DRIFTING TOWARD DISUNION 1854-1861

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DRIFTING TOWARD DISUNION 1854-1861

• Chapter 19

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HarrietBeecherStowe 1811 - 1896
So this is the lady who started the Civil War.
-- Abraham Lincoln
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Consequences of Uncle Toms Cabin

• Profound influence on public opinion
• Moved northerners on the fence into anti-slavery
  camp.
• Made many willing to go to war to end Slavery.
• Made European public unsympathetic to South
• Sold several Million copies translated into 20
  languages

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Kansas in Flames

• Popular Sovereignty was working poorly in Kansas.
  Why?
• Nature of Kansas settlers.
• Bogus Election, Bogus Laws
• Lawrence Burned

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Bleeding Kansas
Border Ruffians(pro-slavery Missourians)
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John Browns Massacre
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Madman or Martyr?
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Lecompton Constitution

• 1857 KS applies for statehood.
• Issue of slavery in Kansas squarely in the
  cross-hairs.
• Pro-slavery forces determined to make the Kansas
  a slave state.
• Lecompton Constitution.
• Anti-Slave forces think the Constitution is a
  sham. Why?
• What do Free-soil forces do?
• Now issue lands in the lap of Congress.

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The Crime Against Kansas

• Sumner "Hirelings picked from the drunken spew
  and vomit of an uneasy civilization."
• Brooks beats him with his cane.
• North is outraged and the Crime Against Kansas
  speech is printed and sold by the thousands.
• The Sumner-Brooks clash revealed how dangerously
  inflamed passions were becoming between North and
  South.

Sen. Charles Sumner(R-MA)
Congr. Preston Brooks(D-SC)
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Election of 1856

• Democrats Nominate James Buchanan.
• Reject weak Pierce and Dynamic Douglas.
• Experienced, but weak.
• Platform is for popular sovereignty

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Election of 1856

• Rise of the Republicans
• John C. Fremont.
• Platform
• Know-Nothings (American Party ) chose Millard
  Fillmore.
• What is basic position of this party?
• What does south threaten to do if Fremont is
  elected?
• Impact on election?

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1856Election Results
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Dred Scott v. Sanford, 1857

• On March 6, 1857, The Dred Scott case hits the
  nation by storm.
• One of the opening blasts of the Civil War.
• What did the Court rule?
• Why did it inflame the passions of the North?

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Financial Crash Of 1857

• 1857 economic panic
• Causes?
• Hits North harder than South. Why?
• Consequences?
• North demands a homestead act.
• South strongly opposes.
• Why?
• 1860 Congress passed the Homestead Act.

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Abe Lincoln
Approaching Fury

• After Kansas-Nebraska Act and Dred Scott, emerged
  as leading voice against both in Illinois and in
  new Republican Party.
• Picked to run against Douglas for Ill. Senate.
• Little political experience, but forceful orator.
• Background on Lincoln.

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The Lincoln-Douglas Debates, 1858
A House divided against itself, cannot stand.
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Lincoln-Douglas Debates

• 7 debates between August and October 1858.
• Most famous debate in Freeport, Illinois.
• Freeport Doctrine.
• Douglas wins election even though Lincoln
  probably had more votes. Why?
• Debates make Lincoln a national figure and gets
  him the presidential nomination in 1860.

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John Brown Strikes Again

• Brown scheme to attack the federal arsenal at
  Harpers Ferry, Va.
• What is his logic?
• Attacked Oct. 1859 killed 7 innocent people
  including a free black
• Reaction of slaves
• Robert E. Lee.
• Convicted of murder and treason.
• Executed, and became a martyr for radical
  abolitionists.
• Reaction in South and consequences?

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Disruption Of The Democrats

• Election of 1860 was the most fateful in American
  history peace or civil war was on the line.
• Democrats (deeply divided)
• Douglas leading candidate of the northern Dems.
• South regarded him as a traitor. Why?
• Buchanan not re-nominated.

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Republicans Smell Victory

• Republicans smell victory with Dems divided.
• Seward most prominent and popular Republican.
  Why doesnt he get the nomination?
• Nominate Lincoln as second choice on strength of
  past performance against Douglas.

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Republican Party Platform in 1860

• The Republican Platform had a little bit of
  something for everyone.
• To win Republicans must broaden their base and
  appeal on issues beyond Slavery.
• Non-extension of slavery (for the core of the
  party).
• Protective tariff (for the Northern
  Industrialists).
• No abridgment of rights for immigrants (for
  immigrants).
• Government aid to build a Pacific RR (for the
  Northwest).
• Internal improvements at federal expense. (West)
• Free homesteads for the public domain (for
  farmers).

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1860 Election Results
Lincoln gets only 40 of the vote, and virtually
all of it came from free states. In ten southern
states he wasnt even allowed on the ballot.
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Presidential Election of 1860 (showing popular
vote by county)

• Lincoln did not win any states below the Ohio
  river, but decisively won those above the Ohio
• These maps dramatically show the demographic
  split in the nation. Also show that the middle
  border states are less clearly secessionist

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Electoral Upheaval Of 1860

• Southern fire-eaters elated. Why?
• Nature of the vote in the South.
• Despite Lincoln victory, the South not that bad
  off. Why?
• Still control the Supreme Court and
• Still control 30 votes in the senate.

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Secession

• Four days after the election South Carolinas
  legislature voted to call a special convention on
  Secession, which voted unanimously to secede.
• Six other states quickly follow suit.

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Confederacy Born

• Feb. 1861 create Confederate States of America
• Jefferson Davis becomes President.
• West-Point graduate,
• Former Senator from Mississippi,
• former Secretary of War.
• Has lots of governmental experience and is an
  able politician, but not good at delegating and
  chronic-ill health.

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Crittenden Compromise

• Secession led to desperate search for one more
  compromise.
• Senator James Henry Crittenden
• Crittenden Compromise
• Terms?
• Why rejected by Lincoln?

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Farewell To Union

• Why did the Southern States secede? They had a
  majority of the Supreme Court and could block any
  attempt to amend the Constitution to prohibit
  slavery.
• Discuss

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Fort Sumter April 12, 1861