Chapter 19 Notes: Drifting Toward Disunion

Stowe and Helper: Literary Incendiaries

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1851 Harriet Beecher Stowe published Uncle Toms Cabin

o A book about the splitting up of a slave family and cruel punishment of
Uncle Tom
o It sold millions of copies and even British and French were taken by it
o Awakened the passions of the North toward the evils of slavery
South cried foul, saying the portrayal was wrong and unfair
o Helped keep foreign countries out of the Civil War
The people of those countries sympathized with Uncle Tom
Their governments forced to not support the South
Hinton R. Helper wrote The Impending Crisis of the South
o Non-aristocratic white North Carolinian
o Tried to prove with statistics that the non-slaveholders of the South
were the ones most hurt by slavery
o Published in the North
o Both books were banned in the South, making tensions worse

The North-South Contest for Kansas

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Northerners began to quickly poor into Kansas

o Southerners furious since they had supported the Compromise of 1850
under impression Kansas would become a slave states
1855 election day thousands of Southerners (border ruffians) poured in
o They were all from Missouri and flooded the polls to become a slave
state
o Free-soilers angry and set up their own government in Topeka
Kansans had to choose between two governments
One illegal free gov. in Topeka
Other a fraudulent slavery gov. in Shawnee
1856 a group of pro-slavery raiders shot up and burnt some of Lawrence
o Starting the violence

Kansas in Convulsion
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May 1856 John Brown

o Led a band of followers to Pottawatomie Creek
o Hacked to death five pro-slaveryites
o This violence surprised even the most ardent abolitionists
Swift retaliation from pro-slaveryites
The sates soon called Bleeding Kansas
1857 Kansas had enough people to apply for statehood and the pro-slavery
made the Lecompton Constitution
o Said people were only allowed to vote for the constitution with or
without slavery
o If it was passed without slavery, the present slaveholders would still be
protected

So slaves would still be in Kansas

o Free-soilers boycotted the polls and Kansas was approved with slavery
James Buchanan succeeded Franklin Pierce
o Like the former president he favored the South more
o Firmly supported the Lecompton Constitution
Senator Stephen Douglas
o Refused to have this fraudulent vote by saying it wasnt true popular
sovereignty
Called for a revote
Democratic Party was very divided
o Ended last remaining national party for years to come
Whigs dead and Republicans were sectional

Bully Brooks and His Bludgeon

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Bleeding Kansas issue spilled over into Congress

o Senator Charles Sumner was a vocal anti-slaveryite
His speeches condemned all slavery supporters
o Congressman Preston S. Brooks decided Sumner was not a gentleman
so no dual could be called
So Brooks beat him with a cane until it broke
The Senators did nothing but watch
He was cheered on by the South
o This incident touched off fireworks
Sumners speech reprinted and read by thousands
Making Brooks and the South in the wrong

Old Buck versus The Pathfinder

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1856 Democrats chose James Buchanan

o Untainted by the Kansas-Nebraska Act
o Had a lot of political experience
The Republicans chose John C. Fremont
o A fighter in the Mexican-American War
Another party called the American Party aka the Know-Nothing Party
o Very secret and was organized by nativists
Old stock Protestants against immigrants
Anti-Catholic and included old Whigs
Full of mudslinging, scandal and conspiracy
o Nominated Millard Fillmore
Fremont hurt by a rumor he was Roman Catholic

The Electoral Fruits of 1856

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Buchanan won because doubts about Fremonts honesty, capacity and sound
judgment
o Maybe better
Fremont was not as strong as Lincoln and at this time a lot of
people apathetic about slavery
South may have had an easier time seceding

The Dred Scott Bombshell

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March 6, 1857
o Dred Scott decision handed down by Supreme Court
He was a slave whose master took him to the north into the free
states where he lived for a long time
After masters death he sued for his freedom from new
master
o Claimed he had been in free territory and was free
Missouri Supreme Court agreed and freed him
o New master appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court
Overruled the free decision
o Outcomes and decisions of the case
Chief Justice Roger Taney said no slave could be a citizen of the
U.S.
Court said legislature/Congress could not outlaw slavery
It would go against the 5th Amendment
o A persons property cannot be taken without due
process
o A bombshell statement
Court concluded Missouri Compromise had been unconstitutional
o The case inflamed millions of abolitionists and Northerners
South was ecstatic and more tension built
The South was undeniably better off in the argument since they had
o The Supreme Court, president and the Constitution on its side
North only had Congress which now could not banned slavery
o Reasons the Constitution favored the South
Supreme Court said so with the Dred Scott decision
They are the ones who interpret the Constitution
th
5 Amendment says they cant take away property and thats
slaves
Slavery not specifically said in the Constitutions but things like
that left to states
Southern states would vote for slavery

