The Divisive Politics of Slavery

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The Divisive Politics of Slavery

• Chapter 10 United States History

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South and North

• North very industrial
• Against slavery
• Immigrants were coming for jobs

• South still believed in slavery
• Remained rural and agricultural

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Wilmot Proviso

• 1846 Debated by congress
• Bill that would ban slavery from the territories
  acquired after the war with Mexico
• North agreed because it would give the south too
  much power
• South said states should have the right

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Wilmot Proviso

• South argues they had the right because the
  constitution protected property and slaves were
  property
• NEVER Passed

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California

• 1849 California asked to enter the union as a
  free state South said it should be a slave state
  be it laid south of the Missouri compromise line
• President Zackary Taylor was okay with California
  being a free state
• Said the terrain and the climate was not suitable
  for slaves

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California

• Taylor also thought slavery should be handled by
  the individual states not the congress
• South was very passionate about the slavery issue
  and south began to question if they wanted to be
  in the union

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Compromise of 1850

• Dec 1849 31st congress opened with bitterness and
  distrust
• State hood of California was top of list
• North demanded the banning of slavery in District
  of Colombia
• South accused North of not carrying out the
  Fugitive slave act 1793

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Compromise of 1850

• South was thinking of leaving the Union
• Henry Clay of Kentucky presented yet another
  compromise

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Compromise of 1850 (North)

• California would be accepted as a free state
• Were happy with a provision called popular
  sovereignty (states could decide which way to
  go)
• Federal govt gave Texas 10 million dollars to
  surrender its claim to New Mexico this made them
  happy because it limited slavery to Texas borders
  
• North was represented by Daniel Webster of
  Massachusetts
• They supported the plan

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Compromise of 1850 (South)

• Called for stricter Fugitive laws
• Were happy with a provision called popular
  sovereignty
• Federal govt gave Texas 10 million dollars to
  surrender its claim to New Mexico because this
  would off set the Texas expenses and debts from
  war with Mexico
• Represented by John C. Calhoun of South Carolina
• South opposed the compromise

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Compromise of 1850

• Failed to pass
• Stephen Douglas of Illinois took action
• He was able to pass it by submitting each part as
  a separate bill
• 1850- President Taylor died and Millard Fillmore
  became president
• Fillmore was in favor of the compromise so it
  passed

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Fugitive Slave Act

• Compromise of 1850 made fugitive slave act much
  stricter
• It required harsher acts for those slaves caught
• As a result 9 northern states passed the personal
  liberty laws

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People important to slavery

• Harriett Tubman- Famous conductor of the
  Underground Railroad
• This assisted slaves to the north for freedom
• She herself was a runaway slave

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People important to slavery

• Harriett Beecher Stowe
• Wrote Uncle Toms Cabin
• This showed the horrible truths of slavery
• This book prompted Northern to protest the
  fugitive slave acts
• South felt this was an attack on their way of life

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Tension in Kansas and Nebraska

• Slavery was still an issue
• Stephen Douglas proposed splitting the Nebraska
  Territory into two territories Nebraska and
  Kansas

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Tension in Kansas and Nebraska

• Douglas was wanting to do this separation
• He believed that the nations people wanted to see
  the western lands become a part of the union
• He also believed that this would unify the nation
• He assumed that one state would become a free
  state and one would be a slave state

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Tension in Kansas and Nebraska

• Douglas did not realize north was so opposed to
  slavery
• Nebraska and Kansas was north of the Missouri
  compromise so this meant that the state would be
  free
• North opposed the proposal by Douglas

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Kansas and Nebraska Act

• Was passed and Nebraska was broken into Kansas
  and Nebraska
• State would decide if they were free or slave
  states

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Bleeding Kansas

• People fled to Kansas to promote slavery or show
  they were against it
• John Brown was an opponent of slavery and he
  killed 5 proslavery people
• Over 200 people were killed by this violence
• This is why it was called Bleeding Kansas

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Bleeding Kansas

• John Brown was an opponent of slavery and he
  killed 5 proslavery people
• Attacked an arsenal in Harpers Ferry Virginia to
  steal guns and arm slaves
• He was caught by federal govt and hanged for
  treason
• North applauded him the south attacked his
  actions and wanted to succeed from the Union

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Bleeding Kansas

• Violence over slavery was so severe that fights
  were breaking out in Congress

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How did slavery effect the Whig party?

• Issue of slavery caused the Whig party to split
• It was divided into Northern anti slavery Whigs
  and southern proslavery Whigs
• Due to this split the Whigs lost a lot of its
  political power

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How did slavery effect the Whig party?

• 1852- Democratic Franklin Pierce won Presidency
  due to Whig split
• Whigs joined the American Party
• This party was concerned with the large amount of
  immigrants that were in the United States
• They believed in Nativism- favoring of native
  born Americans

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How did slavery effect the Whig party?

• Nativist were middle class protestants
• Also upset about the growing number of Catholics
• Felt the Catholic immigrants were going to take
  over the democracy

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• Nativist formed the Know Nothing party
• Members wanted to extend the time for immigrants
  to become citizens
• The party split soon over the issue of slavery

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Anti slavery parties form

• Free Soil Party- against spreading slavery in
  western territories
• 1848 Martin Van Buren ran for president under
  this party
• He did not receive any electoral votes
• Got 10 of popular vote

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Anti slavery parties form

• Many northerners were free soilers but not
  abolitionist
• They supported the racist laws
• They objected to slavery competition for white
  jobs
• They believed this threatened the free labor
  system

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Anti slavery parties form

• 1854- Republican party was formed
• They were frustrated by the Whig split
• Horace Greeley was newspaper editor was a
  supporter
• Wanted to keep slavery of the territories
• Main competition was Know Nothing Party

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Anti slavery parties form

• 1855 both parties targeted the same groups
• Republicans lacked national organization but over
  half the northern states were for them
• They needed a slavery issue
• Bleeding Kansas and came about and the Republican
  party gained power

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Anti slavery parties form

• 1856 John C Fremont was first republican
  candidate and James Buchanan was the Democrat and
  he won
• Buchanan won 45 of popular vote
• This showed the republican party was becoming
  more important

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Dred Scott

• A slave who was briefly taken into free territory
  by his owner
• Roger B Taney a Chief justice said that just
  because he was in a free state did not make him
  free

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Dred Scott Vs. Sanford

• The justice also said that slaves were considered
  property according to the constitution
• This meant territories could not exclude slavery
  because it would deny the people of having
  property
• This made the south happy because this meant
  slavery could go west

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Dred Scott Vs. Sanford

• That same year Kansas applied to be a slave state
  
• Congress passed a law that required a vote on the
  new state constitution.
• Voters in Kansas rejected it
• Northerners were happy!

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Lincoln- Douglas Debates

• 1858- Stephen Douglas ran for reelection to state
  senate of Illinois
• Abraham Lincoln (rep) ran against him

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Stephen Douglas

• Opposed slavery
• Favored popular sovereignty
• Issued the Freeport Doctrine- call for people of
  western territory to get around the Dred Scott
  issue by electing reps who wouldn't enforce slave
  property laws

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Abraham Lincoln

• Opposed slavery
• Opposed popular sovereignty
• Called slavery a vast moral evil
• Insisted that federal legislation ban slavery

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Election of 1860

• Abraham Lincoln was the republican candidate
• He won
• Got no electoral votes from south
• This convinced the south they had no say-so in
  government
• States began to leave the union

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States start to secede

• Dec 20 1860- South Carolina
• By February of 1861- six other followed
• They formed the Confederacy
• And elected Jefferson Davis as the President