The Civil War

THE UNION IN PERIL1848-1861

Why would war erupt?

• Facts, sequence of events• 4 main causes for why war erupted when it did:• Slavery as a moral issues in North vs. defense, expansion in

South• Constitutional disputes over nature of federal union vs.

states’ rights• Economic differences b/t N and S• Tariffs, nat’l bank, internal improvements

• Political mistakes, extremism

Territories

• Issues of slavery in territories after Mexican War• 1840s• Wilmot Proviso vs. Compromise of 1820• Balance of 15/15 states• Proviso failed increase in sectional feelings

• 3 competing views• Free Soil• Pro-slavery• Popular Sovereignty

Free-Soil Movement

• N. Dems + Whigs that supported Wilmot Proviso• Believed ALL African Americans should be excluded

from Mexican Cession (1848)• Little opposition to slavery in S• West should be kept land of opportunity for whites only• No competition w/ slave labor, free blacks

• “Free soil, free labor, and free men” = Free-Soil Party• Also advocate free homesteads, internal improvements

The Southern Position

• Any restriction of expansion of slavery = violation of constitutional right to take, use property as see fit

• Free-Soilers, abolitionists attempting to destroy slavery• Moderates want to see 36/30 extend to Pacific

Popular Sovereignty

• Promoted by Lewis Cass (Dem. Senator, MI) as compromise• Supported by moderates from N and S

• Extension of slavery into territories decided by vote of people who settle there, NOT by Congress

• = squatter (popular) soverignty

THE ELECTION OF 1848

Enter Taylor

• 1848- Cass nominated by Dems• Focus solely on popular sovereignty

• Whigs nominated Gen. Zachary Taylor • War hero, not political, no position taken on extension of

slavery- was a Southerner, slaveholder• Vs. 3rd party Free-Soiler MVB• “conscience” Whigs (opposed slavery), antislavery Dems• Antislavery Dems called “barnburners”- defect threated to

destroy Dem. party• Taylor win b/c split vote• Free-Soilers take votes from NY, PA

AGITATION OVER SLAVERY

Compromise of 1850

• Gold rush of ‘49 + 100k settlers need for law, order• Draft of state constitution, application for statehood• Banned slavery

• Taylor support admission of CA, NM as free• secession talk by “fire-eaters” (S. radicals)• Met in Nashville to discuss secession

Enter Clay

• Henry Clay step in & organize compromise• CA in as free• Mexican cession divided into Utah, New Mexico & allow

slavery determined by pop. sovereignty • Disputed land b/t TX, NM settled- land to new territories in

exchange for US assuming $10 mil. Of TX public debt• Slave trade banned in DC• Whites still able to hold slaves as before

• New Fugitive Slave Law that will be enforced

Compromise passes

• Senate debates led by• Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun• Webster- for compromise to save Union end of support from

abolitionists in MA• Calhoun- vs. compromise, want South to have = rights in

territory• N. opposition from younger antislavery lawmakers• William Seward- argue a higher law than the constitution

• 1850- death of Taylor brings in Millard Fillmore• Desire compromise• Stephen Douglas step in- pass each part separately

Fugitive Slave Law

• Added to help South accept loss of CA to antislavery forces• Purpose to track down fugitive slaves, capture them, return to

owners• Fugitive slave cases under fed.gov. • Authority given to US commissioners to issue warrants, arrest

fugitives• No trial by jury if claimed to be free, not fugitive

• Enforcement resisted by antislavery groups division b/t N & S on issue• Underground Railroad

Uncle Tom’s Cabin, 1852

• Emotions of people affected by laws, also popular books• Harriet Beecher Stowe- Uncle Tom’s Cabin• Conflict b/t Tom and owner (Simon Legree)

• Show slave owners as cruel, inhuman; present MORAL issue of slavery• Could be overcome

• Southerners see as “untruth,” proof that N prejudiced against Southern way of life

