The Turbulent 1850s The Issue of Slavery Divides

The Turbulent 1850’s The Issue of Slavery Divides the Nation

Effects of the Mexican-American War 1845 -1848 Debate over what to do with New Territory • California Gold Rush 1849—California is ready to become a state much sooner than the rest of the Mexican Cession • National Crisis; Northerners want to limit the extension of slavery into these new lands—Birth of the Free Soil and Liberty Parties • Southerners see it as their constitutional right to bring their “property” with them into this new territory

Compromise of 1850 North Gets… • California as a Free State South Gets… • Stricter Fugitive Slave Law

Popular Sovereignty in Kansas • By 1854 There are many people moving to Kansas – Slave or Free? – This question almost caused a civil war in 1850 • Stephen Douglas – Famous for getting Compromise of 1850 through Congress – Authors the Kansas-Nebraska Act • Makes for 2 separate territories: Kansas and Nebraska • Each will choose for themselves if they want slavery • “popular sovereignty” (closer to pure democracy)

Popular Sovereignty in Kansas • Bleeding Kansas – Unforeseen violence between Anti-Slavery and Proslavery factions – Terrorism, Murder, and Mayhem – Guilt on both sides – Most Famous event: John Brown leads the Pottawatomie Creek Massacre

Effects of Bleeding Kansas • • Tensions rise between North and South Whig Party dissolves Democrats are blamed for the violence Franklin Pierce fails to get the Democratic nomination for a 2 nd term as President • The Republican Party is Born

Republican Party Anti-Slavery Whigs and Democrats Free Soilers Liberty Party Nativist American Party (Know. Nothings) Women’s Rights, Temperance, and other Reform minded activists WIDE RANGE OF INTERESTS – Conservative Faction — Stop slavery from growing – Moderate Faction —stop slavery from growing and limit southern control of economic and political policy – Radical Faction —abolish slavery forever

Slavery Debate Intensifies • Harriet Beecher Stowe – Uncle Tom’s Cabin – Myth or Reality? • Reverend Fuller’s Christian Defense of Slavery – Myth or Reality? • Dred Scott Decision – Supreme Court Case – Ruling says that Africans, free or slave, are not and never were citizens of this nation – Congress has no power to outlaw slavery anywhere – Congressman Abraham Lincoln publicly denounces the decision during his 1858 campaign for the US Senate

Senate Race of 1858 • Lincoln vs Douglass for one of Illinois’ senate seats in Congress – “A house divided against itself cannot stand” • Makes Abraham Lincoln a household name • Lincoln loses the election but makes him the “face” of the Republican party • Lincoln becomes the obvious choice for the presidential election of 1860