Unit V1820-1861

Part 6

Leading into war

The Fugitive Slave Law was not popular in the North

Many ignored it Was nullified with Personal Liberty

Laws

Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin was published (1850) and was banned in the South but very popular in the North

Stephen Douglass 1813-1861

Born in Vermont Educated in New York Settled in Illinois Was a NORTHERN DEMOCRAT House of Reps 1843 Senate in 1846

Wanted to be President in 1860 Embraced Popular Sovereignty

Stephen Douglass

Like most businessmen, was much more concerned with the development of the West than the slavery issue…so popular sovereignty made sense

Remember the Gadsden Purchase

Was done to support a transcontinental railroad

BUT Stephen Douglass wanted the RR to run through Chicago (to bring $ into Illinois and insure him the Senate seat there in congressional elections of 1858

Remember…he had to remain in the public eye in order to gain the Democratic nomination for the Presidential election of 1860

The Problem

If a RR were to run from Chicago t the Pacific coast, it would have to go through unorganized territory: The Platte River Country

Douglass knew that no one would support this

Unorganized territory had no law, no government

Douglass had to find a way to organize the territory

The Plan

Douglass knew that the South would never agree to organizing the Platte River Country (aka Nebraska Territory) because it was above the 36-30 line (established by the Missouri Compromise)

And so, Douglass made an interesting proposal called The Kansas-Nebraska Act

The Kansas-Nebraska Act 1854

Douglass proposed that the Platte River Country be divided up into TWO territories: Kansas and Nebraska

Also: the 36-30 line be repealed

AND that both territories would determine the slavery issue based on Popular Sovereignty

The Kansas-Nebraska Act

Douglass ASSUMED that Nebraska would be free and that Kansas would be slave

In fact, the South was WILDLY in support of the Kansas-Nebraska Act …why?

Because prior to the repeal of the 36-30 line, slave states coming from the Platte river Country would have been as unlikely as a snow day in Grosse Pointe Schools!

What Happened Next

All Hell Broke Loose!

The Kansas-Nebraska Act forced people to take a stand on slavery.

The Democrats split (eventually) into the Northern and Southern Democratic parties

The Whigs were destroyed

The Whigs

The Southern Whigs (most of them were Jackson-Hater Whigs anyway) joined the Democratic Party

SOME of the Northern Whigs joined with the Know-Nothings and formed the American Party

MOST of the Northern Whigs joined with the Free Soil Party and became the Republican Party that we have today

Then

Because of the Popular Sovereignty provision of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, people started flooding into Kansas…(remember the NW Ordinance? It said that when there were 5,000 white male adults a territorial government could be established)

So… when 5,000 people came to Kansas, they could vote (according to popular sovereignty) to make the territory slave or free

Bleeding Kansas Missourians crossed the boundary by the

thousands to vote. 5,000 were led by David Ackinson alone (they intended to stay just long enough

to vote and then go home again

Northern churches sponsored Emigrant Aid Societies which would donate money and supplies (including rifles) to anti-slavery folks who wanted to settle permanently in Kansas

Bleeding Kansas

The Pro-slavery folks organized at Lecompton, Kansas, and established a territorial legislature and voted to make Kansas a slave territory

The Anti-slavery folks ignored the above and organized at Lawrence, Kansas. They established their own territorial government and voted for their own territorial legislature

Violence! President Pierce recognized the

Lecompton territorial government

A small group of pro-slavery settlers burned down the free-soiler headquarters and the governor’s home in Lawrence

Then John Brown (violently anti-slavery) and others slaughtered a pro-slavery family in their sleep. Was called the Pottawatomie Massacre

Bleeding Kansas

The Pottawatomie Massacre led to more fighting in Kansas between the anti-slavery forces and the pro-slavery forces

The Civil War in Kansas continued until it became part of the real Civil War in 1861

Trouble in Congress

Charles Sumner (Mass) was big-time anti-slavery.

He was brilliant, arrogant, and the most hated man in the Senate.

