Slavery

1
Slaverys Roll in the Civil War

• Honors U.S. History

2
The Fugitive Slave Law/Act

• Slaves who escape to the North were to be
  returned to their owners in the South
• Some Northerners refused to follow this law
• Might tell slave catchers they havent seen
  anything
• Passed laws that tried to overrule FSA
• Some even aided runaway slaves
• Underground railroad

3
California

• 1850 California is ready for statehood
• In their Constitution, they rule slavery illegal
• Southern Senators refuse to admit CA.
• The Compromise of 1850 attempts to resolve this

4
The Compromise of 1850

• California admitted as a free state
• The slave trade (not slavery) is banned in
  Washington D.C.
• The Fugitive Slave Act is to be enforced more
  strongly
• New Mexico and Utah can decide for themselves if
  they should have slavery
• All aspects of the Compromise pass separately but
  not together
• Sectional tensions growth

5
Popular Sovereignty and Kansas-Nebraska

• The people have a say with regard to slavery
• Sen. Stephen Douglas wants the trans-continental
  RR to go through Chicago
• The RR could only go through states
• Both were north of the Missouri Compromise line
• But had great farmland
• It was decided that the people would vote whether
  to allow slavery
• Both states eventually admitted without slavery

6
John Brown and Bleeding Kansas

• Kansas population, 1855 1,500
• Votes cast to elect state government
• 6,000
• Pro and Anti-Slavery governments are established
• Anti-Slavery city of Lawrence, KS attacked
• In response, John Brown attacks pro-slavers at
  Pottawatomie Creek
• Bleeding Kansas foreshadows the Civil War

7
Change in Political Parties

• Democrats Mostly Southern and pro-slavery
• Whigs Slavery divided them into extinction
• Know-Nothings No formal stance of slavery
  opposed immigration (Nativism)
• Republicans Formed from Northern Dems,
  abolitionists, ex-Whigs and free-soilers
• Opposed the extension of slavery into new
  territory
• Didnt outwardly oppose slavery
• Appealed directly to Northerners, Southerners
  opposed them
• 1856 Democrats win Presidency (James Buchanan)
  Republicans emerge as only other party

8
Uncle Toms Cabin

• Written in 1852 by Harriet Beecher Stowe
• Second best selling book of the 19th century
• Told a fictional story of the hardships of a
  slave family
• Southerners felt this was a challenge to their
  ideals
• Some published an opposing side depicting the
  positives of slavery

9
Sectional Tension

• Sen. Charles Sumner gives anti-slavery speech
• Rep. Preston Brooks beats him with a cane in
  response
• Dred Scott, a slave, sued for his freedom as he
  lived in a free state
• Supreme Court said he couldnt bring about a law
  suit
• Congress could not ban slavery from territories
• Missouri Compromise of 1820 Dead
• African-Americans not entitled to citizenship due
  to inferiority

10
Harpers Ferry, 1859

• John Browns Plan
• Take over Harpers Ferry in Virginia (now WV)
• Distribute weapons to escaped slaves
• Destroy slavery
• Problems
• No slaves show up
• Robert E. Lee and US Marines show up instead
• Brown is captured, convicted of treason and hung
• Terrorist or Martyr?

11
Election of 1860

• Northern Democrats Stephen Douglas
• Popular Sovereignty will fix everything
• Southern Democrats John C. Breckinridge
• Sitting VP
• Constitutional Union John Bell
• Neutral stance on slavery
• Republicans Abraham Lincoln
• Did not appear on the ballot in most Southern
  states

12
Southern Response

• Republicans did not outwardly oppose slavery
• They did oppose its expansion
• Southerners felt if slavery didnt expand, it
  would die
• December, 1860 South Carolina secedes from the
  Union