C H A P T E R 1 4

THE NATION DIVIDED

NEW TERRITORY

• The Missouri Compromise of 1820 successfully quieted the issue of slavery.• After the Mexican-American War, the United

States added a huge amount of territory.• Renews the struggle between free/slave states for power

in Congress.US Senate in 1848

Free StatesSlave States30

senators30

senators

WILMOT PROVISO

• Questions began to arise of what would happen to the newly acquired lands.• Northerners feared the spread of slavery to

western territories

• In 1846, David Wilmot of Pennsylvania proposed that Congress ban slavery in all of the Mexican cession.• Though it was rejected by Congress, it

aroused great concern in the South.• The north was directly attacking the South’s

way of life.

NEW PARTY

• Neither the Democrats or the Whigs took a strong stance on slavery.• Democratic candidate Lewis Cass

proposed the idea of popular sovereignty.• People in the territory or state would

vote directly on issues (slavery)

• Anti-Slavery Democrats and Whigs formed the Free-Soil Party.• Martin Van Buren was selected to be

their candidate.

12TH PRESIDENT

• Van Buren performed terribly in the election, but did steal away votes from the Democrats• Hero of the Mexican-American War: Zachary

Taylor wins the election for the Whig Party.

A BITTER DEBATE

• Several issues were at hand at the beginning of Zachary Taylor’s term in office:1. California: Free or Slave State?

California petitioned to be a state in 1849. Northerners argued that because the majority of the state was above the Missouri Comp. line that California should be a free state.

2. Slavery in Washington D.C. Northerners were not happy that slavery was in the nation’s

capital.

3. Fugitive Slaves Southerners wanted northerners to return runaway

slaves to the south

“THE GREAT COMPROMISER”

• Henry Clay introduces the Compromise of 1850:1. California is a free state2. Banned slave trade in Washington DC3. Popular sovereignty to determine fate of Mexican Cession (free/slave)4. Tough new fugitive slave law

OPPOSITION

• States’ rights supporter: John C. Calhoun• Calls for secession of slave states

• President Zachary Taylor also is against the Compromise.

DEATH IN THE WHITE HOUSE

• Zachary Taylor dies• Millard Fillmore becomes the 13th president.

• Fillmore supports Clay’s Compromise and signs it into law.

FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT OF 1850

• Allowed special government officials to arrest any person accused of being a runaway slave.• Suspects had no right to trial• No evidence needed• Also required northerners to help capture “fugitives”

OUTRAGE

• Examples of injustice:• Indiana man torn from family because slave owner

claimed he ran away 19 years earlier.• A wealthy tailor was taken back to South Carolina after

living in New York for several years.• White Northerners could be arrested and fined $1,000 for

not helping ‘slave-catchers’

• African Americans began fleeing to Canada in fear of being stolen into slavery• Mobs form in northern cities.• Bostonians rise up against ‘slave-catchers’. Threaten

harm if they don’t leave immediately.

OUTRAGE

• The Fugitive Slave Act further proved the evil of slavery to northerners.• Created a sense of urgency to rid the nation of it.

UNCLE TOM’S CABIN

• Harriet Beecher Stowe, the daughter of an abolitionist minister, writes the influential book.• “something that will make this whole nation feel what

an accursed thing slavery is.”

• Sold 300,000 copies in the first year.

UNCLE TOM’S CABIN

• Showed the evil and severity of slavery• Turned slavery from a political issue to a moral

issue.• Northerners were shocked and disgusted• Southerners claimed it to be propaganda

KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT

• Stephen A. Douglas suggested forming two new territories.• Kansas Territory and Nebraska Territory

• To win southern support, Douglass proposed that slavery in the new territories would be determined by popular sovereignty. • Undoes the Missouri Compromise.

KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT

• When passed by the 14th President: Franklin Pierce, Douglass predicted:• “the issue of slavery will now forever be banished from

the halls of Congress”• OMG, he was completely wrong

TROUBLE IN KANSAS

• White citizens of the Kansas and Nebraska territory could now vote on the issue of slavery.• Both proslavery and antislavery citizens flooded

into Kansas to vote illegally.• Although Kansas had only 3,000 citizens; 8,000 votes

were cast on election day.

RESULTS

• 36 of 39 legislators elected are pro-slavery.• Anti-slavery Kansans refuse to accept the results and

hold a second election.

• Kansas now had two governments

BLEEDING KANSAS

• Border-ruffians: armed groups from Missouri who used violence against abolitionist.• 800 pro-slavery men attack anti-slavery city: Lawrence,

KS.

• John Brown led 7 men into a pro-slavery town and murdered 5 men.

BLOOD IN CONGRESS

• Charles Sumner, an anti-slavery senator, rants about pro-slavery supporters. Singles out Andrew Butler, a senator from South Carolina.• Butler was not present for the speech.

