Chapter_14 - US History D E

Chapter 14 The Coming of the Civil War

Slave Power Comes North • The Compromise of 1850 lasted about 4 years • Abolitionists intensified their propaganda • Slaves continued to seek their freedom in the North • The new fugitive slave laws encouraged more Southerners to try and recover escaped slaves

Slave Power Comes North • Thousands of runaway slaves fled to Canada • Northerners increasingly refused to step aside and allow slaves to be taken away • James Hamlet was seized and returned to the South without being allowed to communicate with his wife and childrenoutraged community members (black & white) raised the $800 to buy his freedom

Slave Power Comes North • A slave living for years in Philadelphia as were her six children – all born free. A federal judge released the Williams family • When two Georgians came to collect William and Ellen Craft, they were hounded in the streets by white Northerners shouting “slave hunters.” The men returned to Georgia empty-handed

Slave Power Comes North • A fugitive slave working as a waiter was being held for deportation but a mob of blacks broke into the courthouse and hustled him off to Canada • A slave named Jerry was arrested in Syracuse NY. When the news got around a crowd formed, broke him out, and got him to Canada

Slave Power Comes North • These incidents caused both the South and the North to question the Compromise of 1850 • The Wisconsin Supreme Court declared the Fugitive Slave Act unconstitutional but its decision was overturned by the US Supreme Court in Ableman v. Booth • Regardless, enforcing the law was becoming more difficult

Uncle Tom’s Cabin • Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852), increased sectional tensions and illustrated the evils of slavery • The novel was a huge success in America and abroad and reached audiences that abolitionists could not • Southerners accused Stowe of distorting the realities of plantation life and of trying to foment hatred towards the South

Uncle Tom’s Cabin • Northerners tended to see the South’s criticisms as biased • Before the novel, few had looked upon the slaves as real people • The novel caused many who were not abolitionists to question the morality of slavery Simon Legree – Uncle Tom’s Cabin

The Young America Movement • The “Young America” spirit believed that democracy would triumph everywhere • Many helped revolutions in Europe or dreamed of annexing new land in the Caribbean • 1855 William Walker backed by an American business took over Nicaragua and proclaimed himself president William Walker

The Young America Movement • “General” George Bickley tried to organize an expedition to conquer Mexico • Northerners suspected Walker and Bickley of trying to win more land for slavery but they were primarily adventurers • Central America was becoming more important due to long route of communication between East and California

The Young America Movement • A canal cutting across Central America would cut sailing time • A treaty between the US and Britain agreed to a demilitarized zone and joint control should a canal be constructed • The desire to attain Cuba grew stronger • President Pierce offered $130 million for the island

The Young America Movement • Secret dealings to acquire Cuba or take it by force was made public and outraged the North and Europe • President Fillmore sent an expedition under Commodore Matthew Perry to Japan to open up new markets- Japan signed a trade treaty that opened up six Japanese ports • President Pierce also attempted to annex Hawaii

Stephen Douglas: Little Giant • Douglas was a spokesman for the Young America Movement • Douglas believed in expansion and popular sovereignty • He wanted to build more RRs, acquire more territory, and expand trade • He was anti-slavery but did not believe it to be a moral issue

Stephen Douglas: Little Giant • His success in pushing through the Compromise of 1850 made him well-known • His attempt at winning the Democratic presidential nomination was thwarted by the nomination of the dark horse Franklin Pierce – the Whigs nominated General Winfield Scott • Political stability was teetering as the Whig party crumbled • Congress fell under the control of pro-slavery Democrats

The Kansas-Nebraska Act • President Pierce balanced his cabinet with men from pro-slavery South and antislavery North • Pierce was incapable of handling the factions • Senator Stephen Douglas produced a bill that would organize the lands west of Missouri and Iowa as the Nebraska Territory

President Franklin Pierce

The Kansas-Nebraska Act • Settlers were already moving into the territory • Douglas wanted the territory organized to facilitate RR expansion and make Chicago the terminus (he was director of the Illinois Central) • Southerners wanted the RR line to go through Memphis or New Orleans • James Gadsden purchased land from Mexico to facilitate RR construction for the Southern RR

The Kansas-Nebraska Act • In accordance with the Missouri Compromise, Nebraska would be a free state as it lay above the agreed parallel • Under pressure from Southern senators, Douglas agreed to create two territories Kansas and Nebraska and repeal the part of the Missouri Compromise that excluded slavery north of the parallel

