The Civil War

1. The Civil War

2. States Rights vs Federal Rights • States Rights (South) • Believes the federal gov’t works for them • Could declare laws null and void • Had the right to secede • Federal Gov’t Rights (North) • Federal gov’t has some power over the states (delegated and implied powers) • Supreme Court was the only body to decide if laws were unconstitutional • No state had the right to secede. Senator Daniel Webster (MA), “If a state had the right to secede, the union would be no more than a rope of sand.”

3. Origins of States Rights • The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions • Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 >protect the US gov’t from anarchy (French Revolution)…meant to keep wealthy Federalists in power • James Madison and Thomas Jefferson convinced Virginia and Kentucky to pass resolutions saying: 1- federal gov’t works for the states, 2- declare Alien and Sedition Acts null and void • Jefferson becomes President in 1800 > Alien and Sedition Acts get repealed by a Democratic-Republican Congress • States Rights issue is not resolved

4. Tariff Issue • 1828> protective tariffs known as Tariff of Abominations (believed to benefit North) • Protested by South Carolina (Vice President John C. Calhoun from South Carolina • 1832> South Carolina passes Ordinance of Nullification> Declares tariff law null and void in South Carolina

5. Tariff Issue • President Andrew Jackson pledges to use military to enforce Tariff law….”nullification was incompatible with the existence of the Union.” • Both sides threatened to stand strong

6. Tariff Issue • Outcome: • Congress passes Compromise Tariff of 1833 • Significant reduction in tariff • South Carolina withdraws Ordinance but still proclaims power to nullify federal laws • Issue that is still unresolved…….State’s rights • more power Federal vs. States

7. Sectionalism • Antebellum South (phrase to describe rebellious South) support state’s rights to protect sectional interests • North vs. South (West mixed) • North believed what was good for one was good for all • Problem= North and South are different (industry/agriculture)

8. Sectional Disputes • Protective Tariff - good for the North and bad for the South - fear of retaliation against exportation of cotton • Internal Improvements - good fro the North and West and bad for the South - more Western products shipped to the North - but everyone pays • Cheap land in the West > $1.25 an acre - West> good because it would lead to expansion of the West - North> bad because it would take away workers - South> good & bad because it would lead agriculture (expansion of slavery) but could lead to less representation in House

9. Sectional Disputes • Expansion of Southwest - West> good because it would open up more cheap land to develop - North> bad because it would open up land to the expansion of slavery> more power in Congress for slavery supporters - South> good because it would allow for expansion of slavery and growth of “King Cotton” • Expansion of Slavery - North> against because of abolitionism - South> in favor of because of more representation in Congress = more power to fight tariffs and more opportunity to keep slavery around

10. Politics Leading to War • 1854 • The Whig Party splits over the Kansas-Nebraska Act • Northern Whigs vs. Southern Whigs • Democrats also split over K-N Act • Northern Democrats rebel against party • Many Northern Dems and Northern Whigs form the Republican Party > a sectional party with no support from South • Whig Party disappears • Republicans vs. Northern Democrats vs. Southern Democrats

11. Politics Leading to War • 1856 • The Sumner-Brooks Affair • Charles Sumner (D-MA) spoke out against slavery and “The Crime Against Kansas” in a speech in the Senate • Remarks against the South and specifically Senator Butler (D-SC and co-author of K-N Act) • 3 days later Representative Preston Brooks (D-SC and Butler’s nephew) enters the Senate and beats Sumner over the head with a cane on the Senate floor • Said he was “upholding Southern honor” - Sumner in a coma for 6 months and out of the Senate for 2 years…MA doesn’t replace him as symbol of a Southern brutality

12. Politics Leading to War • Abe Lincoln • He was not abolitionist although he hated slavery • He believed that a black man could never live on equal terms in a white society • Propsoed that a freed slave be colonized in South or Central America

13. Politics Leading to War • Lincoln-Douglas Debates • Ran against each other for the US Senate in 1858 (and again for President in 1860) • Douglas a Democrat and Lincoln a Republican • “I believe this gov’t 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 that it will cease to be divided. It will become all on thing or all the other.” – Abe Lincoln

14. Politics Leading to War • Lincoln and Douglas hold a series of debates throughout Illinois • Lincoln makes it known that he hopes to confine slavery to where it exists and let it die a slow, natural death • In the debate in Freeport Lincoln corners Douglas • He asked, “Can people of a US territory in any lawful way exclude slavery from its limits prior to the formation of a state?” • They cannot because of Supreme Court decision in Dred Scott but it was a no win for Douglas • Douglas’ answer was careful and calculated • Becomes known as the Freeport Doctrine • “if voters are against slavery, they could pass slave codes that were needed for existence (popular sovereignty without going against Dred Scott) • Made people of Illinois happy but he lost support of the South (viewed as allowed slavery to be abolished) • Douglas won the Senate election> lost 1860 Presidential election but big winner was Lincoln.