CHAPTER 17

Causes of the Civil War

Differences over Slavery

• SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE UNITED STATES THERE HAD BEEN A DEBATE OF THE SLAVERY SYSTEM

• THIS DIVISIVE ISSUE WAS “SOLVED” THROUGH THE USE OF COMPROMISE.

• THE COMPROMISES, WHICH START IN THE CONSTITUTION IN 1787, CONTINUE UNTIL THE CIVIL WAR IN 1860.

First Major Cause-The Missouri Compromise

• 1819-11 free and 11 slave states, a balance

• Northern states argued against admitting another slave state.

• 1820-Maine applied for statehood

• Henry Clay (KY) proposed the Missouri Compromise

The Missouri Compromise

• Missouri entered as a slave state, Maine as a free state-balanced maintained

• A line was drawn-36 degrees 30 minutes N.

• North of that line in area of the Louisiana Purchase=NO SLAVES; South of that line=SLAVERY ALLOWED

• A temporary solution

More Controversy-Mexican Cession & the Wilmot Proviso , 1848

• The Missouri Compromise only applied to the Louisiana Territory

• Many northerners were against the war with Mexico because they believed that the war was fought to extend the institution of slavery

• David Wilmot (PA) convinced the House to outlaw slavery in any new territory won from Mexico

The Senate defeated the Wilmot Proviso

• Southerners said that the constitution did not allow Congress to regulate slavery in the territories

• Led to the growth of SectionalismNortherners saw the South as a foreign nation were American rights and liberties were denied. Saw slavery as morally wrong; growth of the Abolition Movement

Southerners thought that slavery should be allowed in all territories as a Property right and demanded that run away slaves should be returned

Moderates take Center Stage

• Many wanted to just extend the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific

• Others supported the idea of Popular Sovereignty

Popular Sovereignty: All voters in a territory should vote to decide whether to allow slavery or to ban slavery

A new Political Party: The Free Soil Party

• 1848-Antislavery Whigs and Democrats met in Buffalo

• “Free soil, free speech, free labor and free men.”• Main goal to stop the spread of slavery into the

territories• Few wanted to end slavery in the South• Showed its’ strength when Van Buren, (Free Soil

candidate) received 10% of the vote and 13 Free Soilers were elected to Congress

The Need for Compromise• Between 1820 and 1850, eight states had joined

the union, 4 slave (MO, AK, FL, TEXAS) & 4 free (ME, MI, Iowa, WI)

• California wanted to enter as a free state

• The North, already with a majority in the House, would now have a majority in the Senate

• How could the South stop the North from outlawing slavery? Serious talk about Secession.

The Three Leaders of Sectionalism

Slaves are property and states have the right to protect its’ citizens property!

We must compromise to save the nation.

Calhoun, South

Clay, the West

No state can secede but

slavery must not expand

into the territories.

Webster, North

The Aging Three: Clay, Calhoun & Webster

Clay-the Great Compromiser-pleaded for the North and South to compromise or the nation would fall apart

Calhoun-Slavery could not end & must be allowed in the territories. Wanted fugitive slaves returned as a right of property. If the North could not agree: “Let the states … agree to separate and part in peace.”

Webster- “I speak not as a Massachusetts man, not as a Northern man, but as an American. There can be no talk of peaceable secession… only civil war could bring separation.” Opposed the spread of slavery to the territories, wanted slavery ended in Washington, D.C. South could ask for the return of run away slaves.

Compromise of 1850 Debated

The Compromise of 1850 (Clay’s Compromise)

• With Calhoun dead, Fillmore replaced Taylor as president (who also had died) & Clay very ill, Stephen Douglas pushed the Compromise through Congress-4 main parts– CA entered as a free state

– The rest of the Mexican Cession divided into the NM and Utah territories with Popular Sovereignty

– Slave trade ended in Washington, D.C.

– Fugitive Slave Law passed.

MANY AGAINST THE COMPROMISES

• SOUTH--CALHOUN ( AND OTHERS) FEARED NORTHERN POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC POWER.

