The American Pageant

Chapter 19

Drifting Toward

Disunion,

1854-1861

A house divided against itself cannot stand.

I believe this government cannot endure

permanently half slave and half free.

Abraham Lincoln, 1858

Introduction

• Prospects for a peaceful solution to the slavery issue evaporated as moral temperatures rose

• Kansas Territory erupted into violence between proslavery and antislavery factions in 1855

• Two years later, the Supreme Court handed down the Dred Scott decision, which invalidated the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which had imposed a shaky lid on the slavery issue for more than a generation

• Attitudes on both sides hardened• When the newly formed Republican party nominated

the outspoken opponent of further expansion of slavery into the territories ---Abraham Lincoln --- for president in 1860, the stage was set for the Civil War

The slavery question continued to churn throughout the 1850s

I. Stowe And Helper: Literary Incendiaries

A. In 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe, upset with the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law, published Uncle Tom’s Cabin1. Stowe was determined to awaken the North to what she saw as the wickedness of slavery

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

• Book relied on powerful imagery and touching pathos

• In later years she said, “God wrote it”

• This is a reminder of the fact the Second Great Awakening gave birth to many crusades, among them abolitionism

2. Success of Uncle Tom’s Cabin --- at home and abroad --- was sensational

• Millions of copies were sold• Translated into many languages• Put on the stage in “Tom shows”• No other novel in American

history and perhaps in all history has had this political force

• Showed slavery for the evil it really was

3. When Lincoln met Stowe in 1862, he was reported to have said, “So you’re the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war.” • The book did help start the Civil War

--- left an enduring impression on the North

• Stowe never witnessed slavery in the deep South first hand---She had briefly visited Kentucky---She lived for many years in Ohio which was a hotbed of Underground Railway activity

4. Book was immensely popular abroad as well --- especially with the commoners in England and France

5. The governments in England and Paris seriously considered intervening in the war on the side of the South, but they realized that their population would never stand for it

B. Another troublemaking book was published in 1857 (5 years after Uncle Tom’s Cabin)--- The Impending Crisis of the South by Hinton R. Helper (a non-aristocratic white man from North Carolina who hated both slavery and black people)

• Attempted to prove that the non-slaveholding whites were the ones who indirectly suffered from the burden of slavery; used statistics to prove his point

• No one in the South would publish it, so he got a publisher in the North

C. Helper’s book was banned in the South --- there were even bookburnings --- but it was widely distributed in the North, especially by the Republicans as campaign literature

II. The North-South Contest for Kansas

A. The Kansas territory provided a horrible example of popular sovereignty at work (although the conditions were admittedly abnormal)

B. Newcomers entering Kansas were a motley (mixed, heterogeneous, ragged) crew which could be divided into roughly three groups

Group # 1: Pioneers with no strong feelings about slavery---most of the northerners were just westward-moving pioneers in search of richer lands

Group # 2: Abolitionists---A small part of the the newcomers were financed by groups of northern abolitionists and free soilers• Most famous of the antislavery

organizations was the New England Emigrant Aid Company

• New England Emigrant Aid Company sent 2,000 people to Kansas to forestall (hinder) the South, many carrying Sharps rifles named “Beecher’s Bibles”

Ho for Kansas!

!!

Group #3: Pro-slavery Southerners --- who felt betrayed

• They had supported the Kansas-Nebraska Act with the informal understanding that Kansas would become a slave state and Nebraska would become a free state

• A few Southern hotheads attempted to “assist” small groups of well-armed slaveholders to Kansas, BUT . . . .

