Chapter 14: The Sectional Crisis AP United States History Week of January 25, 2016
The Buildup to a Tumultuous Decade Both the Democrats and Whigs wanted to resolve the crisis Emotion and ideology became more divisive The Constitution said nothing about the legality of slavery Radical abolitionists rejected laws William Lloyd Garrison, Underground Railroad Majority of northerners detested slavery and abolitionism The issue: what about future states? Missouri Compromise: no slavery north of 36º30 But what about new territory from Mexico?
The Wilmot Proviso and the Free Soil Movement One solution to the question of slavery in the annexed territories was to ban it altogether Congressman David Wilmot proposed banning slavery in territory acquired from Mexico Democrats felt a lot of betrayal: Wilmot was a Pennsylvania Democrat Party had nominated Polk in 1844, not Van Buren Polk did not push for all of Oregon Wilmot Proviso (1846) prohibited slavery and black settlement in acquired territory North liked it because it prevented competition between free blacks and white laborers Proviso was defeated, largely by southerners
Squatter Sovereignty, Election of 1848 It was time for moderate solutions. Free soil (Wilmot Proviso) or full extension of slavery (which the south would have liked) were both quite radical Democratic Senator Lewis Cass of Michigan proposed squatter sovereignty Decision would be left up to states popular sovereignty To North: they could vote slavery out of territories To South: pro- or antislavery decision would only be made at time of statehood application Note: southern and northern parts of the Democratic party now have vastly different ideologies Issue was unresolved by 1848 election Democrat Cass vs. Whig Zachary Taylor, who did not have a slavery position Since no one supported the Wilmot Proviso, Northerners nominated Martin Van Buren on the Free-Soil Party ticket In typical third-party form, Free-Soil party split the vote and Taylor won NY and the presidency
Zachary Taylor Taylor wanted to admit California and New Mexico immediately both were effectively free states and bypass discussing slavery at the national level Taylor worsened the crisis Southerners of both parties accused the President of implementing the Wilmot Proviso South Carolina Senator John C. Calhoun denounced northern aggression His efforts to create a southern voting bloc underscored the nascent sectionalism
The Compromise of 1850 Henry Clay, author of the Missouri Compromise, proposed a serious of resolutions to restore sectional harmony and save the union Clay s Compromise of 1850 California admitted as a free state Rest of Mexican cession has no explicit prohibition of slavery Land was unsuitable for cotton production anyway Granted a disputed region between Texas and New Mexico to New Mexico Abolition of slavery in District of Columbia New fugitive slave law
The Compromise of 1850, Part II: Fugitive Slave Law Henry Clay, author of the Missouri Compromise, proposed a serious of resolutions to restore sectional harmony and save the union The key portion of the compromise was the Fugitive Slave Law Suspected fugitive slaves were denied constitutional protections Citizens can be imprisoned for harboring fugitives The problem: now Northerners had to enforce slavery
Elections of 1852 and 1856 The Democrat-vs.-Whig party system did not survive the crisis over the Compromise of 1850 Democrats: territorial expansion and an even free-state, slave-state split Whigs: opposed annexation for it put slavery at the forefront So, what was there to argue in 1852? Immigration: large waves of Germans and (Catholic) Irish Whigs nominated Gen. Winfield Scott, who supported nativism Democrats nominated Franklin Pierce Scott was allied with northern antislavery Whigs, which cost him in the South Largely, the story of 1852 was a story of voter apathy and low turnout the compromise quieted issues for now
The Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act In January 1854, Illinois Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas proposed a bill to organize the territory west of Missouri, incidentally above the 36º30 line Douglas decided to set up territorial governments based on popular sovereignty Why? He wanted to build a railroad extending from Chicago Had ambitions of the presidency He knew he would have to repeal the Missouri Compromise to earn the South s support Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed Kansas and Nebraska to decide on slavery in their state Act shattered the mild sectional harmony and ended the second party system Whig party split cleanly on issue of Kansas-Nebraska
The Kansas-Nebraska Act, Part II: New Parties In January 1854, Illinois Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas proposed a bill to organize the territory west of Missouri, incidentally above the 36º30 line Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed Kansas and Nebraska to decide on slavery in their state Anti-Nebraska Democrat, Whig, and Free-Soil coalitions formed the Republican Party Also hurt Pierce s expansionism he was considering acquiring Cuba Another new party: Know-Nothings, based on anti-immigrant hostility Ironically, the party split at their 1856 convention over the issue of Answer: slavery
