Impending Crisis

1854-1861

A. Literary Influence1. Harriet Beecher Stowe

a. Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)b. Written in reaction to passage of

Fugitive Slave Law c. Witnessed slavery once, depiction

almost as evil as realityd. Translated into 20+ languages and

millions of copies sold worldwidee. Easily could be most politically

influential piece of literature ever written.

i. South condemned it as evil and untrue.

ii. Many northerners pledged NOT to enforce Fugitive Slave Law as a result of having read it.

iii. GB and French people sided with northern cause – may have prevented gov’t intervention on behalf of South

2. Hinton Helpera. Impending Crisis of the

South (1857)b. Helper a white man

from NC who hated both slavery and blacks.

c. Argued that slavery hurt poor southern white worst of all.

d. Poor southern whites didn’t/couldn’t read book, but aristocratic south freaked – book banned.

B. Bleeding Kansas1. Popular sovereignty for KN brought

settlers with ulterior motives.a. Anti-slavery organizations (New England Emigrant Aid

Company) sent 2000 ppl (carrying rifles known as

“Beecher’s Bibles”) to stall the southern vote for a pro-slave Kansas.

b. South, in response sent armed pro-slavery settlers.

c. Very few slaves in either Kansas or Nebraska in 1860.

2. 1855 – territorial legislative electiona. Southern “border ruffians” poured in to

KS to “vote early and often” – won election and set up gov’t in Shawnee Mission

b. Free soilers set up a different legislature in Topeka

c. 1856 – pro-slaveryites shot up and burned part of Lawrence.

3. John Browna. Ardent anti-

slaveryite who moved to KS and sought to avenge burning of Lawrence, KS.

b. Hacked to death (w/ broadswords) 5 pro-slaveryites in 1856 at Pottawatomie Creek.

c. Became civil war before THE Civil War.

4. Lecompton Constitutiona. 1857 – KS ready to apply for

statehoodb. Popular sovereignty allowed for a

votec. Lecompton Constitution

i. Tricky move by pro slavery forces to have a vote for constitution “with slavery” or “without slavery”

ii. Regardless of outcome, provision in Lecompton Constitution still allowed for current slave owners in KS to keep slaves.

iii. Anti-slavery forces refused to vote and Lecompton passed.

iv. Stephan Douglas rallied for fair play and free elections and a new up or down vote on Constitution was allowed.

v. Anti-slaveryites voted in droves against Lecompton and KS failed to become a state (until 1861)

C. Brooks v. Sumner on Senate Floor1. Charles Sumner

a. One of few abolitionist politiciansb. Smart, unliked and furious over debacle in KS

i. Called the “Crime Against Kansas”ii. Called pro-slavery men there “hirelings picked from the drunken spew and vomit of an

uneasy civilization”iii. Insulted SC and its popular senator Andrew Butler

2. SC Congressmen Preston Brooks a. felt need to uphold honor of state and its esteemed senatorb. Approached Sumner on floor and beat him repeatedly with cane until it broke.

3. Aftermatha. Brooks resigned his seat but was re-elected anywayb. Southerners sent him canes in supportc. Sumner left Senate for 3 ½ yrs to receive treatment in Europed. Massachusetts kept re-electing him anyway and his seat remained empty until

his return.

D. Election of 18561. Democrats

a. shied away from weak Pierce and divisive Douglas - both tainted by Kansas.

b. Chose fancy and “Kansas-less” lawyer James Buchanan

c. Platform was popular sovereignty2. Republicans

a. By-passed “Higher Law” Seward and went for “Kansas-less” surveyor and western explorer John C. Fremont.

b. Platform against extension of slavery into territories.

3. Know-Nothing Party4. Results

a. Buchanan (174) Fremont (114) and Fillmore (8)

b. Civil War kicked another 4 years down the road

c. 2 yr old Republican Party has strong showing and becomes 2nd major party overnight.

d. Anti-foreigner 3rd partye. Against influx of Germans and Irishf. Chose ex-Prez Millard Fillmore to run.

John C. Fremont James Buchanan

E. Dred Scott v. Sanford1. Dred Scott lived with his master in IL and WI

Territory for 5 years – sued for his freedom.2. Roger B. Taney – Chief Justice led majority

southern SCa. Dred Scott not a citizen and cannot sue in

federal courtsb. Ruled that slaves were property and could

not be taken away without due process of law (5th Amendment) and could be taken into ANY territory and legally held as slaves.

3. Made the Missouri Compromise invalid – Congress had no power to ban slavery north of 36’30”

4. Even made popular sovereignty null and void.

5. Southerners delighted, northerners horrified and popular sovereigntyites (Douglas) aghast.

6. Many northerners pledged to defy it – again seen as an act of bad faith by the South.

Dred Scott

Roger B. Taney

F. Panic of 18571. Causes

a. CA hold inflating currencyb. Overspeculation in land because

of RR boom.2. Results

a. North hardest hiti. Demand for free farmland in

west grewii. Homestead Act passed by

Congress but vetoed by Buchanan.

iii. Clamor for higher tariffsiv. These two issues will become

large part of platform for Republican in 1860.

b. South protected by high cotton prices abroad – further entrenched King Cotton belief.