• HOWEVER, taking slaves to Kansas was pretty dumb

• Slaves were valuable property, and only a fool would take them where there might be . . ---Bullets flying

---A vote to free all of them under popular sovereignty

• The census of 1860 found only 2 slaves among 107,000 people in the Kansas territory

C. Conditions in Kansas worsened1. When the day came in 1855 to

elect members to the first territorial legislature, proslavery “border ruffians” poured in from Missouri to vote --- often more than once

2. Slavery supporters won and set up a puppet government as Shawnee Mission

3. Freesoilers established and extralegal regime of their own in Topeka

4. Tension grew and in 1856, a gang of proslavery raiders shot up and burned part of the free-soil town of Lawrence, Kansas --- prelude to a bloodier controversy

1856 Lawrence, Kansas newspaper describing sacking of Lawrence, Kansas

III. Kansas in Convulsion

A. At this point, the fanatical John Brown entered the picture

John Brown was• Gray bearded, iron-willed and

narrow minded, he was totally and completely dedicated to the abolitionist cause

• Powerful gray eyes --- claimed he could stare down a cat or dog and force them out of the room

• Involved in dubious dealings including horse stealing

• Moved from Ohio to Kansas with part of his large family

B. Brown was brooding over the attack in Lawrence, Kansas and led a band of his followers to Pottawatomie Creek in May of 18561. There they hacked to death 5

men who were supposedly pro-slaverites---called Pottawatomie Massacre

2. This butchery brought vicious retaliation from pro-slavery forces

C. Civil War broke out in Kansas in 1856 and continued until it merged with the large-scale Civil War of 1861-1865—Kansas earned the name “Bleeding Kansas”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Jayhawkers and Missouri Bushwackers fight it out over Kansas becoming a free state or a pro-slavery state.

D. Yet, by 1857, Kansas had enough people --- mostly free-soilers --- to apply to statehood on popular sovereignty basis

1. Pro slavery forces were still in the saddle and devised a tricky document known as the Lecompton Constitution

2. People were not allowed to vote for or against the constitution as a whole

• They were only allowed to vote for the Lecompton constitution with or without slavery

• If they voted for it without slavery, there was a provision that protected the owners of slaves already in Kansas

• Whatever the outcome, there would still be slavery in Kansas

3. Many free-soilers did not vote out of disgust

4. Slaverites approved the constitution in 1857

E. Back in Washington, DC, President Pierce had been succeeded by President James Buchanan (who was strongly pro-South)

1. Buchanan threw his weight behind the Lecompton Constitution

2. Created a schism in the Democratic Party

3. Senator Stephen Douglas fought for fair play and democratic principles --- even though he alienated the South

4. Douglas engineered a compromise where the entire Lecompton Constitution was put to a vote• Free-soilers thronged to the

polls and voted against it• Kansas then remained a

territory until 1861 when the Southern states seceded

F. By his actions, Buchanan split the Democratic Party, which was the only remaining national party (since the Whigs had disappeared)

1. The Republican party was still a sectional party

2. With the splitting of the Democratic Party came the snapping of one of the last bands holding the Union together

IV. “Bully” Brooks and His Bludgeon

A. “Bleeding Kansas” also splattered blood on the floor of the Senate in 1856

Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts

• Leading abolitionist• Tall and imposing • Highly educated BUT cold and

humorless, intolerant, egotistical

• One of the most disliked Senators

• Upset over the miscarriage of popular sovereignty, he gave a blistering speech entitled, “The Crime against Kansas”

Sumner condemned pro-slavery men as “hirelings picked from the drunken spew and vomit of an uneasy civilization”

Sumner also referred insultingly to South Carolina and to her white-haired Senator Andrew Butler, one of the best liked men in the senate

Congressman Preston S. Brooks of South Carolina was hot tempered and took matters in his own hands • Resented Sumner’s remarks and

felt his distant cousin, Senator Butler, had been insulted

• His code of honor required a duel, but in the South, one only fought a duel with one’s social equals

• He felt Sumner’s coarse language had dropped him to a lower order --- Sumner was no longer an equal

Brooks believed his only alternative was to beat Senator Brooks as you would beat a dog

FYI, this is Mrs. Read’s dog, Skippy, and she never beats him.

