Divisive Politics of Slavery

Senator Lewis Cass of Michigan proposed a solution to the issue of slavery in the territories

Popular Sovereignty- the citizens of each new territory would decide for themselves if they wanted slavery or not

This appealed to Congress, it was very democratic and took the pressure off them

Abolitionists were not pleased at all

The Whig Party chose Zachery Taylor, Old Rough and Ready, as their candidate

Northern Whigs that were opposed to slavery were referred to as Conscience Whigs and opposed Taylor

Those Northern Whigs that were tied to the Southern cotton for their livelihood were called Cotton Whigs

The Conscience Whigs will leave the Whig Party and join with the anti-slavery Democrats in forming a new political party, the Free-Soil Party

This party opposed the spread of slavery in the western territories

They put up Martin Van Buren as their choice for President, he supported the Wilmot Proviso

Because of the gold rush California has the population to apply for statehood

President Taylor encourages them to do so as a Free State

This will increase the debate and threats of secession in Congress

With talk of secession Henry Clay once

again shows his prowess of politics and

created what came to be known as the

Compromise of 1850

Download

Review the chart and understand the

benefits to both North and South

The cause of great debate

Henry Clay is old and very tired

With the death of Zachery Taylor in office and the rise of VP Millard Fillmore there was a transfer of power in the Senate. John C. Calhoun will pass from tuberculosis. Daniel Webster will become Secretary of State and Henry Clay is exhausted, leaving leadership of the Senate to younger men. President Fillmore supported the Compromise of 1850 and encouraged the Senate to get it approved.

Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois

divided the large compromise into

several smaller bills. This gave members

of Congress from different sections the

ability to vote for the parts they liked or

vote against the parts they disliked. The

Compromise of 1850 was passed, but did

not contain a permanent solution to the

slavery issue. It simply granted time.

Section 2

Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, the daughter of preacher Lyman Beecher

Writing about an enslaved African-American, Uncle Tom, and his cruel overseer, Simon Legree

The book changed Northern outlooks on slavery in the South

Southerners tried to have the book banned, they accused Stowe of writing falsehoods

The book sold millions of copies and some historians consider it a cause of the American Civil War

Uncle Tom’s Cabin was written in response to the Fugitive Slave Act in the Compromise of 1850

The Act hurt the Southern cause because it created hostility toward slavery from Northerners that were at one time indifferent to the institution

Under the Act an African-American simply had to be accused of being a runaway and would then go before a commissioner who was paid to find in favor of the slave owner

Anyone who refused to help capture a runaway slave could be put in jail

A series of routes from the South to freedom in the North

Both African-Americans as well as whites worked as “conductors” helping slaves along the route to find friendly places to sleep, get food or clothes

The routes took the former slaves to numerous locations in the United States as well as Canada

Harriet Tubman, a former slave herself was a leading conductor she once commented that in all her journeys she never “lost a single passenger”

With the admission of California and the Oregon Territory many were pushing for a railroad that would connect east to the west

It was already an understood fact that any railroad that spanned east to west would have to dip into the South to help move crops and increased delivery of goods. In 1853 the US made the Gadsden Purchase in preparation for a route through the southwest US

Stephen Douglas, a Senator from Illinois, wanted the railroad to go through his home state of Illinois and knew he would have to make a considerable concession to the South

The concession to the South comes in the form of the Kansas-Nebraska Act

The Southern Senators made it clear to Douglas what it would take to get their support on the territorial approval- Repeal the Missouri Compromise, allowing slavery in the west

Douglas proposes dividing the territory into two sections. Nebraska to the north and Kansas to the south.

