Bad Presidents of 1850s

7/28/2019 Bad Presidents of 1850s

1/4

Bad presidents of 1850s

1) Zachary Taylor 1848-1850 Taylor was the last slave owning president. He opposed thecompromise of 1850. He thought it gave too much to slave interests

2) Millard Fillmore He was a part of the No Nothing Party3) Franklin Pierce 1852-1856 Supported the Kansas-Nebraska Act4) James Buchannan He was the only bachelor president for his entire life. He was

from Maryland

The bad presidents were ineffectual because they were overshadowed by powerful divas in congress.

Uncle Toms Cabin

Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It was first published as a serial in the abolitionist newspaper, The

National Era. When it was first published as a book in 1852 it became a runaway bestseller. Written in

melodramatic overtones, it described the plight of slaves, with Uncle Tom serving as a Christ like figure.

The book was written in a manner in which one would have to decide their position over slavery. i.e. foror against it.

Lincoln Douglas Debates

Illinois Senate Race of 1858

Abraham Lincoln vs. Stephan Douglas Lincoln was an anti-slavery republican

A series of 7 debates were agreed upon and during the debates Lincolns position on slavery emerged

1) He is not an abolitionists2) He disagreed strongly with the Dred Scott case. He believed that slavery should be

contained to the South where it would die a natural death

3) He favored the containment theory. It was the idea that if slavery was contained to theSouth were it existed that it would eventually die a natural death

4) The never called for immediate emancipation, but saw gradual emancipation as thesolution.

5) But personally detested the institution of slavery as it violated his strong sense of labor andethics.

6) DOI- In Lincolns view everyone had basic human rights.7) However, He did not believe that African-Americans had the same rights as Whites.8) If the government and society can marginalize one group of people, why cant they do it to

another?

Election of 1860

Abraham Lincoln-R Stephan Douglas- D


2/4

James Breckinridge-D John Bell-I

The Democratic party was split between the North and the South. In the election the Democratic vote

was split among three candidates, giving the presidency to Lincoln. When Lincoln was indeed confirmed

as the president, all hell broke loose.

At the time there was a four month gap between the election and the inauguration. James Buchanan

was president until March 5, 1861.

In December 1860, South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union. Six states followed:

Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. All ofthese states felt that Lincolns

presidency would threaten them. In February 1861, These states formed The Confederate States of

American. They then proposed the 13th

Amendment (at the time) which would put the Missouri

Compromise back in to effect, and would set the line for slavery at the 36th

Parallel. The Confederate

States of America elected Jefferson Davis their president and Alexander Stevens as the VP. Soon to

follow was Arkansas and Tennessee. After Ft. Sumter, Virginia and North Carolina entered the CSA.

Lincoln entered the presidency still thinking there could be reconciliation and that he could fix the

Unions problems.

Union V. Confederacy

625,000 casualties 120,000 amputees

South Confederacy 11 States, 11.5 million people 4 million of which were slaves.

Advantages-

1) Strong Sense of Purpose- Southerners believed that people in the north didnt understand thesouthern way of life and they didnt understand the economy. They felt as though they were the

victims

2) Strong Military- Southern Boys knew how to shoot, ride horses, map terrain, and for the firsttwo years of the war they are major contenders at winning the war

3) Strong Military Leadership- Robert E. Lee, and Thomas Stonewall Jackson.Disadvantages-

1) No Money2) No Infrastructure- few rail and telegraph lines3) Lack of Manufacturing capabilities4) Few states with a smaller population

The Confederacy couldnt fight a long and sustaining war


3/4

Union, Federal, North 24-28 States with a population of 22 to 24 million people

Advantages-

1) Financing and Banking2)

Infrastructure- More rail and telegraph lines

3) Manufacturing capabilities4) Better food supply and agriculture

Disadvantages

1) It took two years to develop the military2) It was two years before the Union had great generals like Sheridan, Sherman, and Grant3) Lack of Purpose- Why dont we just let them go? The copperhead approach was to give them

what they wanted. Was this about slavery or preserving the union?

4) Strategy- The union had to take the battles to the south and fight, vs. the south who just had toprotect what they had.

Emancipation Proclamation

Was a result of the Bloodiest day in American History. It was a military order by the commanderin-

chief, Abraham Lincoln. It completely bypassed congress.

1) Freed slaves in openly rebellious territories like the confederacy. It didnt free slaves in borderstates like Missouri.

2) Cleared up the legal limbo of runaway slaves3) Made the CW about freeing slaves, not about preserving the union4) France and Great Britain could no longer acknowledge the confederacy5) African Americans could now serve in the military. Lincoln was worried about blacks serving

because of what might be done to them if they were captured. There were seven major

massacres. They followed Fredrick Douglas. 188,000 African American men that served in

segregated units. Most came from Ft. Pillow.

Why Did Reconstruction Fail?

1) Radical Republicans had either been voted out of office or had died by the 1870s2) Americans were exhausted after 30 years of war and reconstruction from 1846 thru 18763)

The opening of the west. There was a massive shift to the west. The south was left to decay

4) Healing Between the North and the South. There was a massive influx of immigrants that hadnothing to do with or no concern about the Civil war

5) The presidential election of 1876 between Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel Tilden. 3 SouthernStates were too close to call and a deal was arranged to give Hayes these electoral votes if he

would remove troops from the south and he would appoint a cabinet member from the south.

6) Troops are removed from the South- No more protection from federal troops


4/4

7) Plessy V. Ferguson 1896- Schools and Railroad cars were segregate. Homer Plessy boards a trainin the white car and starts talking about how he is one eighth white. The conductor orders that

he go to the black care because no self respecting white man would call himself black. Plessy

sues in saying his 14th

Amendment equal protection rights were violated the supreme court

voted 8-1 against plessy saying that segregation was legal under the Separate but equal doctrine

of the time. The one vote for plessy was from John Marshall Harlan, He, a former slave owner

said that separate but equal acknowledged that one group of people was better than another,

and that this would come back to hurt African americans.

Dawes Severalty Act

Dawes is a senator that comes up with the idea that the government will take 130 million acres of indian

land and divided up among them. It was a well intentioned that plan that had the opposite effect.

A native American family would be given 160 acres, a single person 80 acres, and children 40 acres.

The intention was to give native americans land they could farm on, but the soil was terrible and un-harvestable. It was also thought that it would help native americans assimilate whites and allow them to

become citizens after 25 years. The result was the selling of 80 million acres of land because it went

unclaimed.

Documents

Bad Presidents of 1850s