THE COMING OF
THE CIVIL WAR
1850s: The Decade of Crisis
CHAPTERS 18 & 19
“YOUNG AMERICA” Movement
Democracy will triumph everywhere!
• Distraction from sectional strife – look to foreign affairs;
Douglas is spokesperson (“Henry Clay” of his generation)
• Manifest Destiny continues – emotional; democracy will
triumph anywhere – aid revolutions abroad to spread
democracy
• Predictions that Europe will become one “great
Republic” - “We’ll all be citizens of the world!”
– Horace Greeley, New York Tribune
• Leads to thoughts of Cuba, Central America
– N accuses S of plot to obtain more slavery territory
– But real need (CA) for canal across Central America
Expansionist Young America
in the 1850s
America’s Attempted Raids into Latin America
ELECTION OF 1852
Slavery Breaks Party Unity
• WHIGS
• Winfield Scott
• Party splits
– Doubts of Scott’s
loyalty to
Compromise of
1850 & Fugitive
Slave Law
• Split foreshadows the
Civil War with split
being N & S
• DEMOCRATS
• Franklin Pierce
– Unknown
• Expansionist
– Wants Nicaragua
(canal)
– Wants Cuba
The Mediocre Presidents (from the Simpsons)
• All: We are the mediocre presidents
You won't find our faces on dollars or on cents!
• There's Taylor, there's Tyler
There's Fillmore and there's Hayes
There's William Henry Harrison
Harrison: I died in thirty days!
• All: We... are... the...
Adequate, forgettable
Occasionally regrettable
Caretaker presidents of the U-S-A!
• http://www.simpsoncrazy.com/music-lyrics
FOREIGN AFFAIRS:
• 1850 CLAYTON-BULWER TREATY:
– US & GB / joint control of a canal across Central Am.
• NICARAGUA:
– Walker seizes control, declares himself President & legalizes
slavery
– Eventually ousted but keeps trying to regain control
– Pierce withdraws recognition; executed by firing squad, 1860
• CUBA:
– P Pierce offers Spain $130 million
– OSTEND MANIFESTO:
• Confidential dispatch to State Dept: if Spain won’t sell take it by force
• Leaked - N outraged! (Cuba one large sugar plantation)
• Plans for Cuba dropped
OPENING OF JAPAN
• U.S. had been trading
with China for some time
& wants to trade with
Japan too
• Japanese reluctant to
trade with U.S. – felt too
much contact with the
“West” would destroy
their culture
• Commodore Matthew C.
Perry sent by President
Fillmore to negotiate a
trade treaty with Japan
• Japanese impressed by Perry’s steamships &
firepower; realizes it can’t compete with Western
technology & weapons and signed trade treaty
• TREATY OF KANAGAWA, 1854 – Terms?
– Japan began to “Westernize” its technology &
began its own industrial revolution which will
lead ot the building of a powerful navy &
Japanese imperialism
– What later impact will this have on America?
MEANWHILE…
SECTIONAL STRIFE CONTINUES
• ABOLITIONISTS INTERFERE
WITH ENFORCEMENT OF
FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW
– S accuses N of breaking Compromise of
1850
– Northern Personal Liberty Laws
– BUT… most Northerners didn’t really
take action to interfere
– Ableman v. Booth, 1859 upholds
constitutionality of Fugitive Slave Law
Underground Railroad continues successfully
Literary Attacks on Slavery
UNCLE TOM’S CABIN
• Harriett Beecher Stowe
• 1852 sold 10,000 copies first week!
• S criticizes - plantation life
distorted; slaves atypical
• Her personal style, memorable
characters, separation of families
endeared book to its readers &
swayed many
• N convinced slavery would be ruin
of America
• “So this is the little lady who started
the big war!” - Abraham Lincoln
“The Impending Crisis
of the South”
• Hinton R. Helper, 1857
• An anti-slavery writer from
NC (but not in favor of racial
equality – racist tendencies)
• Detailed how slavery actually
hurt non-slaveowners in the
South
– Arguments didn’t take hold
with poor whites
– BUT did with Northerners
– Increased fears of S planter elite
KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT
• 1854, STEPHEN DOUGLAS
– Both N & S want transcontinental RR line to CA & OR
– S line would go thru already organized territory & be easier to defend
– Douglas wants Chicago to be hub of N line & seeks organization of
Nebraska Territory but needs support of S to make it happen
– (motivated by desire for RR development & land speculation - need
territorial govt)
• Introduces KS-NE ACT which provided for 2 new territories
to be carved out of LA Purchase area - KS & NE
• SLAVERY DECIDED BY POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY (KS
as slave & NE as free?)
