Sectional Crisis

Proposed by Henry Clay, 29 Jan 1850 California enters Union as a free state Territory disputed by Texas and New Mexico

was given to New Mexico Slave trade was banned in Washington, DC. Stricter Fugitive Slave Laws South received the remainder of the Mexican

Cession Became the territories of New Mexico and

Utah and were open to slavery and popular sovereignty.

Compromise of 1850

AKA Life Among the Lowly Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe 1852 Anti-slavery novel that changed how Americans

viewed slavery Demanded that the United States deliver on the

promise of freedom and equality Galvanized the abolition movement Contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War Sold 10,000 copies in the United States in its

first week and 300,000 in the first year

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Harriet Beecher Stowe 1811-1896

"So you are the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war!" A. Lincoln 1862

Harriet Tubman1820-1913

Escaped slave herself who risked her life many times leading other escaped slaves along the Underground Railroad

“Moses of her People”

Acted as a spy for the Union Army

Frederick Douglass 1818-1895 From slave to social reformer

Died in office after participating in ceremonies at the Washington Monument on a hot July 4th day

Last of the Whig presidents

AKA “Fainting Frank”

Presided over the turmoil in Kansas

Proposed by Senator Stephen Douglas of

Illinois Passed by Congress in May 1854 Allowed people in the territories of Kansas and

Nebraska to decide for themselves (Popular Sovereignty) whether or not to allow slavery within their borders.

Repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which prohibited slavery north of latitude 36°30´.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

Infuriated many in the North who

considered the Missouri Compromise to be a long-standing binding agreement.

In the pro-slavery South it was strongly supported

Cont.

Stephen DouglasAKA

“The Little Giant”

Pro-slavery and anti-slavery supporters rushed

in to settle Kansas to affect the outcome of the first election

Pro-slavery settlers carried the election but were charged with fraud by anti-slavery settlers, and the results were not accepted by them.

The anti-slavery settlers held another election, however pro-slavery settlers refused to vote

Resulted in the establishment of two opposing legislatures within the Kansas territory.

Cont.

Pro-slavery state constitution of Kansas Named after the town in which the document

was written

Lecompton Constitution

Anti-slavery constitution of

Kansas Written by the “Free

Staters” who opposed slavery

Topeka Constitution

Nickname given to

Kansas due to amount of violence over slavery issues

“Bleeding Kansas”

Militant abolitionist Advocated and practiced armed

insurrection against slavery In Kansas Territory, he became the leader

of antislavery guerillas Pottawatomie Massacre, May 24 and 25,

1856 Brown and his sons attack and kill 5 pro-

slavery men

John Brown’s Holy War

John Brown

May 22, 1856 South Carolina Representative Preston

S. Brooks entered the chamber to avenge the insults of Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner

Sumner was rendered unconscious Signaled the end of an era of

compromise

Brooks-Sumner Incident

Supported pro-slavery settlers Sent in Federal troops to stop the violence and

disperse the anti-slavery legislature. Another election was called with pro-slavery

supporters winning They were charged with election fraud. Congress did not recognize the constitution

adopted by the pro-slavery settlers and Kansas was not allowed to become a state.

Franklin Pierce

Eventually anti-slavery settlers outnumbered

pro-slavery settlers A new constitution was drawn up January 29, 1861, just before the start of the

Civil War: Kansas was admitted to the Union as a free

state.

Cont.

Slave who had lived in the free state of Illinois and

the free territory of Wisconsin before moving back to the slave state of Missouri

Scott had appealed to the Supreme Court in hopes of being granted his freedom.

March 1857, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, declared that all blacks, slaves as well as free, were not and could never become citizens of the United States

Court also declared the 1820 Missouri Compromise unconstitutional, thus permitting slavery in all of the country's territories.

Dred Scott Decision

Dred Scott

1795-1858

Chief Justice Roger Taney

“because Scott was black, he was not a citizen and therefore had no right to sue.”

"had no rights which the white man was bound to respect; and that the negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit. He was bought and sold and treated as an ordinary article of merchandise and traffic, whenever profit could be made by it."

Increased resentment of abolitionists Frederick Douglass, found a bright side to the

decision and announced: “My hopes were never brighter than now." The decision would bring slavery to the

attention of the nation and was a step toward slavery's ultimate destruction.

National Reaction

October 16, 1859 Location of a Federal arsenal in Virginia Plan of John Brown to capture the arsenal and

lead an army of slaves across the South Brown seized the federal arsenal, killing seven

people, and injuring ten or more The slaves, unlike what Brown predicted,

didn't rebel, and he and his followers were captured by the US Marines (Led by Robert E. Lee)

Raid on Harper’s Ferry

Brown was convicted of murder and treason

and was hanged.

Cont.

James Buchanan: Democrat, warned that the

Republicans were extremists who would lead the country into civil war.

John C. Fremont: Newly formed Republican Party, condemned the Kansas-Nebraska Act and expansion of slavery

Millard Fillmore: Know Nothing Party, focused on anti-immigration issues

Election of 1856

John C. Fremont

1st Republican candidate for president

Free Soil, Free Men, and Fremont

Series of debates in 1858 spanning

4 months over election to the Senate from Illinois

Democratic Senator Stephen Douglas

Republican candidate A. Lincoln

Lincoln-Douglas Debates

“A house divided against itself cannot stand”

Douglas's strategy in the debates: Picture Lincoln as a fanatical "Black Republican"

whose goal was to incite civil war Emancipate the slaves Make blacks the social and political equals of

whites. Lincoln denied that he was a radical He supported the Fugitive Slave Law and

opposed any interference with slavery in the states where it already existed.

Debate cont.

When election time comes, people of

Illinois did not get to vote State legislature chose the winner,

Douglas is reelected Sends Lincoln into the national spotlight

and makes him a serious republican candidate for 1860 presidential election.

Debate Cont.

Republican: Abraham Lincoln (IL) Democrats broke into two parties: Northern Democrats: Stephen Douglas

(IL) Southern Democrats: John Breckenridge

(Proslavery from KY also current VP) Constitutional Union Party: John Bell

(TN)

Election of 1860