B. On May 22, 1856, Preston S. Brooks approached Sumner, who was sitting at his desk in the Senate, and pounded him with an 11-ounce cane until it broke

• Sumner fell to the floor bleeding an unconscious

• This clearly put Brooks in the wrong, even though Sumner had been insulting in his speech

C. Regarding Brooks:

• The House of Representatives could not get enough votes to expel him, but he resigned on his own --- and was re-elected

• Southern admirers deluged him with canes (to replace the one that was broken)

D. Regarding Sumner:

• His injuries were serious (to head and nervous system)

• Forced to leave his seat for 3 ½ years to go to Europe for painful and costly treatment

• People of Massachusetts re-elected him, leaving his seat empty to send a message

E. Passions in the North were aroused because of “Bully”Brooks---copies of Sumner’s speech were published and distributed

F. The South did not entirely approve of Brooks’ actions, but were angered by Sumner’s speech and by the fact the Northerners were so approving of it

G. This was yet another example of the sectionalism of the country --- the split between the North and the South

V. “Old Buck” versus “The Pathfinder”

A. In 1856, the delegates to the Democratic Convention selected James Buchanan as their delegate

• They avoided President Pierce and Stephen Douglas

• Buchanan had been serving as minister to London during the Kansas controversy, so he was not tainted by it

• However, he was stepping into a crisis that called for greatness and he was at best mediocre (average, dull)

B. The Republican Party was growing fast and delegates met in Philadelphia

• “Higher Law” Seward (who had claimed Christian legislator had to obey a “higher law” than the Constitution and had to outlaw slavery from the territories) was the leader and probably would have claimed the nomination if he thought the Republicans were going to win

• Republican’s final choice was Captain John C. Fremont, the Pathfinder of the West ---had no experience, but like Buchanan, he was not tainted by the Kansas mess

• Republican’s final choice was Captain John C. Frémont, the Pathfinder of the West ---had no experience, but like Buchanan, he was not tainted by the Kansas mess

C. Republican platform came out vigorously against the extension of slavery into the territories which Democrats supported popular sovereignty

D. This election also had a strong dose of anti-foreign sentiment due to the recent influx of the Germans and the Irish

• The American Party (AKA the Know Nothings) nominated ex-President Millard Fillmore

• Adopted the slogan, “Americans must rule America”

E. Republicans shouted, “We follow the Pathfinder” and “We are Buck hunting.”sang about “free speech, free press, free soil, free men, Frémont” . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

and Democrats added “free love*”

*“free love” is a term implying promiscuity

F. Dirty campaign with much mudslinging

• Buchanan was criticized for being an “Old Fogy” because he was a bachelor (his fiancée had died after a lovers’ quarrel)

• Fremont was criticized because ---He was of illegitimate birth ---his young monther left her elderly husband (a Virginia planter) and ran away with a French adventurer---The nativists criticized him because he was a Roman Catholic

VI. The Electoral Fruits of 1856

A. Buchanan won the election of 1856, although he did not get a majority of the popular vote

• Popular vote: Buchanan 1,832,955 Fremont 1,339,932 Fillmore 871,731

• Electoral: Buchanan 174 Fremont 114 Fillmore 8

B. Republicans lost because of doubts about Fremont’s honesty and sound judgment and also the fire eaters in the South threatened to secede if a “Black Republican” got elected---Northerners who had business connections in the South voted their pocketbooks (to keep trade open)

C. It was probably fortunate for the country that Fremont didn’t win and that the Civil War didn’t start in 1856, because

• Fremont was a second rate leader --- not an Abraham Lincoln

• In 1856, the North might have been willing to let the South depart in peace

• Events from 1856 to 1860 made many apathetic Northerners ready to fight to save the union

D. Yet the Republicans could be proud that their new party --- just two years old --- made an astonishing showing against the well-oiled Democratic machine

E. John Greenleaf Whittier wrote:Then sound again the bugles,

Call the muster-roll anew,If months have well-nigh won the filed,

What may not four years do?F. Everyone waited expectantly for the

election of 1860

VII. The Dred Scott Bombshell

A. The Dred Scott decision, handed down by the Supreme Court on March 6, 1857

• Took the country one step closer to the Civil War

• Ended Buchanan’s two day “presidential honeymoon”

B. The Dred Scott case was simple

1. Dred Scott was a slave2. Scott lived with his

master for 5 years in Illinois and Wisconsin Territory

3. Abolitionists backed him and he sued for freedom because he had lived for a long time on free soil

C. What should have been a simple legal case was turned --- by the Supreme Court --- into a complex political issue

The Supreme Court ruled that1. Dred Scott was a black slave and

not a citizen and therefore he could not sue in federal court

2. The Supreme Court could have thrown out the case on technical grounds, but it decided to go further . . . . .

• Chief Justice Taney was from a slave state (Maryland) decided to issue a sweeping judgment on the issue of slavery in the territories, so . . .