The Kansas-Nebraska Act • Whether the territories should be free or slave- let the populations decide • Making concessions to the South also might help him secure the next presidential nomination • Douglas erred – the territory had been free-soil for 34 years and many Northern moderates were radicalized

The Kansas-Nebraska Act • The reaction of the North was almost as intense as the patriots under the Stamp Act • The South in both houses backed the bill as did Douglas and Pierce • The Northern Democrats split and the bill became law in 1854 • The bill was the greatest single step towards civil war

The Kansas-Nebraska Act • The repeal of the Missouri Compromise was like a slap in the face of the North • The status of slavery, once settled, was now open again • Two days after the bill passed, a runaway slave was arrested in Boston. Crowds attacked the courthouse, killing a guard. President Pierce sent a federal ship to collect the runaway and return him to VA. It took two companies of soldiers and 1000 police to accomplish it. • Northerners were now hard-core abolitionists

The Parties • There were 91 free-state Democrats in the House when the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed- only 25 after the next election • Most Whigs flocked to two new parties: the “Know-Nothing” party and the Republicans • The “Know-Nothings” grew out of a secret organization whose password was “I don’t know”

The Parties • The “Know-Nothings” Primarily Nativists or anti-immigration Public financing of religious schools and prohibition of alcohol were big issues They wanted 21 years before citizenship granted They tended to adopt the view of slavery in whatever region they were

The Parties • The Republicans Made up of former Free-Soilers, anti-slavery Whigs and Democrats It was a Northern party not a national one They were not abolitionist (though abolitionist voted Republican) but wanted territories free of slavery In 1854, the Republican won more than 100 seats in the House

Bleeding Kansas • Establishing orderly government in the territories was difficult due to confusion over property boundaries, graft, and speculation • The legal status of Kansas became the focus of the conflict as both sides (proslavery and abolitionist) were determined to have Kansas for themselves

Bleeding Kansas • Kansas became a battleground • Both sides refused to let the Kansans to work out the issue- they began a movement of settlers into the territory • In 1854 an election was held to pick a territorial delegate to Congress. A large band of pro-slavery Missourians crossed the border and helped elect a pro-slavery man

Bleeding Kansas • In March 1855, 5,000 “border ruffians” again crossed into Kansas and elected a territorial legislature. There were only 2905 eligible voters but over 6,000 votes were cast • The legislature promptly enacted a slave code and made laws against abolitionism • Anti-slavery forces refused to recognize the new laws and established their own legislature • By January 1857 there were two governments in Kansas

Bleeding Kansas • President Pierce denounced the free-state government which encouraged the proslavery settlers • May 1856- 800 pro-slavery settlers sacked the town of Lawrence- a center of abolition • An abolition extremist, John Brown, murdered an equal number of pro-slavery men in another small community in retaliation

Bleeding Kansas • The violence perpetrated by both sides caused an explosion of violence as marauding bands attacked homesteads after first determining their positions on slavery • Brown escaped capture but was forced to flee Kansas • Republicans, eager to propagandize the situation, filled newspapers with exaggerated stories of “bleeding Kansas”

Bleeding Kansas • The Democrats were also at fault by making a mockery of the Kansas elections • The main responsibility lay with President Pierce. He should have remained neutral but openly sided with the South • When the first territorial governor complained to the president about the manner in which the first territorial legislature was elected, he replaced him with a pro-Southern man

Senator Sumner- Martyr • Congress was also filled with rancor as both sides traded insults and threats • Prominent in these outbursts was a new senator from Massachusetts, Charles Sumner • He was brilliant, articulate, a good orator but was arrogant and egotistical • In one speech he attacked the president’s administration, Douglas, and elderly Senator Butler of South Carolina who was not present to defend himself

Senator Sumner- Martyr • Douglas muttered that “that damn fool will get himself killed by some other damn fool” • Congressman Preston Brooks, nephew of Senator Butler, entered the senate two days after Sumner’s speech • Brooks approached Sumner who was at his desk and rained blows upon his head with a cane

Senator Sumner- Martyr • Brooks was censured and he resigned • He returned home to cheers, gifts of canes, and reelection • Sumner recovered physically but was unable to return to the senate until 1859

President Buchanan • The Republican Party now dominated the North • For the 1856 Election, it nominated John Fremont a hero of the War with Mexico. He was popular, a war hero, with little political experience • The campaign slogan was: “Free soil, free speech, and Fremont”

