Causes of the American War – brief revision notes
Abolitionism: associated with religious revival of the 1830’s. A radical message: immediate abolition, no compensation.
Antagonised North and South but due to persistent propaganda had, by 1850’s converted many in North that slavery was wrong.
Missouri Compromise 1820: Missouri was part of the Louisiana Purchase. It had been settled mainly by Southerners who brought
their slaves. Missouri had therefore accepted into the Union as a slave state BUT slavery excluded from Louisiana purchase North or
36 30. This was done to overcome Northern objections to Missouri’s entry as a slave.
Nullification Crisis 1832: Tariffs proposed and accepted by the Federal Government in Washington where to protect nascent
Northern industries. South feared British relation that would hit their cotton sales. South Carolina challenged fed.govt by nullifying
tariffs but no other Southern States would support. This made S.C. amendable to accepting Henry Clay’s proposal to reduce tariffs.
War against Mexico 1846-1847; Texas had fought and won its independence from Mexico in 1836. Became the ‘Lone Star
State’ when the President recognised potential sectional conflict if it admitted as slave state (there were already slaves
there). Texas was admitted to the union just before President Polk was elected in 1844.
Polk was an expansionist and looked for an opportunity to declare war against Mexico so that he could take California and New
Mexico. He sent troops to support Texan claims to Mexican territory (claiming extra land reaching to the Rio Grande). This provoked a
Mexican attack against American troops. War began in 1846 and the Americans were successful.
1847 Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo ended war and “allowed” USA to “purchase” the Mexican territories of California and New
Mexico. This proved to be the main issue dividing America politics over the next four years-would these lands enter the
Union as slave or Free states.
Emerson: “The United States will conquer Mexico but it will be as a man who swallows the arsenic which brings him down. Mexico
will poison us” And it did…
Even before the end of the Mexican war Northern Democrats demonstrated their displeasure against their own Democratic President
Polk (he had upset them with accepting less land than promised in his Oregon Treaty with Britain, he had promised a boundary at
54N but settled for 49 N, i.e., he settled for less than he had promised in his election campaign; he had reduced tariffs; he had vetoes
a River and Harbours Bill. They hit back with…
The Wilmot Proviso: this stated that whatever land was gained from Mexico, slavery would be barred from there. Sectional struggle,
as North wanted acceptance of Proviso, South wanted rejection,
Meanwhile………..1848 Presidential Elections won by Taylor.
He made the situation worse by encouraging California to bypass territorial status and apply immediately as a state. South enraged as
there would be no time to settle and establish slavery there. (Those already in California were Free State supporters).
Henry Clay’s Compromise proposals, the Omnibus laws:
Proposal
Admit California as free
New Mexico and Utah be organised as territories
New Mexico gained land at the expense of Texas in return for Texan
debts taken over be Fed.govt
Slave trade, Washington, D.C to be abolished but slavery cd.continue
A new, stricter Fugitive Slave Law introduced.
Suit North or South
North
South Believed this gave them time to ‘plant’
their institution there. This is unlikely.
More land likely to be free as New Mexico be
divided up into more than one state.
North as institution likely to wither here
South
Henry Clay’s proposals were not accepted, his strategy had not worked-instead Stephen Douglas pushed them through Congress, but
as separate measures, persuading moderates to support ach law. The 1850 Compromise became 5 separate laws.
Fugitive Slave Law 1850
 Offensive to North as they faced with sizeable fines for aiding escaped slaved and faced with joining in hunt/chase for slave
if ordered.
 Fugitive slaves were denied trail by jury.
 Case could be tried by special commissioner whose fee determined by verdict 10$ or 5$
South watched jealously to see if the North complied and saw they didn’t. Some states introduced new Personal Liberty Laws to get
around it; mobs freed slaves who held in gaol; Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ widely read and convinced
Northerners of the immorality of slavery.
1852 Presidential Elections won by President Pierce (Democrat): he wanted to keep slavery issue out of politics, unfortunately he
presided over the Ostend Manifesto where some of his European ambassadors met to plan how to but Cuba. North angry- if
purchased Cuba, slavery already there-would it enter the Union as slave state??? So great was the fuss the Pierce forced to drop the
idea.
