Unit V Part 7

2859 Buchanan’s Sec of State (Floyd) received an anonymous letter warning about a raid at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia.

He ignored it.

John Brown with 18 others tried to take control of a federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia

John Brown

Remember…he was responsible for the Pottawatomie Massacre which sparked Bleeding Kansas

He was violently anti-slavery and believed himself to be an instrument of God

His plan was to free the slaves of the South and arm them and to establish a Black nation in the Appalachians.

John Brown’s Raid at Harper’s Ferry, Va

John Brown was given financial support from a group of Northern Abolitionists called The Secret 6

Brown and his friends had hostages. One was the great grandnephew of George Washington!

Buchanan called for the marines!

John Brown’s raid

The first man killed in the skirmish was a free Black man who was in the area to try to buy his wife’s and son’s freedom. Later his ears were taken for souvenirs

After 10 of Brown’s men were killed, the others were captured (by Robert E. Lee and Jeb Stuart) and executed for treason

In 1859

Most (even abolitionists) thought John Brown to be a lunatic.

Lincoln and others said that they sympathized with his cause but condemned his actions.

Later, after 1863, John Brown will be seen in a different light…as a martyr and a visionary…

Why?

Unit IVPart 71820-1861

The Onset of the Civil War

Preparing for the Election of 1860

In April of 1860 the Democratic National Convention met at Charleston, SC

They adjourned without a nomination when 50 delegates representing the Deep South walked out…

The Party refused to adopt a platform that guaranteed the constitutional rights of slave owners

June 1860

The Democrats met again in Baltimore, Maryland

No compromise was reached.

This time the delegates from ALL of the South walked out

The Northern Democrats Remained

Those who stayed behind, the Northern Democrats, nominated Stephen Douglass for their candidate

The Southern Democrats met at another Baltimore location and nominated Chase Breckenridge as their candidate

The Republicans

May 1860, the Republicans met in Chicago.

Lincoln won the nomination on the third ballot

He was the first choice for Westerners

His heritage and principles were acceptable to the rest of the party

The Republican Party Platform

Committed to the exclusion of slavery in the territories

Were called Protectionists because they favored a high protective tariff

Wanted a National Banking System Supported federally funded internal

improvements

Also

The Republicans denounced the Know-Nothings

Denounced John Brown’s raid at Harper’s Ferry

Lincoln promised not to touch slavery in the STATES where it existed

Lincoln was not on the ballot in the South

The Democrats

Split over the issue of slavery in the territories

The Northern Democrats chose Stephen Douglass who supported popular Sovereignty

The Southern Democrats chose Chase Breckenridge who swore to protect the rights of persons and property in the territories and wherever else the U.S. constitutional authority extended

Another Third Party

The Constitutional Union Party chose John Bell and avoided the issue of slavery all together…no platform

Was also called the “Do Nothing Party” or “the Old Man’s Party”

The Deep South

Gave notice that they would leave the union if a Republican were elected

The Election of 1860

Republicans: Lincoln 180 Northern Democrats: Stephen

Douglass 12 Southern Democrats: Breckenridge

72 NOTE: Breckenridge carried the

South 10 to 1 Constitutional Union: Bell 39

Please Remember

The basic cause of the Civil War was northern hostility to slavery

After Lincoln’s election But before Lincoln’s inauguration 7

states left the union: South Carolina Georgia Florida Alabama Mississippi Louisiana Texas (just a tad after the 1st 6)

Buchanan

Believed that Succession was unconstitutional BUT also believed that anything he might do to stop it would also be unconstitutional

The Southern States that Remained

Threatened to leave the union if the North made any aggressive moves against the Succeeded states

While Buchanan did nothing

And before Lincoln COULD do anything (before his inauguration)

The Succeeded states established a Confederation and wrote a constitution

Jefferson Davis (Mississippi) President Alexander Stephens (Georgia) Vice-

president First Capital: Montgomery, Alabama

The Succeeded States

Hoped and prayed that the rest of the South would join them

They especially needed Virginia

Lincoln was VERY careful NOT to offend the remaining Southern states so that they would remain in the union

An Immediate Problem

There were two federal forts in the succeeded states that were running low on supplies

Fort Pickens in Florida and Fort Sumter in SC

Lincoln insisted that the Federal government had ownership the federal forts

Buchanan

Had tried to send supplies to Fort Sumter but the supply ship was fired upon by the South Carolinians and turned back

Lincoln decided it try it again BUT without appearing too aggressive

Lincoln notified Jefferson Davis

That the Supply Ship was coming (when) and that the ship did not carry armaments…just food, medicine, blankets, etc.

The fort was occupied by a union officer and troops (Anderson)

It was surrounded by SC state militia under Beaureguard

Beaureguard attacked April 12, 1861

Fort Sumter surrendered

After 40 hours of fighting

At this point, Lincoln called for volunteers

The other Southern states believed this to be aggressive and left the union

The new capital of the Confederacy was moved to Richmond, Va.

The War

Was about preserving the union

NOT SLAVERY (until later, 1-1-1863 with the Emancipation Proclamation)

Four slave states remained in the union. Lincoln did not want to lose them too

The Crittenden Compromise

Even before Lincoln’s inauguration, there was a last-minute attempt to compromise in Congress.

Senator John Crittenden of Kentucky ( a disciple of Henry Clay) proposed a constitutional amendment in which slavery would be “recognized as existing” in all territories south of the 36-30

The Crittenden Compromise

He also proposed another Constitutional Amendment saying that no future amendment would tamper with slavery in the slave states and offered other guarantees in the south.

A committee of 30 worked on this compromise in the House

A Committee of 13 worked on this in the Senate

The Crittenden Compromise

Was too little too late Remember the Dred Scott Case:

Congress had no authority over slavery (although a Constitutional Amendment WOULD change that)

BUT the Republicans would not budge on the issue of slavery in the territories so it was all for nothing.

As it had no impact, the Crittenden Compromise was the least of the causes of the Civil War

The American Colonization Society

Was established by compensated slave owners in 1817

By 1830 Liberia was established by Freed American Slaves.

Capital was Monrovia The plan was to send freed Blacks

“back” to Africa (They had been HERE for several generations and many did not want to go

The American Colonial Society

Depended upon charitable donations for ships, passage, supplies

The money dried up anyway…was too expensive