Sectionalism

Slavery

• The main sectional conflict between the North and the South was not only the existence of slavery, but its expansion into western territories.

• To decide the issue of slavery in the West the idea of Popular Sovereignty was adopted.

• Popular Sovereignty: the citizens of each territory were allowed to decide, for themselves, if they wanted slavery or not.

Compromise of 1850

• To ease tensions between North and South over slavery, the Compromise of 1850 was created.

• For the North, California was added as a free state.

• For the South, many states were talking about secession. To avoid secession the Federal Government passed the Fugitive Slave Act.

Transcontinental Railroad

• Transcontinental Railroad is a railroad that connects the east and west coasts.

• The idea of a Transcontinental Railroad became a conflict between the North and the South because both sections wanted the railroad to travel through its territory.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

• Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin explored the cruelties of chattel slavery and the ironies within the moral, legal and religious arguments for slavery.

• In the North, the book was compelling and sympathetic.

• In the South, the book was considered sectionalist propaganda.

• The book had an enormous impact upon the country. Even Abraham Lincoln famously apportioned Stowe with some responsibility for starting the Civil War.

Underground Railroad

• Underground Railroad was a term used to describe the network of persons who helped escaped slaves on their way to freedom in the North or Canda.

• It was neither underground nor a railroad. It was carried out in secret and railway terms were used to describe how it worked.

• Harriet Tubman was the most famous conductor for the Underground Railroad. She made 19, reported trips, saving some 300 slaves.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

• The Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise. It allowed both Kansas and Nebraska to, ultimately, have popular sovereignty over the issue of slavery.

Bleeding Kansas

• Settlers, both supporters for and against the spread of slavery, rushed to these territories to establish majority and cast their vote in the slavery question.

• Corrupt governments sprang up of both sides of the argument.

• In Kansas, both sides fought violently over the issue of slavery.

• 200 people died with damage to over 2 million dollars worth of property.

Congress

• The violence in Kansas spread to Congress.

• Anti-slavery Senator Charles Sumner was beaten with a cane by a pro-slavery Senator named Preston Brooks on the Senate floor.

• Brooks was angry that Sumner “dissed” his cousin and his home state over the issue of slavery.

Dred Scott

• Dred Scott was a slave taken to free territory by his slave owner.

• Scott sued for his freedom because he had been living as a free person.

• The Supreme Court decided that slaves were not citizens, couldn’t sue in court and had no rights. Slaves were considered property.

• This decision was supported by Southerners and condemned by Northerners.

John Brown

• John Brown was an abolitionist. • He attempted to seize the federal arsenal

at Harper’s Ferry, VA in order to spark a slave rebellion.

• Brown was captured, sentenced and put to death for his actions.

• Northerners hailed Brown as a martyr and Southerners took his actions as threatening.

Election of 1860

• Southerners were completely against Republicans. It was the party of John Brown and the party that was against slavery.

• In the election of 1860 Abraham Lincoln was the Republican candidate.

• Lincoln won the election without southern support.

• For southerners Lincoln’s election was a victory for the abolitionists and southern culture and society was at stake.

Secession

• To preserve southern ideals many states seceded from the union.

• South Carolina was the first to leave after the election of Lincoln.

• The states of secession join to form the Confederate States of America, a new nation.

• The Confederate Constitution guaranteed the existence of slavery in Confederate territory.

• The capital of the new nation was placed in Montgomery, Alabama.

• Jefferson Davis was chosen as the first president of the Confederacy.

Fort Sumter

• The Confederacy seized all arsenals and forts on its territory.

• Lincoln announced he intended to “hold and possess all federal property in the seceded territory”.

• When Lincoln attempted to resupply Fort Sumter in Charleston, SC Confederate forces saw this as a threat to their new nation. Confederate forces fired upon and took Fort Sumter which was the start of the American Civil War.

Confederacy

• Confederate States of America included: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas first.

• Later the upper south joined: Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina and Tennessee.

• The Confederate capital was moved to Richmond, Virginia.

Border States

• Lincoln was determined to hold on to the slave holding border states: Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri.

• If Maryland seceded, Washington DC would be surrounded by Confederate territory since Virginia was a Confederate state.

• Lincoln imposed martial law in Maryland: the military takes control of an area and replaces civilian authorities and suspends certain civilian rights.