Background to the Civil War









Political Parties
Wilmot Proviso
Compromise of 1850
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Kansas Nebraska Act--“Bleeding Kansas”
Republican Party
Dred Scott
John Brown
Election of 1860
Political Parties







Democrats—strongest in South
More democratic
Generally pro-slavery
Whigs—stronger in North
More elitist
Generally anti-spread of slavery
BUT there were southern Whigs and northern
Democrats
Wilmot Proviso (August 1846)




Proposal to prohibit slavery in new
territories gained from Mexico
Divided upon sectional lines
Northern Democrats supported
Whigs supported
Possible solutions






Extend Louisiana Purchase line across
Popular sovereignty (Lewis Cass,
Stephen Douglas)—but when?
Cass became Democratic nominee in
1848
Whigs nominated Zachary Taylor
Northern Whigs did not support Taylor
Free Soil Party formed
Zachary Taylor




Southern slaveholder
William Seward (antislavery) was chief
advisor
Southerners regretted his election
Virginia newspapers—Richmond Whig
and Richmond Enquirer
Compromise Proposal (Clay)




California admitted free
New Mexico and Utah with no reference
to slavery
Texas territory reduced; Texas debts
assumed
Slave trade abolished in DC but slavery
itself guaranteed
Speeches



Webster: “speak as an American”
Calhoun: “equilibrium destroyed”
Seward: “slavery an unjust, backward,
dying institution. . . Higher law than
Constitution”
Compromise of 1850





President Taylor died in July
Millard Fillmore (Buffalo) becomes
president
Fillmore disliked Seward (NY factions)
and favored compromise
Stronger fugitive slave law added
Compromise passed
William Graham (NC) to
brother, Jan. 1851
“I think the settlement of the last session
and the firm course of the
Administration in the execution of the
fugitive slave law have given a new
lease to slavery. Property of that kind
has not been so secure for the last
twenty-five years.”
Fugitive Slave Law




Most divisive of the compromise
measures
Law of 1793 allowed southerners to
come North capture fugitive slaves
Northern “liberty laws” gave captives
legal rights
Law of 1850 gave captives no legal
rights
Prigg v. Pennsylvania (1842)



Prigg appealed conviction for
kidnapping
Supreme Court ruled Pennsylvania
liberty law unconstitutional
But also that enforcement of 1793
fugitive slave law was federal
responsibility
Northern reaction to Fugitive
Slave Law




Some northern states passed more
liberty laws
Northerners formed community
committees to aid runaway slaves
Underground Railroad
Southerners saw vast conspiracy
Fugitive Slave Law (1850)




First 15 months, 84 fugitives returned,
only 5 released
During decade, 332 returned, 11
declared free
No statute of limitations
Many blacks went to Canada
Cases



William and Ellen Craft—protected by
Boston anti-slavery group
Shadrach—waiter had escaped from
Virginia—captured in Boston but
rescued and sent to Canada
Thomas Sims—captured and sent South
Christiana, Pennsylvania
(Sept. 1851)
Maryland slaveowner killed and son
wounded attempting to capture slave.
Resisters charged with treason, but
case collapsed
Fugitive Cases




William McHenry (Jerry) rescued from
police station in Syracuse
Henry “Box” Brown
Henry Long
Anthony Burns
Henry Long






Russell County Virginia owner
Long worked in Richmond
Escaped to New York
Returned to Richmond
Sold south
Richmond Enquirer covered story
Uncle Tom’s Cabin




Harriet Beecher Stowe
Best seller of all time in proportion to
population
Southerners hated it: “detestable and
monstrous”
Pro-slavery novels: Uncle Robin in His
Cabin in Virginia and Tom Without One
in Boston
Kansas Nebraska Act







Stephen Douglas
Transcontinental RR
Popular Sovereignty
Repeal of Missouri Compromise
End of Whigs
Formation of Republican Party
Emergence of Lincoln
“Bleeding Kansas”





Anti-slavery leaders to fight there
New England Emigrant Aid Company
Amos Lawrence
Pro-slavery settlers from Missouri
outnumbered anti-slavery Kansans
Violence broke out—1855-56
John Brown in Kansas



"These men are all talk. What we need
is action - action!"
Pottawatomie massacre
James Doyle and two sons (slavecatchers and members of the Law and
Order Party)
Pro-slavery Missourian
David Aitchison
To Jefferson Davis and Robert Hunter:
“We are organizing. We will be compelled
to shoot, burn & hang, but the thing
will soon be over. . . .If we win we
carry slavery to the Pacific Ocean, if we
fail we lose Missouri Arkansas Texas
and all the territories.”
Violence in Senate




Sumner caned by Brooks, May 1856
Northerners outraged
Southern students contributed to buy
Brooks new cane
Southern reaction outraged Northerners
even more
Republican Party




1854
Response to Kansas-Nebraska Act
“Free Labor, free land, free men.”
Opposed expansion of slavery
President Buchanan,
1856






Considered pro-South
Accepted Lecompton Constitution for
Kansas (pro-slavery)
Northerners considered it a fraud
Split Democratic Party
More fighting in Congress
Lecompton defeated; Kansas statehood
delayed until 1861
Dred Scott




Belonged to army surgeon from
Missouri
Had been taken to Illinois, Minnesota
Scott sued for freedom in 1846
Went to federal court
Dred Scott





Supreme Court heard case
3 questions:
Could Scott sue in federal court?
Was he free from stays in free
territories/state?
Was Fort Snelling in Minn. Territory free
territory?
Dred Scott





Chief Justice Roger Taney
issued a comprehensive pro-slavery
ruling:
Blacks could not sue in federal courts
Stay in free territory did not make him
free
Congress had no right to ban slavery in
territories
Harper’s Ferry, 1859
Reaction to Harpers Ferry Raid



Search Valley project newspapers
Southerners used words like “outrage,”
“rebellion”
Northerners generally supported cause,
but criticized methods
Election of 1860




Lincoln—Republican
Douglas—Democrat (northern)
Breckenridge—Democrat (southern)
Bell—(Constitution and Union—mostly
Whigs)
National Results, 1860
39.8%
29.5%
18.1%
12.6%
Electoral College, 1860
Election of 1860




Voting by precinct—Augusta
http://valley.lib.virginia.edu/VoS/tablesa
ndstats/augusta/aelection60_1.html
Voting by precinct—Franklin
http://valley.lib.virginia.edu/VoS/tablesa
ndstats/franklin/frelection60_1.html