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 Kansas –Nebraska Act
 Proposed by Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois
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Land west of the Missouri to be organized into two territories
Kansas west of Missouri; Nebraska west of Iowa and
Minnesota
Territorial legislatures would decide on slavery
Missouri Compromise explicitly repealed
 Caused firestorm of opposition in North

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 Many opposed any expansion of slavery into the territories
 One vocal opponent was Abraham Lincoln of Illinois
 Completed destruction of Whigs as national party
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Damage began with divisive election of 1852
All Northern Whigs voted against Kansas –Nebraska bill
Party completely lost its Southern support
 Emergence of new Republican Party
 Hodgepodge of former Whigs, Free-Soilers, antislavery
Democrats

 Significant increase in immigration after 1845
 3 million in decade after 1845
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Most Roman Catholics
Political power of immigrants also increased
 Coalesced around issues of temperance and schools
 Irish immigrants particular targets

 Emergence of the American Party (Know-
Nothings)
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Supported multifaceted anti-immigrant/nativist agenda
Appealed to Northern Whigs who had not already become Republicans
Scored big gains in elections in 1854
Redirected by Republicans in 1855 toward cause of antislavery
Split along sectional lines over slavery after 1855 –1856
Decreasing immigration meant decline in nativism

Immigration to the
United States

 Struggle for control of Kansas became intense after
1854
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Border ruffians from Missouri crossed into Kansas to vote illegally for slave government
Majority favored free soil and opposed slavery
 Kansas became the leading issue in politics
 Two competing legislatures by 1856
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Dispute led to caning of Senator Charles Sumner
All out violence broke out in Spring of 1856
 John Brown’s raid on Pottawatomie
 Virtual civil war in Kansas territory

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Republicans first truly sectional party in
American history
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Anti-slavery and old Whig support for internal improvements
Ran John C. Frémont
Democrats endorsed popular sovereignty
 Nominated James Buchanan
American Party nominated ex-Whig Millard
Fillmore
Buchanan elected
 Allowed South to go on offensive over slavery

Counties Carried by Candidates in the 1856 Presidential
Election

 Involved question of whether residence in an antislave territory made a slave free
 Supreme Court heard case
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Majority of justices from South
Declared Missouri Compromise’s ban on slavery in the
Territories unconstitutional
Hinged on defense/protection of private property
 Created intense partisan feelings throughout country
 Intensified, rather than settled, slave controversy

 Effort to legitimize pro-slavery government and prepare Kansas for entry into Union as a slave state
 Maneuvered to keep anti-slave settlers from voting to guarantee a constitution that included slavery
 Buchanan administration recognized pro-slavery constitution, recommended statehood for Kansas
 Generated controversy in Congress, which eventually defeated statehood measure
 Issue split Democratic Party and discredited
Stephen Douglas with party
 Aided in election of a Republican president in 1860

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North becoming industrial
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More than a decade of unprecedented growth after 1845
Role of slavery in creating distinct “North” and “South”
U.S. second-leading industrial producer in the world by later 1850s
U.S. pioneered mass production of interchangeable parts
Helped by high level of U.S. education
South relied increasingly on slavery
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Region had what some called “colonial” economy
“King Cotton” defined region’s economy
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Defended slave system as better than the free market
Writings of George Fitzhugh
Labor conditions in North

 Both domestic and international causes
 Massive unemployment and widespread hardship
 Prosperity had returned by 1858
 Economic crisis intensified sectional hostility
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South fared better than rest of country
North blamed South for blocking tariffs that could have protected Northern industry

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All work in a free society was honorable
Slavery degraded manual labor by equating it with bondage
Central component was social mobility
Incompatible with slavery
Became key feature of Republican party’s platform
Buttressed by Hinton Rowan Helper’s The Impending Crisis
of the South (1857)
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Called on non-slaveholding whites to overthrow the slave system
Virtually banned in the South
Huge impact in North
Republican Party even used as campaign propaganda

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Over election to U.S. Senate from Illinois in 1858
Lincoln argument that nation could not remain forever half-slave and half-free
 Douglas professed no interest in slavery per se and defended its existence in the South
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Lincoln elevated to national prominence
Douglas won senate seat but lost favor in South because he failed to vigorously defend the expansion of slavery into the territories
 Freeport Doctrine

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 Attempt to seize federal arsenal and foment a slave uprising
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Raid subdued quickly
Generated fears of slave insurrection in South
Northerners saw Brown as martyr to anti-slavery cause
 Helped to contribute to unraveling of Union

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What were the major factors in 1848 that led to the Civil War?
Evaluate the events that facilitated “Bleeding
Kansas.” Did Kansas foreshadow the coming war?
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Discuss the Dred Scott case. Was it an example of poor or sound judicial decision making?
Examine John Brown’s role in events prior to
1860. Was he a hero to a noble cause or a criminal?