American Stories A History of the United States

American Stories: A History of the United States Second Edition Chapter 14 The Sectional Crisis 1846– 1861 American Stories: A History of the United States , Second Edition Brands • Breen • Williams • Gross

Dubious Support After his constituents learned of Preston Brooks’s caning of Senator Sumner, they sent Brooks a gold-handled cowhide whip to use on other antislavery advocates.

The Sectional Crisis 1846– 1861 • The Compromise of 1850 • Political Upheaval, 1852– 1856 • The House Divided, 1857– 1860

Brooks Assaults Sumner in Congress • Representative Brooks beat Senator Sumner with a cane over Sumner’s condemnation of the South wanting to extend slavery to Kansas Territory • Agitation over extension of slavery led to the creation of the Republican Party • Violence on the Senate floor foreshadowed violence on the battlefield

The Compromise of 1850

The Compromise of 1850 • North and South conflict violently over slavery’s extension into the territories • Professional politicians mediate conflict

The Problem of Slavery in the Mexican Cession • Slavery traditionally kept out of politics • Congressional power over slavery includes: § Setting conditions to make territories states § Forbidding slavery in new states • Mexican Cession of 1848 puts status of slavery in new territory into question

The Wilmot Proviso Launches the Free-Soil Movement • Mexican War mobilizes antislavery groups • Wilmot Proviso § Amendment to Mexican War Appropriations Bill by David Wilmont (D-PA) § Ban all blacks from new territories to preserve for white farmers § Links racism and anti-slavery

The Wilmot Proviso Launches the Free-Soil Movement (cont’d) • Proviso passes in House, fails in Senate • Battle over the Proviso foreshadows sectional conflict of 1850 s

Forging a Compromise • Henry Clay’s 1850 compromise package § California admitted as a free state § Slave trade prohibited in District of Columbia § Strong fugitive slave law § Enlarged New Mexico territory to be admitted on basis of popular sovereignty

TABLE 14. 1 The Election of 1848

Forging a Compromise (cont’d) • President Taylor opposes, VP Fillmore supports Clay’s compromise • July 1850 Taylor dies • Compromise passed as separate measures

A Fragile Compromise Henry Clay, shown here addressing the Senate, helped negotiate the Compromise of 1850 to settle the dispute over the extension of slavery in territories acquired in the Mexican-American War. Daniel Webster, seated at left resting his head on his hand, supported Clay’s proposed compromise. Ardent states’ rightist John C. Calhoun, standing third from right, led the opposition.

Forging a Compromise (cont’d) • Part of Compromise of 1850 • Those accused of being fugitive slaves denied Constitution rights • Very unpopular in Abolitionist areas • Anthony Burns case in Boston 1854

Map 14. 1 The Compromise of 1850 The “compromise” was actually a series of resolutions granting some concessions to the North—especially admission of California as a free state—and some to the South, such as a stricter Fugitive Slave Law.

Political Upheaval , 1852– 1856

Political Upheaval, 1852– 1856 • Whigs and Democrats manage controversy in 1850 • Sectionalism destroys both parties in 1850 s

Caution! This abolitionist broadside was printed in response to a ruling that fugitive slave Thomas Sims must be returned to his master in Georgia.

The Party System in Crisis • Parties need new issues after 1850 • Democrats succeed § Claim credit for the nation’s prosperity § Promise to defend the Compromise of 1850 • Whigs fail, become internally divided • 1852: Whig Winfield Scott loses in a landslide to Democrat Franklin Pierce

TABLE 14. 2 The Election of 1852

The Kansas-Nebraska Act Raises a Storm • 1854: Douglas’s Kansas-Nebraska bill § Apply popular sovereignty to Kansas, Nebraska § Repeal Missouri Compromise line • Act passes on sectional vote • Northerners outraged, Democratic party split

The Kansas-Nebraska Act Raises a Storm (cont’d) • Whig indecision causes party to disintegrate • “Anti-Nebraska” candidates sweep, North Democrats become sole Southern party • Free Soil Party grows, becomes Republicans • President Pierce’s effort to acquire Cuba provokes antislavery firestorm

Map 14. 2 The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 The Kansas-Nebraska Act applied the principle of popular sovereignty to voters in the Kansas and Nebraska territories, allowing them to decide for themselves whether to permit slavery in their territories. The act repudiated the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which had prohibited slavery in the territory of the Louisiana Purchase north of 36° 30’ latitude.

