chapter 12: slavery and sectionalism: the political crisis of 1848-1861

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Slavery and SectionalismThe Political Crisis of 1848–1861

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Slavery and Sectionalism

I. The Slavery Question in the Territories

II. Political Realignment

III. Two Societies

IV. A House Divided

THE POLITICAL CRISIS OF 1848–1861

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The Slavery Question in the Territories

A. The Gold Rush

B. Organizing California and New Mexico

C. The Compromise of 1850

D. Sectionalism on the Rise

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The Gold Rush

What was the fate of most fortune seekers who headed west to mine for gold?

How did the Gold Rush affect the Native Americans of California?

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Organizing California and New Mexico

Why did Southerners react so negatively to Present Taylor’s plan?

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The Compromise of 1850

Compromise of 1850 – A congressional attempt to resolve the slavery question by making concessions to both the North and South

Fugitive Slave Act – A component of the Compromise of 1850 that increased the federal government’s obligation to capture and return escaped slaves to their owners

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The Compromise of 1850

What did Seward mean by a “higher law”?

How did the Congressional vote on the Compromise of 1850 reveal growing sectionalism?

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Sectionalism on the Rise

Why did Southerners demand a Fugitive Slave Act?

What made Uncle Tom’s Cabin such an influential piece of antislavery literature?

What caused the furor over the Fugitive Slave Act to eventually subside?

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Sectionalism on the Rise

Underground Railroad – A network of safe houses and secret hiding places along routes leading to the North and into Canada

• Helped several thousand slaves gain their freedom between 1830 and 1860

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Choices and ConsequencesRESISTING THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT

In February 1851, federal authorities captured an escaped slave, Shadrach Minkins, in Boston.

200 white and black abolitionists gathered outside the jail where he was held to protest.

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Choices and ConsequencesRESISTING THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT

Choices regarding the Fugitive Slave Act

Declare the act immoral and work

to free Minkins

Respect the laws and work through the courts to free

Minkins

Respect the laws and accept

Minkins’ return to slavery, but

organize a more effective effort to

help fugitive slaves leave the country

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Choices and ConsequencesRESISTING THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT

Decision and consequences• 20 African-American men burst into the

courtroom and took Minkins to Canada.• Similar incidents occurred elsewhere.• Southerners were outraged and discussed

secession.

What caused the furor over the Fugitive Slave Act to eventually subside?

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Choices and ConsequencesRESISTING THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT

Continuing Controversies

•When are acts of civil disobedience and violence to further the cause of justice legitimate?

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Political Realignment

A. Young America

B. The Kansas-Nebraska Act

C. Republicans and Know-Nothings

D. Ballots and Blood

E. Deepening Controversy

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Young America

What ideals inspired Young America’s vision of westward expansion?

Why did many Southerners support efforts to annex Cuba and seize other Caribbean and Latin American countries?

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Young America

Young America – The movement within the Democratic Party that embraced Manifest Destiny and promoted territorial expansion, increased international trade, and the spread of American ideals of democracy and free enterprise abroad

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The Kansas-Nebraska Act

Why did most Northerners oppose the repeal of the Missouri Compromise line of 36°30′?

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The Kansas-Nebraska Act

Kansas-Nebraska Act – An 1854 act designed to resolve the controversy over whether slavery would be permitted in the western territories

• Repealed the ban on slavery north of 36°30′ (the Missouri Compromise)

• Created two separate territories, Kansas (west of Missouri) and Nebraska (west of Iowa).

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Republicans and Know-Nothings

What events led to the formation of the Republican Party?

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Republicans and Know-Nothings

Know-Nothing Party – The nickname for the constituents of the nativist, or anti-immigrant, American Party

• Called for legislation restricting office holding to native-born citizens

• Wanted to raise the period of naturalization for citizenship from five to twenty-one years

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Ballots and Blood

What anti-immigrant laws did the American Party propose?

Why did anti-immigrant sentiment rise in the 1850s?

How did events in Kansas expose the flaw in the policy of popular sovereignty?