The Financial Crash of 1857

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The Panic of 1857 was the worst of the 19th century psychologically
o California gold causing inflation
o Over-growth of grain
o Over-speculation in land and railroads
North very hard hit but the South rode it out fairly well
o They saw it as that the South proved that it was the king of cotton and
increased egos
1860 Congress passed a Homestead Act
o Provided 60 acres of land as a cheap price for those who were lessfortunate
Buchanan vetoed the bill

Plan opposed by the northeast

Had been unfriendly to extension of land
Feared it would drain its population even more
The south saw it would provide an easy way for more
territories to be filled more free-soilers
Panic also brought calls for a higher tariff rate
o Had been lowered to about 20% only months before

An Illinois Rail-Splitter Emerges

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1858 Senator Stephen Douglas term was about to expire

o Against him ran Republican Abraham Lincoln
He had risen up the political ladder slowly but was a good lawyer
Good debater and had a down-home common sense about him

The Great Debate: Lincoln versus Douglas

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Lincoln rashly challenge Douglas to a series of seven debates

o Douglas was a devastating debater and Lincoln was expected to loose
Lincoln ended up holding his own
o Most famous debate at Freeport, Illinois
Lincoln asked Douglas that if the people of a territory voted
slavery down and the Supreme Court said they could not do so,
who would he support?
Douglas claimed that no matter how the Court ruled, slavery
would stay down
Because they people wanted it that way
Douglas won the battle but lost the war
His answer to the Freeport Doctrine caused South to
dislike him
Douglas didnt seem to support slavery as much as he
said
The statement he made ruined the 1860 election for him

John Brown: Murder or Martyr?

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John Brown had a plan to invade the South, seize arms, call upon slaves to
rise up and take the South
o In raid of Harpers Ferry, Virginia the slaves didnt revolt
He was captured by the U.S. Marines led by Lit. Col. Robert E.
Lee
He as convicted of treason, sentenced to death and hanged
Brown portrayed himself as a martyr against slavery
o Instantly became a martyr for abolitionists and they were furious with
his death
South was happy and saw justice

The Disruption of the Democrats

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The Democrats failed to nominate a candidate in Charleston, South Carolina

So they split into Northern and Southern factions

The Northern Democrats nominated Stephen Douglas for
president
Southern Democrats chose John C. Breckinridge
The Know-Nothings chose John Bell of Tennessee
o Called themselves the Constitutional Union Party
o

A Rail-Splitter Splits the Unions

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The Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln

o Their platform had an appeal to every important non-southern groups
For free-soilers it proposed the non-expansion of slavery
Northern manufactures a protective tariff
Immigrants no abridgement of rights
For the West internal improvements at federal expense
For the farmers free homesteads
Southerners threatened Lincolns election would result in Southern secession
o Lincoln wasnt an outright abolitionists
o Abe won the election despite not being on the ballot in the South

The Electoral Upheaval of 1860

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Lincoln won with only 40% of the popular vote

o Had the Democratic Party been more organized they may have won
o A very sectional race
North went to Lincoln
South to Breckinridge
The middle ground to the middle of the road candidate in Bell
The Republicans did not control the House or the Senate
o South still decided to secede

The Secessionist Exodus

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South Carolina had threatened to secede if Lincoln was elected president

o The state did so in December of 1860
o Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas followed
the next 6 weeks
They met in Montgomery, Alabama in 1861
Created the Confederate States of America
o Chose Jefferson Davis as president
Buchanan did nothing to force the confederacy back into the Union
o Union troops were needed in the West and North still apathetic toward
secession
o Left issue for Lincoln

The Collapse of Compromise

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James Henry Crittenden of Kentucky proposed the Crittenden Compromise

o Would ban slavery north of the 36 30 line extended to the Pacific
Would leave the issue in territories south of the line up to the
people

o Existing slavery south of the line would be protected

Lincoln opposed the compromise
o His party preached against slavery and he had to stick to principle

Farewell to Union
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The states seceded because they feared their rights as a slaveholding

minority were threatened
o Alarmed at the growing power of the Republicans
o They believed they would be unopposed despite what the Northerners
claimed
South also wanted to develop own banking and shipping
o They saw how America had seceded from Britain and that they could
win like that