Kansas and the Rise of the Republicans The new antislavery Republican Party was an outgrowth the anti-nebraska coalition, plus northern Know-Nothings Republican Party believed slave-power conspiracy was biggest threat Built a party apparatus very quickly Republicans had appealing position on slavery in territories Free soil guarantees free competition Appeal to prejudice: policy would keep lands white Kansas was organised in 1854, and promptly flooded with pro- and anti-slavery activists New Englanders founded an Immigrant Aid Society to encourage settlement One of them was John Brown
Kansas, Part II: Bleeding Kansas Kansas-Nebraska Act led many to migrate to Kansas to vote; free-soilers and Southerners alike May, 1856: proslavery activists raided Lawrence, the antislavery capital John Brown led New Englanders to a proslavery settlement in response Murdered five men Violence continued during the summer: Bleeding Kansas Violence in Congress, as well Preston Brooks beat Charles Sumner with a cane Election of 1856 magnified North-South divide
Elections of 1856 The election of 1856 essentially, two separate elections illustrated how divided the nation had become Republicans: nominated John C. Frémont, on platform prohibiting slavery in territories Also called for liberation of Kansas Democrats: nominated James Buchanan, on platform of popular sovereignty in territories American Party: nominated Millard Fillmore Made up of anti-democratic conservatives in border states, northern Whigs who wanted sectional compromise Sectional nature: Frémont-Buchanan in North, Fillmore-Buchanan in South Frémont did well in the north, but Buchanan eventually won What did Frémont s showing in the north mean for the south and the union?
The House Divided, 1857-1860: Dred Scott Following Buchanan s victory, the sectional divide deepened as North-South tensions rose even further What was the nature of the split? Religious: Methodist and Baptist churches split over attitudes towards slaveholding Literary: Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom s Cabin portrayed slavery as a threat to the family Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) concerned a slave who had lived in a free state, then sued for freedom Buchanan hoped Court could settle issue of slavery Court ruled that: 1. Scott was not a citizen and could not sue in Court 2. Living in a free state did not make slaves free 3. Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional slaves were property and Congress could not take property
Scott v. Sandford Chief Justice Taney: Blacks were beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations, and so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect If Scott were free: It would give to persons of the negro race,...the right to enter every other State whenever they pleased,...to sojourn there as long as they pleased, to go where they pleased...the full liberty of speech in public and in private upon all subjects upon which its own citizens might speak; to hold public meetings upon political affairs, and to keep and carry arms wherever they went
The House Divided, 1857-1860, Part II: Lecompton Kansas' proslavery settlers realized that a rigged election was their only hope of Kansas being admitted as a slave state Free-staters boycotted the election, and proslavery forces won Wrote new constitution at Lecompton, KS, which only allowed a vote on future importation of slaves When free-staters authorized a referendum on entire constitution, proslavery activists boycotted Kansas was finally admitted without Lecompton constitution Fallout: bad for Douglas, bad for sectionalism Democrats now had a deep rift between pro southern (Buchanan) Democrats and Douglas anti-lecompton Democrats Douglas realized popular sovereignty was not a rational solution
The House Divided, 1857-1860, Part III: Lincoln, Douglas, and the Morality of Slavery The 1858 Illinois senatorial election pitted Douglas against former Whig Congressman Abraham Lincoln Lincoln argued Douglas could not oppose the extension of slavery Lincoln believe[d] this government cannot endure, half slave and half free For Lincoln, the only hope was moral opposition to human bondage How did Lincoln feel about slavery and equality for blacks? Douglas accused Lincoln of endangering the union by trying to end slavery Also charged that Lincoln believed in racial equality Lincoln lost the Senatorial election, but
The House Divided, 1857-1860, Part IV: Crisis of fear Southern anxiety about northern opposition to slavery reached crisis level in 1859 and 1860, culminating wit the 1860 presidential election John Brown raided a federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia in 1859 Was arrested for treason and executed His death was met with outpouring of sympathy in the North This terrified the South 1860 election: Republicans nominated Lincoln, but Democrats split North: Stephen A. Douglas; South: John C. Breckenridge Also: Constitutional Union Party John Bell South saw Lincoln s victory as a catastrophe, and began talk of secession