Unit 5
The Nation Torn Apart
Chapter 16: The Road to Civil War
I. Slavery or Freedom in the West
A. The Missouri Question
1. Louisiana was the first state carved out of the Louisiana Purchase, joining the
union as a slave state in 1812.
a) This caused an uproar in the North.
2. The admission of Missouri would upset the balance of power in the Senate.
a) 1819 - There were 11 free states and 11 slave states. Remember, each
state has two senators.
b) If Missouri became a slave state, the South would have the majority in
the Senate.
c) Northerners fought against Missouri entering as a slave state.
d) Senator Henry Clay proposed the Missouri Compromise.
e) During the debate of Missouri, Maine also applied for statehood.
3. The Missouri Compromise kept the number of slave and free states equal.
a) Missouri would be admitted as a slave state and Maine as a free state.
b) Congress drew an imaginary line across the border of Missouri at latitude
360 30' N.
c) Slavery was permitted in the part of the Louisiana Purchase south of that
line.
d) It was banned north of the line. The only exception was Missouri.
e) This compromise applied only to the Louisiana Purchase.
B. Slavery in the Mexican Cession
1. An Antislavery plan
a) David Wilmot, a member of Congress from Pennsylvania, called for a law
to ban slavery in any lands won from Mexico.
b) In 1826, the House of Representatives passed the Wilmot Proviso, but
the Senate defeated it.
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2. Americans Take Sides - The Mexican war strengthened feelings of
sectionalism in the North and South.
a) Sectionalism - loyalty to a state or section, rather than to a country as a
whole.
b) Northern abolitionists demanded that slavery be banned throughout the
country. By the 1840s, a growing number of northerners agreed.
c) Southerners thought that slavery should be allowed in any territory. They
also demanded that slaves who escaped to the North be returned to them.
3. Moderate views - Between these two extreme views were more moderate lines.
a) Some moderates argued that the Missouri Compromise line should be
extended across the Mexican Cession to the Pacific Ocean.
b) Others supported the idea of popular sovereignty.
c) Popular sovereignty means control by the people. Voters in the new
territory would decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery in the
territory. Slaves, of course, could not vote.
4. A new political party - In 1848, antislavery members of both the Democratic
and the Whig party founded the Free Soil Party.
a) Their main goal was to keep slavery out of the western territories.
C. The Free Soil Challenge
1. While Americans debated the slavery question, the 1848 campaign for President
took place.
a) Free Soilers - former President Martin Van Buren - he called for a ban
on slavery in the Mexican Cession.
b) Democrats - Lewis Cass - supported popular sovereignty.
c) Whigs - Zachary Taylor (a hero of the Mexican War) - because he was a
slave owner from Louisiana, many southern voters assumed he supported
slavery.
2. In the end, Zachary Taylor won the election.
a) Still, 13 Free Soilers won seats in Congress.
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II. Saving the Union
A. Seeking a Compromise
1. For a time after the Missouri Compromise, both slave and free states entered
the Union peacefully.
a) Between 1821 and 1848, Michigan, Iowa, and Wisconsin entered as free
states.
b) Arkansas, Florida, and Texas came in as slave states.
2. When California requested admission as a free state, once again the balance of
power in the Senate was threatened.
3. Congress turned to Senator Henry Clay for a compromise. He pleaded for the
North and South to reach an agreement.
a) Senator John C. Calhoun (South) - He insisted that slavery be allowed in
the western territories and demanded that fugitive, or runaway, slaves be
returned to their owners in the South. If an agreement could not be
reached, the South would secede from the Union.
b) Daniel Webster (North) - Although he had been Clay's rival for decades,
he supported Clay's plea to save the Union.
 He would support the South's claim that northerners be required to
return fugitive slaves. He feared the states would not separate
without a civil war.
 A civil war is a war between people of the same country.
B. A Compromise at Last
1. In 1850, while the debate raged, Calhoun died. President Taylor, who had
opposed Clay's compromise plan, also died.
a) The new President, Millard Fillmore, supported Clay.
b) When Clay became ill, Illinois Senator Steven Douglas guided each part
of Clay's plan, called the Compromise of 1850, through Congress.
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2. The Compromise of 1850 had four parts:
a) First, California was allowed to enter the Union as a free state.
b) Second, the rest of the Mexican Cession was divided into the territories
of New Mexico and Utah. In each territory, voters would decide the slavery
question according to popular sovereignty.
c) Third, the slave trade was ended in Washington, D.C., the nation's capital.
Congress, however, declared that it had no power to ban the slave trade
between slave states.
d) Fourth, a strict new fugitive slave law was passed.
C. The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850
1. The new Fugitive Slave Law was hard for northerners to accept.
a) It required all citizens to help catch run away slaves.
b) People who let fugitives escape could be fined $1,000 and jailed for
six months.
c) The new law set up special courts to handle the cases of runaways.
