A House Divided Cannot Stand
The Road to the Civil War 1820 - 1861
Past efforts to curb slavery
• 1787 - Banned slavery in the Old
Northwest.
• 1808 – Prohibited the continuation of
importing slaves.
• 1820 – Missouri Compromise
• 1846 – Wilmot Proviso
Past Catalysts for Slavery
• Popularity of TRICkS crops
• Cotton Gin in the 1790s
• Westward expansion
– Acquisition of land from Mexico
THE NORTH
SLAVERY
•The viability of the Union
•The strength of Democracy
•Democratic Ideals
What are the
reasons for the
Civil War?
THE SOUTH
SLAVERY
•Political power balance
•Difference of cultures and
economies
•SelfDetermination/State
Power
What are the
reasons for the
Civil War?
S.T.A.P.L.E.R.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
SOCIAL
TECHNOLOGY
ADMINISTRATION
POLITICAL
LEGAL
ECONOMIC
RELIGIOUS
TECHNOLOGY evaluation of antebellum South
• Invented in
1793
• Led to an
economic
spiral:
– More slaves
and land to
plant more
cotton,
which
needs…
ECONOMIC evaluation of antebellum South
Fuel for a international economy
• 1840 – half of U.S. export
value was from cotton
• Britain's labor market
depended on this raw
material
• Can the world’s economy
afford to abolish American
slavery?
SOCIAL evaluation of antebellum South
•
•
•
•
•
•
plantation owners
small slaveholders
independent white farmers
poor whites
free blacks
black slaves
SOCIAL evaluation of antebellum South
PLANTATION OWNERS
• South ran as an oligarchy
– In 1850, less than 2,000 families owned
over 100 slaves
• Lived at the “big house” on large
plantations
– Mistresses would command large household
staffs.
SOCIAL evaluation of antebellum South
SMALL SLAVEHOLDERS
• Only ¼ of all white southerners owned
slaves.
• Typically small farmers
SOCIAL evaluation of antebellum South
INDEPENDENT FARMERS
• Over six million non-slave owning
southerners
• Backcountry and mountain regions
• Did not participate in the market
economy.
POOR WHITES
• “Poor White Trash”
• Seen as lazy and shiftless
Why did nonslaveholding whites
support slavery?
• The “American Dream”
• Racial Superiority
• Compete with freed blacks for jobs
SOCIAL evaluation of antebellum South
FREE BLACKS
• 250,000 free blacks in the South by
1860.
• Why freed?
– Idealism from the Revolutionary War
– Mulattoes from white planters and black
mistresses
• Strong in New Orleans
• Unpopular in the North and South
SOCIAL evaluation of antebellum South
BLACK SLAVES
•
•
•
•
•
•
By 1860, 4 million slaves
Seen as an economic investment
Families were divided
Education a crime
Blend of religion
Sabotaged work as rebellion
Southern Defenses for Slavery
• Greek and Roman cultures each featured
slavery
• Essential to the southern economy
• Preferable to the "wage slavery" of the North
• Slavery was ordained by God, permitted in the
Bible ("Slaves, obey your masters")
• Beneficial to the blacks who had traded the
barbarism of Africa for the blessings of
security and Christianity
RELIGIOUS evaluation of antebellum South
• Slave owners and slaves both used the
Bible to support their views.
• Northern abolitionists also used the
Bible to support their cause.
– Methodist Episcopalians split in 1844
– Baptists split in 1845
S.T.A.P.L.E.R.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
SOCIAL
TECHNOLOGY
ADMINISTATION
POLITICAL
LEGAL
ECONOMIC
RELIGIOUS
Political Road to War over Slavery
• PUBLIC POLICY ISSUES, CONTROVERSIES
and LAWS ASSOCIATED THEREWITH
• Federal Supremacy vs. States’ Rights
(nullification, personal liberty laws)
• Expansion of slavery in the territories and
Caribbean
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Missouri Compromise 1820
Wilmot Proviso 1846
Free-Soil Party 1848
Popular Sovereignty 1840s
Compromise of 1850
Fugitive Slave Act 1850
Death of the Whigs in 1852
Ostend Manifesto 1853
Kansas-Nebraska Act 1854
Missouri Compromise of 1820
• Maine admitted free
• Missouri admitted slave
• Maintains balance between slave and
free states in the Senate
• Territory north of 36°30' in LA territory
to be free of slave; south of 36°30' can
be slave
• Jefferson called it the “death knell” of
the Union.
