Slavery and The War
Between the States
You Need to Know
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Antebellum
Northwest Ordinance
3/5th Compromise
20 year moratorium on slave
trade
Fugitive Slave clause (Constitu)
Missouri Compromise (1820)
Abolitionism
William Lloyd Garrison/The
Liberator
Fredrick Douglas/ North Star
Underground Railroad
Wilmot Proviso
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The 1850's: Decade of Crisis
Compromise of 1850
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Fugitive Slave Act
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Demise of the Whig Party
Emergence of the Republican Party
Dred Scott decision and Lecompton
crisis
Lincoln-Douglas debates, 1858
John Brown's raid
The election of 1860
Abraham Lincoln
The secession crisis
During and After the Civil War
Emancipation Proclamation
Black Soldiers- 54th Massachusetts
Civil War DBQ:
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To what extent was the secession of the
Southern states the result of the breakdown
in the legacy of compromise that began with
the constitutional convention?
DBQ Outline
Introduction- History of Slavery in the United States has
been a history of compromise
The conflict between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery
groups in America resulted in the decision of the
Southern states to secede.
 I- Constitution and Compromises Before 1950
Missouri Compromise 1820
Missouri Compromise:
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1818 settlers in Missouri territory requested admission to the Union
The question rose, should it be a slave state or a free state?
Henry Clay- leader in Congress from Kentucky –
Conflict emerged between Southern and Northern groups.
He created a compromise- to allow equal number of slave and free states
Maine enters as a free state and Missouri enters as a slave state.
Provided for the entrance of new states in the Louisiana Purchase, Slavery is
not allowed above 36º 30’
“Cotton is King”
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Cotton made up half the value of all American
exports after 1840.
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The South produced more than half of the
entire world’s supply of cotton.
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75% of the Cotton used in England’s Industry
was from the South.
The “Peculiar Institution”
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1860 4 Million Slaves (due to natural
reproduction)
Chattel
1808 slave importing slaves was outlawed
(Smuggling was prevalent)
See “Amistad” film
$2 Billion in capital 1860
Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana had
majority or near majority of blacks
Abolitionism
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Extremist movement in the North to end Slavery
(Christian based)
Saw slavery as a moral issue clearly wrong/evil
Religious foundations
Massachusetts- key- location
Agitated for end of slavery
Wanted to stop the spread of slavery in the Expansion
of the country
Abolitionist Movement:
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Quakers were early
abolitionists
The movement to end
slavery and free African
Americans
100 plus societies in the
North
Some suggested that Former
slaves be resettled in Africa
The American
Colonization Society 1817
(Liberia 1822)
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Some said former slaves
remain in US as free people.
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Abolitionist Movement is
seen as an extremist group
and Fringe
But begins to gradually
increase in popularity
Second Great Awakening
fuels this movement
Used Pamphlets and
newspapers to persuade
people of the Evil of
slavery
Sent Abolitionist materials
in US Mail into the South
1830s
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Early Religious Northern
Abolitionist Leaders:
Theodore Weld- preacher of
Lyman Beecher (Father of
Harriet Beecher Stowe)
Reverend Elijah P. Lovejoy
William Lloyd Garrison
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Leading Abolitionist,
published a newspaper The Liberator
His paper advocated and called for immediate
emancipation
“I will be harsh as truth and as uncompromising
as justice… I am in earnest- I will not
equivocate- I will not excuse- I will not retreat a
single inche- and I WILL BE HEARD!”
Formed the American Anti-Slavery Society
Fredrick Douglass
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Greatest Black abolitionist
Escaped slave in 1838 (age 21)
Lectured for the cause
a former slave, well educated and advocated the
end of Slavery at any means possible. Published
the North Star
Abolitionists
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Douglass
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Garrison
Women in the Abolitionist
Movement
 The seeds
of the
Women’s
Suffrage
and Rights
Movement
will also be
found in the
Abolition
movement.
