Drifting Toward Disunion1854-61Stowe & Helper

KansasBully Brooks

Old Buck vs. The Pathfinder1856

Dred ScottPanic of 1857

Lincoln vs. DouglasJohn Brown

1860

Stowe & Helper• 1852: Harriet Beecher Stow published “Uncle

Tom’s Cabin”– Tiny mother of 6- never south of KY, lived in OH, saw

mostly Undergrd RR• Book: political force that shook the North• South: ‘unfair indictment’

– Influenced millions in North & abroad prevented London from considering aid to South

• 1857: Hinton Helper wrote “The Impending Crisis”- – Non-slave owning NC-ian tried to prove how slavery

hurt non-slave owners• Pub’d in N, banned, w/ Cabin in S

– Widely read

Purpose of KS-NE bill & outcome• Douglas wanted to advance a RR w/ E. terminus @

Chi– Invested heavily– To get S support, needed to open possibility that land

would be open (maybe) to slavery• Proposed organizing terr w/ all Qs of slavery left to the people• Bundled in repeal of MO comp

– Damaged his presidential chances– Failed to see depth of anti slavery feeling in N– 6 indep congressmen print: “Appeal of Independ. Dems” calling bill

atrocious plot to extend slavery– Pierce supptd Douglas & so did Ss except Houston (TX)

who denounced violation of promises to confirm terr. To Indians forever

Impact of bill

• Violations of fugitive slave law– Anthony Burns incident

• Boston: herded to ship through streets lined w/ angry mob– Yelling ‘kidnappers!’– Bldgs draped in black, church bells ringing– Force of soldiers, marines put him on ship– Soon purchased by black community of Boston, given freedom

– S Whigs abstain from voting; N Whigs go to other parties: Know-Nothings, Repubs• 1st: Fusions, Anti-NE Party, People’s Party

• Bleeding KS

Contest for KS• Ss had supported Comp 1850 in part under belief KS

wd bcm slave– Angered when Ns pour in

• Immigrant’s Aid Society (NE), w/ Beecher’s Bibles– Crates of bibles & guns (Lymon Beecher)

– 1855, election day: floods of Ss from MO crash polls & vote KS to be a slave state (border ruffians) & draft drastic slave code• Capital offense to aid fugitive slave; felony to question legality of

slavery• Free Soilers set up sep Govt in Topeka- excluding slavery & free

blacks• KSs had to chose btwn 2 govts-1 illegal (Topeka) & 1 fraudulent

(Shawnee)

Sack of Lawrence– 1856, proslave raiders shot up, burned Lawrence, KS• May 56: newspaper presses, Governor’s home,

– 5 cannon before Free State Hotel: demolished it– 1 casualty

Bleeding KS• John Brown led followers to Pottawatomie Creek,

May 56– Hacked 5 proslavers to death before screaming

families for revense• Surprised even ardent abolitionists• Swift retaliation followed

– By 1857, over 60k in KS• Pro slavers apply for statehood w/ Lecompton Constitution

– Proviso: voters must approve const. w/ or w/o slavery» Therefore: if they voted it w/o, slave-holders already there:

protected» Free Soilers boycotted polls; KS approved const w/ slavery

KS 2

• Old Buck Buchanan (after Pierce): pro S, supported Lecompton Const.– Sen. S. Douglas, threw away his S support by

fighting for fair election• Result: L. Const voted on as a whole• Dem party hopelessly divided (ends last remaining

national party)– Whigs- dead; Repubs- sectional

Bully Brooks• Bleeding KS issue spills into Congress– Sen Charles Sumner, anti-slaveryite

• Speech ref’d: “Crime against KS” – Called SC senator Benj. Butler a misled ‘knight’ who had chosen

for a mistress the harlot slavery– Called pro-slaveryites in KS ‘hirelings picked from drunken spew

& vomit of an uneasy civilization’• Congressman Preston Brooks, SC protected honor of SC &

cousin Butler by attacking Sen Sumner (not worthy of duel) w/ cane in Senate while other senators watched– Sumner, beaten badly, needed 3 ½ yrs treatment abroad to

recover– Butler resigned, was reelected & sent canes from S admirers– Sumner’s speech reprinted by thousands, incited N, angered S– Butler’s act: vilified in N, widely admired in S