Wilmot Proviso (1846)
• Congressman David Wilmot proposes
that there be no slavery in any land
taken from Mexico
• Passes House, fails in Senate
• Represents growing divide between
North and South
Free Soil Party (1848)
• Platform: Keep slavery out of territories
• Van Buren gets 10% of vote
• New York votes ensure Taylor’s election
– Whig
– Sugar plantation owner from Louisiana
Popular Sovereignty (1840s)
• Do not confuse this popular sovereignty
with popular sovereignty that is a
fundamental principle of constitutional
government in the U.S. (i.e., the people
are sovereign).
• This popular sovereignty refers to the
right of the people in a territory to
decide whether or not to have slavery.
(Sen. Stephen Douglas, IL)
• This is simple—do not think too much
about this.
Compromise of 1850
Five laws:
1 California admitted as free
state (free now majority in
Senate)
2 Texas boundary adjusted
for $10m to Texas
3 Slave trade abolished in
D.C.
4 Mexican cession organized
as New Mexico and Utah
territories on basis of
popular sovereignty
5 Strong fugitive slave law
Fugitive Slave Law of 1850
• Northerners were obligated to help
slavecatchers return fugitive slaves
• Prompts Northern states to pass
“personal liberty laws” to prohibit
enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act
• Harriet Beecher Stowe writes Uncle
Tom’s Cabin
• Whig party breaks up in 1852 over
Fugitive Slave Act
Death of the Whigs
• Whig president Fillmore supported the
Fugitive Slave Act, alienating many
Northern Whigs.
• The Whig party divided, and by 1854
was no more, with Northern Whigs
joining the new Republican party.
Ostend Manifesto (1854)
• President Pierce, a Southern
expansionist, wants to buy Cuba from
Spain--Spain won’t sell
• Pierce diplomats meet in Ostend,
Belgium and prepare report suggesting a
seizure of Cuba is Spain won’t sell
• This “Ostend Manifesto” is made public
and is an embarrassment to Pierce and
slaveholding interests
• Heightens Northern fears and tensions
Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854
• Senator Stephen Douglas (IL) proposes that
remainder of Louisiana Territory be divided
into Kansas and Nebraska territories with
popular sovereignty to determine status of
slavery
• Free-soilers angered by this repeal of Missouri
Compromise line 36°30'
• Republican Party is formed, and Northern
Whigs join
• Leads to “Bleeding Kansas”
• Demonstrates sectional divide is becoming
critical
Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)
• Written in response to the Fugitive Slave
Act, the book is highly critical of slavery
• More in the North oppose slavery
• Many books attacking Stowe’s work and
defending the South were written in
response (Aunt Phyllis’s Cabin)
• The book enflamed passions on both
sides and is, arguably, the most
influential book in U.S. History
Bleeding Kansas (1856)
• Bleeding Kansas
• Free-soilers and slavers moved to
Kansas and fought to establish control
• By 1856, fighting broke out as both sides
vie for power--“Bleeding Kansas”
• Fighting in Kansas “foreshadows”
coming of the Civil War
• John Brown gets his start here!
The Lecompton Constitution of 1857
• Pro-slavery faction at Lecompton,
Kansas submits constitution to Congress
for admission to U.S.—Congress refuses
• Northern Democrats oppose, including
Sen. Douglas (which costs him Southern
Democratic support)
• Lecompton Constitution crisis signals
growing rift between North and South
• [Kansas admitted as a free state in
1861]
Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857)
• Pro-slave Chief Justice Roger B. Taney rules
that Africans are not citizens and can’t sue
• Slaves have no rights
• Congress cannot prohibit slavery in territories
(thus the Missouri Compromise was
unconstitutional)
• Decision enflamed abolitionists and many
Northerners, while lifting the hopes of proslavery forces
• Tensions increase even more
• [14th Amendment (1868) declares blacks to be
citizens, thus overcoming Dred Scott]
Lincoln-Douglas Debates & Freeport
• In Illinois Senate race, 1858, Lincoln and
Douglas have debates (Lincoln lost election)
• At Freeport, IL, Lincoln got Douglas to admit
that if a people in a territory voted down
slavery, it would “Stay down.”
• Douglas’s position was consistent with
popular sovereignty but inconsistent with
Dred Scott
• Douglas lost support from Southern
Democrats, further dividing the Democratic
Party (again, remember these splits as
“foreshadowing” the Civil War)
The Democrats Splinter into Factions 1860
• The Democrats broke up before the
election of 1860: Northern Democrats
backed Douglas, Southern Democrats
backed John C. Breckenridge, and border
states (slave states next to the North)
backed John Bell of Kentucky
• The fracturing of the Democrats opened
the door for Lincoln and the Republicans
• The breakup of the Democrats in 1860
foreshadowed the coming of the Civil
War in 1861