The Dred Scott Decision said1. Slaves were private property and could be

taken to any territory and held in slavery, because they were private property and could not be taken away from owners without due process of law (5th amendment)

2. The Missouri Compromise had been repealed by the Kansas Nebraska Act but its spirit still haunted people --- so the Supreme Court ruled the Missouri Compromise had been unconstitutional because Congress has no power to ban slavery from the territories, regardless of what the legislatures of the territories might want

D. This was another wedge between the northern Democrats (who were shocked --- people like Senator Douglas) and southern Democrats (who were delighted)

E. The Republicans and other foes of slavery were angry

1. Their goal had been the banishing of slavery from the territories

2. They stated that the Supreme Court ruling had been and “opinion,” not a decision and therefore not binding

3. Southerners were furious that the North dared to disrespect the Supreme Court

VIII. The Financial Crash of 1857

A. Hard financial times hit in 1857 and increased the bitterness of the Dred Scott Decision

B. A panic started late in 1857 --- not as bad as the panic of 1837 but it was devastating psychologically

1. Causes• Gold from California helped to

inflate the currency

• Crimean War had overstimulated the growing of grain

• Speculation in land and railroads

2. When the collapse came, over 5,000 businesses failed within one year

• The North was the hardest hit• The South did not suffer much

which seemed to be further proof that cotton was king

C. Financial problems in the North gave energy to the demand for free farms for 160 acres from the public domain---argument was that land should be given outright to pioneers as a reward for developing it

• Opposition to free land from• Eastern industrialists who were afraid

free land would attract their underpaid workers

• Southern planters because 160 acres was not enough for large scale slavery to flourish, so the people who filled up the territories would be free-soilers

D. Congress passed a homestead act charging a nominal $.25 an acre, but Buchanan vetoed it

E. The Panic of 1857 also created a desire for higher tariff rates

1. Several months before, Congress was embarrassed by the large Treasury surplus and enacted the Tariff of 1857 reducing tariffs about 20% on dutiable goods --- the lowest point since the War of 1812

2. The panic created a new cry for a high tariff --- and increased protectionism

3. The Republicans now had two surefire issues for the 1860 election: protection (tariff) and farms for the farmless

IX. An Illinois Rail-Splitter Emerges

A. The 1858 Illinois senatorial race got the national spotlight

1. Senator Stephen Douglas was up for re-election

2. Republicans decided to run a rustic Springfield lawyer named Abraham Lincoln

• Physically: 6’4”, gangly, sunken face, unruly black hair (Douglas, by the way, was only 4’ 6” tall)

• Born in a log cabin to poor parents, attended school for only one year, avid reader, self-educated

• All his life said “git” “thar” “heered”

More about Lincoln….• Wrestled in his

frontier community -- also weight lifter and rail splitter

• Told earthy stories• Became one of the

better-known trial lawyers in Illinois

• Called “Honest Abe” --- did not take cases he could not in good conscience defend

B. Lincoln was a member of the Whig Party but the Kansas Nebraska Act ignited something inside of him, and he became a Republican and a good orator

X. The Great Debate: Lincoln Versus Douglas

A. Lincoln promptly challenged Douglas to a series of debates which became known as the Lincoln-Douglas Debates

•This was a courageous thing to do, because Douglas was the nation’s greatest debater• 7 meetings were

arranged from August to October 1858

• At first it seemed like a mismatch --- Abraham Lincoln (high pitched voice, baggy clothes, unshined shoes) versus Douglas (well-groomed, great voice, stocky)

B. As the debates proceeded, Lincoln really shone --- using logic rather than table-thumping

C. Most famous clash was at Freeport, Illinois when Lincoln impaled his opponent on the

horns of a dilemma: 1. Suppose the people of a territory should vote

slavery down? The Supreme Court in the Dred Scott decision said they could not do this Who would prevail, the Court or the people?

