A House Divided Cannot Stand The Road to the Civil War 1820 - 1861.

A House Divided Cannot Stand

The Road to the Civil War 1820 - 1861

Past efforts to curb slavery

• 1787 - Banned slavery in the Old Northwest.

• 1808 – Prohibited the continuation of importing slaves.

• 1820 – Missouri Compromise• 1846 – Wilmot Proviso

Past Catalysts for Slavery

• Popularity of TRICkS crops• Cotton Gin in the 1790s• Westward expansion

– Acquisition of land from Mexico

What are the reasons for the

Civil War?

SLAVERY

•The viability of the Union•The strength of Democracy•Democratic Ideals

THE NORTH

What are the reasons for the

Civil War?

SLAVERY

•Political power balance•Difference of cultures and economies

•Self-Determination/State Power

THE SOUTH

S.T.A.P.L.E.R.

• SOCIAL• TECHNOLOGY• ADMINISTRATION• POLITICAL• LEGAL• ECONOMIC• RELIGIOUS

TECHNOLOGY evaluation of antebellum South

• Invented in 1793

• Led to an economic spiral:– More

slaves and land to plant more cotton, which needs…

Fuel for a international economy• 1840 – half of U.S.

export value was from cotton

• Britain's labor market depended on this raw material

• Can the world’s economy afford to abolish American slavery?

ECONOMIC evaluation of antebellum South

SOCIAL evaluation of antebellum South

• plantation owners • small slaveholders • independent white farmers • poor whites • free blacks • black slaves

SOCIAL evaluation of antebellum South

• South ran as an oligarchy– In 1850, less than 2,000 families owned

over 100 slaves

• Lived at the “big house” on large plantations– Mistresses would command large

household staffs.

PLANTATION OWNERS

SOCIAL evaluation of antebellum South

• Only ¼ of all white southerners owned slaves.

• Typically small farmers

SMALL SLAVEHOLDERS

SOCIAL evaluation of antebellum South

• Over six million non-slave owning southerners

• Backcountry and mountain regions• Did not participate in the market

economy.

INDEPENDENT FARMERS

POOR WHITES• “Poor White Trash”• Seen as lazy and shiftless

Why did nonslaveholding whites support slavery?

• The “American Dream”• Racial Superiority• Compete with freed blacks for jobs

SOCIAL evaluation of antebellum South

• 250,000 free blacks in the South by 1860.

• Why freed?– Idealism from the Revolutionary War– Mulattoes from white planters and

black mistresses

• Strong in New Orleans• Unpopular in the North and South

FREE BLACKS

SOCIAL evaluation of antebellum South

• By 1860, 4 million slaves• Seen as an economic investment• Families were divided• Education a crime• Blend of religion• Sabotaged work as rebellion

BLACK SLAVES

Southern Defenses for Slavery

• Greek and Roman cultures each featured slavery

• Essential to the southern economy • Preferable to the "wage slavery" of the

North • Slavery was ordained by God, permitted

in the Bible ("Slaves, obey your masters")

• Beneficial to the blacks who had traded the barbarism of Africa for the blessings of security and Christianity

RELIGIOUS evaluation of antebellum South

• Slave owners and slaves both used the Bible to support their views.

• Northern abolitionists also used the Bible to support their cause.– Methodist Episcopalians split in 1844– Baptists split in 1845

S.T.A.P.L.E.R.

• SOCIAL• TECHNOLOGY• ADMINISTATION• POLITICAL• LEGAL• ECONOMIC• RELIGIOUS

Political Road to War over Slavery

• PUBLIC POLICY ISSUES, CONTROVERSIES and LAWS ASSOCIATED THEREWITH

• Federal Supremacy vs. States’ Rights (nullification, personal liberty laws)

• Expansion of slavery in the territories and Caribbean

– Missouri Compromise 1820 – Wilmot Proviso 1846– Free-Soil Party 1848– Popular Sovereignty 1840s– Compromise of 1850 – Fugitive Slave Act 1850– Death of the Whigs in 1852 – Ostend Manifesto 1853 – Kansas-Nebraska Act 1854

Missouri Compromise of 1820

• Maine admitted free• Missouri admitted slave• Maintains balance between slave

and free states in the Senate• Territory north of 36°30' in LA

territory to be free of slave; south of 36°30' can be slave

• Jefferson called it the “death knell” of the Union.

