Ch. 15 3 pp

Chapter Objectives

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• Understand why the Republican Party was formed.

• Describe how the Dred Scott decision, the Lincoln-Douglas debates, and John Brown’s raid affected Americans.

Section 3: Challenges to Slavery

Why It MattersSlavery was a major cause of the worsening division between the North and South in the period before the Civil War. The struggle between the North and South turned more hostile, and talk grew of separation and civil war.

The Impact Today“If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong,” Abraham Lincoln wrote in a letter to A.G. Hodges in 1864. By studying this era of our history, we can better understand the state of racial relations today and develop ways for improving them.


Guide to Reading

Social, economic, and political differences divided the North and South.

• arsenal

Main Idea

Key Terms

• martyr


A New Political Party• In 1854 antislavery Whigs and antislavery

Democrats joined with Free Soilers to create the Republican Party.

(pages 445–446)(pages 445–446)

• The Republican Party’s main issue was the abolition of slavery, or at least the prevention of its spread into Western lands.


• Republican candidates began to challenge proslavery Whigs and Democrats in state and congressional elections of 1854, with the message that the government should ban slavery in the territories.

• The election showed that the Republican Party had strength in the North, but almost no support in the South.

• The Democratic Party’s strength was almost totally in the South.

A New Political Party (cont.)


• Democrat James Buchanan won the presidential election of 1856, with the strong support of Southerners.

• The Democrats supported popular sovereignty–the right of the voters in each new territory or state to decide for themselves whether to allow slavery.

A New Political Party (cont.)


The Dred Scott Decision• Two days after President Buchanan took office,

the Supreme Court announced the Dred Scott decision.

(pages 446–448)(pages 446–448)

• Dred Scott was an enslaved African American who had been taken by his owner from the South to live for a timein Illinois and Wisconsin, areas where slavery was not allowed.

• After his owner died, antislavery lawyers helped Scott sue for his freedom, claiming that he had for a time lived on free soil.


• In the Dred Scott decision, Chief Justice Taney said that Scott was a slave, not a citizen, and therefore had no right to bring a lawsuit.

• He added that Scott’s residence on free soil did not make him free, because he was property.

• As property, he could not be taken away from his owner without “due process of law.”

The Dred Scott Decision (cont.)

(pages 446–448)(pages 446–448)


• Furthermore, Taney maintained that because the Congress had no power to prohibit slavery in any territory, the Missouri Compromise, which had limited slavery north of the 36°30’N latitude line in many Western territories, was unconstitutional.

• Finally Taney added that popular sovereignty was unconstitutional because not even voters could prohibit slavery, as it would amount to taking away someone’s property.


(pages 446–448)(pages 446–448)

• The Dred Scott decision outraged antislavery advocates in the North, but pleased Southerners, dividing the country more than ever.


(pages 446–448)(pages 446–448)


• In 1858 the Senate race in Illinois attracted national attention.

• It pitted Democratic Senator Stephen Douglas against a little-known Republican challenger named Abraham Lincoln.

• Douglas was against slavery personally, but believed that popular sovereignty would resolve the issue without interfering with national unity.


(pages 446–448)(pages 446–448)


• Lincoln also personally opposed slavery, but thought there was no easy way to eliminate it where it already existed.

• He thought the solution was to prevent its spread into the territories.


(pages 446–448)(pages 446–448)


• Lincoln challenged Douglas to a series of debates leading up to the election.

• The seven debates took place between August and October 1858.

• Slavery was the main topic.


(pages 446–448)(pages 446–448)


• During the debates Douglas put forth his idea that people in a territory could exclude slavery by refusing to pass laws protecting slaveholders’ rights.

• This became known as the Freeport Doctrine, after the Illinois town where Douglas made the statement.

• This point of view gained Douglas support among those that were against slavery but lost Douglas support among the proslavery population.


(pages 446–448)(pages 446–448)


• Douglas claimed that Lincoln wanted African Americans to be equal to whites.

• Lincoln denied this.

• He said that he and the Republican Party merely felt that slavery was wrong.

• Douglas narrowly won the election, but during the debates, Lincoln earned a national reputation.

• After the election of 1858, Southerners felt increasingly threatened by the growing power of the antislavery Republican Party.


(pages 446–448)(pages 446–448)


• A raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia, further fed Southern fears.

• On October 16, 1859, abolitionist John Brown led a small group of whites and free African Americans in a raid on an arsenal at Harpers Ferry.

• The aim was to arm enslaved African Americans and spark a slave uprising.


(pages 446–448)(pages 446–448)


• The plan failed and the United States Marines under Colonel Robert E. Lee captured Brown and some of his followers.

• Brown was tried, found guilty of murder and treason, and hanged.

• Several of Brown’s followers met the same fate.


(pages 446–448)(pages 446–448)


• John Brown’s death became a rallying point for abolitionists in the North.

• But when Southerners learned of Brown’s connection to abolitionists–he had been encouraged and financed by a group of abolitionists–their fears of a great Northern conspiracy were confirmed.

• Distrust and animosity between the North and South were about to reach the breaking point.


(pages 446–448)(pages 446–448)

Documents

Ch. 15 3 pp