Judges received $10 for returning an accused runaway to the South, but
only $5 for setting someone free.
d) Thousands of free African Americans fled to Canada as a result.
D. Uncle Tom’s Cabin - An Antislavery Bestseller
1. 1852 - Harriet Beecher Stowe published a novel called Uncle Tom's Cabin.
a) The book showed the evils of slavery and the injustice of the fugitive
slave laws.
b) Uncle Tom was an enslaved African American noted for his kindness and
his devotion to his religion.
c) Tom is bought by Simon Legree, a cruel planter who treats his slaves
brutally.
2. The book had wide appeal in the North. In its first year, Stowe's novel sold over
300,000 copies.
a) A play based on the novel appeared in the North and around the world.
b) Southerners claimed that it did not depict a true picture of slave life.
Stowe had seen little of slavery firsthand.
c) Northerners now saw slavery as a moral problem, not a political problem.
d) For this reason, Uncle Tom's Cabin was one of the most important books
in American History.
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III. Bloodshed in Kansas
A. Kansas-Nebraska Act
1. 1854- Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois introduced a bill to set up a
government in the Nebraska Territory.
a) He proposed dividing the Nebraska territory into two territories.
b) In each territory, the slavery issue would be decided by popular
sovereignty.
2. The Kansas-Nebraska Act seemed fair to many people.
a) Others felt that the Missouri Compromise had already banned slavery in
those areas. Northerners were outraged.
b) Southerners supported it.
c) President Franklin Pierce, a Democrat elected in 1852, supported the bill.
3. Northerners protested by challenging the Fugitive Slave Law.
a) Two days after Congress passed the Kansas- Nebraska Act, slave
catchers in Boston seized Anthony Burns, a fugitive.
b) Citizens of Boston poured into the streets to keep Burns from being sent
south.
c) It took two companies of soldiers to keep the crowd from freeing Burns.
B. Kansas Explodes
1. Kansas became a testing ground for popular sovereignty.
a) Douglas hoped that settlers would decide the issue peacefully.
b) Instead, both pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces sent settlers
to Kansas to fight for control of the territory.
c) Most new arrivals were farmers from neighboring states who were
attracted by the cheap land. Few of these settlers had owned slaves.
d) Abolitionist brought more than 1000 settlers from New England.
e) Pro-slavery settlers moved into Kansas as well. These Border Ruffians
battled the antislavery forces in Kansas.
2. Divided Kansas - 1855 - Kansas held elections to choose lawmakers.
a) Hundreds of Border Ruffians crossed into Kansas and voted illegally. They
helped elect a pro-slavery government.
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3. The new legislature quickly passed laws to support slavery.
a) People could be put to death for helping slaves escape.
b) Speaking out against slavery was made a crime punishable by two years of
hard labor.
4. Antislavery settlers refused to accept these new laws.
a) They elected their own governor and legislature.
b) With two rival governments, Kansas was in chaos.
5. The first shots.
a) 1856 - A band of pro-slavery men raided the town of Lawrence, an
antislavery stronghold.
b) They destroyed homes and smashed the press of the Free Soil
Newspaper.
c) John Brown, an abolitionist, decided to strike back.
d) Brown, and six others, road to the town of Pottawatomie Creek. In the
middle of the night they dragged five pro-slavery settlers from their beds
and murdered them. This sparked more violence.
e) Newspapers called the territory Bleeding Kansas.
C. Bloodshed in the Senate
1. The battle in Kansas spilled over to the Senate.
a) Charles Sumner of Massachusetts was the leading abolitionist senator. In
a speech he attacked his southern foes, singling out Andrew Butler, an
elderly senator from South Carolina. Butler was not there that day.
b) A few days later, Butler's nephew, Congressmen Preston Brooks, marched
into the senate chamber. Using a heavy cane, Brooks beat Sumner until he
fell, bloody and unconscious to the floor.
c) Many southerners felt Sumner got what was coming to him. They sent
canes to Brooks to show their support.
D. The Dred Scott Decision
1. With congress in an uproar, many Americans looked to the Supreme Court to
settle the slavery issue and restore peace.
a) 1857 - the court ruled on a case involving a slave named Dred Scott.
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b) Dred Scott lived for many years in Missouri. Later, he moved with his
owner to Illinois, and then to the Wisconsin Territory, where slavery was not
allowed. After they returned to Missouri, Scott's owner died.
c) Antislavery lawyers helped Scott file a lawsuit arguing that since Scott
had lived in a free territory, he was a free man.
d) The case reached the Supreme Court.
2. The court decision startled Americans.
a) First, it ruled that Scott could not file a lawsuit because, as a black, he
was not a citizen. They also agreed that slaves were property.
b) According to the court, Congress did not have the power to outlaw
slavery in any territory.
c) This meant that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional.
