Unit Twelve: “A House Divided”

1. Unit Twelve: “A House Divided” Secession

2. The Election of 1856 • The Election of 1856 was between Democrat James Buchanan, Republican John C. Fremont, and the American Party candidate Millard Fillmore. (the Whig party did not field a candidate because by 1856 it no longer existed) • The main debate of the election was over the issue of slavery, its expansion, and the problems with Kansas. (the Republican slogan was "Free speech, free press, free soil, free men, Frémont and victory!“) • James Buchanan won the election because a majority of Americans either supported slavery, or believed that as an institution in the South it should be left alone. Also it was thought that if the Republicans who were abolitionists won the White house, then the South would secede and the nation would fall into civil war.

3. Election of 1856 Millard Fillmore • The Election of 1856 signaled the great divide between the southern and northern states over the issue of slavery and sectionalism. The next president would only represent a section of the nation not the whole. James Buchanan John C. Fremont

4. The Dred Scott Case • The Southern victory of the Presidency courage the South, but it was to be the decision of the Taney Supreme Court that would embolden it and unite Northern sentiment against the institution of slavery (they called it an obiter dictum). (The Republicans vowed if they won in 1860 to end the whole thing) • The supreme court case involved an enslaved man named Dred Scott who was owned by U.S. Army Major John Emerson and sued to win his freed. (Scott vs. Emerson) • The legal basis of Scott’s case was that since he had lived in multiple free states, he must be awarded his freedom. (1848 Missouri State Supreme Court said no)

5. The Dred Scott Case • Dred Scott then sued his new owner John F.A. Sandford in 1854 in Federal Court. (Scott vs. Standford) • In March of 1857 the Roger Taney U.S. Supreme Court handed down its majority opinion with only two dissenting (disapproving) opinions the Dred Scott Case, that • 1.) slaves were not citizens, so they could not sue in court. • 2.) freedom is not based on residence. • 3.) the Missouri Compromise line was unconstitutional because it violated the private property rights of southern slave holders.

6. The Kansas and Panic • In 1857 the pro-slavery Lecompton Constitution was sent to Congress for ratification with Buchanan’s approval, the Senate approved it, but the House would not until all electors of Kansas could vote on it calling it the Lecompton Frauddue to the constitution came about. (It was defeated, but became a state in 1861 as a free state) • The same year the Panic of 1857 hit causing huge inflation and hurt the industrial North more than the South, which led Congress to discuss raising tariffs opening more Western lands for free states. (It intensified the rivalry between the North and South)

7. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates • The issue of the Dred Scott Case, Kansas, and the Panic only pushed the North and South closer to blows. • In 1858 the champion of popular sovereignty and center of the issues of the day Stephen A. Douglas (D) “Little Giant” was up for re-election. • In the Senatorial election he had to square off with a unknown candidate Abraham Lincoln (R) “Rail-splitter”. • This election was important because it spot lighted all the major issues of the day and led to the split between Northern and Southern Democrats. Douglas VS. Lincoln

8. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates • In a series of seven debates known as the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, Lincoln and Douglas squared off debating the issues of majority rule & minority rights, popular sovereignty, civil war, and state’s rights & Federal power. • When Lincoln accepted the nomination of the Republican party he gave his famous “House Divided Speech”, which he said that “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 of the other.”

9. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates • The Lincoln-Douglas debates were carried by most major newspapers and read by many Americans (more Northern and Southern) foreshadowing the Presidential debates of the election of 1860. • During the debates Lincoln was able to outwit Douglas on many occasions forcing him to make unfavorable political statements. • The high point of the debates was in Freeport, IL where Lincoln forced Douglas what was called the Freeport Doctrine, stating that even if slavery is deemed lawful, the states could simple not enforce it or not pass laws to protect it. (Douglas won his senate seat, but it cost him the Presidency by splitting the Democratic party)

10. John Brown’s Raid • Amongst issues brewing between the North and the South, one of the radical abolitionist of Bleeding Kansas, John Brown, devised a plan to start a slave insurrection (uprising) in Virginia taking over the state using it to found an abolitionist republic to use as a spring board to attack the rest of the South. • In October of 1859, John Brown with a small militia attacked the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia taking it over known as John Brown’s Raid.

11. John Brown’s Raid • Within twenty-four hours a small force of Marines commanded by Robert E. Lee surrounded the fort, capturing Brown and killing eight of his men. • John Brown was then placed on trial for treason, found guilty and hanged. (he refused to plead insanity) • Brown became a martyr (a person who dies for a cause) for the abolitionist movement rallying more northerners to the cause (most still disapproved it), and cementing the anger against abolitionism in the South, due to fear that this type of “domestic terrorism” could occur again.

