Events Leading to Secession
Slave or Free?????
• In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson bought a
huge area west of the Mississippi River from
France
– Louisiana
Purchase
• Could these new states have slavery? Or will
they be free?
• In 1819, the United States had 22 states,
evenly divided between free states and slave
states
• The Ohio River was the dividing line that
marked the slave states that were in the South
Missouri Compromise
• Missouri applied to be a
slave state in the Union
• Should Congress allow
this???
• The “Compromise”:
Maine would be
admitted as a free state
and Missouri would be
admitted as a slave
state
• Keeping the weight
evenly distributed, no
one group over
powered the other
Bitter Disputes
• Annexation of Texas:
– So large it was almost made into
5 states
– Abolitionist did not want this
• Would really tip the balance of
slave and free states
• Mexican American War: 18461848
• California Gold Rush:
– 1848: Gold found in California, rush
of settlers to the territory
– By 1849, the balance of the national
government was equal
– California wants to enter as a free
state in 1849
– Tips the balance towards free states
– Mexico did not recognize the
• Compromise of 1850:
independence of Texas
– California is admitted as a free state
– Created war between America
– Slavery in Utah and New Mexico
and Mexico
decided by popular vote
– America wins: gains the lands of
– Slavery still legal in Washington D.C.
New Mexico, Utah, Arizona,
– Compromise did not solve the
California
debate among the North and the
– When they become states: Slave
South, just delayed the final result.
or Free???
Mississippi Divided
• Our Senators, Henry Foote and Jefferson Davis, were
divided on the idea of secession
• Special election was called in 1851 to have delegates
elected to a secession convention
• Foote resigned as a Senator to join the race for governor
and created the Union Party
– Opposed secession
• The Democrats favored secession and became known as
the States Rights Party
– Entered John Quitman in governors race
• Ugly campaign: Quitman was tired of all the mess Foote
was saying about him that he physically attacked Foote!
• Voters in Mississippi elected Foote as governor
– The people were not in favor of secession….. yet
Fire Eaters
• Inflammatory speeches given that
were designed to persuade
southerners that secession was
the only way to preserve “the
southern way of life”
• Their power grew more and more
in the 1850s
• On the other hand, in the North
the power of the abolitionists
grew as well
Dred Scott Decision 1857
• Dred Scott was a slave who was taken by his
owner, who lived in Missouri (slave state), into
Illinois and Minnesota (free states)
• His owner dies, he was sold to an abolitionist who
allowed him to file a suit seeking freedom
• His case: once he was taken into free territory, he
became a free man
• Supreme Court Ruling: Ruled he was not freed
and ruled that slave owners could not be
restricted from taking their slaves in to any state
or territory and ruled that slaves were personal
property.
• The Supreme Court was saying that the only way
slavery could be restricted or abolished was by an
amendment to the Constitution
– Would not happen: Congress needs ¾ approval to
amend the Constitution (There was 18 free states and
15 slave states, enough to block a ruling)
Formation of the Republican Party
• After the ruling in the Dred Scott case the
Republican Party was formed
• Formed in opposition to the expansion of
slavery
John Brown Raids 1859
• John Brown, a white male, led a raid on a federal
arsenal to capture a supply of arms and ammunition
– Wanted to lead the slaves in an armed revolt
– His raid was not successful: Captured by federal soldiersTried, Convicted, then Executed
• Effects of his raid though a lack of success:
– Created a fear in the south of a slave revolt
– Did not think a white man would help lead the uprising
– Convinced southerners that not only was their social and
economic life in danger but their own personal safety
might be in jeopardy as well
The Big Conflict
• Compromising over slavery was now
irrepressible (impossible to control) and would
eventually lead to war
• Antebellum Americans had to take a position
on slavery
– Secede or not!!!!
– Mississippians realized that seceding from the
Union was the only way they would be able to
maintain their way of life which was based on the
plantation system and slave labor
A Necessary Evil
• When Mississippi became a state
in 1817, many Mississippians
Considered slavery an evil system
• Politicians simply stated that slave were here when
America began and that Mississippians were
obliged to maintain and employ them
• But once the land boom of the 1830s occurred
people began to think differently about slavery
• Mississippi was making a lot of money due to
cotton and slave labor so now slavery was viewed
as a unfortunate but necessary evil.
Defense of Slavery:
A Positive Good
• To defend slavery southerners, including
Mississippians, stated slavery was not evil, not
even necessary, but it was a positive good.
• Justification of slavery: Justified slavery
economically, politically, and religiously
– Slavery had existed in ancient times and that the
Apostle Paul seemed to have condoned slavery
• Instructed Onesimus to return to his master Philemon
and obey him.
States’ Rights vs. Federal Government
• The issue of states’ rights threatened the union
– The right of individual states should prevail over the rights of the
federal government
• In the early 1800s, Congress passed several protective tariffs (tax on
imports)
– Kept out competition and raised prices of goods in US
• John Calhoun, vice president of the US, said that a state could nullify
a federal law
– Prevent enforcement of federal law
• Nullification could help the south keep slavery
• Congress eventually came up with a compromise to reduce the
tariffs but it also passed a law that denied the states the right to
nullify a law
1860 Presidential Election
• The breaking point for free states and
slave states
– Two Party system was splintered
• Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln on
the platform that would prohibit the
expansion of slavery in the western territories
• Northern Democrats nominated Stephen
Douglas, Southern Democrats nominated John
Breckinridge, Union Party nominated John Bell
– Lincoln wins the electoral votes and wins
the presidency
– Southerners now have to make a big
decision!