3. Southerners rejoiced at the Dred Scott decision.
a) It meant that slavery was legal in all territories. Only state
legislatures could outlaw slavery not the federal government.
b) African Americans and Northerners responded angrily to the ruling. They
held public meetings to condemn the ruling.
c) This only led to more northerners uniting against slavery.
d) Instead of bringing harmony, the Court's decision further divided the
North and South.
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IV. Republicans Challenge Slavery
A. The Republican Party
1. People who opposed slavery were looking for a new political voice. In 1854, a
group gathered in Michigan to form the Republican Party.
a) wanted to keep slavery out of the western territories.
b) wanted to stop the spread of slavery.
2. 1856 - Republicans chose John C. Fremont to run for President.
a) He was a frontiersman who had fought for California's independence.
b) He had little political experience, but he opposed the spread of slavery.
c) Whigs nominated James Buchanan- from Pennsylvania but he sympathized
with southerners.
d) Buchanan won the election, but the Republicans made a strong showing.
B. Abe Lincoln of Illinois
1. 1858 - Abe Lincoln, a Republican, challenged Democrat Stephen Douglas for his
seat in the Senate. The election captured the attention of the whole nation.
a) Abe was born in the backcountry of Kentucky.
b) As a child, he spent only a year in school.
c) He taught himself to read and write.
d) He left home and opened a store in Illinois.
e) He studied law on his own and launched a career in politics.
f) Served eight years in the state legislature and one term in Congress.
g) His plainspoken manner made him a good speaker.
2. Lincoln challenged Douglas to a series of debates.
a) They debated seven times.
b) Douglas believed that popular sovereignty was the best way to solve the
slavery crisis.
c) Lincoln - Slavery was wrong and we could not ignore it. He bitterly
opposed the Kansas- Nebraska Act.
"African Americans are entitled to all of the natural rights in the
Declaration of Independence, the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit
to happiness."
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3. Douglas won the election by a slim margin.
a) Lincoln was a winner too. He was now known throughout the country.
C. John Brown's Raid
1. In the meantime, more bloodshed pushed the North and South apart.
a) 1859 - John Brown carried his antislavery campaign from Kansas to the
East. He led a group of followers, including five African Americans, to
Harpers Ferry, Virginia.
b) There, they raided a federal arsenal, or gun warehouse.
c) Brown thought that enslaved African Americans would flock to the
arsenal. He planned to give them weapons and lead a revolt.
d) Instead, troops led by Robert E. Lee killed 10 of the raiders and captured
Brown.
2. At his trial, Brown seemed perfectly sane. Southerners thought he was insane.
a) He was found guilty of murder and treason and sentenced to death.
b) Brown became a hero to many northerners.
c) To white southerners, the northern response to Brown's death was
outrageous.
V. The South Breaks Away
A. The Election of 1860
1. The Democratic Party split in two.
a) Northern Democrats chose Stephen Douglas.
b) Southern Democrats picked John Breckinridge of Kentucky.
c) The Constitutional Union Party chose John Bell of
Tennessee, a moderate who wanted to keep the Union together.
d) Republican candidate - Lincoln.
2. Lincoln carried the North and won the election.
a) Northerners outnumbered southerners and out voted them.
B. The Union is Broken
1. Many southerners believed that the President and Congress were now set against
them.
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2. Secession - On December 20, 1860, South Carolina was the first state to
secede.
a) By February 1, 1861, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and
Texas seceded.
b) The seven states that had seceded held a convention.
c) They formed a new nation and named it the Confederate States of
America.
d) Jefferson Davis became the first President of the Confederacy.
e) Few southerners thought that the North would fight to keep the South in
the Union.
C. War Comes
1. When Lincoln took office, he warned that no state could lawfully get out of the
Union.
a) However, there would be no war unless the South started it.
b) He did not want to risk losing the support of the slave states still in the
Union.
2. Federal Forts in the South - The Confederacy started seizing federal forts in
the South.
a) They felt that the forts were a threat because the United States was
now a "foreign" power.
b) Lincoln faced a difficult decision. Should he let the Confederates take
over federal property?
3. By April, Confederate troops controlled nearly all of the forts, post offices, and
other federal buildings in the South.
a) The Union held only three forts off of Florida and one off of South
Carolina.
4. Opening Shots-The fort in South Carolina, Fort Sumter, was important because
it guarded Charleston Harbor. The Confederates could not leave it in Union hands.
a) On April 12, 1861 the Confederate's asked for the forts surrender.
b) Major Robert Anderson, the Union commander refused to give in.
Confederate guns opened fire. Anderson and his troops quickly ran out of
ammunition. On April 13, Anderson surrendered the fort.
c) No one knew that this event marked the beginning of a terrible war that
would last four years.
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