Divisive Divisive Politics of Politics of SlaverySlavery

“I have, Senators, believed from the first that the agitation of the subject of slavery would, if not prevented by some timely and effective measure, end in disunion. … The agitation has been permitted to proceed… until it has reached a period when it can no longer be disguised or denied that the Union is in danger. You have thus had forced upon you the greatest and the gravest question that can ever come under your consideration: How can the Union be preserved?” - Senator John C. Calhoun, Compromise of 1850 (pg. 156)

Please write these questions below last Friday’s notes &

answer them

What was the Southern economy based on? What was the main cash crop of the South? What does Antebellum mean? What percentage of the South were African

Americans? What percentage of the U.S. population lived

in the South (total)?

Missouri Compromise, 1820Missouri Compromise, 1820Missouri Compromise, 1820Missouri Compromise, 1820

Characteristics of the Antebellum* Characteristics of the Antebellum* SouthSouth

Characteristics of the Antebellum* Characteristics of the Antebellum* SouthSouth

1.1. Primarily agrarian (farms).Primarily agrarian (farms).

2.2. ““Cotton Is King!”Cotton Is King!” a. 1860 a. 1860 5 mil. bales a yr. 5 mil. bales a yr. (57% of total US exports). (57% of total US exports).

3.3. Very slow development of Very slow development of industrialization.industrialization.

4.4. Rudimentary (basic) financial Rudimentary (basic) financial system.system.

5.5. Inadequate transportation system.Inadequate transportation system.* pre-Civil War era* pre-Civil War era

Southern Society (1850)Southern Society (1850)Southern Society (1850)Southern Society (1850)

““Slavocracy”Slavocracy”[plantation owners][plantation owners]““Slavocracy”Slavocracy”

[plantation owners][plantation owners]

The “Plain Folk”The “Plain Folk”[white yeoman farmers][white yeoman farmers]The “Plain Folk”The “Plain Folk”

[white yeoman farmers][white yeoman farmers]

6,000,0006,000,000

Black FreemenBlack FreemenBlack FreemenBlack Freemen

Black SlavesBlack Slaves3,200,0003,200,000

Black SlavesBlack Slaves3,200,0003,200,000

250,000250,000

Total US Population Total US Population 23,000,000 23,000,000[9,450,000 in the South = 40%][9,450,000 in the South = 40%]

Slave-Owning Families Slave-Owning Families (1850)(1850)

Slave-Owning Families Slave-Owning Families (1850)(1850)

SouthernSouthern PopulationPopulationSouthernSouthern PopulationPopulation

Changes in Cotton Changes in Cotton ProductionProduction

Changes in Cotton Changes in Cotton ProductionProduction

18201820

18601860

Slavery in New States?Slavery in New States?

Republic of CA applied for statehood in 1850.

CA’s constitution forbade slavery.

Southerners believed CA should allow slavery due to the Missouri Compromise. S. states threaten secession (to secede/

leave the Union of the States)

Remember the Catholics?!

Compromise of 1850Compromise of 1850 Henry Clay, “The Great Compromiser,” worked

to form a compromise.

CA would be a free state. stronger fugitive slave laws written New territories (NM & UT) would

be given popular sovereignty. People in those states vote to decide

whether to be slave or free

Compromise of Compromise of 18501850

Compromise of Compromise of 18501850

The Underground RailroadThe Underground Railroad

See page 159. A network of escape routes slaves

used to escape from the South w/ the help of “conductors”

Harriet Tubman, a former slave, was the most famous conductor. She helped 300 slaves escape.

Quilt Patterns as Secret Quilt Patterns as Secret MessagesMessages

Quilt Patterns as Secret Quilt Patterns as Secret MessagesMessages

The Monkey Wrench pattern, on the left, alerted escapees to gather up tools and prepare to flee; the Drunkard Path design, on the right, warned escapees not to follow a straight route.