1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act (Stephen Douglas): HE WANTED A TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD LINK TO THE Pacific with its
terminus at Chicago (he owned land there). His initial move was to get the territory of Nebraska settled. But to get his Nebraska Bill
through Congress he would need Southern support. He worked closely with senator Aitcheson of Missouri BUT Stephen Douglas
didn’t anticipate the clash that was to come.
The Price...............Aitcheson insisted on the repeal of the 1820 Missouri Compromise, hoping that some of these Northern Louisiana
Purchase lands might be settled by slave owners. Stephen Douglas introduced the Kansas-Nebraska Act and he repealed the
Missouri Compromise. He emphasised that Popular Sovereignty should decide the status of a territory.
The Results…………
1. intensification of abolished propaganda
2. Substantial losses by Northern Democrats in subsequent elections as Northerners express their disapproval of K-N Act.
3. In this way the Democrat party came to be dominated by South
4. Some Northern Democrats joined smaller parties setting up to oppose the K-N Act, these eventually joined the new
Republican party.
5. Bleeding Kansas.
Bleeding Kansas, November 1855-May 1856: Kansas set up as territory. Elections held for territorial government = electoral
malpractice as Missourians crossed the border to vote. Supporters of free state Kansas had own elections. Result two
governments in Kansas: Lecompton (pro slave) and Topeka (free state supporters)
May 1856 famous for clashes
 Sack of Lawrence (by pro slavers)
 Bleeding Summer (attacked by Senator Brooks)
 Potawatomie Massacre (by John Brown)
ALL NOTEABLE AS NONE REPORTED FAIRLY OR TRUTHFULLY BY EITHER SIDE AND THEY FUELLED SECTIONAL
RESENTMENT.
Decline of Whigs & rise of Republicans (including Nativist movement):see model essay
Dred Scott case: He claimed freedom on basis of residence in Free State (Illinois) & free territory (Wisconsin).
Case heard, eventually by the Supreme Court in Washington. Main issues:
1. Did he have right to appeal to Supreme Court i.e., was he a U.S.A. citizen?
2. Had residence in Free State made him free?
The Supreme Court found 7:2 against him. Judge Tany argued Founding Fathers never intended to make African-American citizens, so Dred-Scott wasn’t a citizen.
 Slaves were property so neither Congress nor State Govts, could decide on territory free or slave.
Results: South believed itself vindicated-they were right all along; Rumours began in North of a Slave Power Conspiracy-the next
Supreme Court Judgement might force Northern States to accept slavery. The idea pushed by Abraham Lincoln and the
Republicans as they could see it would have a political advantage for in the North.
Lecompton Constitution: the official government of Kansas at Lecompton organised elections for a Constitutional Conventionthis would draw up a constitution and, once agreed, they would apple to congress for admittance to the union as the state of
Kansas with the pro-slave constitution that they had drawn up
Pro-slavers won as a free state supporters and did not vote – suspected there would be a electral malpractice. The new governer, R.
Walker did find evidence of electral malpractice. Eventually there were proper elections for a state government (not a new
constitutional convention) and so free state supporters, at last, became the official government of Kansas.
BUT…………..
President Buchanan was willing to accept pro-slavery constitution and there were ill-tempered debates in congress as to whether to
accept it.
Stephen Doughlas, a fellow democrat led the opposition against the proposed Kansas constitution. He was successful.
Results: Democrat party split over the issue.
In the mid term elections of 1858, Abraham Lincoln stood as a Republican candidate in Illinois against Stephen Doughlas and this led
to a number of public debates between the two men.
The Lincoln-Doughlas debates 1858
Stephen Douglas
In importance, he emphasised the integrity of the Union
as a more important issue than the issue of slavery
He wanted the issue taken from the national political
arena and to be decided by Popular Sovereignty ie
people decide whether a territory would be slave or free
He pronounced Freeport Doctorine: slavery could only
exist where local people wanted it to, otherwise they
would pass state laws to ensure that it could not.