President Buchanan • The Democrats cast aside Pierce, but did not dare nominate Douglas who now had many enemies in the North • They settled on James Buchanan who had served as minister to Great Britain during the Kansas crisis and was therefore not “tainted” • A third party, the American Party, nominated Millard Fillmore

President Buchanan • The Democrats campaigned by denouncing the Republicans as a sectional party intent on destroying the Union • Buchanan won a minority of the vote but won in the Electoral College • He had been in politics since he was 24 when he was elected to the Pennsylvania legislature President James Buchanan

President Buchanan • He served as Polk’s Secretary of State then as minister to Britain under Pierce • He was big and heavy yet graceful, could drink vast quantities of alcohol without looking inebriated • He was popular with women but never married • He was patriotic and moderate

The Dred Scott Decision • Before the Kansas crisis has died down, a new one emerged • John Emerson, an army officer, had been stationed in several locations in the North during his tour accompanied by his slave, Dred Scott • When Emerson died, Scott and his wife sued in court for their freedom claiming they were free by virtue of living in the North where slavery was outlawed

The Dred Scott Decision • The freedom of Scott and his wife was really not the issue: who had the power to outlaw slavery? Congress or the state legislatures? • The case went to the Supreme Court • The Court declared that free or slave, blacks were not citizens, therefore Scott could not sue in a federal court Dred Scott

The Dred Scott Decision • The Court further stated that since Scott had returned to Missouri, the laws of the Northern states no longer applied to him • The Court was mostly composed of Southerners and pro-slavery Northerners • The decision threatened Douglas’ concept of popular sovereignty- if Congress could not exclude slaves from a territory how could a state legislature do it?

The Dred Scott Decision • Justice Taney also argued that the Fifth Amendment permitted slaves to go anywhere as “no act of congress can deprive a man of liberty or property…” • Under this ruling, slaves could be brought into any territory • Many Northerners believed that the South was trying to expand slavery even into the North

The Lecompton Constitution • Buchanan tried to defuse the Kansas crisis by appointing a new governor- Robert J. Walker • Pro-slavery leaders convened a constitutional conference on Lecompton while Free-Soil forces refused to participate • When a pro-slavery constitution was produced and refused to submit it to a fair vote, Walker denounced it and hurried to Washington

The Lecompton Constitution • Influenced by pro-slavery advisors, Buchanan not only did not reject the constitution, he asked Congress to admit Kansas as a state with the constitution as its framework • Douglas attacked the decision and shattered the Democratic Party. • Admitting Kansas as a slave state would go against his idea of popular sovereignty and ruin his hopes of becoming president

The Lecompton Constitution • Buchanan and Douglas fought over the issue with Buchanan putting great pressure on Douglas • Congress rejected the Lecompton constitution • In Kansas a referendum was ordered and the Lecompton constitution was defeated by anti-slavery citizens while pro-slavery citizens sat out

The Lecompton Constitution • Buchanan pressed Congress to admit Kansas the Lecompton constitution • Congress ordered another referendum in Kansas- the constitution was again defeated by a ratio of 6-1 • More than opposition to slavery influenced the vote- most Kansans were alienated by Washington due to land policies that ruined many

The Emergence of Lincoln • Many Northerners blamed the Panic of 1857 on the South • The Southern-dominated Congress had reduced tariffs and many businesses went under due to foreign competition • The South saw the Panic as proof that it had the superior economic system • The Union was cracking and threatened to break apart

The Emergence of Lincoln • To many, Douglas seemed the man who could preserve it • His reelection to the senate took on added significance – his Republican opponent was Abraham Lincoln • Lincoln had entered politics when he was elected to the state legislature as a Whig when he was barely 25

The Emergence of Lincoln • Though no abolitionist, Lincoln was bitterly opposed to the KansasNebraska Act • Opposed to slavery he did not blame the Southerners • His moderation and his moral force won Lincoln many admirers Abraham Lincoln

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates • Contrasts in looks, style and oratory  Douglas was short and stout and Lincoln tall and lean  Douglas was dapper and flashy while Lincoln appeared worn and rumpled  Douglas spoke with bold gestures, paced the stage, and never hesitated to call Lincoln a liar while Lincoln spoke slowly and deliberately giving the impression of utter sincerity

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates • In fact, both men were very close in their views on slavery and how it should be handled in the states • Douglas won election – barely – but answers given in the debate would cost him the presidential nomination • Lincoln’s defeat did not cost him – in fact the defeat revitalized his political career