Wilmot Proviso (1846)

• Congressman David Wilmot proposes that there be no slavery in any land taken from Mexico

• Passes House, fails in Senate• Represents growing divide between

North and South

Free Soil Party (1848)

• Platform: Keep slavery out of territories

• Van Buren gets 10% of vote• New York votes ensure Taylor’s

election– Whig– Sugar plantation owner from Louisiana

Popular Sovereignty (1840s)

• Do not confuse this popular sovereignty with popular sovereignty that is a fundamental principle of constitutional government in the U.S. (i.e., the people are sovereign).

• This popular sovereignty refers to the right of the people in a territory to decide whether or not to have slavery. (Sen. Stephen Douglas, IL)

• This is simple—do not think too much about this.

Compromise of 1850Five laws:1 California admitted as free

state (free now majority in Senate)

2 Texas boundary adjusted for $10m to Texas

3 Slave trade abolished in D.C.

4 Mexican cession organized as New Mexico and Utah territories on basis of popular sovereignty

5 Strong fugitive slave law

Fugitive Slave Law of 1850

• Northerners were obligated to help slavecatchers return fugitive slaves

• Prompts Northern states to pass “personal liberty laws” to prohibit enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act

• Harriet Beecher Stowe writes Uncle Tom’s Cabin

• Whig party breaks up in 1852 over Fugitive Slave Act

Death of the Whigs

• Whig president Fillmore supported the Fugitive Slave Act, alienating many Northern Whigs.

• The Whig party divided, and by 1854 was no more, with Northern Whigs joining the new Republican party.

Ostend Manifesto (1854)

• President Pierce, a Southern expansionist, wants to buy Cuba from Spain--Spain won’t sell

• Pierce diplomats meet in Ostend, Belgium and prepare report suggesting a seizure of Cuba is Spain won’t sell

• This “Ostend Manifesto” is made public and is an embarrassment to Pierce and slaveholding interests

• Heightens Northern fears and tensions

Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854

• Senator Stephen Douglas (IL) proposes that remainder of Louisiana Territory be divided into Kansas and Nebraska territories with popular sovereignty to determine status of slavery

• Free-soilers angered by this repeal of Missouri Compromise line 36°30'

• Republican Party is formed, and Northern Whigs join

• Leads to “Bleeding Kansas”• Demonstrates sectional divide is

becoming critical

Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)

• Written in response to the Fugitive Slave Act, the book is highly critical of slavery

• More in the North oppose slavery • Many books attacking Stowe’s work

and defending the South were written in response (Aunt Phyllis’s Cabin)

• The book enflamed passions on both sides and is, arguably, the most influential book in U.S. History

Bleeding Kansas (1856)

• Bleeding Kansas • Free-soilers and slavers moved to

Kansas and fought to establish control

• By 1856, fighting broke out as both sides vie for power--“Bleeding Kansas”

• Fighting in Kansas “foreshadows” coming of the Civil War

• John Brown gets his start here!

The Lecompton Constitution of 1857

• Pro-slavery faction at Lecompton, Kansas submits constitution to Congress for admission to U.S.—Congress refuses

• Northern Democrats oppose, including Sen. Douglas (which costs him Southern Democratic support)

• Lecompton Constitution crisis signals growing rift between North and South

• [Kansas admitted as a free state in 1861]

Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857)

• Pro-slave Chief Justice Roger B. Taney rules that Africans are not citizens and can’t sue

• Slaves have no rights• Congress cannot prohibit slavery in

territories (thus the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional)

• Decision enflamed abolitionists and many Northerners, while lifting the hopes of pro-slavery forces

• Tensions increase even more• [14th Amendment (1868) declares blacks to

be citizens, thus overcoming Dred Scott]

Lincoln-Douglas Debates & Freeport

• In Illinois Senate race, 1858, Lincoln and Douglas have debates (Lincoln lost election)

• At Freeport, IL, Lincoln got Douglas to admit that if a people in a territory voted down slavery, it would “Stay down.”

• Douglas’s position was consistent with popular sovereignty but inconsistent with Dred Scott

• Douglas lost support from Southern Democrats, further dividing the Democratic Party (again, remember these splits as “foreshadowing” the Civil War)

The Democrats Splinter into Factions 1860

• The Democrats broke up before the election of 1860: Northern Democrats backed Douglas, Southern Democrats backed John C. Breckenridge, and border states (slave states next to the North) backed John Bell of Kentucky

• The fracturing of the Democrats opened the door for Lincoln and the Republicans

• The breakup of the Democrats in 1860 foreshadowed the coming of the Civil War in 1861