Abraham Lincoln
Emphasised that he was committed to the Union but
that the extension of slavery had to be challenged.
He believed that Congress had the moral obligation
and right to fecide upon a territory’s status – slave or
free and that Congress must oppose the spread of the
institution of slavery
He claimed, wrongly, that the Republican Party would
abolish slavery and that Illinois would have to receive
thousands of emancipated slaves.
He did not want immediate abolition, he wanted slavery
to eventually wither and die. This would happen if it did
not spread.
John Brown’s Harpers Ferry Ride
His raid depend sectional tensions and convinced many southerners that their “peculiar institution” was not safe in the Union. John
Brown was a fanatical abonitionalist (he was responsible for the Pottawatomis Massacre) and he believed he was doing God’s work.
His aim in seizing Harpers Ferry was to gather arms and to incite a slave rebellion which would bring about the collapse of slavery.
This aim frightened the South and they were even more concerned when they learned that he had financial backing from a number of
the Northern Businesses (made it like a conspiracy).
He crossed the Potomac into Virginia and captured the Federal Arsenal at Harpers Ferry. He forced some slaves to join him and took
hostages. He was eventually forces to surrender by Colonel Robert Lee. He was tried for treason and murder, found guilty and
executed; there was a public mourning in the North.
Results
 His eloquent plea from the scaffold for the abolition of slavery won the admiration of many Northerners
 Abolitionist saw him a “new saint awaiting his martyrdom” while his death would “make the gallows glorious like the cross”.
His execution was marked by public mourning in the North.
 The raid awakened the deepest fear in the Southerners – a slave rebellion would result in widespread murder. Luckily Nat
Turner’s Rebellion in 1831 had been stopped early on and only 57 white people were killed. Slave insurrection was the
deepest held fear of the Southerners
 Fire Eaters (encouraged belief that only secession would safeguard slavery) were now taken seriously and many in the
South decided they should secede if there was a republican victory in the 1860 presidential elections.
1860 Presidential Elections
The election campaign that the Democrats were split along sectional lines, and as such it was likely that the Republican Candidate
would win and so the election turned out to be a sectional election with Lincoln v. Doughlas in the North and Bell v. Breckinridge in
the South.
Democrat Cnovention held at Charlston S.C. demonstrated the serious split in the Democrat Party. Southern Democrats could not
forgive Stephen Douglas’ successful challenge against Buchanan over pro-slavery constitution for Kansas. (This was despite the fact
that Douglas had been responsible for the Kansas Nesbraska Act that had repeated the Missouri Compromise.)
Southerners would not accept Stephen Douglas at the Charleston Convection and so he didn’t get the 2/3 majority required to stand
as the Democrat candidate n the elections.
A second democrat convection was held at Baltimore, Southerners didn’t take their places and Stephen Douglas won the nomination.
SO...
Southern Democrats met and chose their own candidate - Breckinridge. The Democrat party was now firmly split along sectional
lines and therefore neither of their candidates was likely to win the Presidensy and this helped Lincoln win it in November 1860.
The Republican Convection was held in Chicago and their platform reflected the fact that they were confident of the anti-slavery
vote and so they widened their platform to include economic issues such as the protective tariff and the introduction of a homestead
act.
Lincoln was chosen on the 3rd ballot as their candidate.
A 4th party emerged - Constitutional Union Party. Their candidate was Bell and they wanted to avoid the slavery issue altogether.
Lincoln won the Presidential elections. This was important because up until this point, the Democrat party was in power for most of
the 1848-1860 period and the South usually control the Democrat Party. IN this way the South had been used to controlling the
government. They would have no such control anymore. When this fact was considered together with the Harper’s Ferry Raid and
their view of The Republican party as the ‘Black Republicans, South Carolina was determined to act Republicans controlled neither
the Senate nor the House of Representatives and did not pose a threat to slavery.
There were 15 Southern states: 7 joined S. Carolina in intermediate secession, 4 joined after Fort Sumter and the 4 Border States
remained with the Union.
