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The Divisive Politics of Slavery. Differences Between North and South. South Plantation economy, relied on enslaved labor force. North Diversified industries, was less dependent on slavery. Slavery in the Territories. California Statehood 1850 Forbade slavery
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Differences Between North and South South • Plantation economy, relied on enslaved labor force. North • Diversified industries, was less dependent on slavery.
Slavery in the Territories California • Statehood 1850 • Forbade slavery Secession – the formal withdrawal of a State from the Union.
Henry Clay who came up with the compromise (he's known as the "Great Compromiser" in the Senate - worked out previous tariff issues)
The Compromise of 1850 • To please the North - provided that California be admitted to the Union as a free state. • To please the South – proposed new and more effective fugitive slave law. Popular Sovereignty – The right to vote for or against slavery. (New Mexico & Utah territories)
Protest, Resistance, and Violence The Underground Railroad • A system of routes along which runaway slaves were helped to escape safe areas. Harriet Tubman • “Conductor” hid fugitive slaves in secret tunnels and false cupboards, provided them with food and clothing, and directed them to the next station.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin • 1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe published novel, which stressed that slavery was not just a political contest, but also a great moral struggle.
Tension in Kansas and Nebraska • Kansas-Nebraska Act introduced in Congress that would divide area into two territories: Nebraska in the north and Kansas in the south. • If passed would repeal the Missouri Compromise and establish popular sovereignty for both territories.
Bleeding Kansas • “Border ruffians” from Missouri crossed into Kansas and voted illegally, and won a fraudulent majority for the pro slavery candidates. • Abolitionists, furious over these events organized a rival government. • Bloody violence surfaced in the struggle for Kansas.
Violence in the Senate • Senator Charles Sumner delivered an impassioned speech in the Senate entitled “The Crime Against Kansas.” • For two days he verbally attacked the South and slavery, singling out Senator Andrew Butler of South Carolina. • Butler’s nephew Congressman Preston Brooks, walked into the Senate chamber and struck Sumner repeatedly with a cane until the cane broke. Sumner suffered brain damage.
New Political Parties Emerge Slavery Divides Whigs • Southern faction splintered as its members looked for a pro slavery, pro union party to join. • Northern faction looked for a party of their own.
New Political Parties Emerge The Free-Soilers’ Voice • Objected to slavery’s competition with free white workers, or wage based labor force • Feared such competition would drive down wages. The New Republican Party • Republicans were united in opposing the Kansas-Nebraska Act and keeping slavery out of the territories.
Conflicts Lead to Secession The Dread Scott Decision 1857 • Dread Scott appealed to the Supreme Court for his freedom on the grounds that living in a free state had made him a free man. • Supreme Court ruled Scott, lacked any legal standing to sue in federal court because he was not, and never could be a citizen. Being in a free territory did not make a slave free. Chief Justice Taney presided, came from a slave-owning family.
Lincoln-Douglas Debates • 1858 race for U.S. Senate between Democrat incumbent Stephen Douglas and Republican Abraham Lincoln. • Lincoln challenged Douglas to a series of debates on slavery in the territories. • Douglas believed deeply in popular sovereignty. Lincoln believed slavery was immoral.
Harpers Ferry • 1859 John Brown led 21 men to Harpers Ferry, Virginia to seize the federal arsenal there and start a general slave uprising. • Troops put down the rebellion. Authorities tried Brown and put him to death.
Lincoln Elected President • Lincoln pledged to halt the further spread of slavery • He also tried to reassure Southerners that a Republican administration “would not interfere with their slaves, or with them about their slaves.”
Southern Secession • Lincoln’s victory convinced southerners they had lost their political voice in the national government. • South Carolina seceded 12/20/1860, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. • Four others did not declare secession until after the 1861 Battle of Fort Sumter: Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia
Secession • Four slave states never declared a secession from the Union: Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri. • West Virginia is the only state to form by seceding from a Confederate state.
Secession • Some Southern states decided to act. Delegates from the secessionist states formed the Confederate States of America or Confederacy. • Confederate constitution protected and recognized slavery in new territories. Jefferson Davis Unanimously elected president.