Important Questions
• What is sectionalism?
• Where do you suppose this concept
originated?
• What are some of the issues behind
sectionalism?
• Ultimately, what do you think it will take to
put an end to sectionalism?
Era of Good Feelings
Era of Good Feelings
• period of national unity and cooperation
following War of 1812:
– President Monroe enjoyed enormous popularity
and national support
– Political parties were getting along
– Short duration
•
•
•
•
Power of federal government
States’ rights
Slavery
sectionalism
Era of Good Feelings
• Era of Good Feelings replaced by sectionalism
– Sectionalism is the to a state or a region over the
nation as a whole
• Eventually led to the Civil War (1861-65)
Sectional Differences
• North
– Favored the Bank of the United states
– Favored increased immigration
– Favored government financial improvements
– Divided on the issue of territorial expansion
• The commercial North favored policies which would
protect its industries from foreign competition (tariffs),
increase trade and provide a strong banking system
Sectional Differences
• South
– Opposed the Bank of the United States
– Opposed protective tariffs
– Opposed new immigration
– Favored territorial expansion
– Opposed government financed internal
improvements
• The agricultural South hoped to increase its cotton
exports& favored less interference from the Federal
government
Sectional Differences
• West
– Opposed the Bank of the United States
– Divided on the tariff issue
– Favored increased immigration
– Favored territorial expansion
– Favored government financed internal
improvements
• The agricultural West wanted federal protection and
transportation improvements but opposed regulated
banking (too many farmers)
Regroup
• What Does the Era of Good Feelings refer to?
• What is the difference between sectionalism
and nationalism?
• What did the North want?
• The South?
• The West?
States’ Rights
• Introduced by Madison & Jefferson in VA & KY
Resolutions in 1798
– What was the issue then?
• States’ Rights:
– Federal government created by the states to serve
the states
– When the federal gov’t passes laws states believe
to be unconstitutional, the states can declare the
laws to be “null & void” & do not have to enforce
these laws
Virginia & Kentucky
Resolutions,1798
States’ Rights
• Nullification
–the doctrine that a state may refuse to
enforce a “federal” law it considers
unconstitutional
–Why is this a dangerous idea?
States’ Rights
• Tariff of Abominations (1828):
– the highest tariff since founding of the
nation:
• protected new American industries from cheap
foreign competition
• raised rates on new materials and
manufactured goods
• western and northern congressmen united to
pass tariff law (who is feeling squeezed?)
States’ Rights
• South strongly opposed tariff for following
reasons:
– increased prices of foreign manufactured
goods
– feared foreign nations would increase tariffs
against southern cotton exports
• What would be the result of increased tariffs on
US exports?
States’ Rights
• South Carolina Exposition and Protest (1828):
– hostile to Tariff of Abominations
– written by John C. Calhoun of South Carolina
• South Carolina Exposition and Protest stated
the following:
– the Federal Government was created by a
compact among the states to serve the states
– states therefore had the power to declare laws of
Congress unconstitutional
Tariff of Abominations
1828
South Carolina
Exposition &
Protest
States’ Rights
– laws declared unconstitutional were “null and
void” (nullification)
– the law would remain null and void until it was
added as a constitutional amendment (strict
construction)
– if the problem was not resolved, the state had the
“right to secede” from the Union
• secession – the right of a state to leave or
break away from the Union
States’ Rights
• nullification and secession violated Article VI of
the Constitution, which states:
– when a state law is in contradiction with a
federal law, it is the federal law that must be
obeyed
• the power of the Federal Government is supreme
• nullification violates principle of federalism:
– states cannot declare laws of Congress
unconstitutional
– this power rests solely with Supreme Court
States’ Rights
• Nullification by South Carolina (1832):
– 1832: new tariff law provided only modest reduction
of Tariff of Abominations
• South Carolina passed Ordinance of
Nullification:
– voided new tariff
– threatened secession
Force Bill
“Disunion by force is
treason”!