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates • The campaign of 1858 was Douglas’ last great triumph and Lincoln’s last defeat • By early 1859 radical Southerners, spooked by Republican victories in both houses, spoke openly of secession should a Republican become president in 1860 • Taking the offensive, Southern “fire-eaters” demanded a slave code for the territories, talked of annexing Cuba, and reviving the African slave trade

John Brown’s Raid • October 1859 – John Brown with 18 white and black followers seized the federal arsenal in Harper’s Ferry upstream from Washington • His goal was to arm the slaves and establish a black republic in western Virginia • He took several hostages including a greatgrand nephew of George Washington • No slaves came forward to join him

John Brown’s Raid • Federal troops under the command of Robert E. Lee trapped Brown and his men in an engine house of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad • After a two-day siege, in which 10 of Brown’s men were picked off, Brown was captured

John Brown’s Raid • Despite Brown’s near-certain insanity, he was supported by several well-known abolitionists including Emerson and Thoreau • Southerners reacted in an equally irrational manner and attacked Northerners in the South even lynching one • Brown was immediately tried in Virginia for treason and murder and sentenced to death • In his last days, Brown turned calm and spoke eloquently of the evils of slavery and the need to extinguish it • Despite his dubious and violent past, he was now seen in the North as a near saint • Brown was hanged December 1859 – a Northern hero

The Election of 1860 • By 1860 the Union was on the brink of dissolution • Extremism was more evident in the South • Why? They felt surrounded by hostility; the North was growing at a much faster rate; and John Brown’s raid filled them with panic • The Southern states became even harsher towards the slaves- they banished free blacks and made manumission illegal

The Election of 1860 • Secession seemed like a reasonable course of action- it would be a defense against rising abolitionism and a way to strike back at the North • The nomination of Douglas was probably the last chance at keeping the Union together but the South would not support him unless he gave in to their many demands including an admission that slavery was right

The Election of 1860 • The Northern and Southern wings of the Democratic Party could not agree and nominated their own candidates- the North nominated Douglas and the South nominated John Breckenridge (Buchanan’s vice-president) • The Republicans, after a close race between Seward and Lincoln, nominated the moderate Lincoln • The remnants of the Whigs and American Parties formed the Constitutional Union Party and nominated John Bell

The Election of 1860 • Breckenridge would carry the South and Bell the border states but the Northern Democrats and the Republicans battled in the North and West • The Republicans had a strong, attractive economic program and it soon became clear Lincoln would win • Douglas, knowing this, said “We must try and save the Union. I will go South.” He toured the South asking all to stand by the Union whoever was elected president. He was the only candidate to remind voters that their choice could end in war

The Election of 1860 • Lincoln did not win a majority. He won almost one million fewer votes than the combined total of his three opponents • He did win 180 electoral votes and the election

The Secession Crisis • Days after Lincoln’s election, South Carolina held a convention to decide the state’s future • On 20 December 1860, the state voted unanimously to secede • By February 1861, six other states followed • A provisional government of the Confederate Sates of America was established • The border states of VA, TN, NC, AR did not secede but announced they would join the Confederacy if the federal government attempted to use force against it

The Secession Crisis • Why did the South secede? The North would not overwhelm them any time in the foreseeable future Lincoln assured them that slavery would be respected where it was The Democrats retained control of both houses and the Supreme Court Why secede before any real threat materialized?

The Secession Crisis “Liberation” would force the South to create a more balanced economy The criticisms by the North had worn away any feelings of patriotism They saw all Northerners as abolitionists A Republican president could flood the South with abolitionist and even black officials

The Secession Crisis • Southerners reacted to secession with varied emotions Some were almost looking forward to bloody conflict Some were afraid war would endanger what they had built Some were still staunchly pro-Union Others accepted secession only after deep soul-searching

The Secession Crisis • Northern reactions were also varied. Many refused to believe the South actually wanted to break away • The South did not believe that the North would go to war as Northerners were “too materialistic and not prepared to shed blood” • President Buchanan did nothing other than state that secession was illegal

The Secession Crisis • How would Jackson have handled the secession? Would there have been a different outcome? • Senator Crittenden of Kentucky, a disciple of Henry Clay, offered a compromise that would allow slavery south of the 36/30 latitude line but Lincoln refused to accept slavery in any new territory

The Secession Crisis • The South drafted a constitution and chose a president- Jefferson Davis. They seized federal arsenals, forts and other federal properties and sent diplomats to Europe to seek support • Abraham Lincoln, still in Illinois, formed his cabinet and grew a beard President Jefferson Davis