Chapter 15

THE NATION BREAKING APART

(1846 – 1861)

Section 1Growing Tensions Between North

& South

Main Idea: Disagreements between the North & South, especially over the issue of slavery, led to political conflict.

Why it Matters: Regional differences can make national problems difficult to resolve.

•The issue of slavery was tearing apart the nation. To keep the Union together, Congress had created a series of compromises.

The Missouri Compromise of 1820 maintained a balance between slave and free states.

Maine was a free state and Missouri a slave state

A Line was drawn (36-30 degrees) to end any future debate over slavery…..…at least they thought

Missouri Compromise

The vast land acquired in Manifest Destiny would soon created new problems over the old issue of slavery.

Should the new territories allow slavery or be free? Many Northerners feared the southerners would soon rush into the new territories and bring their slaves.

Manifest Destiny = Problems

Wilmot Proviso

•Wanted to outlaw slavery in any new territory

• It divided Congress and never became a law. It did lead to the creation of the Free-Soil Party (dedicated to stopping the expansion of slavery.

•By 1849, California had enough citizens to apply for statehood, but this would disrupt the balance in Congress.

•Henry Clay stepped in to settle the California problem

1. California would be admitted as a free state.

2. The slave trade would be abolished in Washington D.C.

To Please the North

The New Mexico and Utah Territories would be able to decide the issue of slavery by a majority vote. The citizen's would decide whether or not to allow slavery. (popular sovereignty)

To Please the South

Section 2The Crisis Deepens

Main Idea: Turmoil over slavery led to acts of violence.

Why it Matters: Violence can make compromise more difficult.

Congress also passed the Fugitive Slave Act. Made it illegal to assist or help runaway slaves. It denied a fugitive's right to a jury trial. As a result, many free blacks were captured and taking South.

•Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) to portray slavery as brutal and immoral.

•The novel follows the life of a old slave named Uncle Tom. Stowe showed the evils of slavery throughout his life.

•Uncle Tom’s Cabin heightened the conflict between North and South

•President Lincoln is quoted as having declared, "So this is the little lady who made this big war”

“I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just. His justice cannot sleep forever.”

Thomas Jefferson “I am quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away, but with blood.”

John Brown

“I can not and WILL not live in a country where my servant and field hand is my equal.”.

Senator Wigfall from Texas

“A house divided against itself can not stand”.

Abraham Lincoln

“If you persist, the Union will be dissolved. You have kindled a fire which all the waters of the ocean cannot put out, which seas of blood can only extinguish”

Thomas Cobb

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Southern_Chivalry.jpg

14th President of the United States, (1853 to 1857)

Franklin Pierce - Democrat

•The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska.

•Allowed the settlers to decide whether or not to have slavery within those territories.

•popular sovereignty=people rule

•The act was created by Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois.

•The act repealed the 36-30 line of the Missouri Compromise

•Proslavery and antislavery settlers rushed into the Kansas Territory (1855).

•5000 proslavery Missourians came and voted illegally giving legislative power in Kansas to the proslavery group.

• Antislavery settlers boycotted and created their own government.

•A proslavery mob attacked and destroyed Lawrence Kansas, killing antislavery members.

•To avenge the Sack of Lawrence, John Brown (an extreme abolitionist) attacked and murdered 7 proslavery neighbors.

•Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner gave a speech in Congress attacking proslavery forces in Kansas. He also insulted Senator Butler from South Carolina.

•Preston Brooks (S.C. Congressmen) attacked Sumner on the floor of Congress. He hit him over 30 times with a cane.

•Southerners cheered Brooks, Northerners chanted Bleeding Kansas, Bleeding Sumner.

Violence in Congress

Section 3Slavery Dominates Politics

Main Idea: Disagreement over slavery led to the formation of the Republican Party and heightened sectional tensions.

Why it Matters: The Democrats and the Republicans are the major political parties of today.

James Buchanan - Democrat

15th President 1857-1861

•Dred Scott sued for his freedom

•Abolitionists believed this case could end slavery

•Supreme Court ruled African-Americans were not citizens and had NO RIGHTS

•Congress had no right to ban slavery in any territory. “Slavery was Lawful and Legal”

•Slaves were property, thus protected by the 5th Amendment in the Constitution.

•The Republican party was formed in reaction to the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854.

•The party was created from the Northern Whigs, Free-Soilers and a few Northern Democrats who opposed slavery.

•The Republican Parties goal was to oppose the spread of slavery.

•The parties new leader was a young Illinois politician named Abraham Lincoln.

•1858 Republican Abe Lincoln ran against Democrat Stephen A. Douglas for the Illinois US Senate seat.

•Lincoln argued in the HOUSE DIVIDED SPEECH “a house divided against itself cannot stand”” Lincoln believed slavery should not be expanded.

•Douglas (Little Giant) argued slavery should be decided by popular sovereignty.

•Douglas won a close race, but Lincoln made a name for him and his new party.

•Abolitionist John Brown had a plan to inspire slaves to fight for their freedom.

•Brown and several white and black men attacked a US Marine arsenal to capture weapons and supply a slave revolt.

•The attack failed and John Brown was captured.

•He was hanged for murder and treason.

•Southerners were outraged by his actions, Northerners praised his deeds.“I am quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away, but with blood.”John Brown

LAST MOMENTS OF JOHN BROWNLAST MOMENTS OF JOHN BROWN

Section 4Lincoln’s Election and Southern

Secession

Main Idea: The election of Lincoln led the Southern states to secede from the Union.

Why it Matters: This was the only time in U.S. history that states seceded from the Union.

•In the election of 1860 the Democrats split their vote between 2 candidates

•Douglas (popular sovereignty) Breckinridge (States Rights)

•Others joined a new party “Constitutional Union”

•John Bell (preserve the Union)

•Lincoln was the Republican candidate.( Stop Slavery)

Lincoln 40%Douglass 30%Breckinridge 18%Bell 12%Lincoln wins the election, but only receives 40% of the popular vote….and not 1 electoral vote from the South.

RESULTS OF THE ELECTION, CONTINUED:

Outraged…the south threatens to secede.

Dec 20, 1860 South Carolina Secedes. Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas soon follow

I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. Abraham Lincoln

South Carolina seceded on Dec 20, 1860……Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas also left.

These states formed the Confederate States of America and named Jefferson Davis as President

“We ask only to be left alone”

We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

Abraham Lincoln’sFirst Inaugural Address

March 4, 1861Washington, D.C.

Lincoln promised he would not abolish slavery,

but also promised he would NOT let the southern states secede.

North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas and Virginia joined the Confederate States of America after the battle of Fort Sumter….bringing the total to 11 states that seceded

Lincoln’s first choice to led the Union Army was General Robert E. Lee of Virginia. Lee did not believe in slavery or secession.

“I can not raise my hand against my birthplace, my home, my children”

General Robert E. Lee of Virginia was selected as Commander of the Confederate Army

Border States“Choosing Sides”

Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland and Delaware were slave states that were against secession..

They joined the Union and tipped the balance of power to the North……24 Union States v 11 Confederate States