G. Abraham Lincoln1. Born in 1809 to impoverished Kentucky

family2. Grew up wrestling, weight lifting,

splitting rails and reading.3. Self taught – mostly law.4. Married above his social class into

influential Todd family.5. One of a handful of well known trial

lawyers in IL.6. Rose like a meteor through republican

ranks – earned 110 votes for VP in 1856.7. Decides to challenge Dem Stephen

Douglas for IL senate seat in 1958.

H. Lincoln – Douglas Debates

1. Lincoln challenged Douglas to a series of 7 debates throughout IL (Aug–Oct, 1858)2. Freeport Doctrine

a. Lincoln backed Douglas into a corner by questioning if ppl count vote against slavery if Supreme Court ruled that they could not (Dred Scott Case)

b. Douglas held fast to his popular sovereignty doctrine thus upsetting the southern contingent of Democratic Party.

3. Douglas won Senate seat, but divided national Democratic Party and hurt his chances of winning 1860 Presidential Election.

I. John Brown: Murderer or Martyr?

1. Brown hatched a plan to secretly invade South, arm slaves and incite a revolution.

2. Slaves, ignorant of the plan, failed to rise.3. Brown and 20 men seized arsenal at Harper’s

Ferry incidently killing 7 innocent ppl.4. Was wounded and quickly captured by US

Marines led by Robt E. Lee.5. Convicted of murder and treason6. Defense tried to plead insanity (much

evidence to support this) but Brown saw he was worth more to cause dead than alive – sentenced to hang.

7. Resultsa. South convinced North was full of “John

Browns” inciting slaves to rise against their masters.

b. Moderate northerners denounced Harpers Ferry raid

c. Aboltionists hailed him a hero and a martyr – Emerson compared him to Jesus.

d. “John Browns Body”

J. Election of 18601. Democrats

a. Southern Dems do not want “Freeport” Douglas – walk out of convention in Charleston

b. Dems try again in Baltimore – nominate Douglas, although many southern states walked out again

c. Platform of popular sovereignty and non-obstruction of Fugitive Slave Law.

2. Southern Democratsa. Host convention of their own

after walking outb. Nominate John Breckinridgec. Platform of extension of slavery

into territories and annexation of Cuba.

3. Constitutional Union Partya. Former Whigs and Know-

Nothingsb. Nominate John Bell of TNc. Pro-Union

4. Republicansa. Seward the natural leader, but

too many enemiesb. Lincoln nominated oon 3rd ballotc. Platform had broad appeal.

i. For free-soilers - Nonextension of slavery

ii. For northern manufacturers - A protective tariff

iii. For immigrants – protection of rights

iv. For the Northwest – a northern transatlantic RR

v. For the West – Internal improvements

vi. For the farmers – free homesteads

5. Resultsa. Lincoln won but not with plurality.b. Not on ballot in 10 southern statesc. Democrats amassed more popular votes than Lincoln –

but Lincoln still had more EC votes than all 3 opponents combined.

d. Republicans held Presidency, but not House, Senate or Supreme Court.

K. Secession1. South Carolina threatened to secede if

Lincoln electeda. Rejoiced at his win for it gave them the

excuseb. Dec. 1860 – SC convention voted

unanimously to secede.c. 6 more states secede in following 6 weeks

– 4 more later.d. New government

i. 7 original seceders meet in Montgomery, AL in Feb 1861 and form Confederate States of America.

ii. Choose MS Senator Jefferson Davis as President

2. “Lame Duck” perioda. Lincoln elected in Nov but can’t take

office until Marchb. Buchanan a Unionist, but saw no

constitutional authority to make southern states “stay” in Union with force.

L. Crittenden Compromise

1. KY Senator James Crittenden successor of Great Compromiser Henry Clay.

2. Makes one last ditch effort at compromise

a. Slavery still prohibited north of 36’30’’ in territories.

b. Slavery federally protected south of line in existing territories or those to be acquired.

c. When ready for statehood, slavery issue still determined by popular sovereignty.

3. Lincoln flatly rejected the compromise

M. Farewell to Union

1. Reasons for Secessiona. Worried about political imbalance.b. Feared new republican Party and their plans for slaveryc. Aggravated by northern agitators like Underground Railroad

and John Brown – wanted to be left alone.d. Thought their departure would be unopposed.e. Hoped to NOT have to pay back northern creditorsf. Hoped to establish their own banking and trade networksg. Planned on a lower tariff h. Feelings of Southern nationalism swept through i. Principles of self-determination, as laid out in the Declaration

of Independence, seemed to apply perfectly to them.