Chapter 14 The Nation Divided. Section 2: Compromises Fail Section 1: Growing Tensions Over Slavery Section 3: The Crisis Deepens Section 4: The Coming.

Chapter 14

The Nation Divided

Section 2: Compromises Fail

Section 1: Growing Tensions Over Slavery

Section 3: The Crisis Deepens

Section 4: The Coming of the Civil War

CHAPTER 14 – THE NATION DIVIDED


Slavery and the Mexican – American War Maintaining the balance

Between 1820 and 1848 – 8 new states were admitted 4 slave and 4 free Totals of 15 slave and 15 free states

Remember the Missouri Compromise? It did not apply to the lands claimed after the Mexican-

American War

Wilmot Proviso David Wilmot of PA proposed this law Congress ban slavery in all territory that might become

part of the U.S. as a result of the M-A War. It passed in the house (population) and failed in the senate

(equal)

Wilmot Proviso never became law, but it was viewed as an attack on slavery by southerners


An Anti-Slavery Party Free Soil Party

Formed on the basis of the Wilmot Proviso – they wanted to stop the spread of slavery – especially in the newly acquired territory from Mexico

3 candidates run in the election of 1848 Democrats – Senator Lewis Cass of Michigan Whigs – General Zachary Taylor (hero of the M-A War) Free Soil – former president Martin Van Buren

Democrat votes are split between Van Buren and Cass This allows Taylor to win


A Bitter Debate California’s Gold Rush With the inflow if gold seekers – California had enough people to

become a state Both sides realized that the admission of California would upset

the balance between free and slave states Northerners

Argued that CA become a free state because most of the land there was north of the Missouri Compromise line

Southerners Knew that another free state would upset the balance in the senate

They would be unable to block laws like the Wilmot Proviso

Began threatening to secede from the union


Other issues dividing the North and South Northerners

Wanted the slave trade abolished in Washington D.C.

Southerners Wanted fugitive slave laws

Would force the return of runaway slaves to their owners

Henry Clay Presents a series of proposals to deal with the issue This sparks one of the greatest debates in American history John C. Calhoun

Argues against the compromise The admission of CA as a free state leaves only 2 solutions for the

South 1 – an amendment protecting states rights must be passed OR… 2 – The South would leave the Union


Daniel Webster Argues in support of the compromise He calls for an end to the sectionalism that divides the country

Argues for Clay’s proposal in order to preserve the union


The Compromise of 1850 In September 1850 Congress passes 5 bills based on Clay’s

Proposals Zachary Taylor had opposed the compromise, but he died in 1850 Millard Fillmore took over the presidency and signed the bills into law

To Please the North CA would be admitted as a free state Slave trade would be banned in Washington D.C.

To Please the South Popular sovereignty would decide slave issues in other new states

from the Mexican Cession Southerners got a tough new Fugitive Slave Law

Section 2: Compromises Fail Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

Allowed government officials to arrest ANYONE accused of being a runaway slave

The accused had no right to a trial – no way to defend themselves

All that was required was a witness to swear that the individual “was a slave”

Law also required northern citizens to help capture accused runaways if authorities requested assistance

Outrage in the North Northerners were upset to see

people accused of being fugitives lose their freedom Many African Americans fled

to Canada to escape being accused

Many Northerners resisted the laws


Calhoun had hoped that the law would force northerners to admit that slave owners had rights to their property Calhoun was wrong – it convinced more northerners that slavery

was evil

Uncle Tom’s Cabin Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Daughter of an abolitionist minister

Book was written to show the nation what a horrible thing slavery was Focused on a fictional tale of Uncle Tom – a kind slave who

suffers cruelty from his owner Simon Legree

Book was a best-seller in the North Southerners called it Propaganda

False or misleading information to spread or further a cause

They claimed it did not give an accurate portrayal of the lives of slaves


The Kansas-Nebraska Act Nation moved closer to war after Congress passes the

KS-NE Act in 1854 Proposed by Stephen Douglas

Wanted to form two new territories – Kansas and Nebraska

Southerners objected The two new territories were in areas closed to slavery When they became states they would be free

To win southern support, Douglas proposed popular sovereignty in the territories

Because of this proposal, the act passed in Congress It was signed into law by Franklin Pierce, (D – 1852)

According to Pierce ‘the question of slavery would be forever banished from the halls of Congress’


Bleeding Kansas Both pro and anti slavery settlers flooded into the new territory of

Kansas Each side was determined to hold a majority when it was time to

vote Thousands of MO residents entered Kansas on election day KS only had 3,000 residents but 8,000 votes were cast to elect a

legislature In that legislature, 36 of the 39 elected were pro-slavery

Anti-Slavery settlers refused to accept the results They held a second election KS now had 2 governments each claiming a right to impose their

government on the territory


Growing Violence In April 1855 a pro-slavery sheriff was shot when he tried to arrest

some anti-slavery settlers in Lawrence A month later he returned with 800 men and attacked the town

Three days after the attack on Lawrence more violence occurred John Brown led 7 men to a pro-slavery settlement near Pottawatomie

