Lincoln-Douglas Debates - Humble Independent School District › cms › lib2 › TX01001414 ›...
Transcript of Lincoln-Douglas Debates - Humble Independent School District › cms › lib2 › TX01001414 ›...
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• Public debate for U.S. Senate
despite no public vote
• Lincoln argued slavery should not
be expanded into new territories
o Believed it was a national issue
• Douglas favored letting the
territories decide on slavery
o Believed it was a state to state issue
• Douglas won reelection yet
Lincoln became a national figure
and rising star in the G.O.P.
"A house divided against
itself cannot stand. I believe
this government cannot
endure permanently half
slave and half free. I do not
expect the union to be
dissolved, I do not expect
the house to fall, but I do
expect it will cease to be
divided. It will become all
one thing or all of the other.”
- 1st Senate campaign
speech given by Lincoln
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
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Raid @ Harper’s Ferry • John Brown raises $23K from a
group of six investors from MA o Plan to attack a federal arsenal in
the south in hopes of a slave revolt
• Brown & 18 men attack but are held up in a local fire station o Receive no slave support
• U.S. Marines kill 10 men, wound and capture Brown o Led by Col. Robert E. Lee
o Brown is tried and hanged for treason
• Northern abolitionists see him as a hero while southerners see him as a radical or terrorist
American Politics in 1860 • Republican Party was
gaining national momentum
o Nominated Lincoln instead of the more popular William Seward
• Democratic Party splintered over slavery
o Officially nominated Douglas
o Southerners nominated current Vice President John Breckinridge
• A 4th party was created in response to the conflict
o Constitutional Union Party Nominate John Bell of Tennessee
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1860 Republican Platform • Maintain the rights listed in the
Declaration of Independence to preserve the republic
• Uphold the Union
• Denounce violence in Kansas & repeal KS-NE Act
• Stop slave expansion into the western territories
• Accept Kansas statehood as a free state
• Transcontinental railroad
1860 Democratic Platforms • Slavery decided by territories
o North & South Democrats
• No national laws against slavery o N & S Democrats & Constitutional
Union
• National government should protect slavery o Southern Democrats
• Support Dred Scott decision o N & S Democrats
• Enforce Fugitive Slave Law o N & S Democrats
• Annex Cuba o N & S Democrats
1860 Charleston Convention
(chose Douglas)
1860 Baltimore Convention
(chose Breckenridge)
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Secession Crisis • November 20, 1860 – S. Carolina
seceded from the Union o Less than one month after the election
o Concerned that the Republican Party would abolish slavery
• President Buchanan and others claimed the Constitution prevented secession o The president did nothing to stop it
and lost political support for it
• By February 1861 – MS,TX, LA, AL, FL, and GA had seceded
• The states formed the Confederate States of America o Chose MS Senator Jefferson Davis
as their first president
State of the Union (1860) • U.S. divided by
slave/free states
• U.S. divided socially
and economically
• Southern states were
logistically
unprepared for the
possibility of war