The Coming of the Civil War
The Impending Crisis
Two Nations
Two Nations
• North believed slavery was
wrong based on religion
• South attacked uncaring
northern industrialists who took
no personal responsibility for
workers
Harriet Beecher Stowe
• Uncle Tom’s Cabin: Eliza Harris, a
slave, escapes when her child is
to be sold
• Uncle Tom is sold and is killed by
his brutal master, Simon Legree
Differences
• North had urban, large
population; new technology;
more railroads; telegraph;
factories
• South had more slaves and
cotton
Telegraph
New Political Parties
Election of 1848
• Democrats: Lewis Cass
• Whigs: Zachary Taylor
• Free Soil Party took votes away from
Cass to give Taylor the victory
• Taylor dies in 1850; Millard Fillmore
takes office
Zachary Taylor
Millard Fillmore
Compromise of 1850
• Henry Clay of Kentucky proposes
a compromise to admit
California as a free state
• John Calhoun of SC against
• Daniel Webster for
Daniel Webster
Provisions
• 1. Admit CA as free state
• 2. Territories of New Mexico and Utah decide for
themselves
• 3. Abolish sale of slaves in Washington, D.C.
• 4. Slavery remained legal in Washington, D.C.
• 5. Fugitive Slave Act: all citizens must assist in the
return of runaway slaves to owners; no jury trial for
slaves
Political Parties
• Decline of the Whig party
• Election of 1852: Franklin Pierce,
a Democrat, defeats Winfield
Scott, a Whig
• Know-Nothing Party: against
immigrants
Kansas-Nebraska Act
• Stephen Douglas of Illinois
wanted to run for President
• Act supported popular
sovereignty for area
• Passed but made North angry
Two New Parties
• Republicans
• Know-Nothings (against
immigrants, Irish Catholics)
wanted native Americans to
have best treatment
Republican Party
• Dedicated to stopping “Slave
Power”
• Demanded repeal of the KansasNebraska Act and Fugitive Slave
Act
Republicans
• Comprised of antislavery
Democrats, Whigs, and Free
Soilers from North
• Small business owners,
craftworkers, farmers,
professionals
The System Fails
Violence Begins
• Free soilers: 1,200 New
Englanders sent to Kansas to
fight against slavery
• Proslavery settlers opposed
them
• 1856, open violence
Two Capitals
• Free soilers capital was in
Topeka, Kansas; against slavery
• Proslavery capital was in
Lecompton, Kansas
“Bleeding Kansas”
• John Brown: Following a raid in
Lawrence by a proslavery group,
he and his followers killed five
proslavery men
• Summer of murder and raids
Bleeding Kansas
John Brown
John Brown’s Raid
• 1859, Brown and his men
attacked the federal arsenal at
Harper’s Ferry, Virginia
• Wanted a slave uprising
• Colonel Robert E. Lee leads
troops; Brown is executed.
Senate Violence
• Senator Charles Sumner, a
Republican, attacked Southerners
for slavery
• Preston Brooks beat him with his
cane
• Sumner lived but never recovered;
added to hatred
Election of 1856
• Democrats nominated James
Buchanan
• Republicans nominated John C.
Fremont
• Know-Nothings chose Millard
Fillmore
Buchanan
• Buchanan wins the election
• He hoped that the Supreme
Court would use its power to
resolve the slavery issue.
• Next decision angers the North
even more
James Buchanan
Scott v. Sandford
• The Dred Scott Decision 1857;
Scott sued his owner
• Said that he and his wife were
taken to states and territories
where slavery was illegal and
should be free
Dred Scott
Ruling
• 7 to 2 against Scott
• Slaves are not citizens and cannot
sue in court
• Scott not free due to being in free
area
• Missouri Compromise declared
unconstitutional
Lecompton Constitution
• Proslavery group wrote a
proslavery constitution for
Kansas
• Buchanan accepted it, but
Congress returned it.
• Defeated by Kansas people
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
• Campaigning for Senate
• Series of seven debates on the
issue of slavery in the territories.
• Physical contrast in the men
• Douglas wins election
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
• Studied law and worked at various
jobs
• Served in the Congress in the 1840s
• Believed that the majority could not
deny the minority their rights
• Foresaw confrontation
Stephen Douglas
Senator Douglas
• Short, stout
• Believed that the majority of people
could do anything they wished,
even make slavery legal
• Lincoln gets national attention
A Nation Divided Against
Itself
Border States
• Delaware
• Maryland
• Kentucky
• Missouri
The Election of 1860
In April 1860, Democratic Party split
into North and South factions
In Border States, the Constitutional
Union party forms from Whigs and
American party (Know Nothing)
Candidates in1860
• Southern Democrats: John C. Breckinrigde
• Northern Democrats: Stephen Douglas,
Illinois
• Constitutional Union party: John Bell,
Tennessee
• Republican party: Abraham Lincoln, Illinois
And the winner was…
• Lincoln wins with 39% of the vote and 180
electoral votes
– A sectional victory
– Hadn’t even been on southern ballots!!
Lincoln’s First
Inauguration