Chapter 19 Drifting Toward Disunion 1854-1861

1. Chapter 19 Drifting Toward Disunion 1854-1861 By: Marisol Pedroza

2. Kansas Territory erupted in violence in 1855 • 1820 Missouri Compromise invalidated by the Dred Scott decision • 1860 nomination of Abraham Lincoln for President

3. Stowe and Helper: Literary Incendiaries • 1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe published the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin • She was a mother of six and had antislavery sentiments • Millions of copies of her book were sold • 1858 Hinton R. Helper’s The Impending Crisis of the South • Nonaristocratic from North Carolina • He hated slavery and blacks • Book was banned and burned in the South • Thousands of secret copies were distributed in the North as a campaign by Republicans

5. The North-South Contest for Kansas • Northerners searching for richer lands • New England Emigrant Aid Company=antislavery organizations • Census of 1860 found two slaves out of 107,000 people in Kansas and only 15 in Nebraska • 1885 election=victory for slave supporters • 1856 proslavery raiders burned part of the free-soil town of Lawrence

6. Kansas in Convulsion • John Brown “Old Brown” • Dedicated to abolitionist cause • May 1856 led followers to Pottawatomie Creek • 1856 Civil War in Kansas • Lecompton Constitution (devised by proslavery forces) • People only allowed to vote for slavery or no slavery • No matter what there would still be black bondage • 1857 constitution approved with slavery • Kansas remained a territory until 1861 • President Buchanan divided the Democratic Party

7. “Bully” Brooks and His Bludgeon • Senator Charles Sumner of Mass. (leading abolitionist) delivered a speech “The Crime Against Kansas” • Condemned proslavery men • Insulting to South Carolina and Senator Andrew Butler • Congressman Preston S. Brooks of Carolina • May 22, 1856 Brooks approached Sumner, pounded the senator with a cane, and made the victim fall bleeding to the floor • Brooks resigned and then was reelected • Sumner left for three and a half years to Europe for treatment • Mass. Reelected Sumner

9. “Old Buck” Versus “The Pathfinder” • Democrats met in Cincinnati to nominate presidential standard bearer of 1856 • James Buchanan(Penn. Lawyer) chosen • “Old Buck” Buchanan • “Higher Law” Seward • Captain John C. Fremont (pathfinder of the West) • Supposed to find path to White House • Know-Nothing Party = secret American party organized by “nativists” (old stock Protestants) • 1856 nominated Millard Fillmore • Antiforeign and anti-Catholic • Slogan “Americans Must Rule America”

10. The Electoral Fruits of 1856 • Buchanan won by beating Fremont and Fillmore

11. The Dred Scott Bombshell • Dred Scott decision was handed down by the Supreme Court on March 6, 1857 • Dred Scott (black slave) sued for freedom because of his long residence on free soil • The Supreme Court ruled that the Missouri Compromise of 1820 had been unconstitutional • Southerners were delighted • Much defiance followed from northern Democrats and Republicans

12. The Financial Crash of 1857 • Causes • California gold helped inflate currency • Demands of Crimean War over stimulated growing of grain • Furious speculation in land and railroads • 5000 businesses failed within a year • Slogan “Bread or Death” • North was hit the hardest while the South enjoyed cotton prices • 1860 Congress passed a homestead act • Public lands were available for 25 cents an acre • Vetoed by President Buchanan • Republicans given two issues for election: protection and farms

13. An Illinois Rail-Splitter Emerges • Illinois senatorial election of 1858 • Republican candidate = Abraham Lincoln • Born in 1809 in Kentucky to impoverished parents • Better-known trail lawyer in Illinois • “Honest Abe” • One term in Congress 1847-1849 • Received 110 votes for vice-presidential nomination at Philadelphia Convention of 1856

14. The Great Debate: Lincoln versus Douglas • Seven debates between August to October 1858 • Most famous debate came at Freeport, Illinois • Lincoln asked whether the vote of the people or the vote of the Supreme Court would prevail • Douglas’s response (“Freeport Doctrine”) was aimed toward the people • Douglas defeated Lincoln for Senate seat • But Douglas hurt his chances of winning presidency

16. John Brown Murder or Martyr? • John Brown’s plan = invade south secretly, call slaves to rise, give them arms, and establish a black free state • On October 1859, at Harpers Ferry Brown killed and injured innocent people • He and some of his followers were captured by U.S. Marines • “Old Brown” was convicted of murder and treason • He was hung

17. The Disruption of the Democrats • Dem. Met in Charleston, South Carolina where departure was becoming a habit • Dem. Then tried in Baltimore but many walked out • Constitutional Union Party was organized • Met in Baltimore and nominated John Bell of Tenn. For presidency • Believed in the Union, the Constitution, and the Enforcement of the Laws

18. A Rail-Splitter Splits the Union • Republicans met in Chicago in the Wigwam (huge, boxlike wooden structure) • A noisy election campaign broke out • Victory = Lincoln

19. The Electoral Upheaval of 1860 • Election of 1860 was virtually two elections: in North and in South • Lincoln (Republican) Breckinridge (Democratic) Bell (Constitutional Union) Douglas (Democratic) • Federal gov. could not touch slavery in those states where it existed except by a constitutional amendment

20. The Secessionist Exodus • Dec. 1860 Convention at Charleston led to secessions of states in lower South (ex. Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Texas) • Feb. 1861 at Montgomery, Alabama led to creation of gov. called the Confederate States of America • President Jefferson Davis • Lincoln could not take office until March 4, 1861 • 7 of the 11 states then pulled out of the Union

21. The Collapse of Compromise • Senator James Henry Crittenden of Kentucky proposed Crittenden amendments to the Constitution which were designed to appease the South • Lincoln rejected the Crittenden plan

22. Farewell to Union • Many Southerners supported secession because they saw it as an opportunity • 13 original states had entered the Union and now 7 – ultimately 11 – Southern states were voluntarily withdrawing from it

23. “Act of Secession”