Some called him a “filthy reptile” Others called him “the Leper”

Sumner gave a speech in the Senate called, “Crimes Against Kansas”

Crimes Against Kansas

The speech was offensive and full of sexual innuendo: “the rape of a virgin territory” & “the hateful embrace of slavery” and more!

He blamed the violence in Kansas on Stephen Douglass (the author of the K-N Act) and on the K-N Act’s biggest supporter: Senator Andrew P. Butler (of South Carolina)

The Speech

Butler was not in the Senate the day that the speech was delivered

BUT the other senator from SC WAS. He was Senator Preston Brooks (also the nephew of Butler)

Brooks was insulted and felt the need to defend his uncle’s honor

The Caning of Charles Sumner

Two days after the speech, Brooks strolled into Sumner’s office in the Senate and beat him with Brooks’ cane!

Sumner was absent from the Senate (recovering) for 4 years!

Brooks was censured by the Senate but was voted back into office and was a hero to many in the South

And So…How was the Kansas-Nebraska Act a

cause of the CW? First…it caused physical violence in

Kansas (Bleeding Kansas) between anti-and pro-slavery factions

Then…it caused violence in the Senate (the Caning of Charles Sumner)

And then…it helped to divide the Democratic Party which meant that the Republicans would win for sure in 1860 which caused the South to leave the union

And Then

The Kansas-Nebraska Act dissolved the Whig Party (which would compromise on the slavery issue) and helped to create the Republican Party (which would not compromise on the slavery issue) and…if compromise was not possible, wasn’t war inevitable?

Election of 1856

Republicans: Fremont 114 Democrats: Buchanan 174 American Party: Fillmore 8 (Know

Nothings and some former northern Whigs)

Buchanan avoided all controversial issues and won.

The Republicans were just like the Whigs and Federalists EXCEPT that they would not compromise on the slavery issue

The Republican Party Like the Federalists and Whigs: Wanted : A High Protective Tariff (in fact,

sometimes the Republicans were called “Protectionists”

A Strong Central Government A National Bank or National Banking

System Federal Funds for Internal Improvements BUT unlike the Federalists and Whigs,

the Republicans would never allow slavery in the territories

Panic of 1857 The Crimean War ended in Europe in

1856 and Europeans stopped buying so much from the U.S.

Because the Democrats had recently lowered the tariff, the American public blamed the depression on the Democrats and some thought it was the lower tariff that was the problem

The Republicans will use this to their advantage later

Buchanan

Did not know what to do about the fighting in Kansas and the violence in Congress.

He urged everyone to calm down and to let the Supreme Court (Taney) decide the issue

The Dred Scott v Sanford decision was to be made any day

The Dred Scott Decision

Initially, Dred Scott was a slave who was the property of an army surgeon (Emerson) in Missouri

Emerson traveled quite a bit and took Dred Scott with him

Dred Scott had been taken to a free state (Ill.) and a free territory (Wisc)

When Emerson Died…

Dred Scott was eventually inherited by Emerson’s brother-in-law, Sanford

Sanford was a New York Abolitionist!

So…no matter what, Dred Scott would be a free man…BUT Sanford wanted to help other Black people gain their freedom so…

Sanford asked Scott

To sue for his freedom in federal court BASED on the fact that Scott should have been free the minute he was taken to a free state or free territory

Scott agreed to the plan and eventually the case went to the Supreme Court

The whole country waited for Taney’s

decision And he choked!

At first Taney ruled that because Dred Scott was not a citizen, he could not use the court system!

Buchanan insisted on a real ruling so Taney obliged…

Dred Scott v Sanford

Slaves are property

The 5th Amendment prohibits Congress from taking property from citizens without due process of law

And so…Congress had no authority over slavery in the territories…Congress could not deprive an individual of his property and other people could not deprive an individual of his property either

What does it mean?

Congress could not pass laws banning slavery in the territories

Past laws banning slavery (like the Missouri Compromise and the 36-30 line) were NEVER constitutional

Popular Sovereignty was not constitutional either! (So the Kansas Nebraska Act was also unconstitutional)

Holy Christmas!