• HE WAS AFRAID THAT WITH THE NORTHERN POPULATION INCREASES, THE CONGRESS, THE EXECUTIVE AND EVENTUALLY THE SUPREME COURT WOULD BE CONTROLLED BY NORTHERNERS

• LAWS COULD BE PASSED BY THE NATIONAL G0VERNMENT THAT WOULD OUTLAW SLAVERY.

• WANTED AN AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION THAT WOULD ALLOW NULLIFICATION AND CALLED FOR A RETURN TO A FORM OF GOVERNMENT LIKE THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION.

Arguments Over Slavery

MANY AGAINST THE COMPROMISES

• NORTH--ABOLITIONISTS WERE OUTRAGED. THEY SAW THE COMPROMISE AS AN INVITATION TO EXPAND SLAVERY INTO THE TERRITORIES

• AN ATTEMPT TO FORCE PEOPLE WHO WERE AGAINST SLAVERY TO HELP KEEP IT ALIVE BY RE-CAPTURING THE RUN AWAY SLAVE IN THE NORTH.

• BEFORE 1850, A SLAVE WHO REACHED A “FREE” STATE WOULD MOST LIKELY REMAIN FREE. AFTER THIS COMPROMISE, THE ONLY “FREE” AREA WOULD BE CANADA.

The Fugitive Slave Act

• FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW PASSED--RUNAWAY SLAVES COULD BE OFFICIALLY HUNTED IN NORTHERN (FREE) STATES AND FORCED TO RETURN TO THEIR OWNERS.

• THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WOULD HELP CAPTURE RUNAWAYS

• IT BECAME A CRIME TO ASSIST, HELP, GUIDE, HIDE FEED AND SHELTER ANY RUNAWAY. ($1,000 fine and 6 months in jail)

Major Problems

• THOSE WHO TRIED TO ENFORCE THIS LAW, OFTEN PUT THEMSELVES IN JEOPARDY:– IN BOSTON, A RUNAWAY WAS ARRESTED BUT

AN ANTI-SLAVERY MOB ATTACKED THE JAIL, BROKE DOWN THE WALL AND FREED THE SLAVE.

– IN PENN. A MARYLAND SLAVE OWNER WHO TRIED TO RECLAIM A RUN AWAY SLAVE WAS ATTACKED AND BEATEN TO DEATH BY THE MOB.

Major Problems

• THERE WERE MANY EXAMPLES OF MISTAKEN

IDENTITY OR SIMPLY FRAUD. – IN NEW YORK, A WELL KNOWN FREE BLACK,

JAMES HAMLET WAS CAPTURED AND FORCED INTO MARYLAND AND MADE A SLAVE. NO TRIAL, NO APPEAL AND NEVER SAW HIS FAMILY AGAIN & BLACK WERE NOT ALLOWED TO TESTIFY IN COURT

• A judge would receive $10 for every slave sent back to the South (whether he was a run away or not) and only $5 if a person was freed.

UNCLE TOM’S CABIN BY HARRIET BEECHER STOWE ANGERED SOUTHERNERS.

• 1852-STOWE WROTE A NOVEL ABOUT A KENTUCKY PLANTATION WHICH DESCRIBED THE HORRIBLE CONDITIONS THAT SLAVES WERE FACED WITH UNDER A CRUEL SLAVE OWNER. HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE READ THE NOVEL (OR SAW A PLAY BASED ON THE NOVEL) AND BELIEVED THAT THE STORY WAS TRUE.

• AS A RESULT, THE NOVEL WAS ABLE TO CONVINCE MANY WHITES IN THE NORTH THAT SLAVERY SHOULD BE ENDED. SOUTHERNERS HATED THE NOVEL AND CLAIMED IT DID NOT ACCURATELY PORTRAY LIFE ON A TYPICAL PLANTATION ESPECIALLY SINCE STOWE NEVER HAD SEEN OR BEEN TO A PLANTATION.

• INCREASED THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO WANTED TO SEE THE END OF SLAVERY.

KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT OF 1854

• DOUGLAS INTRODUCED A BILL TO ORGANIZE THE NEBRASKA TERRITORY.

• HE WANTED TO BUILD A TRANS-CONTINENTAL RAILROAD (MAKING CHICAGO THE MOST IMPORTANT HUB CITY IN THE COUNTRY) TO THE WEST.

• HE KNEW THAT THE SOUTH WOULD OBJECT TO ADDING ANOTHER TERRITORY THAT MIGHT BECOME A FREE STATE.

• HE PROPOSED THAT NEBRASKA BE DIVIDED INTO TWO SEPARATE TERRITORIES, KANSAS & NEBRASKA AND ALLOW EACH TERRITORY TO USE POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY TO

DECIDE FOR THEMSELVES THE SLAVERY ISSUE.

WHY DID DOUGLAS MAKE THIS PROPOSAL?

• DOUGLAS WANTS NATIONAL RAILROAD

• KNEW OF THE FEAR OF MISSOURI BEING SURROUNDED ON THREE SIDES BY FREE STATES.

• DOUGLAS WANTED TO BECOME PRESIDENT AND KNEW HE WOULD NEED SOUTHERN (SLAVE STATE) SUPPORT

PROBLEM: THESE NEW TERRITORIES WERE NORTH OF THE 36 DEGREE LINE SET BY THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE

• SOUTHERNERS SUPPORTED THE BILL BECAUSE THEY WERE SURE THAT SLAVE OWNERS FROM MISSOURI WOULD CROSS OVER INTO KANSAS AND VOTE TO MAKE KANSAS A SLAVE STATE.

• NORTHERNERS AGAINST BECAUSE THIS LAW WOULD OVERTURN THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE

• COULD LEAD TO SLAVERY IN AREAS THAT HAD BEEN SLAVE-FREE FOR OVER 30 YEARS.

Bleeding Kansas

• KANSAS BECAME THE FOCAL POINT OF THE SLAVERY ISSUE

• BOTH PRO AND ANTI SLAVERY GROUPS MOVE INTO KANSAS IN ORDER TO VOTE FOR OR AGAINST SLAVERY (POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY)

• PRO-SLAVERY FARMERS FROM MISSOURI, AFRAID TO BE SURROUNDED BY FREE TERRITORIES ON THREE SIDES FLOOD INTO KANSAS.

• AT THE SAME TIME, NORTHERN ABOLITIONISTS, ESPECIALLY THOSE FROM NEW ENGLAND, SOLD ALL THEIR POSSESSIONS AND MOVED INTO KANSAS.

Bleeding Kansas

• WHEN TWO GROUPS OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT VIEW POINTS ON SUCH AN EMOTIONAL ISSUE COME TOGETHER IN SMALL AREAS, VIOLENCE WILL BREAK OUT.

• BOTH SIDES STARTED NEWSPAPERS TO CONVINCE THE VOTERS TO VOTE FOR OR AGAINST SLAVERY

Bleeding Kansas

• IN 1855, KANSAS HELD ELECTIONS IN WHICH “BORDER RUFFIANS” CROSSED THE BORDER FROM MISSOURI AND VOTED ILLEGALLY. THEY ELECTED A PRO-SLAVERY LEGISLATURE WHO PASSED LAWS SUPPORTING SLAVERY INCLUDING LAWS THAT ANYONE HELPING A SLAVE ESCAPE WOULD FACE THE DEATH PENALTY AND ANYONE SPEAKING OUT AGAINST SLAVERY WOULD GO TO PRISON FOR TWO YEARS.

• ANTI-SLAVERY SETTLERS REFUSED TO ACCEPT THESE LAWS AND ELECTED THEIR OWN GOVERNOR AND LEGISLATURE AND PASSED LAWS THAT MADE SLAVERY ILLEGAL.

Bleeding Kansas

• ON MAY 20, 1856, SENATOR SUMNER FROM MASSACHUSETTS IN A FAMOUS SPEECH “THE CRIME AGAINST KANSAS” RIDICULED SENATOR BUTLERFROM SOUTH CAROLINA.

