Bleeding Kansas

The 1850s

Election of 1852

• Whigs: Winfield Scott (“Old Fuss and Feathers”) but defeat meant the end of the party– Compromise of 1850 permanently divided the party N

and S

• Democrats: Franklin Pierce– Had supported Fugitive Slave Law

• Southern Whigs• Northern Dems• Some Dem Free-Soilers

– Dems the only national party in early 1850s

End of Whigs

• Southern “Cotton Whigs” were put off by Northern “Conscience Whigs’” antislavery stance. Southern Whigs moved to Southern Democrats

• Northern Whigs divided and fought each other:– Antislavery “Conscience Whigs” vs.– Whigs unbothered by slavery issue

Franklin Pierce (1853-1857)

• Democrats controlled White House and Congress– With decline of Whigs, Congress was

controlled by proslavery southern Democrats– This upset northern Democrats and Whigs

Polk, Pierce, and Expansion

• Gadsden Purchase 1853

• Cuba and Ostend Manifesto

• Nicaragua

Young America movement

• 1848 mostly young men in Democratic Party• Leaders included Stephen A. Douglas • Franklin Pierce did not support this wing of party• Two goals:

– New ideals of civic duty

– Expand democratic ideals abroad• Annex Ireland and Sicily

• Support Hungarian revolt in 1848

Sen. Stephen A. Douglas (D-Ill)

• “Little Giant” key figure in Compromise of 1850• New era of leadership, Young Democrats• Senate leader after Clay retired• Wanted last of Unorganized Territory (Louisiana

Purchase) organized– Then railroad could be laid from Chicago– He a speculator in Western lands, Chicago real estate,

and served as Illinois Central Line (railroad) director– This required a central route through unorganized

territory

Unorganized Territory

• Minnesota Territory opened• Rising wheat prices made prairies more desirable

to settle: .93/bushel 1851 to 2.50 1855• Train lines expanded dramatically, allowing

farmers to sell grain and cattle more easily• Four more rail lines proposed to link central states

to west coast, but Congress would only fund one• Mechanical inventions aid farming

The Route

• Jefferson Davis (Secretary of War) advocated Gadsden Purchase to run line from South (New Orleans or Charleston) to California

• Douglas introduced bill Jan. 1854 to organize Unorganized Territory as Nebraska Territory (could not build railroad until it was organized)

• Earlier, similar proposals had been defeated by Southern Senators

1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act

• To gain Southern support, Douglas proposed Pop Sov for Nebraska Territory– residents could decide when they had territorial

legislature

• Could also be used to rally voters for Democratic presidential campaign in 1856

• But: Nebraska Territory above Missouri Compromise line 36’ 30”. Was this a problem?

The Bargain

• Kansas-Nebraska bill would end Missouri Compromise of 1820 implicitly

• Bargain: – Pop Sov – Actual repeal of 36’ 30” requested by South– Divided into Kansas and Nebraska

• Kansas could be for Missourians (slave)

• Nebraska could be for Iowans (free)

Kansas-Nebraska Act 1854

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Maps/Figs/Tables, 14–3

Map 14.2: The Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854

Map includes two of the proposed railroad lines

Bleeding Kansas 1854-1855

• Pro- and Antislavery forces try to get there first

• Missourians crossed river to stake claims

• New England settlers moved to Lawrence (New England Emigrant Aid Co. 1855)– First election (1854) won by proslavery

Missourians crossing river to vote in Kansas

Bleeding Kansas

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Maps/Figs/Tables, 14–4

Map 14.3: Bleeding Kansas

Kansas elections 1855

• Border ruffians established proslavery legislature in LeCompton (estimated 2905 legal voters but 6307 votes cast)– LeCompton legislature created slave code, no

abolitionists allowed

• Antislavery forces created legislature in Topeka, so one illegal and one extralegal government in 1856

“Bleeding Kansas” May1856

• Pierce did not recognize free-soil Topeka government

• 1856 proslavery forces attacked free-soil Lawrence, Kansas

• John Brown and sons retaliated by killing five proslavery at Pottawatomie Creek

• 200 killed in subsequent fighting; Brown escaped• “Bleeding Kansas” Republican propaganda

