Ch. 10 - Sectionalism
Differences by mid 1800’s

North
- More industries
- Larger cities
- Better Transportation and
communication (Railroads &
telegraph)
- More wealth
- Immigrants became industrial
workers & feared expansion
of slavery
- Larger population (gave north
control of House of
Representatives)
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South
- Remained rural (Plantations
& Small farms)
- Economy relied on cash crops
(Cotton)
- Manufactured under 10% of
U.S. goods
- Few immigrants (enslaved
African Americans met labor
needs)
- In 3 states, Blacks were
majority & half in
2 others
- Whites fear restriction of
slavery would change society
& economy
Differences Between The North & South
Northern States Southern States
Population
21.5 million
9 million
Number of
Factories
Miles of
Railroad
Bank Deposits
110,100
20,600
21,700
9,000
$207 million
$47 million
Cotton
Production
4 thousand
bales
5 million bales
Slavery and Racism
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Abolitionist movement gained strength
- People felt slavery was morally wrong and paralyzed
economic growth
Many southerners agreed that slavery was morally
wrong
- Backed slavery because they didn’t know any other
way for blacks and whites to live together in society
Racism existed in both the north and south
- African- Americans could not vote, serve on juries or
hold high public offices
- African-Americans in the north lived in poverty
Wilmot Proviso
Wilmot Proviso - Proposed by Pennsylvanian
Democrat David Wilmot in 1846 as an amendment to
a military appropriations bill Stated that no slavery
would be allowed in territory acquired from Mexico

North supported
- Were afraid slavery would
mean no jobs for free workers
- Northerners wanted all of the
land obtained from Mexico to
be free states

South opposed
- Argued that slaves were
property under Constitution &
feared more free states
-South worried it would lose
control of the government
- Needed the free and slave
states to be equal
Mexican War Impact

Free Soil Party –
- new political party formed that demanded the end of slavery
-
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Wanted Congress to give western settlers free homesteads
Opposed extension of slavery into territories
Many Free-Soilers weren’t abolitionists; supported restrictions on blacks
Objected to slavery’s impact on white wage-based labor force
Convinced of conspiracy to spread slavery throughout U.S.
By 1850 – As a result of the Gold Rush, California
skipped the Territorial Phase of becoming a state
California asked to enter the Union as a free state
- South wanted it divided into two states (Why?)
The Senate begins to debate the admission of these
states as free states – south begins to discuss secession!
Compromise of 1850
Henry Clay presented the
plan
 California entered the Union
as free state
 Rest of the Mexican
Cession was divided into
the territories of Utah and
New Mexico
Popular Sovereignty
Policy – people in
territories would decide for
themselves
 Slave trade was abolished
in Washington D.C. but
slavery permitted.

Compromise of 1850
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Fugitive Slave Law
- passed – people in free states
had to help catch and return
runaway slave
- Alleged fugitives denied jury trial,
right to testify on own behalf
- Federal commissioners paid more
for returning than freeing accused
- People convicted of helping a
fugitive were fined, imprisoned,
or both
Neither the north or south liked the
compromise
Slavery Divides Whigs
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Northern, Southern Whigs split over slavery in 1852 elections
- Candidate Winfield Scott and northern Whigs opposed the
Fugitive slave Act and gave only lukewarm support to the
Compromise of 1850
- Southern Whigs supported the Compromise to appear both proslavery & pro-union
Democrat Franklin Pierce elected president in 1852
Formation of Political Parties
PARTY
ESTABLISHED
PLATFORMS
Free Soil
1848
Anti extension of
slavery
Pro Labor
Know Nothing
1854 (American
Party)
1834
Anti-Immigration
Anti-Catholic
Republican
1854 (Horace
Greely
Opposed expansion
of slavery into
territories
Democratic
1840
(DemocraticRepublican)
States Rights
Limited Government
Divided on slavery
Whig
Pro-business
Divided on Slavery
Underground Railroad
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Northerners sent fugitives to Canada, some use force in rescues
Personal liberty laws in 9 northern states forbid prison for fugitives
& granted them jury trials
Underground Railroad—secret network of people who help slaves
escape
- Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery,
becomes conductor on
19 trips
- Fugitives go on foot
at night, often no food,
avoiding armed patrols
- Some fugitives stayed
in North; others went
on to Canada
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe
wrote a book telling about the
cruel treatment of a slave
 Caused many Americans to
begin supporting the
abolitionist movement
 Stowe pointed out that slavery
was not just the South's
problem, but the nation’s
problem
 Uncle Tom’s Cabin showed
slavery as moral problem, not
just political

