Come up with a list of
7 details/events you
would use to define
and support the idea
of Sectionalism!
1) Outline the events that lead to southern
secession.
2) Detail the election of 1860.
Slavery dominated politics. Lincoln was running for Senate in 1858. In his campaign, he
made a prediction/statement… “A house divided against itself cannot stand” and “I
believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free”.
1856
Dred Scott Case
1857
Lecompton
Constitution
(Kansas)
December 1859
John Brown
Hanged
1858
Lincoln-Douglas
Debates
October 1859
Raid on
Harpers Ferry
1860
Presidential
Election
Refer to
your
GOLD
PACKET!!
It looks like

this…
This is the constitution put
together by the state of Kansas.
It was VERY pro-slavery!
It was voted down by the FreeSoil Party members in Kansas
overwhelmingly.
President Buchanan endorsed
the constitution anyways, and
sent it to Congress for final
approval. Douglas opposed it
strongly and swayed opinions in
Congress enough to get it
rejected.
Lincoln runs for Senate in Illinois. He is not well-known, so he challenges Douglas to a
series of debates in front of the public.
Douglas
believes in
popular
sovereignty
to decide the
issue.
Lincoln
believes
slavery is
immoral.
John Brown was a radical abolitionist. He concocted a plan to raid the US Federal Arsenal
at Harper’s Ferry, take the weapons, and arm the slaves in an uprising… it didn’t work!
After Harper’s Ferry, Brown is arrested and tried for high treason. He was hanged on
December 2nd.
Response to John Brown
- Northerners admired him
and his cause
- Southerners accused
northerners of plotting
slave uprisings and called
for secession!!
Background
At the Republican Convention, the delegates were
trying to decide between William Stewart and
Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln was not well known but
Stewart had offended some of the delegated in
the past. The delegates picked Lincoln!
Steven Douglas
John Breckinridge
John Bell
- Senator from Illinois - Current Vice-President - From Tennessee
- Backed by northern - Backed by southern
- Represented the
Democrats
Democrats
Constitutional
- Wanted popular
- Wanted slavery in
Union Party
sovereignty to decide
territories & rights of
- Did not take a
the issue of slavery
slave holders respected
stance on slavery
Abraham Lincoln
- Nominated by Republican
Party
- Believed slavery was
immoral
- Promised not to interfere
directly or indirectly with
slave holders
Results
Lincoln did not even appear on the ballot in many
southern states. Despite this, he won the election
by taking 180 electoral votes. He actually took less
than half of the popular vote. With the election of
Lincoln, the south decided to act…
Impact
South Carolina was first to secede in December
1860. The southern states met in February of
1861 and formed a confederacy. They elected
Jefferson Davis as their President!