The Union Crumbles

Antebellum America

1860-1861

Today in History: 1855• 1855: 5,000 “Border Ruffians” invaded Kansas from western Missouri

– Forced the election of a pro-slavery legislature. – To prevent further bloodshed, Andrew H. Reeder, the territorial governor

appointed by President Pierce, approved the election.

• In opposition to the fraudulently elected pro-slavery legislature of Kansas, the Kansas Free State forces set up a governor and legislature under their Topeka Constitution– Outlawed slavery in the territory.

• The Kansas Free State forces were formed, armed by supporters in the North and led by John Brown.

• May 1856: Border Ruffians sacked the abolitionist town of Lawrence• A small Free State force under John Brown massacred five pro-slavery

Kansans along the Pottawatomie Creek in retaliation. • During the next four years, raids, skirmishes, and massacres continued

in "Bleeding Kansas," as it became popularly known.

John Brown’s Raid• Funded by prominent northern abolitionists• October 16, 1859, hoped to start a slave insurrection in the

South• Brown and 18 followers seized US arsenal in Harpers Ferry,

VA– Slave uprising did not occur– Brown was attacked by civilians, local militia, then US troops

under R.E. Lee– Brown surrendered after 10 men were killed

• Brown was hanged with 6 followers for treason against the state after a trial in Virginia– The raid convinced southerners that they could not live safely in the

Union• Many wrongly believed the Republican party supported Brown

Sweeping Sentiment

• Most southerners ignored differences between free-soil and abolition– Free soil: slavery does not enter western territories– Abolition: end of slavery– Extreme abolition: immediate end of slavery,

citizenship for blacks

• John Brown’s Raid turned all Northerners into abolitionist extremists

Native Americans

• Systematic hunting of bison herds by whites began in 1860

• Indians still inhabited large areas of the upper Great Lakes states– Hunting, fishing, some agriculture principle economic

products• Tribes not integrated into larger economy

• 8 western Native American reservations were created– Resistance continued for 30 years

• Western Sioux, Cheyenne, Arapahos, Kiowa, Comanche, Nez Perce, Bannock, Apaches

Stark Differences

• 26% of free population in North lived in towns or cities with populations of 2,500 or more

• 10% of free population in South lived in towns or cities with populations of 2,500 or more

• 94% of whites in North literate• 83% of whites in South literate

The Wealthy

• 10% of families owned 70% of the wealth in the US–Many rich lived in cities• Merchants, industrialists, bankers

– Astors– Rosthschilds– Vanderbilt

– In South: Planters• 60% of nation’s wealthiest• More and better land, more slaves

The Middling Classes

• Middle class grew as a result of growing industrial economy– People could prosper for the first time without owning

land• Shop owners, traders, professionals

– Owned own homes• Women stayed home and cared for children• Could afford servants

– Immigrant women

The Working Class

• Some mobility in working class: unskilled laborers could become skilled laborers– Single, foreign-born women made up 15% of working

class–Most women worked as domestic servants

• Any who could afford to do so, moved west• Many Virginia and Kentucky residents moved to

Ohio, Indiana, Illinois–More whites moved out of South than in

Northern Trading Centers

• Trading posts on rivers became major cities• Saint Louis, Cincinnati, Pittsburg, Louisville• On Great Lakes: Buffalo, Detroit, Milwaukee,

Cleveland, Chicago

Railroads Expand

• By 1860s: 30,000 miles of track in US– North had 4 times the track of the south– Chicago became the rail center of the west– The west depended on the Mississippi River less for

getting good to the north– Towns, ranches, farms grew along railroad routes– Cut the times of shipping and travel• Before: NY to Chicago by lake and canal: 3 weeks• After: 2 days

New Communication• Samuel Morse sent a telegraph signal over electric

cable– Developed code with bursts of electricity in 1835 and

completed in 1844– By 1860: 50,000 of miles of telegraph wire in US• Wires ran along railroad tracks and in officer in railroad

stations• 1866: transatlantic cable laid

– Journalism benefitted• Wires sent news across the country• News publishers formed the Associated Press in 1846 to

promote cooperative news gathering by wire

Manufacturing in the North

• Manufactured goods in 1840 produced $483 million; in 1860: $2 billion–Manufactured goods equaled agricultural products– 140,000 manufacturing establishments in US

• Over ½ in northeast in 1860– Northeast produced more than 2/3 of manufactured

goods and employed ¾ of manufacturing workers

Old Northwest Industry

• Steady industrial growth– Cleveland flourishing– Cincinnati: center of meatpacking in Ohio Valley– Chicago: national center of agricultural machinery

and meat-packing industry

Old Northwest Agriculture• Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa,

Minnesota– Timber industry developed in 1850s– Average size of western farms: 200 acres• Wheat the staple crop

• Industrialization boosted agriculture– As cities grew, demand for farm produced goods

increased– Prices rose• Most Northwest products went to the Northeast• Resulted in a strong, profitable relationship • Isolated the South within the Union