Andrew Jackson
States’ Rights
• President Jackson:
– opposed nullification and secession
– felt both could destroy the Federal Government
• Jackson asked Congress to pass the “Force
Bill”:
– would empower President to enforce tariff in
South Carolina
– army and navy to be employed
– precedent set by Washington in Whiskey Rebellion
States’ Rights
• Compromise Tariff of 1833:
– Senator Henry Clay introduced a compromise,
which provided for the following:
• a gradual reduction of tariff over ten year period
• level to eventually reach that of Tariff of 1816
• Compromise Tariff and Force Bill passed on
the same day by Congress:
– South Carolina withdrew Ordinance of
Nullification & nullified Force Bill
– Crisis temporarily solved; states’ rights &
nullification still unresolved
States’ Rights
• Cherokee Indians (1828)
– State of Georgia invoked dcotrine of states’ rights
to remove Cherokee Indians
• US Supreme Court ruled that the Indians could stay
– President Jackson hated the Indians & refused to
enforce the law
• More than 100,000 Indians forcible removed to modern
Oklahoma on Trail of Tears
Regroup
• The idea of states’ rights was advocated by
whom?
• What was the Tariff of Abominations?
• What was the Southern response to the T of A?
• What does secession mean?
• What was Jackson’s strategy for defeating the
Southern nullifiers?
• What temporarily settled the issue of states’
rights?
• What was the Trail of Tears?
Andrew Jackson & The BUS
• Jackson saw BUS as monopoly that favored
wealthy elite
– BUS refused many loans to small
businesses/farmers
– Paid dividends to Northern stockholders
– BUS made contributions to political candidates
– BUS prevented state banks from issuing currency
that would devalue existing currency
Andrew Jackson & The BUS
• Congress passed a bill to re-charter the bank
in 1832
– Jackson vetoed the bill
– Re-elected overwhelmingly in 1832
• Jackson took re-election as sign people
wanted BUS dead
– Jackson wanted money in states banks and
wanted loans for small businesses and farmers
• Part of Jacksonian democracy concept
Southern Sectionalism and
Representation Problem
• Southern Sectionalism:
– Southerners favored their section over the
national interest
– Constitution must be interpreted by its exact
words (strict construction)
– states had all other powers (reserved)
– power to regulate slavery therefore belonged
solely with the states
Southern Sectionalism and Representation
Problem
• Senate Representation:
– Southern states concerned about two major
issues:
• allowing slavery in new federal territories
• maintaining equal balance between the
representation of slave and non – slave states
in the U.S. Senate
Southern Sectionalism and Representation
Problem
• Missouri Compromise (1820):
– Missouri Territory applied for statehood as a slave
state:
• threatened Senate balance between 11 free
and 11 slave states
• population of North twice as large as South
– North therefore controlled House of
Representatives
– South needed to maintain balance in the Senate
Missouri Compromise
• Terms of the Missouri Compromise:
– Missouri admitted as slave state
– Maine admitted as a free state
– all territory of Louisiana Purchase north of the 36°
-30’ Parallel Line would be free
– all territory south of the line would be slave
Wilmot Proviso (1846):
• Resolution to prohibit slavery in any territory
acquired in war with Mexico:
– Calhoun condemned proviso as anti – states’
rights
– threatened nullification and secession
– Wilmot Proviso passed the House
– rejected in the Senate
Regroup
• What is southern sectionalism?
• Why does the South need to maintain the
balance between free & slave states?
• How is the problem solved (in the shortterm)?
• What are the terms?
The Mexican War
1848
The Mexican War
1846-48
• Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends the Mexican
War:
– U.S. adds New Mexico and California (Mexican
Cession)
– Mexico recognizes Rio Grande River as the
southwest border of Texas (why are rivers bad
borders?)
– U.S. paid Mexico $15 million for the new territory
The Mexican War
1846-48
• Mexican War divided America along sectional
lines:
– northeasterners condemned war as plot to seize
land and extend slavery (so what?)
– southerners and westerners strongly supported
war (why?)
The Mexican War
1846-48
• Gadsden Purchase (1853):
– U.S. paid Mexico $10 million for strip of land south
of the Gila River in Arizona and New Mexico
– provided a railroad route into California
– considered “conscience money” by many
Americans ($10 million)
• What is “conscience money”?
