Chapter 15

Chapter 15

A Divided Nation1848 - 1860

Essential Question

•How did the issue of slavery affect politics in the United States?

I. Debate over Slavery

• 1820 – Missouri Compromise – Henry Clay– Maine = Free State– Missouri = Slave State– Line at 360 30’

• North of the line = FREE• South of the Line = SLAVE

New Land Renews Slave Disputes

• 1848 - Additional lands from the Mexican American War cause bitter debate over slavery and keeping equal free and slave states

• Popular Sovereignty: political power belongs to the people – let them decide slavery issue

• Wilmont Proviso: document stating that slavery should not exist in lands obtained from Mexican American War – did not pass Senate

Sectionalism

•Favoring the interests of one section or region over the interests of the entire country

The California Question

• Gold rush caused huge population growth in California – applied for statehood

• California opposes slavery – would upset balance of free and slave states

Compromise of 1850

• 3 Major Players:– Henry Clay:

• Known as “The Great Compromiser”

– John Calhoun:• Southerner who wanted

slavery and threatened secession

– Daniel Webster:• Northerner who pleaded

for national unity

Compromise of 1850

• 1 – California would enter as a free state• 2 – Popular sovereignty would be used to

decide slavery in Mexican Cession land• 3 – Texas gives up lands east of Rio Grande –

receives money from federal government• 4 – Slave trade abolished in Washington, D.C.

(slavery still legal)• 5 – Fugitive Slave Act

Fugitive Slave Act

• 1850• Denied escaped slaves

to have a trial or testify• Helping a slave = $1000

fine and 6 months in jail• $10 for every African

American “suspected of escape” in the North brought back to the South

Uncle Tom’s Cabin• 1852• Written by Harriet

Beecher Stowe• Dramatic tale about a

loyal slave beaten to death by his owner, Simon Legree

• Presented slavery as a horrible evil and changed people’s views

• Southerners felt it was full of lies

II. Trouble in Kansas

• Franklin Pierce elected President in 1852– From New Hampshire– Little known– Promised to support

Compromise of 1850 and Fugitive Slave Act

Kansas – Nebraska Act• 1854• Illinois senator, Stephen

Douglas, wanted to organize Kansas and Nebraska territories in order to build a transcontinental railroad across the country

• Needing southern support for the act, Douglas allowed Kansas and Nebraska to decide by popular sovereignty the issue of slavery

“Bleeding Kansas”

• Pro and Anti slavery supporters rush to Kansas

• Pro-slavery Missourians illegally vote in Kansas for pro-slave government

• “Sack of Lawrence” – an anti-slavery town burned by pro-slavery people in 1856

John Brown

• John Brown, a radical anti-slavery settler, butchers five pro-slavery men at Pottowatomie Creek as a response to Lawrence– Called “Pottowatomie

Massacre”– Civil war in Kansas

VIOLENCE IN THE SENATE• In May, 1856,

Massachusetts senator Charles Sumner gives a speech attacking slave holders for the situation in Kansas

• South Carolina representative Preston Brooks beat Sumner over the head with a cane – Sumner did not return to the Senate for two more years

III. Political Divisions

• Republican Party: a political party united against the spread of slavery – 1854

• Democrat James Buchanan elected President in 1856

Dred Scott Decision

• Dred Scott was the slave of a Missouri army surgeon, who had taken him to Illinois and Wisconsin to live for a few years

• In 1846, Scott claimed in court that since he lived on free soil, he should be a free man

• What did the Court decide?

• 3 key issues:– Was Scott a citizen?– Does living on free soil

make you free?– Is it constitutional to

prohibit slavery in federal territories?

Dred Scott Decision• Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney – • "It is difficult at this day to realize the state of public

opinion in regard to that unfortunate race which prevailed in the civilized and enlightened portions of the world at the time of the Declaration of Independence, and when the Constitution of the United States was framed and adopted; but the public history of every European nation displays it in a manner too plain to be mistaken. They had for more than a century before been regarded as beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations, and so far unfit that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect."

Lincoln Douglas Debates

• In 1858, Abraham Lincoln ran against Stephen Douglas for the Illinois Senate seat

Lincoln Douglas Debates

• Lincoln challenged Douglas to a series of debates – the issue of slavery, Dred Scott Decision, and condition of the country

• Freeport Doctrine: Douglas believed the police would enforce the voters’ decision if it contradicted the Supreme Court’s decision in the Dred Scott case

• Results: Douglas narrowly defeats Lincoln, but Lincoln becomes a national figure and ready to run for President in 1860

John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry

• October 16, 1859, John Brown appeared in Harpers Ferry, Virginia, with 21 followers to seize the military arsenal

• Plan: To give weapons to escaped slaves to ignite a slave revolt

John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry

• Colonel Robert E. Lee led a force of Marines to capture Brown

• Virginia convicts Brown of treason and hangs him 6 weeks later

• Brown becomes a martyr to the abolitionist cause – South feels North will do anything to destroy slavery

• “John Brown’s Body” becomes a song

Election of 1860

• Candidates– Republican: Abraham Lincoln– Northern Democrat:

Stephen Douglas– Southern Democrat: John

Breckinridge– Constitutional Union: John

Bell– Lincoln wins with only 40%

of the popular vote – becomes the first Republican president

The South Secedes

• After Lincoln’s election, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, and Texas secede (break away) from the Union and form the Confederate States of America

• Jefferson Davis, Senator from Mississippi, elected President of the Confederacy

Lincoln Takes Office

• Lincoln pleads with the South to reunite the Union – no need for bloodshed or violence

• “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies.”

• Fort Sumter – a federal fort in South Carolina – was running short of supplies

• Lincoln says that a ship coming down to the fort only has food – no weapons or soldiers!

• Confederate President Jefferson Davis decides that fort protects Charleston (an important city) and must not stay in Northern/federal hands