Impact of Technology • New techniques and technologies reduced need for

labor– New seeds developed

• Mediterranean wheat hardier than native plant

– Imported better breeds of animals• Sheep, hogs from England, Spain

• New tools and farm machines– Cast iron plow still popular because the parts were easily

replaced– Automatic reaper replace sickle, cradle, hand labor

• 6-7 men did work of 15

• 1840: thresher separated grain from wheat stalks– 25 bushels a day as compared to 7 a day by hand

Commonality

• Shared with the North: – Protestant religion–Western European traditions– English language, law, government structure– Democracy, capitalism, committed to individual rights– Constitution

• Slavery an example of private property– Not contradiction of liberty

Border States

• Delaware• Maryland• Kentucky• Missouri• Larger populations of free blacks– Less than 20% of population enslaved– 21 % free blacks

• Smaller populations of slave-owning whites

Lower South

• Georgia• South Carolina• Florida• Alabama• Mississippi• Texas• 2 % of blacks free• Slaves held by fewer than ¼ of families

Planter Class• Planter class was small but powerful– “model for social aspiration” in the South

• White ruling class was the dominant force in the southern economy because the cotton economy was so entrenched– Code of chivalry and honor: dueling still occurred– Avoided the “coarseness” of trade and commerce

• Young men became planters or officers in military• Most small farmers depended on the plantation

aristocracy– Access to cotton gin– Markets for crops and livestock– Credit or financial assistance

Picture of southern estate

Reality

• Most born with land and slaves faced uncertainty

• Lived in modest homes• Emphasized education for sons• Local power came from admiration from

smaller farmers

Passion for Materialism and Money

• Mississippi slaveholders were “engrossed in selling cotton in order to buy more negroes – to make more cotton to buy more negroes – the [planter’s] whole soul is wrapped up in the pursuit.”

• “The Old South emerged as a bastard child of merchant capital and developed as a noncapitalist society increasingly antagonistic to, but inseparable from the bourgeois that sired it.”

Southern Cities• Had populations fewer than 4,000• On the edges of the south– Northern• Louisville, Baltimore, St. Louis

– Coastal• Norfolk, Charleston, Mobile, New Orleans

• Preferred beauty to industrialization and urbanization– Fredericksburg, Richmond, Williamsburg known for

culture and architecture

Southern Industry• International rankings:– 5th in cotton textile production– 2nd in railroad miles– 8th in iron production

• Factories grew in Virginia and Georgia– Far behind the North

• Most economic growth came from land production• Labor shortage did not permit industrialization– Immigrants went North– Poor white farmers stayed in agriculture

Lacking Business Culture

• South lacked accountants and clerks• Depended on Northern bankers, shippers, traders,

insurers to keep economy running• Investment in slaves brought profit and status• Slavery system ill-suited for urbanization and

industrialization– Agricultural labor system on farms and plantations

• Few colleges– Southern gentlemen went north for college

“Southernism”• Southern distinctiveness, cultural nationalism• Diverged through politics, economy, literature, education• Resented tariffs, ship subsidies, internal improvement bills

aimed at helping the North • Bound by the notion of honor

– Moral framework of behavior– Valor, approval of others, self-defined sense of personal autonomy

• Defended slavery on historical, biblical, scientific, economic, social, political grounds– Slaves the economic status symbol of the south– Abolition meant the loss of Southern liberty– Upholding the values of the American Republic

• North represented corruption, materialism, atheism• “Our natural prosperity, and domestic happiness are inseparable from it.”

Southern Society• 8 million whites– Slavery was the Southern way of life

• Typical white southerner: yeoman farmer– Independent, owned few if any slaves• Often worked alongside slaves in fields

– Subsistence farming • Some grew crops for market, few left debt

• Herdsmen– Kept livestock on open ranges and in forests– Irish and Scottish descent– Hogs and other livestock worth more than twice the

cotton crop of 1860

Highlanders

• Southern highlanders, or “hill people”– Lived in Appalachian ranges east of the

Mississippi River, Ozarks west of Miss. River, other “backcountry” areas cut off from commercial plantation system

– Subsistence farmers– Typically owned no slaves– Defied southern conformity• Resisted secession

Southern Lady

• Slaveholding women understood themselves wives and mothers– Engaged in spinning, weaving, supervised slave work– Less educated than northern white women– Did not consider their public rights

• Feminist movements did not exist– Reform of status would upset balance of social order– Rural lifestyle made meetings of women difficult– Did not control their fertility

• Dominated by husbands and fathers– Divorce less frequent

Defense of Southern Society

• http://video.pbs.org/video/1951151956• “No mobs, no trade unions, no strikes….”• Northern factories “filthy, crowded,

licentious….”• Southerners condemned the Northern social

system as immoral and irreparable• Slavery more humane than northern factory

conditions– Offered neither security nor living wages

Poor Landless

• Supported themselves by foraging or hunting or as laborers– Slavery limited labor opportunity– Poor were looked down upon by the planters,

yeoman, even slaves

Slave Codes• Slavery made the south distinct from the north,

blacks from whites– forbid slaves from:

– Holding property– Leaving land without permissions– Going out after dark– Congregate outside the church