2. The popular myth has it that Douglas was dumbfounded, but this is not true --- he had written on this topic before

3. Douglas replied that ….• No matter what the Supreme Court

said, slavery would stay down in a territory if the people of a territory didn’t want it, because laws to protect slavery would have to be passed by the legislature

• If the people didn’t want slavery, the territorial legislatures would not pass the legislation

• Therefore, slavery would disappear

4. Freeport Doctrine of Stephen Douglas: No matter how the Supreme Court ruled, slavery would stay down if the people voted it down, because the people had the power• Actually, Douglas was right: where

public opinion does not agree with government policy, the law is hard to enforce

– For example, Jefferson’s embargo

– And later, prohibition)

D. Lincoln lost the election but won national attention

• Newspapers in the east published detailed accounts of the debates

• Lincoln began to emerge as a possible Republican candidate for president

• Lincoln-Douglas debate proved to be one of the first battlefields of the Civil War

XI. John Brown: Murderer or Martyr?

A.In October of 1859, John Brown entered the national scene again, with a scheme to invade the South with a few of his followers, call upon the slaves to rise, furnish them with guns and set up a black free state as a sanctuary• Got several thousand dollars for arms

from northern abolitionists• Arrived in western Virginia with 20 men

(including several blacks) and at Harpers Ferry, he seized the federal arsenal, killing seven people (including a free black man) and injuring 10 more

• The slaves --- most of whom were ignorant of his plan --- failed to rise and Brown and his band were captured

B. Brown was tried for murder and treason and found guilty

• Many friends and relatives wrote letters to say he was insane, and there was a lot of insanity in his family (13 relatives including his grandmother and mother)

• Governor of Virginia (Governor Wise) would have been smart to have put Brown in a lunatic asylum

• Brown probably realized he was of more value to the abolitionists dead --- as a martyr --- than alive

• Brown conducted himself with courage and was inflexible in his quest for freedom

• John Brown’s last words: This is a beautiful country”

•That hangman’s trap door was the entry into fame as opposed to obscurity if he had lived

C. Results of John Brown’s raid were a calamity

1. Southerners saw him as a butcher, a murderer and traitor and wondered how any decent northerners could have given him money for his plan

2. Abolitionists were infuriated by his execution and tended to ignore his bloody past

3. To this day, John Brown is seen by many as a martyr

XII. The Disruption of the Democrats

A. The presidential election of 1860 was the most fateful in American history --- on it hung the issue of peace or civil war

B. Democrats were deeply divided --- met in Charleston, South Carolina

1. Douglas was the leading candidate, but the “fire-eaters” through he was a traitor because of the Lecompton Constitution and the Freeport Doctrine

2. There was a lot of arguing and the delegates from the Southern states walked out

C. Democrats tried again in Baltimore and again the Southern delegates walked out

1. The rest of the convention enthusiastically nominated Douglass

2. Platform came out in favor of popular sovereignty and, as a concession to the south, against obstruction of the Fugitive Slave Law

D. Southern Democrats were angry and held a rival convention in Baltimore where the northern states were not represented

1. Nominated John C. Breckinridge from Kentucky

2. Platform: Extension of slavery into the territories and annexation of slave populated Cuba

E. A middle-of-the-road group that wanted to save the Union organized the Constitutional Union Party (which some people called the Do-Nothing Party)

1. Consisted mostly of former Whigs and Know-Nothings

2. They met in Baltimore and nominated John Bell of Tennessee

XIII. A Rail-Splitter Splits the Union

A. The election of 1860 was coming up, and Republicans were elated over the split in the Democratic party, and they gathered in Chicago for their convention

1. William Seward was the best known candidate for the nomination, but he had too many enemies

2. Lincoln was second best, but he had no enemies and was nominated on the third ballot

B. The Republican platform made an appeal to each non-Southern group

1. For the free-soilers: the non-extension of slavery

2. For the Northern manufacturers: a protective tariff

3. For the immigrants: no abridgement of rights

4. For the Northwest: a Pacific Railroad5. For the West: internal improvements at

government expense6. For the farmers: free homesteads from

the public domain

C. Southern secessionists promptly served notice that the election of the “baboon” Lincoln would split the Union

D. In fact, Lincoln was not an abolitionist but he did not issue any statements correcting the Southern misperception

E. Lincoln won a sweeping victory

1. Lincoln --- popular vote 1,865,593 39.79% of popular vote: Electoral votes 180 (every vote from every free state except for 3 of New Jersey’s 7)