Runaway Slave AdsRunaway Slave AdsRunaway Slave AdsRunaway Slave Ads

HarrietBeecherStowe

(1811 – 1896)

HarrietBeecherStowe

(1811 – 1896)

““Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, 1852Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, 1852 Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe Exposed the horrors of slavery Argued slavery was not just a political issue,

but also a moral issue

Abolitionists get “fired up!” Southern slave owners get angry

“So this is the lady who started the Civil War…”

“So this is the lady who started the Civil War…”

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

1852

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

1852

Sold 300,000 copies inthe first year.

2 million in a decade!

Sold 300,000 copies inthe first year.

2 million in a decade!

Kansas and NebraskaKansas and Nebraska

KA & NB are north of the Missouri Comp. line Which applies: MO. Comp. or Pop.

Sovereignty? The Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)

divided the territory into two states (Nebraska in the N, Kansas in the S).

Allowed popular sovereignty in both states.This prompted a race to settle the territory

by both abolitionists (north) and pro-slave (south)

Kansas-Nebraska Act, Kansas-Nebraska Act, 18541854

Kansas-Nebraska Act, Kansas-Nebraska Act, 18541854

Bleeding Kansas- Mini Civil Bleeding Kansas- Mini Civil War?War?

In 1855, a vote was held in KS to est. the slavery policy.

Citizens from Missouri & Iowa crossed the border to tip the votes in favor of their respective sides. Bloody violence broke out b/t abolitionists and

proslavery people. This led to increased bitterness between North

and South.

““Bleeding Kansas”Bleeding Kansas”““Bleeding Kansas”Bleeding Kansas”

Border “Ruffians”

(pro-slavery Missourians)

Border “Ruffians”

(pro-slavery Missourians)

The Crime Against Kansas The Crime Against Kansas = Violence in the Senate= Violence in the Senate

Charles Sumner spoke against slavery to the senate.

He singled out southern senator Andrew Butler who favored slavery.

Butler’s nephew, Preston Brooks, attacked. Sumner has brain damage & cannot serve

for 3 years

New Political PartiesNew Political Parties Whig party falls apart

(split on slavery): former Whigs look for a new party

American/Know-Nothing Party: nativists anti-immigration, split on slavery

Democratic Party: pro-slavery Republicans: abolitionist Liberty Party: abolitionist Free Soil Party: opposed slavery b/c slavery

competed w/ the cheap labor of whites. Many were racists.

Dred Scott vs. Sanford, Dred Scott vs. Sanford, 18571857

Dred Scott, a slave, sued for freedom.

Argument: He had been illegally enslaved.

Supreme Court: ruled against Scott

Cited 5th amendment: property rights

Son of a slave owner, Chief Justice Taney.Most of the Justices on the Supreme Court were from the South.

Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Lincoln-Douglas Debate, 18581858

Senate race between Steven Douglas and Abraham Lincoln

Both opposed slavery Douglas – supported popular sovereignty Lincoln – slavery is immoral.

Wants to stop it from spreading, but not outlaw it already in effect

Anti-Slavery Rebellions!Anti-Slavery Rebellions!

Nat Turner: VA slave who, w/ 50 other slaves, killed 60 whites. (1831)

John Brown: attempted to start a slave uprising (1859)

he, w/ 21 other men, to raid a Federal arsenal of weapons in Harper’s Ferry VA.

failed. He was tried and executed.

Lincoln Becomes President, Lincoln Becomes President, 18601860

“A house divided against itself cannot stand”

Moderate views on slavery: didn’t want it to expand, but would allow it to continue in the states that already had it

◊ Dec. 1860: S. Carolina secedes from the Union Followed by MS, FL, AL, GA, LA, TX in 1860 ◊ VA, AK, NC, TN secede 1861

◊ VA splits, creating W. VA= Union State (1863)

Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln

The Confederate States of America

Formed by States that Seceded

Jefferson Davis is named President

They write a new constitution Surprise! Slavery is

legal…

Please write and answer the following questions below your notes

1. Which state had to do with the Compromise of 1850?

2. Which laws became stronger b/c of the Compromise 1850?

3. What does popular sovereignty mean?

4. Due to the Kansas-Nebraska Act, what happened?

5. What did Harriet Beecher Stowe do?

6. Who was Dred Scott?

7. Who was the 1st President of the Confederate States of America?