Politics of Slavery

POLITICS OF SLAVERY

NORTH VS SOUTH

NORTH SOUTH

By the early 19th century, northern states had either abolished slavery or put it on the road to extinction

southern states were building the largest slave society in the New World

MASON-DIXON LINE The colonial

surveyor’s line that came to represent the divide between slave and free

SLAVE SOCIETY The South was not merely a society

with slaves. It had become a slave society. Slavery shaped the region’s economy, culture, social structure, and politics.

Whites south of the Mason-Dixon line believed that slavery was necessary and just. By making all blacks outcasts, all whites bound themselves together

CAN ONE BE ANTI-SLAVERY IN THE SOUTH?

Anti-slavery Southerners were hounded from speaking out; professors, clerics, or politicians who even were slightly anti-slavery were driven from jobs and in some cases the victims of violence

WHITE MEN IN THE SOUTH Argued about many things. The things they agreed on: Take land from Indians Promote agriculture Uphold white supremacy Maintain masculine privilege Defend all of the above from

enemies

WILMOT PROVISO August 1846, Pennsylvania Democrat

David Wilmot proposed that Congress bar slavery in all lands acquired in the War with Mexico

Northerners of both parties supported it Southerners of both parties were outraged Southerners demanded political parity—

equal power in Washington

DAVID WILMOT OF PENNSYLVANIA

THE TERRITORIES? Should slavery be extended to the

territories? The Wilmot Proviso says no A compromise of “popular sovereignty” is

proposed—let those who live in the territory decide

CONGRESS DOES NOT ACT The House of Representatives passed

the Wilmot Proviso (it is dominated by northern states)

The Senate rejected the proviso (it is dominated by slave states)

It becomes an issue in the election of 1848

POLITICAL PARTIES All political parties were split between

those advocating slavery and those against it

ELECTION OF 1848 Democrats: Lewis Cass (‘popular

sovereignty’) Whigs: Zachary Taylor (Mexican War

hero) Free Soil Party: Martin Van Buren

FREE SOIL PARTY Anti-slavery Whigs and anti-slavery

Democrats founded the Free Soil Party, making slavery the central issue of the campaign

Neither the Whigs nor Democrats took an official stand on slavery in the election of 1848

ZACHARY TAYLOR Taylor supported the

Free Soil approach to the territories—surprising given that he was a Southerner and slaveholder

He encouraged California and New Mexico to draw up constitutions to apply for statehood promptly

CONGRESSIONAL SESSION OF 1849 One of the most contentious and

significant sessions in its history Senator Henry Clay proposed a series of

resolutions that sought to balance the interests of the slave and free states: The Omnibus Bill

both the anti-slavery people and the “fire-eaters” or radical secessionist Southerner’s savaged Clay’s plan and it failed

SENATOR DANIEL WEBSTER Sanctioned

compromise, stating that the new territories did not have the climate appropriate for slavery, making it a mute point

Northerners thought he abandoned their cause

SENATOR STEPHEN DOUGLAS broke Clay’s

compromise into its various parts and skillfully ushered each part through Congress

Combined, the various bills are known as the Compromise of 1850

COMPROMISE OF 1850 California entered the Union as a free

state New Mexico and Utah would be decided

by popular sovereignty Texas accepted its boundary with New

Mexico Slave trade in Washington DC would be

abolished Fugitive slave laws would be more

stringent

COMPROMISE OF 1850

THE COMPROMISE It is more a testament to Douglas’s

political skills than to real compromise It preserved the Union, but only

temporarily

1850 President Zachary Taylor died President Millard Fillmore succeeds him California is admitted to the Union Fugitive Slave Act is passed

FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT The most explosive

measure of the Compromise of 1850

Southerners thought the North betrayed the Compromise

In the North there were some “personal liberty laws” that provided some fugitives with protection

Brutal enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act radicalized the North

HARRIET BEECHER STOWE

KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT 1854

JOHN BROWN