The Path to
The Civil War
The Missouri Compromise
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1820
Pushed through Congress
by Henry Clay
Admitted Missouri as a
slave state, but balanced
by admitting Maine as a
free state
Also banned slavery in
future states north of
Missouri’s southern
border, but allowed
slavery south of that line
John Tyler
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1790 – 1862
10th President (1841-45)
Became president after William
Henry Harrison died in office
Virginian, slave-owner
1st president have
impeachment proceedings
against him
Approved annexation of Texas
as he was leaving office
Changed political parties
multiple times – a DemocraticRepublican, then a National
Republican, then a Democrat,
then a Whig, then back to
being a Democrat
Elected to office in the CSA
James K. Polk
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1795 – 1849
11th President (1845-49)
Democrat, Southerner, slaveowner
Nicknamed both “Young
Hickory” and “Napoleon of
the Stump”
Expanded US through formal
addition of Texas, the
Mexican War, and
negotiations with Britain for
control of the Oregon
Territory
Established a national
treasury, lowered tariffs
Opened the USNA and
Smithsonian
Texas & The Mexican War
1846 – 1848
 US annexed Texas in
1845, as a slave state
 After defeating
Mexico, US added
California and desert
Southwest – but
would they be free or
slave territories?
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The Wilmot Proviso &
Calhoun Resolutions
Wilmot Proviso proposed in
1846 by Rep. David Wilmot
of PA – proposed a
complete ban on slavery in
any new territories US
might acquire from Mexico
 Sen. John C. Calhoun of SC
countered that the states
own US territories in
common and Congress
holds no authority to ban
slavery in the territories
 US Senate refused to vote
on Wilmot Proviso
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Hardening Attitudes About Slavery
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Calhoun began to
argue that slavery
was not a “necessary
evil” but rather an
“positive good”
because white slave
owners provided care
for their slaves and
introduced them to
Christianity, thereby
saving their souls
Popular Sovereignty
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Proposed by Sen. Lewis
Cass of Michigan
Citizens of each new
territory should be
allowed to decide for
themselves on whether to
allow slavery there
Idea became popular
because it prevented
Congress from having to
make a decision
Split in the Whig Party
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Slavery divided
northern Whigs into
the “Conscience
Whigs” who opposed
slavery and the
“Cotton Whigs” who
supported slavery
because Southern
cotton fed their
northern textile
factories
Rise of the Free Soil Party
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After pro-slavery Zachary
Taylor became the Whig
nominee for president in
1848, Conscience Whigs
quit the Whig Party and
joined themselves with
northern anti-slavery
Democrats
This new party was called
the Free Soil Party (they
opposed expanding
slavery to the “free soil”
of the West).
Election of 1848
Democratic candidate
Lewis Cass promoted
popular sovereignty and
promised to veto the
Wilmot Proviso if passed
 Free Soil candidate Martin
Van Buren supported a
complete ban on slavery
in the West
 Whig candidate Zachary
Taylor was a moderate
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Zachary Taylor
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1784 – 1850
12th President (1849–50)
“Old Rough and Ready”
Slave owner, but believed
slavery wouldn’t work in
the West because of the
climate
Hero of the Mexican War,
never held an elected
office before president
Died in office
Millard Fillmore
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1800 – 1874
13th President (1850-53)
Whig (later a Know-Nothing)
Anti-slavery, but believed that
it was necessary to allow it to
keep South happy and the
Union whole
Endorsed the Compromise of
1850 and signed it into law
Sent Perry to open trade with
Japan
Refused to support Southern
efforts to annex Cuba
Not nominated by Whigs in
1852
Compromise of 1850
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5 separate bills pushed through
Congress by Clay and Webster
over the opposition of Calhoun:
1) California admitted as a free
state
2) Slave trade (but not slave
ownership) was banned in
Washington D.C.
3) New Mexico Territory and
Utah Territory were created and
would decide slavery issue
under popular sovereignty
4) Texas was paid $10 million in
return for giving up its claims to
lands in the New Mexico
Territory
5) The Fugitive Slave Act
Fugitive Slave Act
Law enforcement anywhere in
the US were obligated to arrest
runaway slaves and return them
to their owners
 Anyone harboring a fugitive
slave or refusing to help
apprehend one was subject to
fine and prison
 Slaves were identified solely by
the word of their owner or their
representative and received no
trial
 As a result, any free black was
in danger – all it took was a
claim that they were a runaway
and they were arrested and
turned over!
