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“I have, Senators, believed from the first that the agitation of the subject of slavery would, if not prevented by some timely and effective measure, end in disunion. … The agitation has been permitted to proceed… until it has reached a period when it can no longer be disguised or denied that the Union is in danger. You have thus had forced upon you the greatest and the gravest question that can ever come under your consideration: How can the Union be preserved?” - Senator John C. Calhoun, Compromise of 1850 (pg. 156) Divisive Politics of Slavery
Characteristics of the Antebellum* South • Mainly agrarian (farms). • “Cotton Is King!” a. 1860 5 mil. bales a yr. (57% of total US exports). • Very slow development of industrialization. • Basic financial system. • Inadequate (not good enough) transportation system. * pre-Civil War era
Southern Society (1850) Plantation Owners[wealthy whites] 6,000,000 The “Plain Folk”[middle class & poor white farmers] Black Freemen 250,000 Black Slaves3,200,000 Total US Population 23,000,000[9,450,000 in the South = 40%]
Please write these questions below last Friday’s notes & answer them • What was the Southern economy based on? • What was the main cash crop of the South? • What does Antebellum mean? • What percentage of the South were African Americans? • What percentage of the U.S. population lived in the South (total)?
Changes in Cotton Production 1820 1860
Compromise of 1850 • California wants to become a state (slave-free) • Pro-slave southerners angry • Henry Clay, “The Great Compromiser,” writes a compromise. • CA would be a free state. • stronger fugitive (escape) slave laws written • New territories (NM & UT) would are given popular sovereignty. • People in those states vote to decide whether to be slave or free
The Underground Railroad • See page 159. • A network of routes slaves used to escape from the South • Harriet Tubman, a former slave, was the most famous helper. • She helped 300 slaves escape.
“Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, 1852 • Book written by Harriet Beecher Stowe • Discussed the worst parts of slavery • Slavery is a moral issue • Abolitionists get angry! • Southern slave owners get angry! “So this is the lady who started the Civil War…”
Kansas and Nebraska Act • KA & NB want to become states • The Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) • divided the territory into two states (Nebraska & Kansas). • Allowed popular sovereignty in both states. • Pro-slave & abolitionist rush to Kansas to vote!
Bleeding Kansas- Mini Civil War? • In 1855, a vote was held in KS to establish the slavery policy. • Violence broke out between abolitionists and proslavery people. • North and South angrier with each other
The Crime Against Kansas = Violence in the Senate • Charles Sumner spoke against slavery to the senate. • He is attacked by the nephew of a pro-slave senator • Sumner has brain damage & cannot serve for 3 years
Political Parties • Whig party falls apart • (split on slavery): former Whigs look for a new party • American/Know-Nothing Party: nativists • anti-immigration, split on slavery • Democratic Party: pro-slavery • Republicans: abolitionist • Liberty Party: abolitionist • Free Soil Party: opposed slavery b/c slavery competed w/ the cheap labor of whites. • Many were racists.
Dred Scott vs. Sanford, 1857 • Dred Scott, a slave, was taken into free states • Dred Scott sued for freedom because he had been illegally enslaved. • Supreme Court: ruled against Scott • Cited 5th amendment: protecting slave owners’ property rights Son of a slave owner, Chief Justice Taney. Most of the Justices on the Supreme Court were from the South.
Senate race between Steven Douglas and Abraham Lincoln • Both opposed slavery • Douglas – supported popular sovereignty • Lincoln – slavery is immoral. • Wants to stop it from spreading, but not outlaw it already in effect
Anti-Slavery Rebellions! • Nat Turner: VA slave who, w/ 50 other slaves, killed 60 whites. (1831) • John Brown: attempted to start a slave uprising (1859) • he, w/ 21 other men, to raid a Federal arsenal of weapons in Harper’s Ferry VA. • failed. • He was tried and executed.
Lincoln Becomes President, 1860 “A house divided against itself cannot stand”
Pres. Abraham Lincoln • Didn’t want slavery to expand, but would allow it to continue in the states that already had it • ◊ Dec. 1860: S. Carolina secedes from the Union Followed by 11 other states • ◊ VA splits, creating W. VA= Union State (1863)
The Confederate States of America • Formed by States that Seceded • Jefferson Davis is named President • They write a new constitution allowing slavery
The Union and Confederacy They are slave states, but stay with the Union
Please write and answer the following questions below your notes 1. Which state had to do with the Compromise of 1850? 2. Which laws became stronger b/c of the Compromise 1850? 3. What does popular sovereignty mean? 4. Due to the Kansas-Nebraska Act, what happened? 5. What did Harriet Beecher Stowe do? 6. Who was Dred Scott? 7. Who was the 1st President of the Confederate States of America?