• TWO DAYS LATER, BUTLER’S NEPHEW, PRESTON BROOKS, A MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, ATTACKED BUTLER WITH A CANE BEATING SUMNER SO HARD THAT HE BROKE THE CANE OVER SUMNER’S HEAD.

• BROOKS WAS REWARDED WITH RE-ELECTION AND WAS SENT HUNDREDS OF CANES TO REPLACE HIS BROKEN ONE.

Bleeding Kansas

• IN MAY 1856, THE TOWN OF LAWRENCE, KANSAS WAS ATTACKED BY 800 MISSOURI “BORDER RUFFIANS” AND COMPLETELY DESTROYED THE TOWN

• JOHN BROWN, WHO CLAIMED THAT GOD HAD SENT HIM TO PUNISH SUPPORTERS OF SLAVERY, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT DRAGGED FIVE PROSLAVERY SETTLERS FROM THEIR BEDS AND MURDERED THEM.

• BY THE END OF 1856, OVER 200 PEOPLE ON BOTH

SIDES OF THE ISSUE HAD BEEN KILLED.

Dred Scott Case-1857

• DRED SCOTT WAS A SLAVE WHO MOVED WITH HIS OWNER TO ILLINOIS THEN TO THE FREE TERRITORY OF WISCONSIN. WHILE IN WISCONSIN, HIS OWNER DIED. HE WAS RETURNED TO MISSOURI AS PROPERTY OF HIS OWNERS’ RELATIVES.

• ANTI SLAVERY LAWYERS HELPED HIS FILE SUIT IN FEDERAL COURT ASKING THE COURT TO DECLARE SCOTT A FREE MAN.

• EVENTUALLY THE CASE WENT TO THE SUPREME COURT.

Dred Scott Case

• THE COURT RULED THAT SINCE SCOTT WAS A SLAVE, HE WAS NOT A CITIZEN AND COULD NOT FILE SUIT IN FEDERAL COURTS.

• FURTHER, THE COURT RULED THAT CONGRESS HAD NO RIGHT TO OUTLAW SLAVERY IN THE TERRITORIES, ONLY STATES COULD DECIDE THE SLAVERY ISSUE.

• THIS RULING MEANT THAT SCOTT WAS NOT A FREEMAN AND THAT THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE WAS UNCONSTITUTIONAL.

Reaction to the Scott Case

• SOUTHERNERS LOVED THIS RULING, SLAVERY WAS LEGAL IN ANY STATE OR TERRITORY THAT ALLOWED SLAVERY.

• NORTHERNERS OUTRAGED BECAUSE IT LEGALIZED SLAVERY IN EVERY TERRITORY

The Republican Party

• IN 1854, ANTI-SLAVERY WHIGS AND FREE SOILERS MET IN MICHIGAN.

• THE WHIGS SAW THEIR PARTY FALLING APART DUE TO THE AGE OF THE LEADERSHIP AND THE FREE SOILERS BELIEVED IN FREE HOMESTEADS FOR SETTLERS AND PART OF THE PARTY BELIEVED IN NO MORE SLAVE TERRITORIES OR STATES

• THEY HAD BECOME WEAKENED WHEN SLAVE SUPPORTERS ALSO WANTED FREE HOMESTEADS IN THE WEST

The Republican Party

• THE MAIN GOAL WAS TO KEEP SLAVERY OUT OF THE TERRITORIES. THE MAJORITY DID NOT WANT TO END SLAVERY IN THE SOUTH.

• IN THE ELECTION OF 1856, JOHN FREMONT WAS CHOSEN BY THE REPUBLICANS AGAINST JAMES BUCHANAN, “A NORTHERN MAN WITH SOUTHERN PRINCIPLES” BUCHANAN WON BUT FREMONT ALMOST CARRIED THE ENTIRE NORTH AND CAME CLOSE TO WINNING THE ELECTION.