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Harriet Tubman- African American woman,
slave, smuggler in the Underground Railroad
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Harriet Beecher Stowe –Author, Uncle
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Tom’s Cabin, Anti-Slavery novel, spurs abolitionism
Mary Lyon
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Angelina and Sarah Grimké-
abolitionist from South Carolina, with her sister
Angelina, the Grimke Sisters
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Elizabeth Cady Stanton- advocate for
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Lucreita Mott- abolitionist, believed in both
abolition and Women’s suffrage
the rights of women and the rights of blacks.
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Sojourner Truth- African American
feminist abolitionist, former slave-
Southern Response to Abolitionism
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Southerners are increasingly sensitive to Abolitionist
movement
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They end emancipation
Increase limits on freed blacks
Become more fearful of slave rebellions-
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Gabriel Prosser -1800 Virginia
Denamrk Vessey - 1821
Nat Turner- 1831
Freed Blacks
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1860, South about 250,000
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Black Codes- laws in the South limiting Slaves
Limited in occupations
Apartheid- laws based on race
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Could not vote
Could not testify against whites in court
Were limited in educational opportunity
Racism in the North was also- very prevalent
Example- Fredrick Douglass was attacked many times
in the North
Nat Turner-Rebellion 1832
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Slave Rebellion
In Virginia
Killed
Underground Railroad:
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Secret group of abolitionists who helped
runaway slaves travel to Canada
Harriet Tubman- former slave helped people
escape North
Wilmot Proviso 1846
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Amendment- to the settlement of Mexican American
War
Said no slavery allowed in land obtained from MexicoCalifornia, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico…
(It did not pass the Senate)
Crittenden Compromise (is similar)
Ostend Manifesto
Aix la Chapelle, Oct 28, 1854.
We arrived at the conclusion, and are thoroughly
convinced, that an immediate and earnest effort ought
to be made buy the government of the United States to
purchase Cuba from Spain at any price for which it can
be obtained…
Yours, very respectfully,
James Buchanan
J.Y. Mason
Pierre Soule
To: Hon. William L. Marcy, Secretary of State.
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Uncle Tom’s Cabin 1852
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Abolitionist propaganda
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Novel designed to create anger among
population
Novel inflamed tensions and anger over Slavery
by both North and South
map
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California
Popular Sovereignty- in Former Mexican land
Fugitive Slave Law
Wilmot Proviso fails
No Slave Trade in Washington DC
Compromise of 1850:
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Clay and Webster
States entering the Union, California
Compromise between Northern and Southern powers in
Congress
California enters the Union as a free state
South gets a new Fugitive Slave Law said escaped slaves
could be recaptured in the North and that people helping
slaves could be prosecuted- $1000 fine and 6 months in jail.
Slavery and Popular Sovereignty Territories that are ready
for statehood could decide if they wanted slavery
Slave Trade in Washington DC is banned
Fugitive Slave Law:
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Slaves that escape, were to be arrested and
returned to their owners
Anyone convicted of helping a fugitive slave was
liable for a fine of $1000. and imprisonment for
up to six months
Kansas-Nebraska Act
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Kansas Nebraska Act 1854: Very important
Sponsored by Senator Steven Douglas of Illinois
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Wanted to pass a railroad bill- had to appease Southern interests
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Repealed the Missouri Compromise- now slavery would be
allowed in Louisiana Purchase- if requirements were met
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Said that territories of Kansas and Nebraska could decide
through a vote of the people if they wanted slavery or not
(Popular Sovereignty)
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Kansas-Nebraska Act
and
Bleeding Kansas
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Consequences:
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Destroys and divides the Whig party
Divides Northern Democrats- those that don’t want the
expansion of slavery leave party create an new and different
Republican Party
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Causes fighting in Kansas- Pro-slavery
factions (from Missouri) vs Anti-Slavery
Factions from North East (John Brown
begins there)
Two territorial governments are formed- one
slave one free, this is a mini civil war known
as “Bleeding Kansas”
Emergence of Republican Party
1854
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As people began to be more intolerant and
sensitive to slavery a new political party
developed.
Opposed Kansas-Nebraska Act and spread of
slavery in the territories
The party becomes an “umbrella group”
United a number of anti-slavery groupsabolitionists, Free Soilers, Whigs, Democrats,
Know Nothings
Sumner-Brooks Affair 1856
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How did the South
react to the Dredd
Scott Case?
