Early Emancipation in the North

Unit 5: The Civil War Through ReconstructionChapter 13: Sectional Conflict & Shattered Union, 1848-1860

Election of 1848

The Compromise of 1850

Henry Clay attempted to compromise matters between the north & south

Congress defeated the bill

Senator Stephen Douglas (IL) divided the compromise into separate bills; they passed

The Compromise of 1850

CA admitted as a free state

Abolition of the slave trade in D.C.; but continued protection of slavery remained

Popular sovereignty would determine slavery in other territories acquired through the Mexican Cession

Land in dispute btwn. TX & NM would go to NM in exchange for federal assumption of TX debt

Tougher Fugitive Slave Law

The Compromise of 1850

Fugitive Slave Act 1850

Northern states were to return fugitives to the South

Fleeing slaves were denied a jury trial & other protections of due process

Northerners who aided the slaves received heavy fines & jail sentences

Underground Railroad

Designed to provide hiding places & aid to runaway slaves along routes leading to Canada

Harriet Tubman

http://freedomcenter.org/underground-railroad-0

Uncle Tom’s CabinWritten by northerner

Harriet Beecher Stowe in response to her outrage over the Fugitive Slave Act

Fictional book depicting what she perceived as the evils of slavery

Impacted people around the world“So you’re the little woman who

wrote the book that made this great war.” – Abraham Lincoln

Election of 1852

Winfield ScottFranklin Pierce

Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)

1854 Douglas introduced a bill in Congress to organize the territories of Kansas & Nebraska

Proposed that their status regarding slavery would be determined through popular sovereignty

Conflicts with the Missouri Compromise

After heated debate, it passed

The Republican Party

Opponents formed a new political party

New party consisted of Northern Democrats, Whigs, & Know-Nothings

Sole unifying purpose was the belief that slavery should be banned from all territories & only confined to where it already existed

Bleeding Kansas

North & South were competing to see who could send the greatest numbers of settlers to Kansas

When the vote came in March 1855, heavily armed “border ruffians” from Missouri crossed into Kansas to cast ballots for pro-slavery candidates

With a pro-slavery govt, the free-soilers created their own separate govt.

Bleeding KansasSoon after, full scale guerilla warfare erupted

In response to the murders of anti-slavery supporters, John Brown kidnapped & killed 5 pro-slavery men

Over 200 men died in the months of fighting

Border “Ruffians”

(pro-slavery Missourians

)

Bleeding KansasRep. Preston Brooks (SC) beat Senator

Charles Sumner (MA) with a cane on the floor of the Senate (1856)

Sen. Charles Sumner(R-MA)

Rep. Preston Brooks(D-SC)

1856 Election

James Buchanan

John C. Fremont

Millard Fillmore

Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857)

Dred Scott, a Missouri slave, sued for freedom on the basis that his owner took him to live in the North

Court rulingScott was a slave, not a citizen, &

therefore couldn’t sue in federal courtAs a slave, he was private property,

so he could be taken anywhere & legally be held in slavery

Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional b/c Congress didn’t have the authority to ban slavery

John Brown’s Raid

Oct 1859 Brown seized the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, VAHoped to incite a slave rebellion

Captured and charged with treason

Sentenced to death

Southerners feared for their safety

Election of 1860

Abraham LincolnRepublican

John BellConstitutional

Union

Stephen A. DouglasNorthern Democrat

John C. BreckinridgeSouthern Democrat

Republican Party Platform

-Non-extension of slavery [for the Free-Soilers].

-Protective tariff [for the No. Industrialists].

-No abridgment of rights for immigrants [a disappointment for the “Know-Nothings”].

-Government aid to build a Pacific RR [for the Northwest].

-Internal improvements [for the West] at federal expense.

-Free homesteads for the public domain [for farmers].

Election of 1860

Abraham LincolnRepublican

John BellConstitutional

Union

Stephen A. DouglasNorthern Democrat

John C. BreckinridgeSouthern Democrat

1860 Election: A Nation Coming Apart?!

Secession

Crittenden’s Proposal

Constitutional amendment prohibiting federal meddling with slavery where it existed and an extension of the Missouri Compromise to the Pacific

Fort Sumter: April 12, 1861