reinforcements from the Shenandoah Valley led by "Stonewall" Jackson surprised fatigued Union forces.         3. By mid-afternoon, Union forces in full retreat back towards defended Washington DC.         4. Casualties: Union lost 2,896 men; Confederates lost 1,982         5. Psychological impact: WAR

  50. WAR IN THE EAST: 1861 • General George B. McClellan and the Army of the Potomac 1. Lincoln gave McClellan command of the Army of the Potomac in late 1861.       2. Fatal flaw: Overcautious; frequently believed he was outnumbered when in fact he always possessed numerical advantages; Lincoln accused him of having "the slows" WAR

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