“Bleeding Kansas” (2)

• Civil war in Kansas– Northern “Jayhawkers” vs. – “Kickapoo Rangers” or border ruffians– Groups were armed– Roving bands terrorized farmers

Sen. Charles Sumner (R-MA)

• A party leader, anti-slavery wing

• Free-Soil Party founder 1848

• May 1856 “The Crime Against Kansas” speech

• Scathing oratory against Sen. Andrew Butler (D-SC) (not present that day) and Douglas

Sumner-Brooks Affair

• Representative Preston Brooks (D-SC) entered Senate chamber days later to avenge insult against his uncle (Butler)

• Stated later that he struck Sumner 30 times with gold-handled cane. Sumner could not get out of desk (bolted to the floor)– Brooks hero of the South, people sent canes– Sumner hero of North; Northerners shocked

 

  

 

  

 

  

New Political Parties for1856 Elections

• Republicans

• American Party or Know-Nothings

Republican Party (1854-2007)

• Formed in Wisconsin in response to Kansas-Nebraska Act

• Against expansion of slavery (Wilmot P.) in territories, but not end of slavery in South (moderates)

• Based in North and West and it attracted:– Northern Whigs or Conscience Whigs– Anti-Nebraska Democrats– Free-Soilers/ Northern Know-Nothings (anti-Catholic, pro-Protestant

Europeans without national party)

Republican Party (2)

• 1854-1860 quickly grew to second-largest party in nation

• But always a sectional party, so it was seen as a threat to the South

• Successful: 1860 to 1932 Republicans won every presidential election except four; 1968-2004 all except three

Know-Nothings

• Reflect native-born Protestant vs. Irish/Catholic and German immigrant tensions in the cities

• Drew votes away from Whigs in 1852 by winning 20% of popular vote

• Never a national party• Republicans could work with Know-Nothings, to

be antislavery did not mean pro-immigrant. Know-Nothings adopted the slavery stance of their respective regions

James Buchanan (1857-1861)

• 1856 election:– Democrat: James Buchanan– Republican: Fremont; “Black Republicans” antislavery

with “Free soil, Free speech, and Fremont”– Know-Nothing: Millard Fillmore

• Buchanan (Dem) carried almost all slave states and Penn, Ill., and Indiana for 174-114 electoral votes across sections

• Fremont (Rep) won 11 of 16 free states, few votes from slave states

• Split was avoided, but Republicans appeared strong enough to win Presidency without Southern votes

Dred Scott vs. Stanford

• Buchanan’s first test in March 1857– Did living in free state make a man free?

• Scott was then taken to Illinois where slavery had been banned under Northwest Ordinance

• Scott had been taken to Wisconsin Territory where slavery was banned under Missouri Compromise

– Returned to Missouri, where the suit was filed when the owner died.

Supreme Court decision:

1. Slaves and freedmen not citizens, so could not sue in court

2. Living in a free state did not make a person free when returned to slave territory or state

3. Living in Wisconsin Terr did not make Scott free because Missouri Compromise unconstitutional:

• Fifth Amendment: people cannot be deprived of…property without due process of law

President Buchanan probably pressured some judges

Buchanan and Kansas 1857

• President Buchanan had to choose to support or reject LeCompton (proslavery) constitution for Kansas.– Buchanan accepted Kansas as slave state– Senate and House rejected, so not a state yet

Bibliography

• Carnes, Mark C., and John A. Garraty. The American Nation. New York: Pearson Longman.

• Henretta, James A., et al. America’s History. New York: Worth.

• Morison, Samuel Eliot. The Oxford History of the American People: 1789 through Reconstruction. New York: Penguin.

• Newman, John M. and John M. Schmalbach. United States History: Preparing for the Advanced Placement examination. Amsco

• Williams, T. Harry, and Hazel C. Wolf. Our American Nation. Columbus: Charles E. Merrill.

Illustrations

• file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Faculty1/Local%20Settings/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/4F0EQQ10/ppt14%5B1%5D.ppt#256,2,Map 14.1: The Compromise of 1850

• http://teachpol.tcnj.edu/amer_pol_hist/fi/000000aa.htm