The Coming of The Civil War
I. Introduction
A.
The federal gov’t. based “fragile” compromise
B.
Madison and his followers persuaded convention to accept division
(separation of powers)
C.
The 1st 70 years was a defining time for federalism
II. Genesis of Colonial Slavery
A.
Throughout Virginia & the South slavery was gradually rooted in:
o
Chesapeake Bay area
o
Tidewater region
o
Lower South: Georgia, Florida, & Alabama
o
Lower Mississippi Valley
B.
Southern colonies had been settled for cash crops
C.
North engaged in diversified farming
D.
New England and Mid-Atlantic states had a different climate
E.
North was not conducive to wide scale “extractive farming” of the South
F.
There was a lack of serviceable transportation system between the sections
III. The Constitutional Debate Over Slavery – a major economic argument of difference
between the North & South
A.
The Deep South was beginning to move West for virgin land
B.
Needed cheap labor supply and had none
C.
Luther Martin declared: “there should be a gradual emancipation of the
slaves already in the states . . . it [slavery] was inconsistent w/
republicanism.”
D.
One must recognize the ramifications of slavery on the development of
Sectionalism
E.
General factors that contributed to the war were:
o
Sectionalism
o
Industrialism
o
Cultural differentiation
o
Slavery as a stable labor supply. A question of a society w/ slaves or
a slave society itself.
o
Industrial technology – the railroads, steam power, &
communications
o
Rhetoric: William H. Seward’s “Irrepressible Conflict”
F.
The impact of reform
o
The modernizing process of the middle class to reform
o
American reformers had broad vision & spectrum of reform, one of
which was abolition of human slavery
o
Manifest Destiny almost blasted the Union in 1850
IV. The slow growing virus of 1619 was now a full-blown case of paralysis and war.
TENSIONS OF WAR
“I must go into the Presidential chair the inflexible opponent . . . to abolish slavery in the
District of Columbia against the wishes of the slaveholding states . . . and to resist the
slightest interference with it in the states where it exists.” –Martin Van Buren
I. Abolitionism and national politics
A.
William Slade of Vermont gave a scathing attack on the institution of slavery
B.
John Quincy Adams and the gag rule petition
C.
1844, by 108 to 80 the gag rule was lifted
D.
The controversy revealed the rift between the sections
E.
There was a growing disparity in population, wealth, and material resources
F.
Most immigrants from Europe – especially Britain and Germany were antiSlavery
G.
Texas gained its independence, but Van Buren quashed statehood for four
Years
H.
John C. Calhoun and John Tyler tried to capitalize on the Texas issue
II. Emerging Sectionalism
A.
Leaders such as Henry Clay perceived the union to be in peril
B.
An industrializing society in the North and expanding slave-plantation
system in the South provide the basis of sectionalism
C.
Immigrants crowded into northern urban centers
D.
The South’s need for labor turned ever so surely to more and more
expansion of slavery
E.
Horace Greeley founded the New York Tribune that became the oracle of
free states
G.
De Toqueville and Chevalier both condemned the slave system
III. States Rights: Theory and Practice
A.
Still, from its formation in 1828, this uneasy coalition of slave owning
planters and northern entrpreneurs clashed frequently over the direction of
the policy of states rights
B.
The tariff of 1828 was such a case in point. But behind Calhoun’s theory of
nullification was an elaborate legal and institutional defense of slaveplantation system
IV. Depression and Second Party System
A.
The depression deeply affected the northern working men
B.
The Whigs came into being largely as the work of Thurlow Weed
C.
Harrison nomination and Daniel Webster’s colossal misjudgment for the VP
D.
Whigs sought to capitalize on executive tyranny and dedicated themselves
to legislative supremacy
E.
Role played by abolitionitsts: Wendell Phillips, Edmund Quincy, Wm. Ellery
Channing, & Wm. Lloyd Garrison. Much of the lunatic fringe may have given
abolitionism a bad name.
F.
H.
Governor Wm. H. Seward of New York, declared that freedom, not slavery,
was the natural condition of mankind. (Irrepressible Conflict)
The southern press was outraged at all of this.
V. Southern Fears
A.
Mob actions against abolitionists in northern cities were expressions of
mounting social and economic crisis.
B.
By 1840, despite the low cotton prices, the amount of capital required to
become a medium sized planter was largely beyond the reach of most white
southerners.