Kansas- Nebraska Act
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Senator Stephen Douglas (Illinois) - wanted to build a
transcontinental railroad from Chicago to California
- It would have to cross the unorganized territory of the
Great Plains
Act called for the creation of two new territories (KS & NB)
- Both were north of the Missouri Compromise line
Douglas’s bill repealed Missouri Compromise; bitter debate
ensues
Act passed with support of the south
1854 - Kansas-Nebraska Act –
popular sovereignty
Whig Party splintered after
Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854
Formation of Political Parties
PARTY
ESTABLISHED
PLATFORMS
Free Soil
1848
Anti extension of
slavery
Pro Labor
Know Nothing
1854 (Nativists)
Anti-Immigration
Anti-Catholic
Whig
1834
Pro-business
Divided on Slavery
Republican
1854 (Horace
Greely)
1840
(DemocraticRepublican)
Opposed expansion
of slavery into
territories
Democratic
States Rights
Limited Government
Divided on slavery
Bleeding Kansas
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Kansas became battleground over slavery
Northern, Southern settlers pour into Kansas Territory
Most settlers sent by antislavery emigrant aid societies
More antislavery settlers (free soilers) than proslavery
1855 - Kansas holds election for territorial legislature
Proslavery Missourians crossed the border (Border Ruffians)
and stuffed ballot boxes on election day
Each side boycotted the election
Set up 2 governments
- Proslavery Govt in Lecompton
- Antislavery Govt in Topeka
Bleeding Kansas
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May 1856 – proslavery group attacked
Lawrence burned stores and home
(several died)
John Brown led antislavery group that
killed 5 proslavery settlers “The
Pottawatomie Massacre”
Territory called Bleeding Kansas for
incidents that kill some 200
1857 Lecompton Constitution,
- 2nd constitution drafted for Kansas
Territory - proslavery supporters
- Permitted slavery & excluded free
blacks from living in Kansas
- Allowed only male citizens of the
United States to vote.
- There were three separate votes - the
final vote, residents of Kansas
Territory rejected the Lecompton
Constitution.
Violence in the Senate
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Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner verbally
attacked his colleagues for their support of slavery in
Kansas
- Insulted aged South Carolina Senator Andrew Butler
for beliefs and impaired speech
Congressman Preston S. Brooks beat
Sumner with his cane for
insulting his uncle
- Caused shock and
brain damage
Southerners applauded
Brooks & Northerners
condemned him
The 1856 Election
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Republicans select John C. Frémont
(mapped OR Trail, led troops in CA)
Know-Nothing party split
- Northerners endorsed Fremont
- Southerners selected former U.S.
presidents Millard Fillmore
Democrats - James Buchanan of PN
- Most of his Washington friends were
southerners
- Had been out of the country
during the Kansas-Nebraska Act
South was prepared to secede form the
union if Republicans won
James Buchanan elected secession averted
Dred Scott Decision
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1857 – Dred Scott sued for
freedom
Had lived in north with his
master before returning to the
south
Said that made him a free man
after his master’s death
Supreme Court ruled that Scott
was still a slave
- Congress cannot forbid
slavery in territories
- Also said that Congress
couldn’t ban slavery
- Only states could
Big victory for proslavery
people
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
• 1858, Republican Abraham Lincoln ran for Stephen
Douglas’s Senate seat
• Because Lincoln’s unknown, challenges Douglas to debates