12. The Election of 1860 • The events of the 1850s split the nation politically with four major political parties partaking in the election of 1860. • The Democratic party met in Charleston, SC to form a national platform and choose a candidate for all sections, but disputes over the expansion of slavery and popular sovereignty split the party into factions. • The Southern states led by William Lowndes Yancey called fire-eaters (extreme pro-slavery wanted secession from the union) left the convention nominating John C. Breckinridge. • The Northern democrats met again and nominated Stephan Douglas.

13. The Election of 1860 • The Republican Party met and nominated Abraham Lincoln with a moderate platform on slavery, economic reform, and a Homestead Act (give people 160 acres of land for anyone to settle on). (they would not allow to expand, but leave it alone where it was) • The fourth candidate was John Bell nominated by the Constitutional-Union Party with a platform of compromise to save the Union. • In the election Lincoln won without a single Southern vote, showing that the South had no political power since the Democratic party was split which angered Southerners that North would simple pass what every laws they wanted. (i.e. end slavery)

14. Election of 1860 Stephan Douglas Abraham Lincoln John Breckinridge John Bell

15. Election of 1860 Cartoons

16. South Carolina!!!!! • During the campaign for the election of 1860 Southerners were stating that if Lincoln won they would secede from the union and after the results came in serious talks about secession were carried on throughout the South. • In December of 1860, South Carolina met in a special state convention and voted to leave the union (Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union), becoming the first state to seceded from the union.

17. The South Leaves • During the winter of 1860-1861 the southern states debated the issue of secession, but by February 1, 1861 Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas (Deep South States) seceded from the Union. (the vote was not unanimous in any of these states for secession) • On Feb. 4, 1861 the Deep South States met at Montgomery, Alabama to establish a unified separate government and nation called the Confederate States of America. (Confederacy) • The Southern states justified their secession through from the doctrine of state’s rights, but the reason was due to southern regionalism (loyalty to the region and to the slave system)

18. Secession?

19. The Confederacy • The Confederate Congress met and elected Jefferson Davis President and Alexander Stephens Vice President. • The Confederation Constitution was modeled after the U.S. Constitution, but forbade the new government from interfering with slavery, no protective tariff, and no money for internal improvements. Davis Stephens

20. Jefferson and the CSA Confederate White House Anthem: Click each to listen God Save the South The Bonnie Blue Flag Dixie Alabama State Capitol Jefferson inauguration “With God as our vindicator”

21. The Last Ditch Effort • During the secession winter of 1860-1861 James Buchannan was a lame duck (a public official who remains in office between the election to inauguration) president that did nothing to stop the states from seceding or taking over federal property within their states like forts. (he sent a ship to resupply Fort Sumter but was shot at by Confederacy and turned away) • The last effort to keep a civil war from happening was introduced by John J. Crittenden (KY) called Crittenden’s Compromise which would reestablish the Missouri compromise all the way to California, compensate masters for fugitive slaves, and protect slavery in slave states and Washington D.C. (Lincoln advised against its passage so it did not pass.)

22. Civil War !!!!! • A second compromise attempt was tried by all states except those that had seceded, but it failed to produce any results. • On March 4, 1861 Abraham Lincoln was sworn into office and in his inaugural address his denied the right of any state to leave the Union, that he would hold Federal property still occupied in the South (Fort Sumter), and reminded Southerners that we were all still Americans. “I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break, our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union when again touched, as surely they will be m by the better angels of our nature.” ---Abraham Lincoln, 1861

23. Civil War !!!!! • Lincoln had a big decision to make on what to do about Fort Sumter in S.C., to resupply it or to evacuate it. • Lincoln sent a letter to the Governor of S.C. not Jefferson Davis that the Fort would be held by force if necessary. (most of Lincoln’s Cabinet advised evacuation) • Davis sent General P.G. T. Beauregard to take control of Fort Sumter which was commanded by Major Robert Anderson. • The Confederacy fired the first shot on Fort Sumter on April 12,1861 starting the Civil War, bombarding it for thirty-three hours forcing its surrender to the South.

24. Civil War !!!!! • After the fall of Sumter, Lincoln called for volunteers to carryout the war effort which led to the secession of the upper south states of Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas. (the capital of the Confederacy was moved to Richmond, VA) • The western counties refused to join the Confederacy, separating forming West Virginia which was made a state of the union in 1863. • In Alabama, the residents of Winston County met in Looney’s Tavern in Houston voting a resolution of neutrality during the war. (aided the union during the war) • Also when the upper southern states left Congress the only person not to walk out was Senator Andrew Johnson from TN because he did not agree with it.

25. Civil War !!!!! • The states of Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware called the boarder states were split on if to seceded or not, even though most were sympathetic to the South. • To keep these key states from seceding Lincoln established martial law (military rule and authority over civilian authorities). • At this point the stage was set for a violent confrontation between the Union (Yankees) and the Confederacy (Rebels) which would last until 1865 developing the implementation of industrial modern warfare in the world.

26. Union Border states Border States Upper South Confederacy Deep South