2. Douglas--- popular vote 1,382,713 29.4% 12 electoral votes

3. Breckinridge popular 848,356 18.20% 72 electoral votes (all the cotton states)

4. Bell popular 592,906 12.61% 39 electoral votes (VA, KY, TN)

XIV. Electoral Upheaval of 1860

A. To a greater degree than any other president besides John Quincy Adams, Lincoln was a minority President

1. 60% of the people preferred some other candidate

2. In 10 Southern states, he got no votes because he was not allowed on the ballot

B. The election of 1860 was basically two elections: one in the North and one in the South

C. Douglas made a good showing and drew strength from all sections---Douglas Democrats plus the Breckinridge Democrats got more popular votes than Lincoln but even together they did not get enough electoral votes to beat him

D. The South was very unhappy but they still weren’t that bad off

1. Still had 4 out of 5 majority on the Supreme Court bench

2. Although the Republican candidate Lincoln was elected, the Republicans controlled neither the House of Representatives or the Senate

3. Slavery could not be done away with except by constitutional amendment, and an amendment could be defeated by ¼ of the states --- and the 15 slave states still numbered almost half of the states in the Union

XV. The Secessionist Exodus

A. A secession chain reaction now began…..

To secede is to leave the union (that is, the United States)

B. 4 days after Lincoln’s election, the legislature of South Carolina voted unanimously to call a special convention

1. Meeting in Charleston in December, 1860, it unanimously voted to secede from the Union

2. During the next 6 weeks, 6 other states from the lower South voted to secede

3. 4 more would later secede --- bringing the total to 11

C. The seceders formally met at Montgomery, Alabama and created a government known as the Confederate States of America with Jefferson Davis as their president1. Graduate of West Point2. Former cabinet member3. Military and

administrative experience

D. This was a crisis and was made even worse by the “lame duck” interlude

1. Lincoln was elected in November, 1869 but did not take office until March 4, 1861 --- and during this 4 month period 7 of the 11 seceding states left the Union

2. President Buchanan had pro-Southern advisors and didn’t know what to do

• He thought the Southern states could not legally secede but could not find anything in the Constitution that said they couldn’t

• Also, there was a tiny standing army that was needed in the West to control the Indians

XVI. The Collapse of Compromise A. There were final attempts at

compromise---most promising of these was sponsored by Senator Crittenden of Kentucky

B. Crittenden Compromise: 1. Slavery was to be prohibited north of

the 36° 30” parallel 2. South of that parallel, however, it

was to be given federal protection in all territories existing or to be acquired

C. Lincoln flatly rejected the Crittenden scheme and all hope of compromise was gone• He felt he had run on a platform that

opposed the extension of slavery into the territories and that he had to support that idea

• Lincoln also felt that this compromise would mean constant extension of the US southward

• “Would amount to a perpetual covenant of war against every people, tribe, and state owning a foot of land between here and Tierra del Fuego”

D. Regarding President Buchanan --- if he had used force on South Carolina, the Civil War would have started sooner than it did and, because the North was the aggressor, the Border States probably would have supported the South

XVIII. Farewell to Union

A. Secessionists who left the Union did so for a number of reasons mostly related to slavery

• They were alarmed by the tipping of the political balance against them

• They were tired of free-soil criticism, abolitionist nagging, and northern interference like the Underground Railroad and John Brown’s raid

• “All we ask is to be left alone” said Jefferson Davis

B. MANY Southerners thought the North would let them secede in peace

1. Southern leaders though that secession would give the South a chance to establish its own banking and shipping and trade directly with Europe and not have Northern interference

2. Worldwide impulses of nationalism (Italy, Germany, Poland) were stirring in the South

3. Most of the seceders did not feel they were doing anything wrong or immoral --- they felt they had the right to secede just as the colonies seceded from English rule in 1776