Chapter 14
Storm Clouds Over the Nation
Differences Between the North
and South
• The North and South had many problems and
disagreements during the antebellum (before the
war) time period
• The North was dealing with issues with
immigrants who were coming over in great
numbers.
• Some Northern workers became known as wage
slaves because of the poor working and living
conditions
Political Differences
• The North and South looked to different
government standards to support their views
• Northerners followed Article VI of the
Constitution which said that the Constitution
would be the “supreme law of the land”
• The Southerners countered that the federal
government did not have power over state
government and used Amendment X of the
Constitution as support
Slavery in America
• Slaves were brought
from Africa on the
Middle Passage where
they were chained
underneath the deck in
horrid and disgusting
conditions
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Life on a Southern Plantation
• The master, or slave owner, was in charge and
gave responsibility to the overseer, who
distributed the work among the slaves and kept
them in line
• Different types of systems were used. Gang
systems were sometimes used where the slaves
would work in large groups every day
• The other system was the task system in which the
overseer gave the slaves specific tasks
Black Responses
• Many slaves ran away
using the
Underground Railroad
which gave slaves
who escaped to the
Northern states a
chance at freedom
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Black Leaders
• Frederick Douglass-former slave who
spoke against slavery and wrote his
autobiography while becoming the leading
black abolitionist (person who wanted to
ban slavery)
• Harriet Tubman-former slave who risked
her life and freedom by going back over and
over to help other blacks escape
Northern and Southern
Responses
• Many Northerners didn’t care one way or the other
about slavery but abolitionists like William Lloyd
Garrison and Horace Greeley fought against it
• Garrison was the editor of a newspaper called the
Liberator and Greeley published writings which
fought slavery
• White southerners tended to support slavery
because the economy depended on it while the
slaves let their views be known by singing songs
called spirituals which told of their feelings and
hope
The Slavery Issue Intensifies
• The publication Uncle
Tom’s Cabin, by
Harriet Beecher
Stowe, daughter of a
preacher caused the
South to ban the book
for promoting antislavery views
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Kansas-Nebraska Act
• When Kansas and Nebraska applied for
statehood, the slavery issue was debated
again
• Stephen Douglas of Illinois supported
popular sovereignty so each state could
decide themselves
• The Kansas-Nebraska Act passed but both
sides fought each other over the issue
The Republican Party
• The Republican Party was created during
this time when the Conscience Whigs joined
with the Northern Democrats and Free
Soilers to oppose slavery
• They soon ran a candidate for President but
John Fremont was defeated by Democrat
James Buchanan
Sumner-Brooks Episode
• The differences of opinion were illustrated
after Senator Charles Sumner of
Massachusetts that blasted the KansasNebraska Act and South Carolina Senator
Andrew Butler
• Butler’s relative, Preston Brooks, responded
by beating Sumner unconscious with his
cane a few days later
Dred Scott Decision
• Dred Scott-elderly black man born into
slavery whose master died while he was
living in a free state.
• According to law, Scott was now free but
his case went to the Supreme Court where
Roger B. Taney ruled that Scott was still a
slave
Attacks on Slavery
• John Brown-abolitionist who used violence
to fight slavery by murdering 5 pro-slavery
me and then going to Harper’s Ferry,
Virginia to take hold of government
weapons
• Brown was defeated by Robert E. Lee and
was hanged for his actions
The Election of 1860
• The South was nervous about the election
and a group of Southerners called fireeaters threatened secession, leaving the
Union, if Republicans won
• The Democrats were divided on candidates.
Northern Democrats chose Stephen Douglas
to run while Southern Democrats chose
John C. Breckinridge
The Election of 1860
• The Republican Party chose Abraham
Lincoln, who was a moderate
• Some of the people were upset with the
choice of Lincoln and chose John Bell of
Tennessee to run under the Constitutional
Union Party
Secession
• Many Southern states feel that their rights
will be taken away with Lincoln as
President and follow South Carolina in
seceding and forming the Confederate
States of America
• Jefferson Davis was elected President and
Alexander Stephens became vice president
Fort Sumter and War
• The Confederacy had taken control of all forts in
the South except Fort Pickens in Pensacola, FL
and Fort Sumter in Charleson, SC
• Lincoln sent a ship to resupply Fort Sumter and
the Confederacy attacked it and the fort
• Robert Anderson, the Union commander, gave up
the fort after being under attack for 40 hours
• Lincoln began to recruit soldiers and also
influenced part of Virginia to create their own
government and become West Virginia