C.
The isolation of the rural south from the mainstream of world opinion on
slavery and comparative lack of educational opportunity made southerners
susceptible to xenophobic encouragement.
D.
Northerners were not entirely free from exaggerated suspicions of southern
culture. Railroad and telegraph in the North estranged the North from the
South. Even though they shared a language, a heritage, and other social
institutions they would separate in a very short time. 20 years
E.
Calhoun was the most articulate and controversial spokesman for the slave
states.
F.
Perhaps the most disturbing thing to the southern mind was the attitude of
the entire world on slavery!
G.
Slavery was a minor issue in the 1840 election. They sensed the beginning
of concerted movement to abolish it.
VI. The High Tide of Reform
A.
Calhoun was right. Abolition of slavery had become the distinct goal of a
widespread reform movement.
B.
Middle-class women were liberated from the hard work of the selfcontained farm
C.
Revivalism swept middle-class America
D.
Womens rights under Mott and Stanton electrified the middle-class and
reform movement.
E.
The most extraordinary man was Wm. Lloyd Garrison and his newspaper
F.
Publication of Douglass’ Narratives . . . demonstrated Black abolitionism at
its best.
G.
Southern statesmen like Henry Clay lent their prestige to the movement
H.
The wellsprings of reform that began in the 1830’s featured abolition,
temperance, and cultural identity.
I.
Some southerners too, began to seek an American society free from slaver
– Helper, Grimke sisters, etc.
A TEMPORARY ARMISTICE
1.
As Van Buren prepared to turn over the Presidency to Harrison, the nation was still
mired in a worldwide depression.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
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8.
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10.
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12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
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18.
19.
Neither Calhoun nor the abolitionists took any heart from the new President.
Horace Greeley’s disgust w/ his party’s behavior pointed out that it was “nothing
but the professionalization of party politics”
It became an age of Tippicanoe, Tyler, and Texas – i.e., Manifest Destiny
Harrison’s death propelled John Tyler to the Presidency. He was a man very
unprepared for the job and events that would ensue.
Tyler believed passionately in states rights
Whig leaders saw the most important elements of their program of national
interests being frustrated
Calhoun was obsessed with his mission to protect the south and slavery
The Wilmot Proviso was introduced to restrict slavery from the territory that might
be gained as a result of peace settlement with Mexico.
Expansion & war with Mexico
o
Texas Expansion
o
Manifest Destiny
o
Oregon
o
Election of 1844
Polk’s foreign policy was run rather effectively
Just before the Mexican War Polk settled the Oregon question
War with Mexico was belated considered dangerous
There were anit-slavery groups in both parties
Needless to say, the concept of popular sovereignty was an anathema not only to
individuals but also to extreme southern states rights advocates
Meanwhile, gold had been discovered in Cali and the territory had a dramatic influx
of new immigrants w/ a booming economy. They sought admission to the Union
as a state w/o going through the territorial process. California wanted nothing to
do w/ slavery so the sides were drawn and the dye was cast for permanent
sectionalism
On March 7, 1850, Webster threw his prestige and oratorical skill behind the
compromise measure
Shortly before his death on March 31st, 1850, John C. Calhoun made a prophetic
statement.
“I fix its (war) probable occurrence within twelve years or three presidential terms .
. . the probability is, it will explode in a presidential election.” What Calhoun had
seen with clarity came before any of his contemporaries understood the impending
crisis. Calhoun spent the last years of his life seeking to build a sectional coalition.
The Compromise of 1850 was but a temporary truce in the contest between the
sections that would lead to war on grand and colossal scale.
A DECADE OF DISPARITY, DISCORD, DISINTEGRATION, AND DISUNION
1.
2.
3.
4.
Disintegration of the Whigs over issues of slavery and national expansion
The Whig party as a national institution was beset w/ factionalism & partisanship.
Wm. H. Seward & Thurlow Weed were the northern leaders of Whigism
The decade of the 1850’s was sectional, discordant, and full of disparity
5.
6.
The issues of the decade became:
o
Compromise of 1850
o
Kansas Nebraska Act
o
Popular sovereignty and states rights
o
Publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin
o
Dred Scott decisioin
o
Disappearance of Clay, Calhoun, and Webster
o
Westward movement of the railroads