AMERICAN HISTORY I

Sectionalism Intensifies

The Fugitive Slave Act Gave Southern slaveholders the right to reclaim

escaped slaves from the North

A claim alone was enough – without right to trial, to testify, or to appeal

Commissioners paid for service – $10 if a “fugitive” captured, $5 if not a fugitive

Federal marshals required to aid in capture Ordinary citizens could be deputized to help Fines, arrest if they refused!

Northerners Resist Citizens detested legal requirement to

help recapture escaped slaves

Open defiance, despite the risks

Thoreau: “Civil Disobedience” (1849) Citizens have an obligation to disobey unjust

laws Wait until such laws amended – or act now?

Resistance more visible, more violent

“Uncle Tom’s Cabin” Ohio novelist Harriet Beecher Stowe sympathized with

abolitionists

Uncle Tom’s Cabin published as a serial in 1852 Dramatic, emotional story of oppression, cruelty, horror of

slavery Fiction, but characters based on real people, real stories Book version sold millions of copies!

Northern minds changed – book brought slavery to life

South wanted it banned!

Perhaps a cause of the Civil War??

The Underground Railroad Not a real railroad, but a network of safe

houses offering food, shelter to runaways

“Conductors” helped transport escaped slaves to the North – or to Canada Harriet Tubman a leader of the effort – 19 trips

back South, and never lost a “passenger” Homes of Levi Coffin, John Rankin, Thomas Garrett

key “hubs” on the Railroad

Increased Southern mistrust of North – deliberate defiance of fugitive slave laws!

The Transcontinental Divide

Need for easier travel, trade with west coast

… but where to put it? Both North and South wanted it through their territories

Secretary of War Jefferson Davis coordinated Gadsden Purchase from Mexico South needed land link for Southern rail line U.S. paid $10m for 30,000 square miles of land (1853)

North had to organize western territories before planning a Northern rail line Stephen Douglas proposed organization as “Nebraska” South resisted: Repeal Missouri Compromise first!

Kansas-Nebraska Act Repeal of Missouri Compromise would be disastrous –

but territory had to be organized!

Douglas underestimated depth of anti-slavery sentiment in the North

South not convinced by “popular sovereignty” argument Douglas offered to undo Missouri Compromise Proposed to split territory in two (Kansas – south, Nebraska –

north)

Northern Democrats, Whigs furious – but Kansas-Nebraska Act passed anyway (1854)

Right! Columbia, give it to him, for he deserves it; give it to Steven till he cries…

You have been a bad boy, Steve, ever since you had anything to do with that Nebraska Bill and have made a great deal of trouble in the family, and now I'll pay you for it.No! Please let me free and I’ll never do it again!

“Bleeding Kansas” Northerners, abolitionists rushed to prevent

oversettlement in Kansas by slaveholders Anti-slavery majority = free Kansas! Abolitionist groups helped fund settlers’ relocation

Armed “border ruffians” from Missouri cross Kansas border, vote illegally Pro-slavery legislature established, based on vote Anti-slavery settlers set up their own government! Border ruffians attacked Lawrence, KS to intimidate anti-

slavery settlers

“Bleeding Kansas” – a first battleground?

The Caning of Charles Sumner MA Senator Charles

Sumner delivered a speech sharply critical of slavery – and SC Senator Andrew Butler

Butler’s cousin beat Sumner on the Senate floor with his cane to avenge the insult

Southerners supported the action – but Northern resistance strengthened

The New Republicans Kansas-Nebraska Act split Whigs, Democrats along

sectional lines

New coalition formed: Northern Whigs, Free Soil party, anti-slavery Democrats became the Republican party

Return to Jeffersonian ideals “Revive spirit of American Revolution” Fight influence of Southern “aristocrats” on federal

government

All agreed – no slavery in the territories!

The Election of 1856 Republicans nominated John C. Frémont

Support base in the North Politically harmless, and favored free Kansas

Democrats’ candidate James Buchanan Support base in the South Favored concessions to the South to preserve Union

Know-Nothings nominated Millard Fillmore (but party was fractured)

Democrats won by claiming that the South would secede if Frémont were elected!