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Uncle Tom’s Cabin
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Novel by Harriet Beecher
Stowe
Published in 1852, written
in direct response to the
Fugitive Slave Act
Sold 300,000 copies in
first year
Brought the suffering of
slaves to life for many
readers and helped swell
the abolitionist ranks
Underground Railroad
Organized network of
individuals who
helped hide and move
runaway slaves north
 Moved thousands of
slaves to freedom in
Canada
 These people risked
imprisonment to help
slaves escape
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Harriet Tubman
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1820 – 1913
Escaped slave who risked
herself by returning to
the South over and over
to guide runaways along
the Underground
Railroad, despite being an
epileptic
Later worked as a spy for
the Union Army during
the Civil War and as a
women’s rights activist
A Changing of the Guard:
Calhoun, Clay, & Webster Die
1850
Summer 1852
Fall 1852
Franklin Pierce
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1804 – 1869
14th President (1853-1857)
Democrat
Supported acquisition of
Cuba from Spain, but his
ministers sent to broker a
deal created a scandal
when they threatened Spain
with force if they refused to
sell Cuba (the Ostend
Manifesto)
Was not nominated for a
second term by his party in
1856
Kansas-Nebraska Act
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1854
Created two new
territories out of the
Great Plains – Kansas and
Nebraska
Repealed the Missouri
Compromise and allowed
the 2 new territories to
exercise popular
sovereignty on the issue
of slavery
Stephen A. Douglas
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1813 – 1861
Senator from Illinois
nicknamed the “Little
Giant”
Helped draft the
Compromise of 1850 and
was the author of the
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Strong believer that true
democracy obeyed the
will of the people – so he
supported the idea of
popular sovereignty
“Bleeding Kansas”
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Settlers moving into
Kansas from Missouri
brought their slaves
New England Emigrant
Aid Company began
organizing and equipping
northern settlers to move
to Kansas and oppose
slavery
Both sides were armed
and willing to fight and
periods of violence
followed
Andrew P. Butler
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1796 – 1857
Senator from SC
Co-author of the KansasNebraska Act
Strong, outspoken
supporter of slavery
Verbally trashed in the
Senate in 1856 by
Senator Charles Sumner
of Massachusetts for his
support of slavery
Charles Sumner
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1811 – 1874
Senator from MA
Opposed the Fugitive
Slave and KansasNebraska Acts
Delivered his 3-hour
“Crime Against Kansas”
speech in May 1856, which
made personal attacks
against Sen. Butler
including making fun of his
speech problems (Butler’s
speech had been impaired
from a stroke)
Preston Brooks
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1819 – 1857
Rep. from SC
Nephew of Andrew Butler
Decided to act to defend
the honor of his disabled
uncle and that of SC
First considered
challenging Sumner to a
duel but decided that was
too much of an honor for
Sumner
Sumner-Brooks Incident
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May 22, 1856
Brooks attacked Sumner
with a cane on the floor
of the Senate, savagely
beating him until the
cane broke
Sumner took 3 years to
recover from his injuries
Dozens of proud
Southerners sent Brooks
new canes in support
The Republican Party
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Founded in 1854 by a
mixture of former Whigs,
Free Soilers, and antislavery Democrats
Direct response to the
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Number one goal became
to contain the spread of
slavery to the South and
not allow it to spread to
new states or territories
Know-Nothings
The American Party
(informally called the
“Know-Nothings”)
 Nativist party that
opposed immigration
and was fiercely antiCatholic
 Initially successful,
but short-lived since
its members were
divided over slavery
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Election of 1856
Republicans
nominated explorer
John C. Fremont
 Democrats nominated
career politician and
moderate James
Buchanan
 Know-Nothings
nominated former
president Millard
Fillmore
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James Buchanan
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1791 – 1868
15th President (1857-61)
Only unmarried President
Believed that South could
only be kept in the Union
through concessions and
compromise, but this
infuriated Northern
supporters
Failed to successfully deal
with increasingly violent
sectionalism
Dred Scott
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1799 – 1858
Slave who sued for
freedom on the grounds
that his master had
carried him into states
and territories where
slavery was illegal
Given freedom by his
owner in 1857 after Dred
Scott lost his case in the
Supreme Court
Dred Scott Decision
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1857
Dred Scott v. Sandford
Southerner-dominated
Supreme Court under Chief
Justice Roger Taney ruled
that since persons of African
ancestry were not citizens of
the US but were instead
private property, they were not
protected by US laws and