Treaty of
Guadalupe Hidalgo
Regroup
• What was the Treaty that ended the Mexican
American War?
• What states became part of the US as a result
of the Mexican Cession?
• How was the Wilmot Proviso supposed to
impact the acquisition of territory from
Mexico?
• What was the Gadsen Purchase?
California Statehood
• 1849: California admitted as state:
– slavery outlawed
– political crisis renewed
• balance between slave and free states
threatened in the Senate:
– 1849: 15 free and 15 slave states
– South threatened secession (again!)
Compromise of 1850
• Proposed by Senator Henry Clay (Kentucky) to
prevent secession
• Clay received strong Senate support from the
following:
– Stephen A. Douglas (Illinois)
– Daniel Webster (Massachusetts)
– What do these states have in common?
Compromise of 1850
• Terms:
– California admitted as a free state
– territories of New Mexico and Utah to follow
popular sovereignty
• popular sovereignty – policy of allowing voters of a
territory to decide if they wanted slavery
– Texas paid $10 million to cede land to New Mexico
– slave trade prohibited in District of Columbia
(slavery permitted)
– Fugitive Slave Law strongly enforced
Compromise of 1850
• Compromise of 1850 temporarily ended the
sectional crisis
– What will it take to permanently settle the
sectional crisis?
– Why is that nearly impossible without conflict?
Fugitive Slave Law (1850):
• authorized federal commissioners to try
accused blacks of being runaways:
– accused denied right to testify and to trial by jury
– if official declared before the court that a person
was a runaway, no further evidence needed
– federal commissioner received double fee if he
ruled the suspect a runaway rather than a “free
Negro”
Fugitive Slave Law (1850):
• many Northerners considered Fugitive Slave
Law an outrage and refused to obey the law
• Personal Liberty Laws:
– passed by many northern legislatures
– prohibited state officials from cooperating in the
capture of runaways
– This is nullification in reverse
Fugitive
Slave Law
Abolition
• Harriet Beecher Stowe:
• abolitionist and worker on the Underground
Railroad
• Underground Railroad
– an informal network of secret routes and safe
houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the
United States to escape to free states & Canada
Abolition
• Harriet Beecher Stowe
– 1852: wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin:
– Stowe’s propaganda novel about the cruelty of
slavery
– succeeded in swaying emotions of many
Northerners against slavery
Abolition
• Abolition Movement:
– abolitionism – antislavery movement dedicated to
abolishing slavery throughout America:
– began in 1830’s
– strongest in the North
Abolition
• Moderate Abolitionists:
• favored gradual elimination of slavery
• believed South economically and politically
dependent on slavery
– Removing slavery too fast would cause irreparable
damage to Southern economy & society
• worked for compromise solutions with South
Moderate
Abolitionists
Abolition
• Extreme Abolitionists:
– favored immediate end to slavery
– wanted no compensation given to slave owners
– denounced slavery as moral evil that must be
stopped
• Negotiation with evil is evil, so no compensation or
delay is acceptable
– regardless of threats of secession or civil war
• There is a greater good
Extreme
Abolitionists
Regroup
• How is the North’s reaction to the Fugitive
Slave Law similar to the South’s reaction to
the Tariff of Abominations?
• What were the terms of the Compromise of
1850?
• What was the difference between the
moderate and radical abolitionists?
• Who wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin?
