Chapter Nine, Section One

Sectionalism and Secession

Introduction The prosperity of the 1850s

aggravated the divisions over slavery.

Areas in western North Carolina grew less cotton and more wheat, which meant that those areas needed slaves less than they had in the past.

In turn, the huge production of cotton turned easterners into defenders of slavery.

North Carolinians and Abolition

After the War of 1812, North Carolinians and other Americans argued the great question: Should Slavery be continued?

In 1820, North Carolina’s leadership supported a compromise that allowed slavery to spread across the South but not the North.

The Missouri Compromise resulted in a line being drawn westward from the southern border of Missouri.

The Missouri Compromise Below the line, slaver could continue

into the new states like Arkansas. Above the line, in places like

Wisconsin, it could not. The line pleased southerners more

than Northerners.

The Missouri Compromise

North Carolinians and Abolition

By the 1830s, the number of opponents to slavery had grown in the North.

These abolitionists wanted to abolish slavery in the United States as soon as possible.

North Carolinians disagreed among themselves about abolition.

Most anti-slavery sentiment was in the west.

North Carolinians and Abolition

One group worked hard to end slavery, the Quakers in the Uwharries formed the North Carolina Manumission society, which raised money to buy slaves from their masters.

Many Quakers became involved with the Underground Railroad, a series of roads, houses, river crossings, and people who helped southern slaves escabe to the North or Canada

Slave Population in North Carolina

North Carolinians and Abolition

After 1830, however, most North Carolinians strongly supported slavery.

They were following the lead of citizens in other southern states, who were beginning to profit from the growing demand for cotton.

Southerners also believed that a cheap labor was the reason that cotton was so profitable.

North Carolinians and Abolition

As North Carolina became more prosperous, the defenders of slavery gained a stronger hold on the state.

Citizens who thought otherwise did so at their peril.

Abolitionists were run out of towns across the state.

North Carolinians and Abolition

One opponent of slavery was Hinton Rowan Helper, a native of Davie County.

He spent his young adulthood traveling, opening his eyes to territories without slavery.

He wrote The Impending Crisis of the South, where he argued that slavery worked against the interest of many North Carolinians.

North Carolinians and the Mexican War

While North Carolina worked hard to shed its Rip Van Winkle Image, many Americans rushed to the American West to settle new lands and set up new lives.

Americans came to believe in the idea of manifest destiny, a term coined by a New York journalist, that the United States had been “chosen” to control all the land between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

The President who strongly supported manifest destiny in the period was a native North Carolinian.

North Carolinians and the Mexican War

James K. Polk was born near Charlotte and educated at the University.

He was elected president in 1844.

He moved to annex Texas and acquire other western territory.

Mexico was angry and cut ties with the United States

In 1846, The United States declared war on Mexico.

North Carolinians and the Mexican War

The nation came close to civil war in 1850 because of the dispute over what to do with lands taken from Mexico.

Some North Carolinians advocated joining the rest of the south in forming a new, separate nation.

The state did not send delegates to the convention in Nashville, Tennessee, where secession was under consideration.

North Carolinians and the Mexican War

No war occurred. Congress passed the Compromise of

1850 which allowed California to enter the Union as a free state.

It also guaranteed the protection of slavery with a stronger fugitive slave law that ordered every American citizen to return escaped slaves.

Compromise of 1850

The 1860 Election Although North Carolina was

divided over slavery, the state would not side with the North.

In 1860, the Republican Party, nominated Abraham Lincoln of Illinois as its candidate for President.

There were no Republicans in North Carolina to support him.

In fact, Lincoln wasn’t even on the ballot in North Carolina or any other southern state.

The 1860 Election The other candidates were

– John Bell of Tennessee: Constitutional Party

– John Breckenridge of Kentucky: Southern Democratic Party

– Stephan A. Douglas of Illinois: The Northern Democratic party.

The 1860 Election John Breckenridge carried North Carolina,

but Abraham Lincoln got more votes across the country.

After Lincoln won the election, his outspoken opposition to the growth of slavery convinced southerners that they had to act to protect the means of their livelihood.

South Carolina and seven southern states seceded from the Union to form the Confederate States of America.

The Failure of Unionism North Carolina hesitated to join the

Confederacy. Since cotton and slaves were not as

widespread in the state, Unionists were more influential.

To oppose them, secessionists called for an election to choose delegates to a convention to discuss what to do.

The failure of Unionism The people voted against holding the

convention, thus no convention was held. Unionists, only “conditionally” supported

the Union. They did not want to take military action

against their fellow southern states. When Confederates fired upon Fort Sumter

in Charleston Harbor on April 12 and President Lincoln called for volunteers to “put down the rebellion,” the decision was made for many Unionists.

The Failure of Unionism On May 20, the state held

another convention to discuss secession.

The delegates voted unanimously to secede.

Zebulon Vance would become North Carolina’s first wartime governor.

Four years of war impacted every state resident.