could not sue in US courts
Court also overturned the
Missouri Compromise as
unconstitutional – ruled that
Congress could not pass laws
that denied citizens their right
to private property (slaves)
without “due process” (5th
Amendment)
Kansas & the Lecompton
Constitution
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Buchanan encouraged Kansas
to apply for statehood to
decide the slavery issue there
and end the violence
Constitutional Convention was
called in the territory’s capital
of Lecompton, but was
boycotted by abolition
supporters as “rigged”
Result was a state constitution
that allowed slavery in Kansas
Congress refused to admit
Kansas under the Lecompton
constitution in 1858 – Kansas
not a state until 1861
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
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1858
Republicans ran Abraham Lincoln
against Democrat Stephen
Douglas for Senate in Illinois
The 2 men participated in a series
of public debates centered on
slavery
Lincoln opposed the spread of
slavery, Douglas promoted popular
sovereignty
Douglas argued the Freeport
Doctrine – that the Dred Scott
decision was correct, but that
states wanting to keep slavery out
had only to refuse to pass laws
needed to enforce slavery
Douglas won re-election, but
Lincoln won national attention for
himself & the Republicans
John Brown
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1800 – 1859
Businessman who experienced
bankruptcy, the death of his
wife and a number of his
children before becoming an
ardent abolitionist
Moved to Kansas in 1856 and
participated in the murder of 5
pro-slavery settlers (The
Pottawatomie Massacre) and
the more organized fighting
between abolitionist and proslavery forces
When fighting died down in
Kansas, Brown returned east
John Brown’s Raid on
Harper’s Ferry
Oct. 16-18, 1859
 Brown mounted an attack
on the federal armory at
Harper’s Ferry, VA in an
effort to seize weapons with
which to arm slaves and
start a rebellion
 Brown took the armory, but
slaves did not rebel and no
support came
 Brown’s forces were
defeated by US Marines led
by Col. Robert E. Lee and
Brown was captured, tried
and hung for treason
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South turns against Republicans
After John Brown’s Raid,
Southerners became
convinced that
abolitionists were
determined to destroy the
Southern way of life
 Republican Party was
closely tied to the
abolitionist cause
 Southern leaders vowed
that they would rather
dissolve the Union than
tolerate a Republican-led
government
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Election of 1860
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Democratic Party Split
Northern Democrats who
favored popular sovereignty
nominated Stephen Douglas
Southern Democrats who
demanded federal protection
of slavery nominated John
Breckinridge
Republicans nominated
Abraham Lincoln
Former Whigs created the
Constitutional Party which
argued that the Union could
still be preserved through
upholding the Constitution
South Carolina Secedes
Dec. 20, 1860
 President Buchanan (Lincoln
had been elected but not
inaugurated) declared
secession to be illegal but
refused to use military force
to stop it
 US forces in SC retreated to
Ft. Sumter in Charleston
Harbor
 SC was followed by
Mississippi, Florida, Alabama,
Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas
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Abraham Lincoln
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1809 – 1865
16th President (1861-65)
Republican
His election would prompt
the South to secede;
Lincoln would have to
decide whether to let
them leave the US or to
fight to force them to
stay – chose to fight
The fight would be The
Civil War
Assassinated in 1865
Crittenden’s Compromise
Sen. John Crittenden
of Kentucky proposed
amending the US
Constitution to
forever guarantee
slavery where it
already existed, and
reinstating the
Missouri Compromise
line
 Republicans refused
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Jefferson Davis
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Feb. 1861: Secessionist
states declared
themselves to be an
independent nation, the
Confederate States of
America
Wrote a new constitution
and elected former
Mississippi senator
Jefferson Davis as
President
Ft. Sumter
April 1861: Lincoln
announces that he
intends to reinforce Ft.
Sumter
 South demanded that Ft.
Sumter surrender; when
the fort refused, it was
bombarded with cannonfire for 33 hours (official
start of Civil War)
 April 13, 1861: Ft. Sumter
surrendered to South
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Upper South Secedes
Lincoln began to build
an army to fight the
South
 This prompted states
of the “Upper South”
to secede in support
of the Confederacy
 Virginia, Arkansas,
North Carolina, &
Tennessee leave the
Union
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The Border States Must Decide
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Lincoln needed the
remaining 4 slave states
(Delaware, Maryland,
Kentucky, and Missouri)
to stay in the Union
Delaware committed to
the North
Lincoln imposed martial
law in Maryland
Kentucky sided with
North after Confederate
forces invaded the state
Missouri voted to stay
with North
The Confederate States of America
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NOT THIS -----
-----THIS
North vs. South