Chapter 17 section 3

“On The Brink Of War”

The new crisis over slavery rocked the nation in March, 1857. In the Dred Scott case, the Supreme Court ruled that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional, and slavery could not be banned in any territory. (Dred Scott v. Sanford 1857)

Dred Scott v. Sanford 1857

Dred Scott

Dred Scott had been a slave of a Missouri surgeon, who had taken him to Illinois and Wisconsin Territory. They lived there for several years before returning to Missouri. In 1846, Scott claimed in court that the years he lived on free northern soil had made him a free man. The jury ruled in his favor, but the Missouri Supreme Court overruled the decision (7-2). The justices said that Scott did not have a right to trial. African Americans, enslaved or free, were not citizens hence they could not bring suits in federal court.

Dred Scott Decision

15th POTUS-Born and elected in from Pennsylvania, Buchanan was what Northerners called a “doughface”. A doughface is a Northerner who sympathized with the South.

James Buchanan

Angry that President Buchanan had supported the court’s decision in The Dred Scott case, Abraham Lincoln agreed to help overthrow the Democrats.

Abraham Lincoln ran for senator against Stephen A. Douglas in Illinois. Lincoln became nationally known when he debated the issue of slavery against Douglas. Lincoln lost the election but won the debates. This put the presidency in his reach, in 1860 the young Republican Party nominated him for the White House.

Lincoln’s Popularity

Stephen A. Douglas

Lincoln-Douglas debates 1858Abraham Lincoln

In 1859, John Brown, the Kansas abolitionist, led a raid on a federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, hoping to ignite a slave revolt. Brown and 21 followers seized the federal arsenal.

Colonel Robert E. Lee led a force of marines and captured Brown, and killed ten of his men, including two of Brown’s sons. Brown was convicted of treason and hung. Southerners now believed that the North would stop at nothing to destroy slavery.

Raid at Harper’s Ferry

John Brown

Raid at Harper’s FerryRobert E. Lee

The Election of 1860 drove the final wedge between the North and the South.

The Democratic Party split. Northern Democrats nominated Stephen A. Douglas and came out for popular sovereignty in the territories. Southern Democrats nominated John C. Breckinridge, (V.P. under Buchanan), who supported slavery in all territories.

The Republican party nominated Abraham Lincoln. A fourth candidate, John Bell of Tennessee was

nominated by the Constitutional Union party.( This new party avoided the issue of slavery and supported the Union.)

Election of 1860

Stephen A. Douglas (Northern Democrats)

Election of 1860John C. Breckinridge (Southern Democrats)

John Bell -Constitutional Union Party

Election of 1860Abraham Lincoln-Republican

Candidate Popular Vote Electoral Vote

Abraham Lincoln 1,865,593 180John C. Breckinridge 848,356 72John Bell 592,906 39Stephen A. Douglas 1,382,713 12

Abraham Lincoln won the Election of 1860 and became the 16th POTUS. The Vice President was Hannibal Hamlin. (www.potus.com)

Results of Election of 1860

Abraham Lincoln 16th POTUS

When Lincoln was elected President in 1860, seven southern states seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America. Lincoln declared that he was determined to hold the Union together but hoped to avoid bloodshed. However, Confederate forces seized Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, on April 13,1861. The Civil war had begun.

7 Southern states that seceded to form CSA, Confederate States of America- South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. President of the CSA was Jefferson Davis.

The Beginning of the Civil War

Battle of Fort Sumter (S.C.) April 13,1861

Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor, S.C.