The Road to SecessionAmerica’s Descent into Civil War

1850-1860

The Great Compromise of 1850

• California’s petition for admission as a free state precipitated a national crisis over the issue of slavery

• President Zachary Taylor (Whig-LA) proposed “popular sovereignty” as a way of avoiding a crisis – leave the decision on salve or free status to the states themselves

• Henry Clay (Whig-KY) proposed a five-part compromise:

• 1. California admitted as a free state

• 2. creation of New Mexico and Utah territories with no federal restrictions on slavery (new states to decide for themselves)

• 3. awarding of territory by Texas to New Mexico in exchange for federal assumption of Texas debts

• 4.abolition of the salve trade in the District of Columbia

• 5.a stronger fugitive slave law

The Compromise Raises Tensions

Henry Clay defending the compromise on the floor of the Senate, 1850

• Clay & Daniel Webster (Whig-MA) eloquently defended the compromise

• John C. Calhoun (Democrat – SC) condemned it and warned that it would lead to civil war within a decade

• All three “giants” of the Senate passed away within a year

• Stephen Douglas (D – IL) took up Clay’s cause and steered the compromise through Congress

Who won the most from the Compromise of 1850 – North or South? How did Northerners and Southerners react to the Compromise of 1850?

Uncle Tom’s Cabin Highlights the Evils of Slavery

• The stronger Fugitive Slave Act of 1851 angered many Northerners and encouraged more activity along the Underground Railroad, which provided slaves a means of escaping to freedom in Canada

• Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 1852 – the book became a bestseller and awoke Northern readers to the evils of slavery

• Stowe based the work on extensive research of slavery and slave conditions in the South

The Gadsden Purchase & Southern Expansionists

• In 1853, President Franklin Pierce’s administration negotiated the purchase of the southern strip of what is now Arizona and New Mexico from Mexico’s government for $10 million

• Secretary of War Jefferson Davis sought the purchase to encourage construction of a transcontinental railroad from New Orleans to southern California

• Southern expansionists went even further and demanded the annexation of Cuba and Central America to help America add more potential slave territory in North America and the Caribbean

• Three U.S. ambassadors to Europe formally called on the Pierce administration to annex Cuba in the Ostend Manifesto of 1854; encouraged Southern adventurism in Latin America

The Kansas-Nebraska Act

• In 1854, Stephen Douglas proposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act to organize western territories and encourage settlement of the Plains

• His objective was to encourage westward expansion and pave the way for a transcontinental railroad that would connect Chicago with the Far West

• To avoid the issue of slavery, Douglas proposed that each territory be able to choose its own status through “popular sovereignty” – the idea was that Nebraska would likely want to be a free state and Kansas would vote to be a slave state

• The act further eroded the Missouri Compromise by opening up the possibility of slavery extending north of the “36 30” line

How would Northerners and Southerners have reacted to the Kansas-Nebraska Act?

“Bleeding Kansas”

• The Kansas-Nebraska Act created conflict in Kansas territory between pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces

• Violence and bloodshed gripped the nation’s attention and foreshadowed the Civil War

• Rival governments emerged in Kansas and vied for recognition as the “legitimate” government

• Rep. Preston Brooks of SC caned Massachusetts Senator and abolitionist Charles Sumner on the floor of the Senate – the “Bleeding Sumner” incident provoked outrage in the North

The Election of 1856

• The Whig Party disintegrated because of disagreements over the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the issue of slavery; many of its anti-slavery supporters gravitated to the new Republican Party (founded in 1854 in opposition to the Act)

• The Republicans promoted free-soil and the restriction of slavery’s expansion westward; they nominated famous general and “pathfinder” John C. Fremont as their first presidential candidate in 1856

• Other Whigs and some Democrats supported the “Know-Nothing” Party, which campaigned for restrictions on immigration and nominated former President Fillmore

• The Democrats united behind James Buchanan, a Northerner who was well liked by Southern Democrats because of his favorable positions on Bleeding Kansas and slavery

What were the results of the election? How would Southern Democrats react? How would northern Republicans react?

The Dred Scott v. Sandford Case• Dred Scott sued for his freedom, arguing that

his master had taken him to free territory for a time and that this made him a free man after his master’s death

• The Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Roger Taney (a Southerner) argued that:

• 1. Dred Scott was a slave and could not sue in court because he had not citizenship rights (nor did any other black American)

• 2. The Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional because it had sought to limit slavery to a certain region; the Court argued that owning slaves was a property right that could not be restricted by any territory (or state!)

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates

• Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, challenged Douglas for his Illinois Senate seat in 1858

• Their series of seven debates grabbed national media attention because the campaign focused on the issue of slavery and the Dred Scott decision

• Lincoln argued that slavery was morally wrong and should be limited if not ended altogether

• Douglas took the moderate position that slavery should be allowed where people wanted it (despite Dred Scott) but angered many Northerners and Southerners as a result

John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry

• John Brown led a group of radicals who attempted to take over the Harper’s Ferry federal armory in October 1959 to prepare for an armed slave revolt

• The raid was unsuccessful and resulted in Brown’s capture and trial – he was hung on December 2, 1859

• Southerners suspected that Brown had been funded and encouraged by Northern abolitionists

• Was Brown a hero or a madman?

The Election of 1860

• Growing tensions over Bleeding Kansas, the Dred Scott decision, and Brown’s raid contributed to one of the most divisive national elections in American history

• The Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln to run as a moderate who appealed to free-soil and anti-slavery forces; he beat out the Republican front-runner, Senator William Seward of New York, who was considered too controversial

• The Democrats split over the issue of slavery – Southern Democrats rejected Stephen Douglas as too moderate on the issue of slavery and nominated John Breckinridge of Kentucky; Northern Democrats nominated Douglas

• More moderate Southerners, who wanted to preserve national unity, created the Constitutional Union Party and nominated John Bell of Tennessee

Election results: Who won and why? Why did this election contribute directly to Southern secession?