Leading up to Civil War

1. THE
UNION
IN
PERIL
Slavery, Slavery, Republicans, Slavery, Secession, and did I mention
Slavery

2. Slavery in America
 By 1850: 3.2
million slaves
 1850: most
slaves live on
large farms
 Slaves also
“hired out”
 400,000 in urban
areas; a better
life?

3. Protecting Slavery
Protecting
 Bloody slave rebellions scare slave owners
 How do slave owners hope to end revolts?

4. Defending Slavery
Defending
 “slaves better off here than in Africa”
 “slaves better off than the Northern ‘wage
slave’”
 1836-1844: Congressional “gag rule”

5. North & South in 1850
North
South

6. Wilmot Proviso
 What is it?
 North supports
 South opposes

7. California
 1850: applies for statehood as non-slave
 Taylor supports; wants territories to decide
 Reaction?

8. Compromise of 1850
 Henry Clay
 Popular sovereignty
 Calhoun against
 Webster supports
 Initially rejected

9. Stephen “Little Giant” Douglas
 Illinois
 Got each provision passed on its own
 Fillmore: “final settlement”

10. Fugitive Slave Act
 No trial by jury
 Slave owner’s word enough
 How were federal commissioners
paid?
“We went to bed one night old-
fashioned, conservative, compromise
Union Whigs, and waked up stark mad
Abolitionists.”
“Do not be surprised if when I return
home you find me a confirmed

11. Northern Resistance Grows
Underground Railroad
 Secret network to get slaves out
Uncle Tom’s Cabin -- Harriet Beecher Stowe
 Instant bestseller
 Slavery is a moral issue

13. What to do with western lands?
Kansas-Nebraska Act
 Two States
 Repeal MO
Compromise
 Popular Sovereignty

14. “Bleeding Kansas”
 Pro and Anti slavery settlers flood in
 Who are the “Border Ruffians”?
 Two rival governments
 Violence breaks out

16. Caning of Charles Sumner

18. Political Parties; Both Old and
New
 Whigs split over slavery
 Democrats become a regional
party
 Know-Nothings: anti-immigrant,
anti-Catholic
 Free-Soil Party: no extension of
slavery (1848: 10% of pop vote)
 Who are the Free-Soilers?

19. Republican Party
 Northern Whigs, anti-slavery Dems, & Free-Soilers
 Horace Greeley, editor New York Tribune
 No slavery in territories
 “Big-Tent”
 Which events helped the Republicans?

20. Election of 1856

22. 1856: Conclusions?

23. Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857)
 Roger Taney
 slaves do not have rights of citizens
 MO Compromise unconstitutional

24. Lecompton Constitution
 1857: free soilers outnumber proslavery settlers 10:1
 Vote down a proslavery constitution
 Buchanan endorses
 Douglas outraged

25. Abraham Lincoln

26. Lincoln-Douglas Debates
 7 open-air debates for Illinois Senate
 Douglas:
 Lincoln:
 Douglas wins; Democrats more split
 Lincoln a national figure

27. John Brown
 anti-slavery zealot
 Raid on federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry
 Fails; captured
 Hanged Dec, 1859
 John Brown: Martyr?

28. Lincoln gets the Nomination
 Seward’s “irrepressible conflict”

29. Election 1860

31. South Reacts to Lincoln
 Lincoln not on southern ballots
 “the most complete subjection and political bondage”
 South Carolina secedes Dec. 20, 1860

32. A New Nation…
 Feb, 1861: Confederate
States of America formed
 Slavery protected
 Each state “sovereign and
independent”
 Jefferson Davis: “The time
for compromise has now
passed.”

33. Buchanan Reacts to Secession
 1861: 7 slave states in CSA
 8 slave states in Union
 Will there be a fight?