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Ballots and Blood

Bleeding Kansas – The wave of vigilante reprisals and counter-reprisals by proslavery and antislavery forces in Kansas in 1856

Black Republicans – A racist pejorative used to suggest that Republicans were dangerous radicals who favored abolition and racial equality

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Images as HistoryTHE “FOREIGN MENACE”

In the 1840s and 1850s, native-born Americans feared that the political power, habits, and the Catholic religion of the immigrants would undermine American democracy.

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Images as History

The barrels that the immigrants wear suggest that they drink too much alcohol.

The brawl at the polls in the background suggests that immigrants threaten democracy through violence.

The ballot box in the immigrants’ hands reveals the fear of their political power.

THE “FOREIGN MENACE”

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Images as History

The eagle emphasizes the importance of public schools to American democracy.

The Pope is seated on a throne, making him the antithesis of American democracy.

The Pope points to the public school, where a priest is organizing an attack.

The bible under the Pope’s foot suggests that Catholics are discouraged from reading the Bible on their own.

THE “FOREIGN MENACE”

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Deepening Controversy

How did the Supreme Court use the Dred Scott case to expand and protect the rights of slaveholders?

Why did Congress reject the Lecompton Constitution?

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Deepening Controversy

Dred Scott v. Sandford – The highly controversial 1857 Supreme Court decision that rejected the claim of the slave Dred Scott

• Scott argued that time spent with his owner in regions that barred slavery had made him a free man.

• The decision declared that Congress lacked the right to regulate slavery in the territories.

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Two Societies

A. The Industrial North

B. Cotton Is Supreme

C. The Other South

D. Divergent Visions

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The Industrial North

What developments helped spur industrialization in the North?

How did new technology transform American agriculture?

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Envisioning Evidence

Growth of the textile industry in the North and Britain created demand for cotton.

Between 1815 and 1860, millions of white settlers moved south.

Settlers brought slaves and began to raise cotton.

THE RISE OF KING COTTON

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Envisioning Evidence

Cotton production grew 6,600% between 1800 and 1860.

Cotton was the most profitable product in the South.

Profit from cotton allowed for the purchase of more slaves.

THE RISE OF KING COTTON

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Cotton Is Supreme

What did Southerners mean by the phrase “Cotton is King”?

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The Other South

Why did Southern whites who owned no slaves support slavery?

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Divergent Visions

How did the Panic of 1857 strengthen the Southern argument for secession?

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Divergent Visions

Free Labor – A pro-capitalist Northern philosophy that presented an idealized vision of the industrial North

• Celebrated the virtues of individualism, independence, entrepreneurship, and upward mobility

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A House Divided

A. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates

B. John Brown’s Raid

C. The Election of 1860

D. Secession

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The Lincoln-Douglas Debates

How did the Lincoln-Douglas debates harm Douglas’s presidential ambitions?

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The Lincoln-Douglas Debates

Lincoln-Douglas Debates – A series of high-profile debates in Illinois in 1858 between Senate candidates Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham Lincoln that focused primarily on the slavery controversy

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John Brown’s Raid

John Brown’s Raid – A failed assault led by radical abolitionist John Brown on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, on October 16, 1859

• Intended to seize the guns and ammunition and then touch off a wave of slave rebellions

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John Brown’s Raid

Why did many Northerners consider John Brown a martyr?

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The Election of 1860

What was unique about Lincoln’s victory in the election of 1860?

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Secession

What prevented a compromise the spring of 1861?

Why did Lincoln attempt to resupply Fort Sumter?

How did the slavery issue factor into Mississippi’s decision to secede?

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Secession

Crittenden Compromise – An unsuccessful proposal by Kentucky senator John J. Crittenden to resolve the secession crisis with constitutional amendments to protect slavery

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Competing VisionsSECESSION OR UNION?

Both Mississippi’s declaration of secession and Lincoln’s inaugural address from March 1861 invoke the Constitution and other American traditions to justify their positions on secession.

Mississippi’s declaration of secession argues that the North attacked slavery, which violated rights granted by the Constitution.

Lincoln asserted that he was not hostile to Southern interests, and that the Constitution did not give states the right to secede.

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Competing Visions

Mississippi argued that staying in the Union would mean subjugation.

Lincoln argued that any conflicts would be the result of Southern aggression.

SECESSION OR UNION?