• Repealed portion of MO Compromise banning slavery N of
36’30’ line & wrecked Compromise of 1850
• N protests to a level not seen since Stamp & Intolerable Acts!
• N refuses to enforce FSL - will have a major impact on the
South preparing to secede
KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT
“BLEEDING KANSAS”
• Most settlers in KS did not own slaves
– just wanted land
• Both N & S determined to have KS
• Many pro-slavery Missourians move in
• 5000 of these “border ruffians” descend in 1855 to elect
territorial legislature - promptly enact slave code
(Democrats) [Lecompton]
• Antislavery settlers hold their own election – [Topeka]
so there are two govts in KS in 1856
– P Pierce denounces this free-state govt in Topeka
– Proslavery forces attack antislavery - Lawrence, KS
• Major responsibility for KS tragedy goes to Pierce!
•
John Brown:
•
Madman, Hero or
•
Martyr?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Vigilante
May 1856
Pottawatomie Creek
Brutally murdered, hacked off
hands of 5 pro-slavery men in
retaliation for 5 anti-slavery men
killed by them in Lawrence
Leads to terror, mayhem from
both sides
Brown goes into hiding
Over 200 dead by then
Republicans dub it “Bleeding
Kansas”
Dress rehearsal of Civil War
POINT OF NO RETURN!
“The Crime Against Kansas”
Sen. Charles Sumner
(R-MA)
Congr. Preston Brooks
(D-SC)
Sumner/Butler Senate Conflict, May 1856
• CHARLES SUMNER
– MA Sen.; loudmouth abolitionist (“Crime against KS speech,”
denounces pro-slaveryites & SC)
– Deranged, egotistical, combative
– Demands KS come in at once as a free state
– Attacks Douglas & Butler (SC) - “drooling”
• ANDREW BUTLER (PRESTON BROOKS)
– (not present); defended by his nephew Congressman- Preston
Brooks who is also unbalanced
– canes Sumner on Senate floor; injuries keep him out of Senate
for 3.5 years!
– House censures him; resigns; later re-elected by Southerners
• N MAKES HERO OF SUMNER & keeps electing him
• S SENDS BROOKS MORE CANES!
ELECTION OF 1856
• WHIGS DISSOLVED, 2 new parties:
• Americans -- the Know-Nothings
– Millard Fillmore
– anti-immigration; national party
– adopt slavery stance of either section
• Republicans
– former Free Soilers, Whigs
– sectional party - N only
– Gen. Fremont: “Free soil, free speech, and
Fremont”
• Issues: illegitimate child (“free love”), Catholic
• DEMOCRATS
– James Buchanan (Douglas too
controversial)
– Sec. of State to Polk; minister to
GB during KS problems
– denounce Republicans as sectional
party desiring to destroy Union
• BUCHANAN WINS
– Republicans dub him “Doughface”
(a northerner with southern
sympathies)
• OMINOUS ELECTION:
– SHOWS SECTIONAL VOTING
– DEMOCRATS TAKE S
– REPUBLICANS TAKE N
Only President to
never marry.
DRED SCOTT DECISION
• SCOTT V. SANFORD, 1857
• Dred Scott, a slave, had been
taken by his master, Dr.
Emerson, an army surgeon, to
a free state and a free
territory and then back to
Missouri, a slave state.
• Scott and his wife Harriet
sued Sanford, the executor of • ISSUE is whether
Emerson's estate, for their
slavery can legally
freedom on the basis of their
be outlawed in the
residence on free soil
territories.
