Sectionalism and Secession

Southern ExpansionTennessee and Kentucky“Old Southwest”

Mississippi TerritoryLouisiana Purchase, 1803FloridaTexas

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Indian Removal

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King CottonFactors that contributed to rise of Cotton Kingdom:

Demand from British textile millsInvention of cotton gin, 1793Availability of land in the “Old Southwest”

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Non-Cotton Agriculture

Sugar (Texas and Louisiana)Rice (S.C.)Tobacco (Md., N.C., Tenn., Ky.)Hemp (Ky., Tenn., and Mo.)Wheat (Md., Va., Ky., and Tenn.)Corn (everywhere)Livestock (Southeast)

Sectionalism

Southerners dominated early national politics, and generally advanced national interests

Early sectional divisions led by New Englandersopposition to the Louisiana Purchase

Opposition to War of 1812

Hartford Convention, 1814• Federalists proposed seven amendments designed to protect

New England from the influence of the South and West

Missouri Compromise, 1820

Mo. ready for statehood, 1819Tallmadge Amendment

Stated no more slaves could be brought into Mo., and provided for gradual emancipation

1819, 11 Free, 11 Slave statesMo. would upset balance

Missouri Compromise:Mo. admitted as a slave stateMaine admitted as a free state36’30 line established

The Age of JacksonWon presidency in 1828 split Republican Party

founded Democrats

A nationalist, Jackson pushed some sectional interests:

Indian removal from the Southeastveto of the charter of the Bank of the U.S.opposed federal money for internal improvementsopposed any restrictions on the peculiar institution

NullificationJ. C. Calhoun proposed doctrine of nullification in opposition to tariffs

States, were arbiters of what was constitutional

1832, new tariff passedS.C. called for a state convention to determine the constitutionality of the tariff billCalhoun resigned as vice-president as part of the protestconvention ruled the tariffs null and void in S.C.

Congress passes Force BillS.C. nullifies Force Bill

Conflict averted with passage of the compromise tariff

Abolition William Lloyd Garrison1831, the Liberator.Reject "gradualism"freedom, and equality1833, founded American Antislavery Society

Frederick DouglassBorn a slave in Md., Douglass escaped in 1838Published the North Star1845, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass 

Uncle Tom’s Cabin, 1852Harriet Beecher StoweSold 300,000+ copies first yearBrought abolitionism to an enormous new audience

Anti-AbolitionBible, history and biology used to justify slavery

Josiah Nott, Types of Manhood (1855)

John C. Calhoun was perhaps the greatest pro-slavery advocate, arguing:

the end of slavery would mean a race warno reason to destroy a system that benefited the U.S.slavery had civilized Africans from a “low, degraded and savage condition”tariffs, not slavery, retarded economic developmentSouthern slavery was superior to Northern and European“wage slavery”

The Mexican Cession Acquisition of Texas, N.M., and California in 1848 reopened debate on slavery in the territories

Abolitionists/free soilers objected to any extension of slaveryWhite Southerners argued the Constitution protected the rights of Americans to bring their property wherever they wanted

Wilmont Proviso, 1846Rep. David Wilmont (D-Penn.) introduced a bill prohibiting slavery in territories acquired from Mexico

• Wilmost Proviso passed in House, but dies in Senate

California gold rush added urgency to territorial debateTaylor advocated popular sovereignty for Calif. and N.M.

• CA quickly adopted a constitution that prohibited slavery in 1849– but Congress balked at admitting CA as a free state

Compromise of 1850California admitted as free state

In the rest of the new lands acquired from Mexico, territorial governments to be formed without restrictions on slavery (popular sovereignty)

Abolishment of the slave trade, but not slavery, in Washington, D.C.

