The Divisive Politics of Slavery

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The Divisive Politics of Slavery
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Differences Between North and South

• South
• Plantation economy, relied on enslaved labor
  force.
• North
• Diversified industries, was less dependent on
  slavery.

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Slavery in the Territories

• California
• Statehood 1850
• Forbade slavery
• Secession the formal withdrawal of a State from
  the Union.

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• Henry Clay who came up with the compromise (he's
  known as the "Great Compromiser" in the Senate -
  worked out previous tariff issues)

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The Compromise of 1850

• To please the North - provided that California be
  admitted to the Union as a free state.
• To please the South proposed new and more
  effective fugitive slave law.
• Popular Sovereignty The right to vote for or
  against slavery. (New Mexico Utah territories)

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The Compromise of 1850
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Protest, Resistance, and Violence

• The Underground Railroad
• A system of routes along which runaway slaves
  were helped to escape safe areas.
• Harriet Tubman
• Conductor hid fugitive slaves in secret tunnels
  and false cupboards, provided them with food and
  clothing, and directed them to the next station.

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The Underground Railroad
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The Underground Railroad
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Harriet Tubman
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Uncle Toms Cabin

• 1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe published novel, which
  stressed that slavery was not just a political
  contest, but also a great moral struggle.

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Tension in Kansas and Nebraska

• Kansas-Nebraska Act introduced in Congress that
  would divide area into two territories Nebraska
  in the north and Kansas in the south.
• If passed would repeal the Missouri Compromise
  and establish popular sovereignty for both
  territories.

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Bleeding Kansas

• Border ruffians from Missouri crossed into
  Kansas and voted illegally, and won a fraudulent
  majority for the pro slavery candidates.
• Abolitionists, furious over these events
  organized a rival government.
• Bloody violence surfaced in the struggle for
  Kansas.

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Violence in the Senate

• Senator Charles Sumner delivered an impassioned
  speech in the Senate entitled The Crime Against
  Kansas.
• For two days he verbally attacked the South and
  slavery, singling out Senator Andrew Butler of
  South Carolina.
• Butlers nephew Congressman Preston Brooks,
  walked into the Senate chamber and struck Sumner
  repeatedly with a cane until the cane broke.
  Sumner suffered brain damage.

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Violence in the Senate
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New Political Parties Emerge

• Slavery Divides Whigs
• Southern faction splintered as its members looked
  for a pro slavery, pro union party to join.
• Northern faction looked for a party of their own.

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New Political Parties Emerge

• The Free-Soilers Voice
• Objected to slaverys competition with free white
  workers, or wage based labor force
• Feared such competition would drive down wages.
• The New Republican Party
• Republicans were united in opposing the
  Kansas-Nebraska Act and keeping slavery out of
  the territories.

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Conflicts Lead to Secession

• The Dread Scott Decision 1857
• Dread Scott appealed to the Supreme Court for his
  freedom on the grounds that living in a free
  state had made him a free man.
• Supreme Court ruled Scott, lacked any legal
  standing to sue in federal court because he was
  not, and never could be a citizen. Being in a
  free territory did not make a slave free. Chief
  Justice Taney presided, came from a slave-owning
  family.

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Lincoln-Douglas Debates

• 1858 race for U.S. Senate between Democrat
  incumbent Stephen Douglas and Republican Abraham
  Lincoln.
• Lincoln challenged Douglas to a series of debates
  on slavery in the territories.
• Douglas believed deeply in popular sovereignty.
  Lincoln believed slavery was immoral.

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Harpers Ferry

• 1859 John Brown led 21 men to Harpers Ferry,
  Virginia to seize the federal arsenal there and
  start a general slave uprising.
• Troops put down the rebellion. Authorities tried
  Brown and put him to death.

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Lincoln Elected President

• Lincoln pledged to halt the further spread of
  slavery
• He also tried to reassure Southerners that a
  Republican administration would not interfere
  with their slaves, or with them about their
  slaves.

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1860 Election
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Southern Secession

• Lincolns victory convinced southerners they had
  lost their political voice in the national
  government.
• South Carolina seceded 12/20/1860, Mississippi,
  Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas.
• Four others did not declare secession until after
  the 1861 Battle of Fort Sumter Arkansas, North
  Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia

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Secession

• Four slave states never declared a secession from
  the Union Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, and
  Missouri.
• West Virginia is the only state to form by
  seceding from a Confederate state.

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Secession

• Some Southern states decided to act. Delegates
  from the secessionist states formed the
  Confederate States of America or Confederacy.
• Confederate constitution protected and recognized
  slavery in new territories. Jefferson Davis
  Unanimously elected president.

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Secession