• S. CT. RULES WITH SOUTH
– Majority of justices are from South
– C.J. Taney is southerner from MD
• HOLDS THAT SCOTT IS NOT CITIZEN
& HAS NO RIGHT TO SUE
• HOLDS THAT SLAVES ARE
“PROPERTY,” NOT CITIZENS & THUS
COULD BE TAKEN INTO FREE
TERRITORIES W/O BECOMING FREE
• OBITER DICTUM: MISSOURI
COMPROMISE BAN ON SLAVERY N OF
36’30’ LINE IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL
LECOMPTON CONSTITUTION
• Buchanan tries to get Congress to accept
KS’ proslavery Lecompton Constitution
& admit KS as a state
• Douglas opposes fraudulent Constitution
(running for reelection to Senate)
• Clash between Buchanan & Douglas
shatters Democratic party & alienates KS
from D party
• Finally, both Congress & majority of KS
voters reject it
LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATES
• 7 DEBATES IN 7 CITIES;1858 IL SENATE RACE
• ISSUE IS EXTENSION OF SLAVERY INTO THE
TERRITORIES
STEPHEN DOUGLAS
• THE LITTLE GIANT
• 12 yrs. in Senate; Democrat
• excellent negotiator, hoping
to be President
• built career on idea of
popular sovereignty
– But, opposed to extension
– believes blacks inferior
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
•
•
•
•
Not an abolitionist
Republican
1 term in House of Rep
Lawyer; brilliant debater;
sincere
• Believes no extension of
slavery should be allowed
• BUT, leave it alone where it
already exists
• Also believes blacks inferior
–
–
–
–
No vote
No citizenship
No jury service
No intermarriage
“A house divided against
itself cannot stand; I
believe this government
cannot endure
permanently half slave
and half free.”
• LINCOLN ASKS DOUGLAS “THE QUESTION”
– “Can the people of a territory in any lawful way…exclude
slavery from their limits prior to the formation of a State
Constitution?”
• PUTS DOUGLAS IN DIFFICULT POSITION
– IF he says “yes,” it looks like he’s supporting popular
sovereignty & opposing Dred Scott
– IF he says “no,” he’s gone against his whole career stance
of popular sovereignty
• DOUGLAS COMES UP WITH “FREEPORT DOCTRINE”
– Accepts Dred Scott decision forbidding Congress to ban slavery from
territories
– BUT, territory could effectively ban slavery by not passing laws to
keep enslaved persons under control
• DOUGLAS WINS SENATE SEAT but LOSES SOUTH’S
SUPPORT & THUS WILL LOSE 1860 PRES. ELECTION
JOHN BROWN’S RAID
• Oct. 1859
• Raids federal arsenal at Harper’s
Ferry, VA
• Mission is to arm & liberate slaves
& punish slave-owners & establish
black republic in VA Hills
• Captured by Robert E. Lee
• Found guilty of treason, hanged
• Martyr to North
• Reinforces South’s greatest fear &
need to protect itself from
abolitionists!
"If it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the
furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood further
with the blood of my children, and with the blood of millions in this
slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and
most unjust enactments, I submit: so let it be done!" (Last speech
to the court at his trial, November 2, 1859)
ELECTION OF 1860
DEMOCRATS:
• DIVIDED OVER
SLAVERY
• RUN 2:
– STEPHEN
DOUGLAS (N Freeport Doctrine)
– VP
BRECKENRIDGE
(S - Dred Scott)
CONSTITUTIONAL
UNION PARTY:
• LEFTOVER WHIGS
& KNOWNOTHINGS
• SENATOR JOHN
BELL
• endorse Constitution
& Union
REPUBLICANS:
•
•
•
•
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
S believes he is an abolitionist
Oppose slavery in territories
Something for everybody: advocate a high
tariff (N) & a homestead law (W) &
construction of transcontinental RR; no
immigration restrictions
• Lincoln doesn’t campaign; no speeches
• WINS with all free states except NJ
• A “minority President”
1860 Election: 3 “Outs” & 1 ”Run!”
SECESSION!
• LINCOLN ELECTED - SC secedes on
basis of state’s rights
• Seceding Southern states seized
federal property in their states
– Only a few places remained in the
Union’s hands, including Fort Sumter
• CRITTENDEN COMPROMISE:
– attempt to avoid secession &
reestablish 36’30’ line across US;
Lincoln won’t agree
• FEB. 1861 - Deep South has seceded
– SC, GA, FL, AL, MS, LA, TX
• ESTABLISH CONFEDERATE
STATES OF AMERICA
– JEFFERSON DAVIS President
SOUTHERN ARGUMENTS FOR
SECESSION
•
•
•
•
States’ Rights
Economic imbalance with the North
Strength of N. England abolitionist clamor
Fear of R President that would flood the S
with anti-slavery officials (maybe even
black!)
• BOTH SIDES are kidding themselves:
– N thinks S is bluffing on secession
– S doesn’t think N would forcibly resist secession
GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT:
“Wayward sisters, depart in peace.”