» Sometimes happened– Carrying firearms– Strike a white person– Testify in court against a white person– Getting married

Southern Families• Women usually gave birth at 14 or 15• “husbands” and “wives” often lived on different

plantations–Met in secret, usually at night

• 1/3 of all families broken by slave trade– Average slave saw 10 relatives sold

• Most frequent cause of slaves running away was to find a child or “spouse”– Extended family ties very strong as a result

Slave Codes Continued• Forbid whites from teaching slaves to read or

write– Some did learn

• Permitted owners to kill slaves – If over the course of punishment

• Slaves faced death penalty for killing a white, starting a revolt, resisting a white

• Anyone with a trace of African ancestry was considered black (a slave)

Differences

• White farmers with few slaves often worked closely with slaves– Either a paternalistic relationship developed or a cruel

one

• On larger plantations, slaves had more privacy and chances for socializing –Most slaves lived on large plantations with large slave

populations– Overseers worked closer to slaves than owners

Dependency

• Slaves depended on their owners for basic goods and protection

• Resisted owners by running away– Underground railroad helped slaves get to northern

free states or to Canada

• Some resisted by refusing to work, losing or breaking tools, working improperly

Democrats in 1860• Hurt by Depression of 1857• A party torn–Western democrats supported popular sovereignty– Southern democrats strongly endorsed slavery• Believed a Republican president would lead to an intrusive

government, restrictive of state’s rights• “Black Republicans” would destroy state’s right to have

slavery

Nomination Conventions

• William Yancey of Alabama: existing discord blamed on Northern invasion on Southern rights– Advocated secession if Republican elected

• Convention at Charleston supported popular sovereignty– Delegates from 8 Lower Southern states walked out

• nominated John C. Breckinridge from Kentucky

• The rest reformed the Convention in Baltimore– Nominated Stephen Douglas

Republicans in 1860• Republicans:– Popular sovereignty in states

• but territories could not have slavery legalized

• William Seward of New York– “higher law” and “ irrepressible conflict” ideals

• Salmon P. Chase of Ohio– Extreme antislavery stance

• Edward Bates of Missouri– Strong nativist stances

• Abraham Lincoln– Wanted sectional conciliation– Immigrant-friendly

Republican Convention• Recognized state’s rights• Denounced Buchanan and Lecompton constitution• Reaffirmed Wilmot Proviso– Slavery cannot be permitted in territories

• Opposed reopening of slave trade• Free labor, expansion of capitalism, social mobility– Strong support from eastern businesses

• Nominated Lincoln because of his eloquence, moderate slavery stance, non-controversial

Election• Douglas vs. Lincoln in Free States• Lincoln vs. Douglas vs. Breckinridge vs. Bell in the

South• Lincoln Not on the Presidential ballot in Lower South• Republicans focused on being the party of free labor:– Free land– Citizenship for immigrants– Homesteads to farmers– Protection for merchants and industries

• Lincoln won clear majority in Electoral College– Last in popular vote in border states– South prepared for secession

Secession Winter Begins• South Carolina seceded on December 20 – Direct result of Lincoln’s election

• President Buchanan: states had no right to secede but federal government had no power to stop such an action– Buchanan: the South wanted to be left alone, but

election did not warrant secession–Wanted to avoid aggression and provoking war– Did not recognize the Confederacy• “do nothing” program

Process of Secession• Before the election, South Carolina, Florida,

Mississippi had majority of secessionists in legislatures

• Many states divided between immediate secessionists and “cooperationists”

• South Carolinians, through delegates, dissolved union between itself and Federal government– Movement reaffirmed traditional principles of free men– Likened themselves to revolutionaries of 1776– Constitution a compact with states having “reserved

powers”

• Other states followed the state conventions process

Secession Continued

• 1861–Mississippi on January 9, 1861– Florida on January 10– Alabama on January 11– Georgia on January 19– Louisiana on January 26– Texas on February 1

• All formed the Confederate States of America in February

• Representatives met in Montgomery, Alabama

Crittenden Compromise

• Reestablish the Missouri Compromise and extend the boundary to the Pacific– Divide all present and future territory ensuring slavery

south of the 36 30’ line– Enforce fugitive slave laws– Compensation to owners for escaped slaves– Democrats were willing

• Republicans rejected the plan – went against main principle of stopping the spread of

slavery

Washington Peace Conference

• February 4• No representatives from Lower South attended• Compromise resembled Crittenden

Compromise• Little support from Senate in March

Formation of the Confederacy• February 4• Montgomery, AL– South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi,

Florida, Louisiana

• Wrote Constitution, justified legal right of secession– States could secede if original structure of

government had been abused

• Chose provincial president and vice president• Provincial legislature pending elections in

November

     Border Union states, permitting slavery  Bleeding Kansas, entered Union  Confederate states  Union territories permitting slavery

Union states

 Union territories not permitting slavery

The Cause: Not Slavery

• The foundation of the southern way of life was slavery– The poor who did not own slaves valued their

freedom to own salves if they so desired

• Southerners believed a Republican government was going to abolish slavery, thus destroying their way of life

• In words more artful…