The Road to Secession:The 1850’s

Candidates

Zachary Taylor

“Old Rough & Ready”

Whig

Lewis Cass

Democrat

Results• Taylor wins

The Statehood of CA• Applied to be a free state in 1850• Problems?

– Upset the sectional balance– 15 free & 15 slave– Influence UT & NM to become free as

well

Wishes of the North & South

North:– CA admitted

as a state– Abolishment of

slavery in Washington, DC

South:– Maintain

sectional balance

– The end to runaway slaves

The Compromise• Written by Henry

Clay• Provisions:

– CA admitted as a free state

– Abolition of the slave trade in DC

– Popular Sovereignty in NM & UT

– A stringent Fugitive Slave Law passed

Why it passed

• Taylor opposed• But he died July 9,

1850– Millard Fillmore

became president– Congress eager to

end sectional crisis

Popular Sovereignty

• Autonomous people of a territory should determine themselves the status of slavery in their territory

• Proposed by Stephen Douglas (IL)

• Became a major political issue of the 1850’s

Fugitive Slave Law (1850)• Provisions:

– Law enforcement everywhere had to assist with runaway slaves

– Those that helped runaway slaves would be fined and jailed

– Captured slaves were not entitled to trials/juries

– Many free blacks conscripted back into slavery

• Problems for the North:– Called it the “Bloodhound Bill”– Some states refused to enforce– Major boost for Abolitionist movement

Harriet Beecher Stowe• In 1852 she wrote Uncle Tom’s

Cabin– Anti-slavery novel– Inspired by the Fugitive Slave Law

(1850)

• Became a bestseller– Sold 300,000 copies in the 1st year– Over 2 million within a decade

• Helped focus Northern anger against slavery

• South angry that it was so popular

The End of the Great Triumvirate• The three great statesmen from the three

areas of the country• Had managed to reach compromises and

maintain harmony in the country

John C. Calhoun –

South

Died 1850

Henry Clay – West

Died 1852

Daniel Webster –

North

Died 1852

Candidates in 1852

Franklin Pierce

Democrat

Winfield Scott

“Old Fuss & Feathers”

Whig

Results• Pierce wins

Death of the Whigs

• Main personalities have passed away• Party split in election of 1852

because of Scott’s stance on slavery– North somewhat supported, wanted

Fillmore to be nominee– South did not support

• 1852 was last Whig nominee for president

The Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)

• Stephen Douglass proposed– Wanted to build a

transcontinental RR– Never passed because of

North vs. South issues• The law passed and

created 2 new territories, Kansas & Nebraska– Slave issue determined by

Popular Sovereignty– Assumed NE would be free

& KS would be slave

• Problem?– It repealed the Missouri Compromise of

1820

Northern Reaction:

Impact on Democrats

• Begins to splinter the party• Northern Democrats do not want to

see the expansion of slavery• Southern Democrats happy about the

possibility of expanding slavery

Birth of the Republican Party (1854)

• Formed in reaction to Kansas- Nebraska Act

• Mutt group:– Whigs– Some Northern

Democrats– Free-Soilers– Know Nothings– Opponents of K-N Act

• Formed around an issue– SLAVERY

• Outlawed south of the Mason-Dixon Line

• Became main party of the North almost overnight

Bleeding Kansas• KS ready to become a state in 1855• Election held to decide Pro or Anti Slavery• Anti-slaverites flood the region from the North

– Called “Free Soilers”

• Pro-slaverites pour in from MO – Called “Border Ruffians”

• Border Ruffians won • Free Soilers establish their own government

Bleeding Kansas• 1856, the two groups began to

attack one another• Civil War in Kansas over slavery

– Only 2 slaves lived there

• Statehood denied

Caning of Charles Sumner

• Violence in KS spills into U.S. government• Charles Sumner is an abolitionist senator

from MA• Gives a speech “Crime against Kansas”

condemning violence & slavery– Also insults Senator Andrew Butler (SC)

• 2 days later, Preston Brooks attacked Sumner

Candidates

James Buchanan

Democrat

Popular Sovereignty

John C. Fremont

Republican

End the Expansion of Slavery

Millard Fillmore

American

Anti-Immigration Policies

Results• Buchanan wins

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/DredScott.jpg

Who is Dred Scott?

• Slave who traveled with his master into North several times

• While in the North, he legally married & had children

• In 1846 in MO, he sued his master for freedom

Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)

• Case goes to the Supreme Court• Decision handed down in 1857 by Chief Justice

Roger B. Taney– Main theme of his tenure in office was the

defense of slavery

• Wanted to end the debate about slavery once and for all

• Provisions:– No African-American (free of slave) were citizens of

the U.S., they were property• Therefore no right to sue

– Ruled the MO Compromise unconstitutional• Congress could not restrict the expansion of slavery

Reaction• Northern proponents of Popular

Sovereignty:– Horrified– No stopping the expansion of slavery

• Republicans:– Entire party platform is now illegal– Refused to honor decision because the

Supreme Court is controlled by the South

• Democrats:– Split apart into 2 factions– North vs. South

Lecompton Constitution (1858)

• Two Constitutions written in KS in 1855– Lecompton Constitution was for a Slave KS – Topeka Constitution was for a Free KS

• Buchanan in favor of the Lecompton Constitution

• Tried to bring KS in as a Slave State in 1858• Created a huge controversy in Congress• More fighting• KS still not made a state

Illinois Senate Seat• Lincoln nominated by Republican party

– Makes famous “House Divided” speech

• Running against Stephen Douglas• Lincoln challenges Douglas to a series of

debates

A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free.

Freeport Doctrine

• Most famous debate• Lincoln challenges Douglas on Dred

Scott decision• Douglas issues his “doctrine”

– Territories can vote against having slavery

• Angers Southern Democrats– Loses chance for becoming president

• Douglas wins election

John Brown

• Fervent abolitionist• Wants to make VA a free state• Attacks armory in Harper’s

Ferry Oct. 1859• Fails & is hung• Seen as a martyr in

the North• Seen as a huge

problem in the South

Candidates

Abraham Lincoln

Republican

Stephen Douglas

Northern Democrat

John Breckenridg

e

Southern Democrat

John Bell

Constitutional

Union Party

Results• Basically two elections – one in the North,

one in the South• Lincoln wins

Crittenden Amendments• Proposed by John

Crittenden Dec 1860• Last attempt at

compromise• 36º 30’ extended to

Pacific– North of line no slavery– South of line popular

sovereignty

• Rejected by Lincoln– No compromise, but

wanted to avoid war

Southern Secession Begins• SC begins the exodus in Dec 1860

• Pres. Buchanan does nothing

War begins April 12, 1861