If Congress had no authority over the issue, then future Congressional compromise was impossible…and if compromise was impossible, then war was inevitable!

War was a certainty if the question was to be settled

In the meantime in Kansas

The Pro-slavery forces in Lecompton, Kansas were ready to write a state constitution and ask congress to admit Kansas to the union as a slave state.

They wrote a constitution providing for slavery and sent it off to Washington D.C. WITHOUT putting the constitution to a vote so ALL the people of Kansas could decide.

The Lecompton Constitution

Robert Walker was the Territorial Governor of Kansas sent to Kansas by congress

He had plenty of government experience: Former governor of Mississippi Former senator from Mississippi Former cabinet member

Walker was a slave owner but had no desire to impose slavery on people who did not want it

Robert Walker He took his job seriously

He knew that the anti-slavery forces in Lawrence had not been allowed to vote on the Lecompton Constitution and that THEY were the real (permanent) settlers of Kansas

When he heard that the Lecompton Constitution was sent to congress he went to Washington himself so that he could tell the Senate the TRUTH about the Constitution

The Lecompton Constitution

Buchanan (a democrat) supported the Lecompton Constitution because he wanted to continue to enjoy the support of the South

Buchanan urged Congress to accept the constitution and admit Kansas as a slave state

This caused a clash with Stephen Douglass

Remember Stephen Douglass was a Democrat too

BUT if he was to keep his reputation solid, he had to support popular sovereignty.

If Walker was telling the truth about the Lecompton Constitution being a sham, Douglass could not support it because he would alienate his supporters in the North

If he betrayed his principles (Popular Sovereignty) he would never win the Senate seat in Illinois in 1858

Douglass had no choice Douglass openly sided with the

Republicans in the Senate AGAINST admitting Kansas as a state based on the Lecompton Constitution

This contributed to the split in the Democratic party

Why was the splitting of the Democratic party so important?

Because it meant that Republicans would win the Presidential election of 1860 and they would not compromise

In 1857

The Lecompton Constitution was put to a vote by ALL of the people of Kansas

10, 388 voters voted 10,226 voted against it

The Lincoln-Douglass Debates

Rivals for the Illinois senate seat Rivals in love…both men courted Mary

Todd

A series of debates between August and October of 1858 before the November election

Lincoln (a Republican) accused Douglass and the South of wanting to spread slavery to the North (untrue)

The Lincoln-Douglass Debates

Douglass accused Lincoln of wanting …not just to end slavery…but to give total social equality to Black people. (untrue)

Lincoln was a moderate Republican. He thought slavery was morally wrong BUT he totally believed in the superiority of the white race (like most in the North)

In fact Lincoln supported the American Colonial Society (which shipped free Black people to Africa)

The House Divided Speech

Lincoln gave the House Divided speech at the Cooper Union Debate

“A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the union to be dissolved. I do not expect the house to fall – but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or the other.”

Lincoln’s Plan

Lincoln wanted to set a trap for Douglass during the debates

Lincoln wanted to MAKE Douglass take a stand on slavery (which would alienate either Illinois or the South)

Lincoln needed a perfect question (like: Do you still beat your wife?)…There IS no good answer

Lincoln’s perfect question:

Can the people of a territory legally exclude slavery in a territory before the formation of a state constitution?

If Douglass answered, “Yes,” he would alienate the South and would never be President

If Douglass answered, “No,” he would alienate Illinois and lose the Senate election

The Freeport Doctrine

Was Douglass’s answer to Lincoln’s impossible question

It was given at the debate at Freeport, Ill.

What Douglass Said

The Freeport Doctrine: Douglass said that he accepted the Dred Scott decision which forbade Congress from barring slavery in the territories BUT he also said that territorial legislatures COULD nullify slavery by failing to pass regulations applying to slaves.

Douglass won the Senate Seat

BUT he lost the support of the South.

The South wanted someone who would stand behind the Dred Scott decision 100%

The Lincoln-Douglass Debates DID help Lincoln

He was nationally known because of them