Southern Antislavery View

• 1857- Hinton Helper wrote non-fiction, Impending Crisis of the South

• Attack slavery through statistics- show as institution that weakened South’s economy

• Book banned in South, circulated in North by antislavery, Free-Soilers

Category Free States Slave States Slave States as % of Free States

Population 18, 484, 922 9,612, 979 52%

Patents for New Inventions

1,929 268 14%

Value of Church buildings

$67, 778, 477 $21,674, 581 32%

Newspapers, periodicals

1,790 740 41%

Bank Capital $230,100,840 $109, 078, 940 47%

Value of Exports $167, 520, 098 $107,480,688 64%

Southern Reaction

• Proslavery whites argue slavery was positive, good for slaves & masters

• Slavery sanctioned in Bible, grounded in philosophy & history

• Contrast conditions of N. wage workers w/ familial bonds of slavery (patriarchy)

• George Fitzhugh- Sociology of the South (1854), Cannibals All! (1857)• Question principle of equal rights for unequal men, attack

capitalistic wage system (worse than slavery)

NATIONAL PARTIES IN CRISIS

Election of 1852

• Division in Dem., Whig party weak• Whigs- Gen. Winfield Scott• Attempt to ignore slavery, focus on improving roads,

harbors• Drove out antislavery, Southern factions (fighting party

on verge of split)• Dems- Franklin Pierce• Favor compromise, supported Fugitive Slave Law (was a

Northerner- NH)• FP win electoral votes in all but 4 states = Whigs on the

out

Kansas-Nebraska Act

• 1854- Dems control White House, Congress• SD propose bill to split Nebraska Terr. into Kansas &

Nebraska, allow settlers to decide slavery based on pop. sovereignty. Passes both houses & pres.• Douglas plan to build RR, promote western settlement• Need southern support to build transcontinental RR through

central US and not south• KS, NE both above 36/30 South see as opportunity to

expand slavery in areas that had been closed

Bleeding Kansas

• K-N effectively repeal MO Comp. cap blown off regional tensions

• SD assume those into KS antislavery farmers from Midwest• Problem? “Border Ruffians”• Response – New England Emigrant Aid Co. (1855)

• FIGHTING b/t pro, antislavery groups• Proslavery gov. in Lecompton• Antislavery gov. in Lawrence• John Brown, Pottawatomie Creek• Other violence: Sumner-Brooks incident

NEW POLITICAL PARTIES

Know-Nothing Party

• Sectional divisions in US + nativist feeling• Ethnic tension from WASP groups vs. immigrant Germans,

Irish Catholics• American Party• Oppose Catholics, immigrants• Into N. cities

• Support drawn from Whigs weakening of party

Birth of the Republican Party

• 1854- Wisconsin• Response to passage of K-N Act• Free-Soilers + antislavery Whigs & Dems

• Purpose to oppose spread of slavery INTO TERRITORIES• Repeal K-N Act, Fugitive Slave Law

• Bleeding Kansas + violence abolitionists joining

Election of 1856

• Republicans 1st test- Fremont• No expansion of slavery, free homesteads, protective tariff

• Know-Nothings- Fillmore• Dems- James Buchanan • Incumbent Pierce, Douglas too close to K-N Act (controversy)• Popular sovereignty

• Buchanan take majority of pop. & electoral vote• Freemont- 11/16 free states shows Republicans may not

need South to take White House

CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUES

Lecompton Constitution

• JB seen as weak president (1857-1861)• Challenge in ‘57 to decide on Kansas• Proslavery constitution submitted• JB know majority of setters opposed

• JB ask Congress to accept Lecompt. Const. and enter KS as slave

• Congress reject• Many Dems agree w/ Republicans & oppose

• 1858- settlers reject proslavery constitution in vote

Dred Scott v. Sandford

• 1857• Proslavery decision of Taney Court• Scott = slave, into free states = freedom?• lawsuit against owner• Decision?• Scott not a citizen• Slaves = property, so protected by 5th

• Congress cannot exclude slavery from territory• MO Comp = unconstitutional