Chapter 11Sectional Conflict Increases

An Uneasy Balance

The Debate Reopens

• Tensions were mounting over the issue of slavery

• Missouri Compromise of 1820 did not end the debate– Congressional debates often ended in

violence (Representatives sometimes took bowie knives to the House chamber)

The Annexation of Texas

• The admission of Texas, which permitted slavery, would tip the balance of power in the Senate towards slave states

• Issue was settled in 1845– Texas admitted as a slave state but said

Texas could divide into 5 states if they desired– Congress extended the line that was set with

the Missouri Compromise (36 30’)

Popular Sovereignty • Annexation of Texas did not end the debate• Prospect of victory in Mexican War revived

the debate about whether slavery would be allowed in any territory acquired

• President Polk suggested we extend the Missouri Compromise line to Pacific Ocean

• Lewis Case (Michigan) and Stephen Douglas (Illinois) suggested any new territory rely on popular sovereignty– Allows citizens of each new territory to

vote on whether to allow slavery or not

• Neither proposal satisfied those opposed to slavery

• Proposed Amendment – Wilmot Proviso– Banned slavery in any land acquired for

Mexico– All but one northern state ratified amendment– Southern states threatened to secede if it

became law– Wilmot Proviso was cut from the final bill

1848 Election

• By the 1848 election, Congress still had not decided on the issue of slavery in Mexican Cession

• Democrats – Lewis Case, Whigs – Zachary Taylor

• Taylor campaigned as “Independent” or “No Party” – symbolized he was above parties

• Democrats formed the Free-Soil Party– Demanded Congress prohibit the expansion of

slavery into new territories• Zachary Taylor wins by a slim margin

Slavery Issue in Congress

• Congress still divided over slavery in the Mexican Cession

• President Taylor urged Congress to admit California as a free state– Southern members of Congress opposed

• Debates over New Mexico and Texas also plagued members of Congress

Clay’s Proposal• Urged southerners and northerners to

compromise• Presented a plan that satisfied south and north

– Clay proposed admitting California as free state and abolishing the slave trade (not slavery) in D.C

– Advocated paying Texas 10 million to abandon its claim to part of New Mexico

– To convince southerners – NM to be divided into 2 territories – NM and Utah – on basis of popular sovereignty

– Pass a tougher fugitive slave law

• Clay closed by suggesting that sectional interests be put aside to preserve Union– Northerners who supported the breakup were

abolitionists– Southerners who supported the breakup were

fire-eaters (strong proponents of slavery)

Great Debate

• Congress debated Clay’s proposal for months

• John C. Calhoun fiercely fought the proposal – huge fire-eater from SC– House of Rep./Secretary of war/state,

Senator, VP throughout his career– Debates over slavery convinced him the best

option was a dual presidency (North and South)

• Calhoun played key role in the debates of 1850 and was a powerful supported of south until his death that year

• Daniel Webster of Mass. Gave s speech supporting Clay’s proposal– Most northerners objected because you cannot

compromise over slavery• President Taylor was against Clay’s proposal –

however he died making Millard Fillmore President

• Fillmore supported Clay • September 1850 Congress passed Clay’s

measures

Compromise of 1850

Compromise Comes to an End

• Compromise of 1850 did not completely settle the slavery issue

• Election of 1852– Democrats – Franklin Pierce (supporter of

Compromise of 1850– Whigs turned to Mexican War hero General

Winfield Scott– Pierce won the election by a landslide

• “Northern man with southern principles” - Abolitionists

Fugitive Slave Act

• Compromise of 1850 began to fall apart before 1852 election thanks to the inclusion of the Fugitive Slave Act

• Fugitive Slave Act– Made it a federal crime to assist runaway slaves – Authorized the arrest of escaped slaves even in

states where slavery was illegal (angered the North)

• Supporters of Compromise of 1850 were shocked by the government’s new law

Anti-Slavery Literature

• Uncle Tom’s Cabin– Harriet Beecher Stowe

• Reactions to the book– The book depicted slavery in many forms – harsh

sugar plantations to the homes of slaveholders to runaway slaves

– Showed how slavery tore apart families– Justified northern feelings about the ills and wrongs of

slavery– 300,000 copies sold in 9 months– Southern audiences hated it – banned in many parts

of the south

Kansas-Nebraska Act

• Slavery debate revived again in 1854• Stephen Douglas of Illinois was huge supporter

of western expansion • Construction of the railroad meant Congress had

to organize western lands – which reopened slavery debate

• Douglas introduced the Kansas-Nebraska Act – Organized the territories of Kansas and Nebraska on

basis of popular sovereignty

• Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise

• Passage of the act renewed southern hopes of extending slavery

• Not everyone hated the act solely on abolitionist grounds – economics issue– Force out “white” workers– Critics said they would slave labor instead of

hiring workers

“Bleeding Kansas”