New Fugitive Slave LawFederal Marshals now involved in slave-catching

Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854opened two territories (Kansas, Nebraska) to slavery by declaring that they would become free or slave states as their constitutions would allow when they applied for statehood

effectively voided the 36’ 30” line of 1820

imposed the Wilmont Proviso in reverse• all new territories now open to slavery

Bleeding Kansas

Between 1854-58 elections held in Kansas were marred by fraud and intimidation

pro-slavery forces gained control of the Kansas legislature, and passed a pro-slave constitution (Lecompton Constitution)

Free-soilers set up their own government in Topeka

War erupts between anti-slavery and pro-slavery forces1856, sack of the free-soil settlement of Lawrence

Pottawattomie Creek Massacre, 1856

Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857)

Dred Scott sued for his freedom, claiming that he was no longer a slave because he had lived on free soil. In a 7 to 2 decision, the court declared that Scott was still a slave and not a citizen and so had no constitutional right to sue

Chief Justice Roger Taney ruled that No black person could be a citizen of the U.S., and that “no black person had any rights that a white person needed to honor.”The decision further held that Congress had no power to prohibit slavery in the territories and that the Missouri Compromise therefore was unconstitutional

John Brown’s Raid, October 1859John Brown planned to spark a slave rebellion which would force the South to emancipate.

attacked U.S. arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Va., with 18 followers

Brown and 6 of his followers were promptly captured, tried, found guilty, and executedJohn Brown’s raid enflamed passions both north and southAfter John Brown’s Raid, Southern militias—the beginnings of the Confederate Army—began to be raised, trained, and equipped

The Development of the G.O.P.People in both major parties who opposed the Kansas-Nebraska bill began to call themselves Anti-Nebraska Democrats and Anti-Nebraska Whigs.

In 1854, they formed the Republican Party

The GOP: opposed the expansion of slavery into the territories

advocated high tariffs, homesteads, and internal improvements

G.O.P. a purely sectional party—no support in the South

“Bleeding Sumner”1856, abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner delivered speech entitled "The Crime Against Kansas."

attacked slavery and the South

Speech enraged S.C. Rep. Preston Brooks

Several days later Brooks attacked Sumner at his desk in the Senate with a cane

Sumner was injured severely, and became a symbol in the North as to the barbarism of the South Preston Brooks was hailed as a Southern hero

Freeport Doctrine1858, Lincoln-Douglas Debates

Lincoln asked Douglas if there was any lawful way in which the people of a territory could exclude slavery?

Douglas responded that slavery could not survive in a territory unless it was supported by protective local legislation, and if a territorial legislature refused to enact such legislation, slavery would not exist regardless of what Supreme Court said.

Election of 1860—Democratic Conventions

Democratic Convention held at Charleston, S.C.Many Southern delegates walked out and established their own convention with a pro-slavery platformAfter failing to agree on a nominee, the regular convention adjourned

Baltimore Convention Northerners and Southerners still could not agree and the party split into sectional halves

• Northern Democrats nominated Stephen Douglas

Southern Democrats again walked out and established their own faction, the Constitutional Democrats

• nominated VP John C. Breckenridge (TN) on a pro-slavery platform

Election of 1860—Republican Convention

Republican Convention held in ChicagoOnly 5 of the 15 slave states represented

Republicans nominated Lincoln on 3rd ballot

GOP platform a direct threat to Southern interestsembodied the political and economic program of the North:

• upward revision of the tariff

• free farms in the West (Homestead Act)

• railroad subsidies by federal government

• Preservation of Union

• No extension of slavery into the territories

Election of 1860

Two separate elections in 1860: Lincoln v. Douglas in the North

Breckenridge v. Bell (Constitutional Union) in South

GOP not even on the ticket in 10 Southern States.

Lincoln won the election due to Democratic split Lincoln won only 39.8% of popular vote, easily won the Electoral College by sweeping the free states (except NJ).

Brekenridge won 44.7% of the South’s popular vote and 10 of the 15 slave states, but it was not nearly enough.

Election of 1860

                                                

SecessionDecember 20, 1860, the S.C. state convention voted unanimously to seceded from the Union

election of Lincoln deemed an “overt act” of aggression

By February 1861, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, and Texas had all secededFebruary 8, 1861, delegates from the seceding states met in Montgomery, Ala., and established the Confederate States of America.

A provisional constitution was adoptedJefferson Davis of Miss. was appointed President, with Alexander Stephens of Ga. named VP.

Causes for Secession

Southerners resented infringement of right to take their property, slaves, into western territoriesNorthern interference with the fugitive slave actSouth believed that it had lost political weight in balance of the Union

Believed that the extension of slavery essential to preserving the rights of Southerners

Feared Lincoln presidency would mean subjugation of South, emancipation of slaves King Cotton Diplomacy