‘Old Buck’ Buchanan vs. ‘The Pathfinder’ Fremont

• Dems 1856 back Buchanan, ‘untainted’ by KS-NE act• Repubs back Fremont, fighter in Mx-Am war

– Know-Nothings nominated Millard Fillmore• Anti-Catholic, Anti- foreign, included old Whigs• Spread false rumor that Fremont was Rcath

• Buchanan won due to doubts abo Fremont’s honesty, judgment– PA Jacksonian Dem, 20 yrs in congress, expansionist– Southern fire-eaters claim that Rep victory wd force them to

secede• Many Ns forced to vote for Buck to protect Union & business

connections w/ S

Dred Scot• Mar. 57: Sup Ct decision– DS, slave whose master free N terr

• After master’s death, DS sued for freedom from new master on grounds: lived in Free territory

• MO court freed him• New master appealed Sup Ct: over-ruled

– Taney: no slave cd be a citizen; cd not bring suit– No case

» Opinion of majority: since slave- property, under 5th amend: can be taken anywhere in US

» And MO comp which banned slavery N of 36*30’ had been repealed by KS-NE Act; and had been unconst. Anyway as cong lacked power to ban slavery in territories

– Case inflamed abolitionists, others in N- increased tension w/ S

Panic 1857• Worst of 19th C, psychologically– Cause: inflation, over production of grain; no

markets– N hard hit; S had no real problem: Cotton is King– 1860, proposed Homestead Act wd have granted

160 acres, cheaply (for less fortunate) vetoed by Buck• S saw it as a way to fill territories w/ more Free Soilers

– Panic brought calls for higher tariff (lowered to 20% recently)

Lincoln-Douglas Debates• Lincoln, Rep, challenged Douglas in IL senate race

58– Good debater, challenged Douglas (best orator in

nation) to series of 7 debates• Sen accepted; Lincoln held his own

– Freeport, IL, Lincoln asked ‘Freeport Q’• If a people in Territory voted down slavery, wd they be right

despite Sup Ct saying they couldn’t do so?• Douglas’ answer (Freeport Doctrine): no matter how the Sup

Ct ruled, if people voted it down, it wd stay down as People had more power.

– Douglas won, but answer angered S (cost him 1860 election)

John Brown; murderer or martyr?

• Brown’s plan: invade S, seize its arms, free slaves– Encourage slaves to rise up & revolt– Take over S & free all slaves• Harper’s Ferry, VA: no slaves rose up• Captured by Rbt E Lee• Tried, convicted of treason, hung

– Insane, not stupid– Portrayed self as martyr to cause– When hung: instant martyr for abolitionists

Election 1860• Dems failed to nominate candidate in SC.• Split: Northern Dems Baltimore: nominate Stephen

Douglas• S Dems chose John C. Breckinridge• Know Nothings chose John Bell, TN• Republicans chose Abraham Lincoln, less political baggage

than Wm Seward (higher law)• Platform: no extension of slavery, • Higher protective tariff• Internal improvements pd by fed gov• Free homesteads

– S threatens that Lincoln’s election would cause secession• Not an abolitionist, favored cash compensation for freed slaves• Not on ballot in S; still won

1860

• Lincoln won w/ 40% of pop vote• Repubs did not control either house– S still has 5:4 majority in Sup Ct– South still secedes• Threatened to do it if Lincoln elected• Dec 1860: SC• Next 6 weeks: AL, MS, FL, GA. LA, TX• Met Montgomery, AL, Feb 61

– Created Confederate States of America– Jefferson Davis: Pres

1861

• Buchanan did nothing to force the confederacy back into the union– Troops needed in W– North – apathetic toward secession: good, let ‘em

go

Crittendon Compromise

• James H Crittendon, KY, proposed amendments to ban slavery N of 36*30’– Leave issue in territories S of line up to people– Where it existed, slavery wd be protected

• Lincoln opposed bcs Rep party opposed all extension of slavery

Farewell to Union

• Seceding states left bcs they feared rights as slaveholding minority were threatened

• Were alarmed at growing power of Reb party• Believed they would be unopposed• Hoped to develop banking, shipping & prosper• Southern War for Independence