Secession of Lower South
This was not inevitable. There was Unionist sympathy in the South...not all had been won over by the Fire Eaters? South Carolina
seized initiative and organized elections for a convection. The convection met on the 17th December 1860 and the votes secede. S.C
then sent representatives to other states to persuade them to do likewise (S.C. didn’t want the isolation the occurred in the
Nullification Crisis.) Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida and eventually Texas held convection
elections.
Voters could choose between secessionist and cooperationists. (A broad sweep of opinion among cooperationists consisted of
outright opponents of secession with those who wanted secession but not quite yet.)
All of these states seceded.
Republicans saw the convections as part of the Slave Power Conspiracy (S. Douglas’ repeal of Missouri compose in his KansasNebraska Act + the Dread Scott decision + Buchanan’ attempt to get Congress to accept the Le common constitution admitting
Kansas to the Union, all suggested that a slave power conspiracy existed). They believed that a small section of wealthy planters had
influenced poorer voters to agree and so many in the North didn’t take the secession as seriously as they should have, so leading to a
lack of action and an outbreak of civil war.
The Confederacy
Representatives of these states met at Montgomery, Alabama to form their new constitution and vote for a president - they chose
Jefferson Davis to lead the Confederate States of America.
They wanted to present a moderate image in order to...
 Win doreign recognition
 Gain the support of the upper South, which would make all the differences to any war effort, if war broke out
Attempts to find a compromise
Not undertaken by Buchanan who remained as President between November 1860 - March 1861, neither did he challenge Lower
South states when they seized Federal property. Congress sought to resolve the situation. Crittenden recommended a compromise:
extend the Missouri Compromise across the whole continent to include land beyond the original Louisiana Purchase. This would give
South hope that there might be slavery expansion. He also suggested that there would be no interface by Congress where slavery
already existed.
This was too much like surrender to the Republicans who rejected his proposals. Other ideas were also rejected. Lincoln made it clear
that he would not accept disunion - it would set a precedent that could completely destroy the Union but he took no immediate action
because he hoped that the move for disunion would eventually be dropped, as the unionists in the South would reassert themselves.
Lincoln’s inaugural speech March 1861
This was conciliatory but firm; he made it clear that he would not interfere with slavery where it already existed AND he made it clear
that saw secession as illegal. He said that he intended to hold onto federal property in the South.
Lincoln’s speech impressed the Border States and Northern Democrats with his attempts to conciliate while being clear about his
views on disunion. The Upper South did not want war - it was investable that their homes and farms would become battleground.
However Lincoln’s inaugural speech was an important outbreak of war. He pledged that he would keep what remained of
Federal property in the South (Fort Pickens and Fort Sumter) and if he were to maintain credibility in the North, he would have to act if
either was threatened. Meanwhile Jefferson Davis considered that it was a dishonour to the new Confederacy that a ‘foreign’ flag flew
in Charleston’s harbor, he was determined to take over Fort Sumter.
This put both leaders on a collision course over Fort Sumter, as neither could give way without enormous loss of face and authority.
Fort Sumter
A federal fort in a middle of Charleston harbour which in the secessionists had not yet taken over.
By March 1861 it had become the symbol of national sovereignty to both sides. The garrison was short of supplies and Lincoln
knew any attempt to re-supply the fort could lead to war. Winfield Scott told Lincoln that the fort could not be held and should be
evacuated but Northern opinion demanded that it should be re-supplied. It was clear that Lincoln was hoping for a settlement as this
point because he did not take provocative act by sending military supplies, only food, which he sent on 9 th April 1861.
Jefferson Davis would now have to decide what to do. Hoping that the crisis would bring upper South into the Confederacy, Davis
ordered General Beauregard to take the fort before it was re-supplied. Beauregard demanded surrender, which Anderson, at Fort
Sumter refused. Confederate forces fired and for the next 33 hours shots were exchanged. Anderson surrendered amid Northern
demands for war.
Secession of the upper South
Lincoln called for all states to send troops. This forced the upper South states to decide what to do. Virginia, Arkansas, North
Carolina and Tennessee voted secede.
Four border states did not secede at this point: Delaware, Maryland, Missouri and Kentucky.