• THIS WORRIED SOUTHERNERS BECAUSE FREMONT ALMOST WON THE ELECTION WITH NO SOUTHERN SUPPORT.

• THIS SHOWED THAT SOUTHERN INFLUENCE IN NATIONAL ELECTIONS WAS FADING FAST.

The Rise of Abraham Lincoln

• BY 1858, LINCOLN WAS WELL KNOWN IN ILLINOIS, FIRST AS A STATE LEGISLATOR AND LATER AS A MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

• MANY ADMIRED HIM FOR HIS HONESTY AND HIS STRAIGHTFORWARD STYLE OF SPEAKING. HE WAS KNOWN AS HONEST ABE.

• HE DECIDED TO RUN AGAINST STEPHEN DOUGLAS, FOR THE SENATE, BECAUSE HE WAS AGAINST THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT.

• LINCOLN WAS ANTI-SLAVERY BUT NOT AN ABOLITIONIST. HE BELIEVED THAT SLAVERY WAS A “MORAL, SOCIAL AND POLITICAL WRONG” HE DID NOT WANT SLAVERY IN THE TERRITORIES BUT WOULD INTERFERE WITH THE INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY IN THE STATES WHERE IT EXISTED.

LINCOLN/DOUGLAS DEBATES

The Rise of Abraham Lincoln

• DURING THE CAMPAIGN, LINCOLN CHALLENGED DOUGLAS TO A SERIES OF THE DEBATES. THESE “CO-SPEECHES” BECAME SOME OF THE MOST FAMOUS IN AMERICANS HISTORY.

• DOUGLAS TRIED TO PORTRAY LINCOLN AS AN ABOLITIONIST AND LINCOLN TRIED TO GET DOUGLAS TO MAKE PRO-SLAVERY STATEMENTS. IN ONE OF THE DEBATES

• LINCOLN MADE HIS “HOUSE DIVIDED” SPEECH. LINCOLN SAID THAT A NATION HALF SLAVE AND HALF FREE COULD NOT SURVIVE “A HOUSE DIVIDED AGAINST ITSELF CANNOT STAND!”

• DOUGLAS LOST THE ELECTION, BUT GAIN NATIONAL ATTENTION.

RAID ON HARPERS FERRY, 1859

• JOHN BROWN AND HIS FOLLOWERS HAD A PLAN TO ATTACK AN ARSENAL AT HARPERS FERRY, VIRGINIA (HARRIET TUBMAN WAS SUPPOSED TO GO WITH BROWN BUT WAS ILL) AND ARM SLAVES FOR A SLAVE REVOLT.

• HE CAPTURED THE ARSENAL BUT WAS QUICKLY SURROUNDED BY ROBERT E. LEE.

• LEE AND HIS MEN KILLED 10 OF BROWN’S FOLLOWERS WERE KILLED AND BROWN CAPTURED.

HARPERS FERRY

• BROWN WENT ON TRIAL FOR MURDER AND TREASON, FOUND GUILTY AND EXECUTED

• WHILE HATED IN THE SOUTH, CHURCH BELLS THROUGHOUT THE NORTH WERE RUNG ON THE MORNING OF THE EXECUTION AND BROWN WAS CONSIDERED A HERO.

• SOUTHERNERS WERE OUTRAGED, BAD ENOUGH TO CRITICIZE SLAVERY BUT TO PRAISE A MAN WHO HOPED TO LEAD TO A SLAVE REVOLT WAS INTOLERABLE. MANY SOUTHERNERS FELT THAT THE NORTH WAS TRYING TO END SLAVERY AND DESTROY THE SOUTH

ELECTION OF 1860

• -DEMOCRATIC PARTY SPLITS OVER CANDIDATES:– NATIONAL CONVENTION WAS HELD IN CHARLESTON, SC

THOSE WHO WANTED SLAVERY IN ALL THE TERRITORIES, WANTED SECESSION AND WANTED SLAVERY IN ALL THE TERRITORIES WERE KNOWN AS THE “FIRE EATERS.”