• A few days later Butler’s nephew, Congressman Preston Brooks, marched into the Senate chamber and beat Sumner with a heavy cane until he was bloody and unconscious.• The south felt Sumner got what he deserved.• To the north, this proved the brutal and inhumane

ways of the south.

ANOTHER NEW PARTY

• The Whig Party splits up.• The Republican party forms.• northern, anti-slavery

ELECTION OF 1856

James Buchanan

Democrat

John C. Fremont

Republican

DRED SCOTT

• Dred Scott was an enslaved man who was owned by an Army doctor.

• The doctor and Scott lived in Illinois and Wisconsin before returning to Missouri.• Illinois and Wisconsin =

slavery is illegal

DRED SCOTT CASE

• Scott sued for his freedom.• He argued that he was free because he had lived in a

place where slavery was illegal.

• The decision:• 1. Dred Scott was not a free man• 2. Scott had no right to sue because slaves are not

citizens• 3. Living in a free territory does not make a slave free.• 4. Slaves are property, and the Constitution protects

property rights• 5. Congress did not have the power to prohibit slavery

anywhere

REACTION

• Supporters of slavery rejoiced. • Slavery was now legal

everywhere

• Northerners were outraged• An Illinois lawyer spoke out

against the decision:

LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATE

• 1858, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas ran against each other to be the senator of Illinois.• Despised one another: Different political ideas and both

courted Mary Todd (Abe won)

• Lincoln challenged Douglas to a debate• Douglas supported popular sovereignty• Tried to make Lincoln out to be a dangerous abolitionist.

• Lincoln stood against the spread of slavery.

THE DEBATES

Douglas

• “Each state has a right to do as it pleases on the subject of slavery.”• “It is none of our

business (Illinois) whether slavery exists in Missouri”

Lincoln

• “If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong”

• Americans are obligated to keep slavery out of western territories.

• “there is no reason in the world why the Negro is not entitled to…the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

DOUGLAS WINS

• Though Lincoln lost the election for Senate, he became a national celebrity.• Two years later, the two would once again face

off, but this time for the presidency.

JOHN BROWN

• American abolitionist who believed armed insurrection was the only way to overthrow the institution of slavery.• After his attacks in

Kansas, Brown moved back to New England

RAID ON HARPERS FERRY

• In 1859 Brown led he, his sons and other followers to Harpers Ferry, Virginia.• His plan was to attack the arsenal and arm

African American slaves for a revolt.

RESULTS

• John Brown expected slaves to runaway and join him at the arsenal and it did not happen.

• 10 of his men were killed and he was arrested and hung.

• The north mourned him as a hero and martyr.

• The south was convinced their way of life was being attacked.

AN APPROACHING WAR

• Americans everywhere sensed a crisis• Slavery had seriously divided the country.• The incident at Harpers Ferry, as well as the

growing strength of the Republicans had southerners worrying about their future.

ELECTION OF 1860

• The Republicans quickly selected Abraham Lincoln to represent them.• Southerners were split.• Northern Democrats: Stephen Douglas(popular

sovereignty)• Southern Democrats: John C. Breckinridge(states’ rights)• Union Party: John Bell (protect slavery and keep union)

LINCOLN WINS!

THE NOT SO “UNITED” STATES

• The south is enraged.• Congress and now the President have hate for their way

of life.

“A party (Republican) founded on the single sentiment of hatred of African slavery, is now the controlling power. The honor, safety, and independence of the Southern people are to be found only in a Southern Confederacy.”

SECESSION

• South Carolina becomes the first state to secede.• SIX MORE STATES FOLLOWED forming the Confederate

States of America:•  MS, FL, AL, GA, LA, and TX

• Justified their succession with the theory of states’ rights

• They selected Mississippi senator Jefferson Davis as their president.

THE CIVIL WAR BEGINS

• On March 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln became President of a nation facing the greatest crisis in its history.

• He promised in his inaugural address to try and protect the Union

• But he also warned the south about continuing with their current actions.

FORT SUMTER

• An island fortification located in South Carolina

FORT SUMTER

• After South Carolina seceded, US Army commander Robert Anderson refused to abandon is post.

• On April 12, 1861the Confederacy attacked the fort.• By days end the wood fort was completely ablaze and

Union forces had to surrender.

THE BEGINNING

• The attack on Fort Sumter marked the official beginning to a long and bloody Civil War.

ROAD TO THE CIVIL WAR

1. REPRESENTATION (SLAVE/FREE STATES)• WILMOT PROVISO, BLEEDING KANSAS, COMPROMISE OF

1850

2. THE INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY• JOHN BROWN, DRED SCOTT CASE, UNCLE TOM’S CABIN

3. ABRAHAM LINCOLN ELECTED PRESIDENT• Republican Party controls government

4. SOUTHERN STATES SECEDE• South Carolina leads the way

5. CONFEDERACY ATTACKS FORT SUMTER• Lincoln forced to retaliate