Kansas and the Rise of the Republicans • Republican party unites former Whigs, Know-Nothings, Free-Soilers, Northern Democrats • Appeals to Northern sectional sympathies • Defends West for white, small farmers from Slave Power

Kansas and the Rise of the Republicans (cont’d) • “Bleeding Kansas” helps Republicans § Struggle among abolitionists, proslavery forces for control of Kansas territory § Republicans use conflict to appeal for voters

Sectional Division in the Election of 1856 • Republican John C. Frémont seeks votes only in free states • Know-Nothing Millard Fillmore champions sectional compromise • Democrat James Buchanan defends the Compromise of 1850, carries election

Sectional Division in the Election of 1856 (cont’d) • Election really 2 elections § North: Freemont vs. Buchanan § South: Fillmore vs. Buchanan • Republicans make clear gains in North

TABLE 14. 3 The Election of 1856

The House Divided , 1857– 1860

The House Divided 1857– 1860 • Sectional quarrel becomes virtually irreconcilable under Buchanan • Growing sense of deep cultural differences, opposing interests between North and South

Cultural Sectionalism • Major Protestant denominations divide into Northern and Southern entities over slavery • Southern literature romanticizes plantation life

Cultural Sectionalism (cont’d) • South seeks intellectual, economic independence • Northern intellectuals condemn slavery • Uncle Tom’s Cabin an immense success in North

The Dred Scott Case • Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857): Supreme Court can decide on slavery in the territories • Court refuses narrow determination of case

The Dred Scott Case (cont’d) • Major arguments § Scott has no right to sue because neither he nor any other black, slave or free, is a citizen § Congress has no authority to prohibit slavery in territories, Missouri Compromise unconstitutional

The Dred Scott Case (cont’d) • Ruling supports Republican claim that an aggressive slave power dominated all branches of federal government

Debating the Morality of Slavery • Lincoln § § Decries “Southern plot” to extend slavery Promises to work for slavery’s extinction Casts slavery as a moral problem Defends white supremacy in response to Douglas

Debating the Morality of Slavery • Douglas accuses Lincoln of favoring equality • Lincoln loses election, gains national reputation

Little Giant Stephen Douglas, the “Little Giant” from Illinois, won election to Congress when he was just 30, years old. Four years later, he was elected to the Senate.

The Election of 1860 • Democratic Party splits: § North: Stephen Douglas, South: John Breckenridge § Constitutional Union Party: John Bell • Abraham Lincoln nominated • Platform to widen party’s appeal

A Rising Star Abraham Lincoln, shown here in his first full-length portrait. Although Lincoln lost the contest for the Senate seat in 1858, the Lincoln –Douglas debates established his reputation as a rising star of the Republican party.

The Election of 1860 (cont’d) • Lincoln wins by carrying North • South sees beginning of minority status in politics • South launches secession movements

Map 14. 3 The Election of 1860 Many observers have said that the election of 1860 was really two elections: one in the North and one in the South. From this map, can you see why the candidate who won the northern election became president?

Conclusion: Explaining the Crisis

Conclusion: Explaining the Crisis • Republicans a strict sectional party • Fundamental conflict of ideals • Southern ideals § Paternalism, generosity, prosperity § Slavery defended on the grounds of race

Conclusion: Explaining the Crisis • Northern ideals § Inspired by evangelical Protestantism § Each person free and responsible § Slavery tyrannical and immoral

Timeline