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Dred Scott Decision Division Buchanan supported having Supreme Court rule on slavery in the

territories

Southern majority on Supreme Court, and South had been quietly pushing for precedent

Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) Scott a Missouri slave who had lived in free territory Sued for freedom for himself, his family

Supreme Court’s decision polarized North, South further Scott not a citizen, therefore had no right to sue Missouri Compromise ruled unconstitutional!

South: Comply with decision, or we will leave the Union!

The Lecompton Constitution

Buchanan hoped Kansas statehood would end chaos in the territory

Pro-slavery legislature established Lecompton Constitution in 1857, legalizing slavery Referendum split – anti-slavery side voted against it Buchanan accepted the pro-slavery vote, recommended

statehood

Senate accepted Kansas as a slave state, but the House blocked it Buchanan, South agreed to another referendum vote This time, Kansas voters reject Lecompton Constitution Kansas finally becomes a state in 1861

“A House Divided…” In 1858, Abraham Lincoln ran against Stephen

Douglas in the Illinois Senate campaign

Seeking publicity and a wider audience, Lincoln challenged Douglas to a series of debates

Douglas’ Freeport Doctrine tried to keep Illinois voters happy, but alienated Southerners

Lincoln’s position: slavery “threatens existence of this Union” like a cancer – spreading it out would only make it worse!

"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 all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new — North as well as South.

– Abraham Lincoln, Springfield, 1858

John Brown’s Raid John Brown an abolitionist who decided to take

violent action after Sumner was caned

In 1859, he and 18 followers seized a federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia Planned to free local slaves, lead armed insurrection Marines, Col. Robert E. Lee capture Brown after 33 hours Brown tried, convicted and hanged

Attack galvanized public opinion on both sides To the North, Brown was a martyr Southerners terrified – Northerners the “enemy at the

door”

Division Among Democrats South feared Northern incitement of slave rebellions

Anyone who didn’t see slavery as a “blessing” was an “enemy” of the South

Georgia Senator Toombs: Keep federal government out of the hands of the “Black Republican” party

1860 convention: Democrats could not agree on a candidate! Northern Democrats split from Southern Democrats Each faction nominated its own candidate North: Douglas, South: John Breckinridge (sitting VP) Southern Democrats lead party, support Dred Scott ruling

and federal slave codes in the territories

Lincoln Becomes President Lincoln, popular in the North, became the Republican nominee

Official Republican position Non-interference with slavery in existing states Higher tariffs Transcontinental railroad Homesteading laws to settle territories

Democrats’ split gave Lincoln the victory with only the support of the North

Southerners: Lincoln’s election meant abolitionists had won South Carolina seceded soon after election 6 more lower South states seceded by February, 1861

Last Efforts for Peace Seceded states seized all federal property –

including forts, arsenals

Kentucky Sen. John Crittenden proposed one last compromise Guarantee on slavery where it already existed Reinstate Missouri Compromise line to CA border Congressional Republicans, with Lincoln’s backing,

prevent passage of Crittenden’s compromise

Virginia peace conference generated no further ideas acceptable to Congress

The Confederacy Takes a Stand Secessionist states

met in Montgomery, AL

Declare Confederate States of America (or, Confederacy)

Wrote new constitution

Elected Jefferson Davis their president

The Start of Civil War Lincoln took over a nation in shambles

Union divided, Confederacy established Which state might be next to secede?

The new president pledged non-interference where slavery existed – but also reiterated commitment to preserving the Union

Advised of intent to defend, protect federal property in seceded states

Left door open for reconciliation – no conflict unless South the “aggressors”

Confederacy challenged Union for control of Fort Sumter –with their victory, the Civil War had begun

Choosing Sides By June 1861, states in upper South had also

seceded

Confederate capital moved to Richmond after Virginia seceded – too close for Lincoln’s comfort!

Concern grew over allegiance of border states Lincoln imposed martial law in Baltimore to help quell

anti-Union sentiment Kentucky legislature supported Union when

Confederacy challenged state borders Missouri decided not to secede, despite sympathies for

Confederacy

Causes of Civil War Disagreement on legality, morality,

politics of slavery Kansas-Nebraska Act led to violence in

Kansas Dred Scott ruling voided limits on

expansion of slavery (voiding MO Compromise and asserting slaves not citizens/can’t sue)

John Brown’s raid polarized North, South

Southern states secede, attack Fort Sumter in South Carolina