Road to the Civil WarSteps leading to secession

Sectionalism Under Polk

• Polk – seen as favoring the South• Failure of the Wilmot Proviso• Ideas of popular sovereignty• Growth of the Free Soil Party

Election of 1848

• Democrats – Lewis Cass of Michigan• Whigs – Zachary Taylor of LA – – war hero with no political experience

• Free Soil Party – Martin Van Buren

Should the Missouri Compromise line be extended?

• California????– Gold Rush – 1849– Rapidly expanding and diversifying population– Chinese immigration– Persecution of Indians– Calls for statehood– Will California be free or slave?

Compromise of 1850

• Crafted by Henry Clay• California = free state• No restriction on slavery in new territories from

Mexico• Abolition of slave trade in Washington, DC• More effective Fugitive Slave Law• Debaters: Old – Clay, Webster, and Calhoun• Debaters: New – William Seward, Jefferson Davis,

and Stephan Douglas

Election of 1852

• Zachary Taylor died in office – Millard Filmore became president

• Democrats – Franklin Pierce (NH)• Whigs – Winfield Scott (military hero)• Free Soil – John P. Hale• Pierce was elected

Franklin Pierce’s Issues

• Northern anger over Fugitive Slave Law

• Ostend Manifesto – Southern conspiracy

• Where to put the transcontinental railroad?

• Expansion – how?

Kansas-Nebraska Act

• Crafted by Stephen Douglas• New territories – Nebraska & Kansas• Use popular sovereignty to decide slavery

issue• Repeal the Missouri Compromise• The expectation was Kansas would be slave

and Nebraska free

Consequences of the Kansas-Nebraska Act

• Divided and destroyed the Whig Party• Divided the Democrats along Northern and

Southern lines• New party emerged – Republicans – opposed

to Douglas’ compromise

Bleeding Kansas

• Violence between settlers• Attracted extremists like John Brown• Pottawatomie Massacre• Armed bans, guerrilla warfare

Sumner v. Brooks

• Senator Charles Sumner (MA) criticized the proslavery stance of Senator Andrew Butler (SC)

• Preston Brooks of SC entered the Senate chamber and beat Sumner with a cane

• Sumner = martyr to the abolitionism cause• Brooks = Southern hero

Free Soil Ideology

• Free soil and free labor• Capitalism in central to America• Capitalism = democracy• Slavery = danger to democracy• Slave Power Conspiracy• Republican focus on the strength of UNION

Growing Southern Fears

• Nat Turner uprising• Expansion of cotton

economy• Growth of abolitionist

movement• Harriet Beecher

Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin

The Pro Slavery Argument

• “Positive good”• Slaves treated better than industrial workers• Slavery creates racial peace• Southern economy was key to national

prosperity• Southern culture was superior• Biological inferiority – Eugenics – pseudo science• Religious & biblical justifications

Election of 1856

• Democrats – James Buchanan (PA)• Republicans – John C. Frémont (CA)• Buchanan – narrow victory• Republicans – outpolled all other candidates in

North, no votes in South• Buchanan – winner = scared, timid, OLD

Dred Scott Decision

• 1846 Supreme Court Ruling• Scott was not a citizen• Slaves were property• Congress can’t take property• Missouri Compromise unconstitutional• Federal government has no power to limit

slavery

Kansas Outcome

• Proslavery and abolitionist forces continued to battle

• Proslavery forces wrote the Lecompton Constitution which protected slavery

• The Lecompton Constitution was voted down in Kansas but Buchanan still backed the admission of Kansas as a slave state – failed

• Kansas became a free state in 1861

Lincoln – Douglas Debates

• Senate seat in Illinois• Douglas – no moral position on slavery• Lincoln – slavery was wrong• Lincoln – slavery hurt poor white laborers• Douglas won the election but Lincoln emerged

as national Republican leader

John Brown’s Raid

• Capture the arsenal at Harpers Ferry, arm slaves, lead a revolt

• October 1859• Failed and Brown was captured by Robert E.

Lee and hanged• Greatly increased Southern fears

Election of 1860

• Northern Democrats – Stephen Douglas• Southern Democrats – John Breckinridge• Constitutional Union Party – John Bell• Republicans – Abraham Lincoln

Republican Platform in 1860

• High tariff• Internal improvements• Homestead Bill• Construction of Pacific railroad with federal

assistance• States decide on slavery

Lincoln wins – War is coming!