Creek and murdered 5 men and children

These incidents set off widespread violence throughout the territory


Bloodshed in the Senate Charles Sumner – Abolitionist senator from MA

Denounced the proslavery legislature in Kansas Then went on to attack southerners singling out Andrew Butler from SC

Butler’s nephew – a congressman, Preston Brooks marched into the senate chamber and beat Sumner with a cane – Sumner never fully recovered Many southerners felt he got what he deserved and sent canes to Brooks to

show their support


A New Anti-Slavery Party In 1854 the Whig party split apart

Many northern Whigs joined the Republican Party Main goal was to stop the spread of slavery in the western territories

Republican Victories In the 1854 elections, republicans won 105 of the available 245 seats in

congress They also gained control of most free state legislatures

First Republican presidential candidate John C. Fremont (leader of revolution in California)

He won 11 of the nations 16 free states

Defeated by James Buchanan


Dred Scott Decision Decision was made by the U.S. Supreme Court

Facts of the Case Dred Scott was a slave owned by a U.S. Army Doctor. The doctor and

Scott lived in Illinois and later in Wisconsin, both were places where slavery was illegal. Later the Doctor and Scott settled in Missouri.

Scott, with the help of abolitionist lawyers sued for his freedom claiming that since he lived where slavery was banned, that he should be free.

The Court Decides Opinion written by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney

Scott was not a free man for 2 reasons First, he had no right to sue in federal court because he was not a citizen Second, merely living in a free territory did not make a slave free, slaves

were property, and property rights were protected by the Constitution.


Taney’s decision went further…. Taney said that Congress did not have the power to prohibit slavery in

any territory This meant that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional

Reaction Supporters of slavery rejoiced.

Decision meant that slavery was legal everywhere

Northerners were stunned The decision brought out many abolitionists because of outrage One key player was an attorney from Illinois Abraham Lincoln

Said that the idea that African Americans could not be citizens was based on a false view of American History


The Lincoln Douglas Debates Lincoln had a brief beginning in politics

Served one term as a representative for IL Then returned to his law practice

Lincoln was a long time rival of Stephen Douglas Both politically and personally

Both men had courted Mary Todd, who married Lincoln

A House Divided In 1858 the Republican party chose Lincoln to run against Douglas

for the Senate In his nomination acceptance speech, Lincoln claimed that a nation

divided by issues such as slavery cannot continue to stand


Debating Slavery Douglas held firm to his position on Popular Sovereignty

States had a right to decide what was and was not legal within their borders

Lincoln claimed that ‘if slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong’

Douglas won the election, but the 2 would face off again Both ran for the presidency later

John Brown’s Raid Brown had a plan

Lead abolitionists on a raid at Harpers Ferry Goal was to acquire guns the military had stored there Blacks would join in his uprising, and he would form an army

to lead the enslaved to freedom

Brown’s plan fell short While he took over Harpers Ferry, he and his men were soon

surrounded by Col. Robert E. Lee


John Brown’s Trial Brown sat quietly as he was convicted of treason at his trial He received a death sentence and was hung in Virginia

December 2, 1859

That day, church bells across the North rang out Many considered him a hero

Southerners were stunned How could the north support a man convicted of treason


The Nation Divides Election of 1860

Republicans nominate Abraham Lincoln The Democratic party splits

Southern Democrats nominate Vice President John Breckenridge Northern Democrats nominate Stephen Douglas A third party was formed by Southerners hoping to heal the split

between North and South, they form the Constitutional Union and nominate John Bell

Douglas felt that Lincoln would win and pleaded with southern voters to stay with the Union no matter what happened He was pelted with eggs and garbage as a result of his efforts

The election showed the division of the country Look at the map on page 500


Southern States Secede Lincoln’s election shocked the south They felt that a government would

move to take away their ‘rights’ On December 20, 1860

South Carolina passed a declaration In that document was stated “The union now subsisting between

South Carolina and the other states, under the name of the United States of America, is hereby dissolved”


The Confederate States of America Six more states followed SC out of the union

Some moderates in Tennessee and Texas opposed Sam Houston and Andrew Johnson

The 7 seceding states met in Montgomery Alabama to form a new nation

By the time Lincoln took office, they had written a constitution and appointed a president – Jefferson Davis of Mississippi


The Civil War Begins On March 4, 1861 Abraham Lincoln became President

He had to face the greatest crisis in the short history of the U.S.

Lincoln tried to give assurance to the seceded states He said that:

I have no intention of interfering with slavery where it exists Warned the southern states about continuing on their present course

Read the quote on page 501

The south rejected Lincoln’s proposal They took over forts, post offices, and other federal lands

Lincoln now had to decide how to respond


Fort Sumter The commander of Fort Sumter refused to surrender and turn his

post over to the southern states The southern states had cut the fort off from supplies since December They knew that the men inside would starve and be forced to give up

Lincoln did not want to give up the fort either He announced that the north was sending unarmed supply ships to the

fort

The southern states did not give them a chance to arrive On April 12, 1861 Confederate artillery opened fire on Fort Sumter

This was the beginning of a Civil War War between opposing groups of citizens of the same country

Chapter 14 The Nation Divided. Section 2: Compromises Fail Section 1: Growing Tensions Over Slavery Section 3: The Crisis Deepens Section 4: The Coming.

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