– OTHERS COULD NOT AGREE ON SLAVERY IN THE TERRITORIES. DOUGLAS RECEIVED A MAJORITY BUT NOT THE 2/3 NECESSARY FOR THE NOMINATION. THE CONVENTION BREAKS UP IN CHAOS.

– THE DELEGATES DECIDE TO MEET AGAIN IN BALTIMORE, BUT THE “FIRE EATERS” WERE EXCLUDED FROM THE CONVENTION.

– DOUGLAS WAS NOMINATED.

ELECTION 1860

• THE FIRE EATERS CHOSE JOHN BRECKINRIDGE FROM KENTUCKY WHO FAVORED SECESSION.

• OTHERS SAW THE SPLIT IN THE PARTY AS A DANGER SIGNAL FOR THE NATION AND FORMED THE CONSTITUTIONAL UNION PARTY AND CHOSE JOHN BELL FROM TENNESSEE AS A CANDIDATE WHO SIMPLY WANTED TO KEEP THE COUNTRY TOGETHER.

ELECTION OF 1860

• REPUBLICAN PARTY CHOSE LINCOLN, WHO SOUTHERNERS BELIEVED WAS AN ABOLITIONIST AND WOULD TRY TO END SLAVERY

• LINCOLN WINS THE ELECTION WITH 40% OF THE POPULAR VOTE BUT 59% OF THE ELECTORAL VOTE WITHOUT WINNING ONE SOUTHERN STATE. FIRST PRESIDENT ELECTED WITH NO SOUTHERN SUPPORT– DOUGLAS WON 30% OF THE POPULAR VOTE BUT ONLY 4% OF THE

ELECTOR VOTE.

– BRECKINRIDGE CAME IN SECOND IN THE ELECTORAL VOTE WITH 24% BUT ONLY 18% OF THE POPULAR VOTE.

– EVEN BELL HAD MORE ELECTORAL VOTES THAN DOUGLAS. (12% POPULAR,13% ELECTORAL)

ELECTION OF 1860, ELECTORAL VOTE

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Electoral Popular

Lincoln

Douglas

Bell

Breckinridge

The South Secedes

• ON DECEMBER 20, 1860, SOUTH CAROLINA SECEDED FROM THE UNION. BY FEBRUARY, 1861, SIX OTHER STATES (TEXAS, GEORGIA, FLORIDA, ALABAMA, MISSISSIPPI, AND LOUISIANA) HAD LEFT.

• BEFORE LINCOLN EVEN TAKES OFFICE, THE NATION HAD SPLIT.

• IN MONTGOMERY ALABAMA, THE CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA WAS FORMED AND JEFFERSON DAVIS WAS ELECTED PRESIDENT OF THE CONFEDERACY.

• THIS GOVERNMENT RESEMBLED THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION GOVERNMENT AND STATED THAT SLAVES WERE PROPERTY.

The Nation Splits

The First Shots of the Civil War

• ON MARCH 4, 1861, LINCOLN TOOK OFFICE & STATED THAT NO STATE COULD LEGALLY GET OUT OF THE UNION, BUT HE WOULD START A WAR UNLESS SOUTHERN STATES STARED IT.

• BY THE END OF MARCH, THE CONFEDERATE ARMY HAD TAKEN ALL FEDERAL PROPERTY IN THE SOUTH INCLUDING FORTS, POST OFFICES AND FEDERAL BUILDING.

• THE UNION HELD ONLY FOUR FORTS IN THE CONFEDERATE STATE INCLUDING FORT SUMTER IN

SOUTH CAROLINA.

First Shots-Fort Sumter

Fort Sumter Attacked

• ON APRIL 12, 1861, THE GOVERNOR ORDER THE COMMANDER OF THE FORT SUMTER TO SURRENDER. HE REFUSED AND THE CONFEDERATE ARMY BEGAN A BOMBARDMENT OF THE FORT.

• BY APRIL 13, THE UNION COMMANDER R0BERT ANDERSON RAN OUT OF AMMUNITION AND SURRENDERED THE FORT.

• THE WAR HAD BEGUN.