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Slavery Dominates Politics

Explore how slavery influenced the split of political parties, the Election of 1856, the Dred Scott case, Lincoln-Douglas Debates, John Brown's Raid, and the rising sectional tensions leading to the nation's breaking point.

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Slavery Dominates Politics

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  1. Slavery Dominates Politics Chapter 15 Section 2

  2. Slavery and Political Division • Key ? - How did the issue of slavery affect political parties? • Whig party split into 2 factions: Northern Whigs opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act; Southerners supported the act. • Northern Whigs form the Republican Party.

  3. Continued • John C. Fremont presidential candidate.(Republicans) • Wanted California and Kansas admitted as free states. • Democrats nominated James Buchanan • Said little about slave; goal was to maintain the union. • Know-Nothing Party – nominated Millard Fillmore. • Divided over slavery with little public support.

  4. Election of 1856 • Turned into 2 separate races. • North: Buchanan against Freemont. • South: Buchanan against Fillmore. • Buchanan won. • Although Fremont lost he won 11 Northern states. • Showed the Republican party was a major force; slavery was dividing the nation along sectional lines.

  5. The Breaking Point • What events brought the nation to a crisis? • Slavery issue was not only in politics, but in the judicial branch. • Dred Scott – enslaved person in Missouri, but lived in free territories for awhile but taken back to MO. • When his owner died he argued that he was a free man. • Reached the Supreme Court in 1856; Dred Scott v.Sanford.

  6. Supreme Court Rules Against Scott • Chief Justice – Roger B. Taney stated that Dred Scott was not a U.S. citizen, therefore, he could not sue. • Also, Scott was bound by Missouri’s slave code because he had lived there. • Banning slavery in the territories would violate slaveholders’ property rights, protected by the 5th amendment.

  7. Lincoln-Douglas Debates • The Republicans charged the Democrats with wanting to legalize slavery in all the states. • Abraham Lincoln ran against Stephen Douglas for U.S Senate seat. • Debated across IL; Lincoln argued that slavery should not be expanded; Douglas argued for popular sovereignty, but Dred Scott made it unconstitutional. • Douglas won the election, but Lincoln became a national figure.

  8. John Brown’s Raid • John Brown wanted to provoke a slave uprising by capturing the weapons in a U.S. arsenal at Harpers Ferry, VA. • Brown & 18 followers captured Harpers Ferry on Oct. 16,1859 • Sent word to rally slaves to join the fight, but none did. • Marines attacked and six captured including Brown who was tried for treason; hanged. • Sectional tensions rose as the country headed for the election of 1860.

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