Kansas – Nebraska Act (1854)
• sponsored by Senator Stephen A. Douglas,
which provided for the following:
– repeal of Missouri Compromise
– created territories of the Kansas and Nebraska
– allowed popular sovereignty to determine slavery
in each territory
Kansas – Nebraska Act (1854)
• Bleeding Kansas:
– civil war erupted in Kansas over popular
sovereignty issue
– slave owners and abolitionists wanted control of
Kansas
• Border Ruffians:
– slave owners from Missouri who crossed into
Kansas to attack free – soil settlements
Bleeding Kansas
• Abolitionists:
– raided pro – slavery settlements
– b. John Brown led one major raid (Pottawatomie
Creek)
• bloodshed between both sides led to name
“Bleeding Kansas”
Bleeding
Kansas
*Pottawatomie
Creek Massacre
1856
Formation of the Republican Party
(1854)
• Created by antislavery opposition to Kansas –
Nebraska Act
– consisted of Whigs, Democrats and Free Soilers
– Republicans pledged to the following:
– opposed extension of slavery into new territories
• repeal of Kansas – Nebraska Act
• Whig Party ceased as major political party
– absorbed by Republicans and Democrats
Dred Scott Case
• Dred Scott, a Missouri slave
– brought into free territory by his master &later
returned to Missouri
• Scott sued for his freedom on basis that his
residence in free territory had made him a
free man
– this would make a free man of all fugitives slaves
who escaped to free soil
– Fugitive Slave Law would be meaningless
Dred Scott Case
• PART I of Scott v. Sanford Decision:
– a Negro could not be a citizen
– a non – citizen could not sue in court
• PART II of Scott v. Sanford Decision:
– slaves are property (chattel)
– Congress may not deprive a person of the right to
property in federal territories
– that part of Missouri Compromise, which prohibited
slavery in part of the Louisiana Territory (north of 36
– 30 line), was therefore unconstitutional
Dred Scott Case
• Chief Justice Roger Taney invoked 5th
Amendment:
– Congress may not deprive a person of due process
– therefore any law which outlawed slavery was
unconstitutional
– all federal territories now open to slavery
Lecompton Crisis
• Pro – slavery and abolitionists flooded into
Kansas over popular sovereignty (Kansas –
Nebraska Act)
– both sides wanted to control slavery issue
• a pro – slavery Kansas legislature elected in
1855
– “border ruffians” from Missouri fixed election
– legislature called for constitutional convention in
Lecompton
– “free soilers” established their own legislature
Lecompton Crisis
• 1857: Lecompton Constitution submitted to
U.S. Congress for approval:
– called for admission of Kansas as a slave state
– President James Buchanan urged acceptance
– Stephen A. Douglas rejected the Lecompton
Constitution
– returned for territorial referendum
Lecompton Crisis
• 1858: Kansas overwhelmingly defeats
Lecompton Constitution in statewide
referendum
– Kansas enters Union as free state in 1861
• disagreement between Buchanan and Douglas
over Lecompton issue divides Democrats:
– Southern v. Northern Democrats
Regroup
• What did the Kansas-Nebraska Act provide
for?
• What is “Bleeding Kansas”?
• What was the decision of the Court in the
Dred Scott case?
• What was the Lecompton Crisis?
• How did Kansas come into the Union?
Lincoln – Douglas
Debates
Lincoln – Douglas Debates (1858)
• Abraham Lincoln challenged Douglas for
Senate
– participated in seven debates
– Lincoln forced Douglas to state his view on slavery
in the territories in Freeport, Illinois
Lincoln – Douglas Debates (1858)
• Freeport Doctrine (Douglas):
– Dred Scott decision made slavery legal in the
territories in theory
– but people of a territory could keep slavery out by
refusing to enact a “slave code”
– Freeport Doctrine further divided southern and
northern Democrats
– party weakened as a national political party
John Brown
• John Brown:
– an extreme abolitionist
– led raid against federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry
(Virginia)
– hoped to capture weapons and lead slave
rebellion
– tried for treason and hanged 2 December 1859
• Brown considered a martyr throughout North
– sacrificed his life for human liberty
– considered a criminal in South
Election of 1860
• Democratic Party split into two groups:
– Northern Democrats – supported popular
sovereignty and Stephen A. Douglas for President
– Southern Democrats – demanded enforcement of
the Dred Scott decision and supported John C.
Breckinridge for President
Election of 1860
• Constitutional Union Party:
– supported adherence to Constitution and union of
states would not interfere with slavery where it
already existed
– supported John Bell for President
Election of 1860
• Republican Party:
– opposed extension of slavery
– would leave slavery where it existed
– favored protective tariffs, federal aid for internal
– improvements, a transcontinental railroad and
free homestead farms
– supported Abraham Lincoln for President
Election of 1860
• Lincoln won 40% of the vote carried North and
West
• Elected 16th President of the United States
“That which is not
just is not law”.
William Lloyd Garrison
“Extreme” Abolitionist
Confederate
States of America