• Kansas-Nebraska Act pitted anti-slavery and pro-slavery forces against one another for control of new territories

• Elections in Kansas– Pro-Slavery forces took action in March 1855– As Kansas prepared to elect first legislature,

5000 pro-slavery residents moved in the area– Illegal voters from Missouri helped elect pro-

slavery legislature

• Anti-slavery residents refused to recognize the legitimacy of the new government– Formed the Free State Party and elected their

own legislature

• Conflict became inevitable– Pro-slavery raiders from Missouri attacked

anti-slavery Kansas settlers– Anti-slavery supporters responded under

John Brown and attacked town of Pottawatomie

• Pottawatomie Massacre – dragged 5 men from their beds and brutally murdered them

The Republican Party

• In 1854, a group of antislavery Whigs and Democrats came together with some Free-Soilers, organized a party that opposed slavery– Republican Party

• Elections of 1854 and 1856 (Congressional)– Republicans – John Fremont / Democrats –

James Buchanan

• James Buchanan (D) won Presidency in 1856– Election ends the Whig Party

• Lecompton Constitution– Gave voters of Kansas only the right to decide

whether more slaves could enter the territory, not whether slavery should indeed exist

On the Brink of War

Dred Scott and the Supreme Court

• Dred Scott – slave held by John Emerson (army surgeon)

• After Emerson died, Scott sued for his freedom

• 1856 – case reached the Supreme Court– Chief Justice Roger B. Taney

• Taney declared that Scott was not a citizen and could not bring suits in US courts

• Taney – founders saw African Americans as “beings of an inferior order having no rights which the white man was bound to respect”

• Taney also said the federal government had no authority to limit expansion of slavery

• Dred Scott Decision outraged abolitionists

• After passage of Kansas-Nebraska Act and Dred Scott decision, seemed to be no way to stop expansion of slavery

Lincoln and Douglas

• After the Dred Scott decision and Kansas-Nebraska Act – Abraham Lincoln (R) ran for Senate in Illinois against inccumbent Stephen Douglas– Lincoln – opposed to ideas and expansion of

slavery

• Stephen Douglas– Supported popular sovereignty

Lincoln-Douglas Debates• Lincoln challenged Douglas in a series of 7

debates between August and October 1858– Lincoln attacked the Dred Scott decision, spoke out

against slavery• “I do not believe it is a constitutional right to hold slaves in a

territory of the US”

– In Freeport, Illinois – Lincoln challenged Douglas on how popular sovereignty was still workable

– Douglas replied that people can still keep slavery out by refusing to pass local laws

• “People have the lawful means introduce or exclude it as they please

– Douglas edges Lincoln

John Brown’s Raid• Year after Lincoln-Douglas debates – John

Brown (leader of Pottawatomie Massacre), headed east

• Attack on Harpers Ferry– Oct. 16, 1859 Brown and his small force seized the

federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, VA– Planned to give guns to slaves – hoped slaves and

freed blacks would come to his aid– No slaves came to help him– Mid-October – Brown captured by forces under

General Robert E. Lee– Convicted of murder and was hanged

Reactions to Brown

• Hailed by many well-known abolitionists as a hero

• Seen a blood-thirsty fanatic who deserved his punishment by many southerners

Election of 1860• By 1860 the US was deeply divided• Democrats – John Breckinridge • Republicans – Abraham Lincoln• Election results mirrored the nation’s sectional

divisions• Breckinridge carried every southern lower state

(VA – KY – TN voted for Bell)• Lincoln carried most northern states – only won

40 percent of popular vote but won a landslide in electoral votes– Lincoln – 180; Breckinridge – 72; Bell – 39; Douglas -

12

Secession

• Many southerners view Lincoln’s election as a victory for abolition

• Within days of his election, South Carolina called a convention and unanimously voted to leave the nation – Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana,

Mississippi, and Texas soon follow– 1861 – delegates of the seceding states

drafted a constitution – Confederate States of America

• Confederate Constitution mirrored the US Constitution with several key differences– Guaranteed the right to own slaves– Stressed each state was “sovereign and

independent” – States rights

• Elect Jefferson Davis as President • James Buchanan left office leaving the

problem for Abraham Lincoln to deal with• Southern secessionists justified their

position with the doctrine of states rights– Freely joined and could freely leave

• Northerners stated that by ratifying the Constitution they agreed to make it supreme law of the land

• Issue went beyond states rights – southerners determined to protect slavery

• Northern Republicans asserted that majority rule represented a fundamental principle of republican government

• Lincoln said the south must accept the election results

WAR