Douglas believed
slavery was backward &
unsuitable for prairie
agriculture
- He didn’t think it was
immoral
- Wanted popular
sovereignty
to decide issue
(thought it
would undo slavery)

Lincoln believed
slavery was immoral
- Lincoln though
legislation
needed to stop
spread of
slavery
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
2nd Debate - Lincoln asked how to form free
states if territories must allow slavery
 Douglas’s issued Freeport Doctrine that
explained how a territory could get around the
Dred Scott decision
- Elect leaders who do not enforce slavery
 Douglas won the seat but doctrine worsened
regional split between Democrats
 Lincoln’s attacks on “vast moral evil” of slavery
drew national attention
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John Brown’s Attack at Harpers Ferry
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Brown was an antislavery leader who
wanted to start a slave rebellion
October 1859 – Brown led a group to
attack the U.S. arsenal at Harper
Valley, Virginia
- Planned to give the weapons to the
slaves and start an uprising
- U.S. Marines put down rebellion,
capture Brown
The north praised Brown and saw him
as a hero
The attack terrified the south
Southerners become angry at the
North's response
- Ask how they could share the same
government with people who regard
John Brown as a hero
Election of 1860
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Democratic Party split
- North supported Stephen Douglass
- South supported John C. Breckinridge
Republican candidate was Abraham Lincoln
4th party Constitutional Union Party candidate was John Bell
- Wanted a compromise to save the union)
• Two different elections
- South election was between Breckinridge and Bell
- North was between Douglass and Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln won the election with only 40 % of
the popular vote (carried the more populous northern
states - Wasn’t even on part of the southern ballots
• Lincoln had never called for ending slavery he just didn’t want
it to spread
- Lincoln told south he wouldn’t meddle with slaves
Election of 1860
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South became angry that president could be elected
without any southern electoral votes they feared they had
lost control; of the government
- 18 free states and 15 slave states
- Felt threatened that slavery would be abolished
Southern States Secede

Dec. 20 1860 –
South Carolina
seceded from the
union
– Said it voluntarily
joined the union it
could voluntarily
leave
– Other southern
states leave the
union in next 6
weeks
– Mississippi, Florida,
Alabama, Georgia,
Louisiana, and Texas
The Confederacy Established
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February 1861 - the seceding states form a new nation (The
Confederate States of America)
Former senator Jefferson Davis of Mississippi unanimously
elected president
- Davis said that slavery was necessary for agriculture and the
wants of the civilized man
Alexander Stephens of Georgia was elected vice-president
Only 25% of the people in the south owned slaves
Other 75 % fought battle to defend system because they felt
it gave them an advantage over blacks
The Calm Before the Storm
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President Buchanan called secession illegal
- Also said it was illegal to stop it
Mass resignations from government in Washington,
D.C. (Southern city)
Some people thought the federal government was
melting away
Abraham Lincoln didn’t take office until March 1961
Would North allow the South to leave the union
without a fight?
The Calm Before the Storm
In late December 1860 three commissioners from the newly seceded state of South Carolina met with
lame-duck President Buchanan to negotiate for possession of Fort Sumter, a federal installation in
Charleston Harbor. Buchanan's attempts to stay the situation and South Carolina governor Francis
Pickens's insistence on Union evacuation of the fort are ridiculed here. Pickens (left) holds a lit fuse to a
giant Union cannon "Peacemaker," which is pointed at his own abdomen. He threatens, "Mr. President, if
you don't surrender that fort at once, I'll be "blowed" if I don't fire." Buchanan (right) throws up his
hands in alarm and cries, "Oh don't! Governor Pickens, don't fire! till I get out of office." In the
background a steamer makes its way across Charleston Harbor toward Fort Sumter. The print probably
appeared early in 1861, amid mounting tensions over the fate of the fort and uneasy relations between
Washington and South Carolina.