The Act passes in Congress in 1854 Download

To make sure Kansas became a slave state there were thousands of Missourians that crossed over the border and flooded Kansas polling stations with pro-slavery votes

Anti-slavery settlers held their own state convention and established their own government in Topeka

Over the next two years the territory will have its own civil war and become known as Bleeding Kansas

In order to apply for statehood Kansas needed a constitution

The pro-slavery legislature wrote the Lecompton Constitution

President Buchanan asked Congress to admit Kansas as a slave state

The Senate approved the request but the House did not

Kansas will not become a part of the Union until 1861

Over 200 settlers will die in the fighting between free or slave state status

John Brown and his son’s will carry out a midnight massacre of 5 men at a pro-slavery settlement called Pottawatomie Creek. They killed the settlers with broad swords

After this John Brown and his family must go into hiding

Senator Charles Sumner, a future Radical Republican, made a speech in the Senate condemning slavery and accusing pro-slavery settlers of “forcing” Kansas to become a slave state. He went on to throw verbal jabs at Senator Andrew Butler of South Carolina who was very much pro-slavery

Two days later Senator Butler’s nephew, a Congressman, came into the Senate while on break and severely beat Senator Sumner with a cane until it broke

He will receive several canes as replacement gifts in the coming months, some saying “Hit him again”

Section 3

Kansas-Nebraska Act destroyed the Whig Party

Democrats formed new political parties with many names

The most popular was the Republican Party

Officially organized at an 1854 convention in Michigan

Members did agree that slavery could not spread to the western territories

The Know-Nothings will also join with the Republican Party

John C. Fremont will be the Republican candidate in the 1856 election

He will be opposed by Democrat James Buchanan, who would make concessions to the South in order to preserve the Union

Millard Fillmore will be the American Party candidate

Buchanan wins, in hopes of saving the Union

Section 4

The slave of an Army surgeon. Scott, upon the surgeons death will sue for his freedom based on the fact that he had been in free territory therefore he claimed he should be free

Abolitionists will help him in his pursuits to sue for his freedom

Supreme Court Justice Roger Taney read in his ruling the following... • Free or Slave, blacks are not citizens

• Negroes are inferior and have no rights that whites are bound to respect

• Scott had never ceased being a slave therefore he was no different than a mule or a horse, property of an owner

• Because slaves are property and property is protected by the 5th Amendment Congress cannot deprive citizens of their property

• Only states have the power to prohibit slavery within its borders

• The Dred Scott ruling intensified sectional differences

In 1858 the Illinois Republicans chose Lincoln to run against Stephen Douglas for the U.S. Senate

They held a series of debates that helped Lincoln establish himself as a clear and insightful speaker

Lincoln had a quick wit and was very good at telling stories that kept the peoples attention

Douglas came up with the Freeport Doctrine

Douglas won, but Lincoln was remembered

A fervent abolitionist Planned to steal weapons

from Harper’s Ferry Arsenal

Cause an insurrection Seized the arsenal on

October 16, 1859 Within 36 hours he was

captured by Robert E. Lee

He was tried and sentenced to hang

Many Northerner’s viewed John Brown as a martyr

In 1859 the Democratic party is torn by the debate over slavery in the territories

Southern Democrats upheld the Dred Scott decision and supported slave holders rights in the territories

Northern Democrats were in favor of popular sovereignty The Democrats could not agree on a candidate. The

Northerners went with Stephen Douglas and the South chose John C. Breckenridge. He supported the Dred Scott decision and wanted a slave code established for the western territories

The Constitutional Party upheld the Constitution to preserve the Union. Their candidate was John Bell of Tennessee

The Republican’s chose Abraham Lincoln. They campaigned against slavery, the rights of the South to preserve slavery within its borders, higher tariffs, the Transcontinental RR and a Homestead Law for new settlers out west.

Abraham Lincoln won the election with just 39% of the popular vote

Many Southern states did not even include him on the ticket- they are outraged that he wins without any southern electoral votes

Many in the South saw this as the last straw, the government is completely out of their hands

December 1860, South Carolina secedes

Soon after South Carolina many of the Southern States hold conventions to discuss secession

Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Louisiana all join in January

By the month of March Georgia and Texas will join

January 1861 will hold a convention to discuss secession

Most people in Alabama did not own slaves

The convention voted 61-39 in favor of secession

Many in North Alabama want to secede from the state and form their own state called Nickajack (West Virginia started like this)

Montgomery will become the cradle of the Confederacy

Representatives of South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana meet in Montgomery, AL and form the Confederate States of America

Montgomery will be the capital of the Confederacy

Jefferson Davis is elected President of the C.S.A. he was a Senator of Mississippi

Texas will join in March