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Why does John Brown
scare the hell out of the
Southerners?
Why did the Dredd Scott Case cause
so much anger in the North?
Dred Scott Case 1857
Dred Scott was a slave who lived in Missouri
 His owner took him to Illinois and Wisconsin and back to
Missouri
 Scott brought a law suit for his freedom, it went to the
Supreme Court
 He argued that he had lived in a free state and therefore he
should be free.
 The Taney Chief Justice court ruled against Scott
“Scott lacked legal standing to sue in Federal Court because
he was not, nor ever could be a citizen.”
 “Being in free territory did not make a slave free.”
 The court cited the 5th amendment that protects property,
including slaves.
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Dredd Scott 1857
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Constitutional Justifications:
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US Constitution Article 4
section 2- “No person held to
service or labor in one state…
escaping into another, shall, in
consequence of any law or
regulation therein, be discharged
from such service or labor…”
US Constitution, Article 4,
section 3- “the Congress shall
have power to dispose of and
make all needful rules and
regulations respecting the
Territory or other property
belonging to the United
States…” (Dissenting
argument)
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Key point: The Dred Scott Case
strengthened and expanded Slave
owners’ rightsCaused the rejection of all the
slavery related compromisesnow slavery could take place in
free states.
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Taney Court Ruled
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Lincoln’s Response to Dredd Scott
Case  Lincoln believed that Taney’s
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Lincoln is very Sneaky interpreting the
significance of court cases!
“I will tell you here that General Jackson once
said each man was bound to support the
Constitution as ‘he understood it.’ Now, Judge
Douglas understands the Constitution
according to the Dred Scott decision, and he is
bound to support it as he understands it. I
understand it another way, and therefore I am
bound to support it in the way in which I
understand it.” (Lincoln Douglas Debate)
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ruling was;
“Exceptional, plainly
founded on error, at variance
with all precedents and not at
all settled.” (History Now
Journal article)
“We know that the court
that made it, has often overruled its own decisions, and
we shall do what we can to
have it to over-rule this.”
Each public functionary must
support the Constitution, as
he understands it.”
This is handsome?
Why does John Brown scare the hell
out of the Southerners?
John Brown’s Raid 1859
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John Brown was a radical
abolitionist
He wanted slaves to rise up and
take their freedom
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1856 he and some followers fought
pro-slavery men in Kansas.
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Pottawatomie- he killed
pro-slavery innocent men
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He and 21 other, both white and
black attacked the Federal Arsenal
at Harpers Ferry and was
defeated, tried and executed
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Caused reaction both in the North
and South, some Northerners
celebrated Brown’s actions
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The South became outraged and
convinced that they could not
live safely with the North- they
became convinced that the
North wanted slave
rebellion.
“Northern Friends of Constitutional
Government”
Lincoln
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Lincoln’s Election (page 163-64)
Lincoln, a Congressman from Illinois, first ran for
Senate against Douglas- lostLincoln believed Slavery was Immoral
Slavery in the territories should be disallowed
Believed slavery should be abolished with a
constitutional amendment
Lincoln Douglas Debates 1858
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He gained notoriety from the Senatorial election in Illinois
(Lincoln Douglas debates)
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He and Stephan Douglas held a series of (6) debates.
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Douglas was in favor of popular sovereignty
“Freeport Doctrine”- the people will decide the issue, not the
supreme court.
In those debates he put forth the idea that the concept of
Equality voiced in the Declaration of Independence was
meant for all human beings and that the government of the
US should support this interpretation…
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Lincoln’s View
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Philosophy
EQUALITY THROUGH
CONSTITUTIONAL MEANS- meant
protecting the established order but working for
change in a clear, law abiding framework.
Mostly an anti-expansion of slavery moderate
Republican
Lincoln on Race 1858
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“I as well as Judge Douglas, am in favor of the race to which I
belong, having the superior position. I have never said anything
to the contrary, but I hold that notwithstanding all this, there is
no reason in the world why the negro is not entitled to have all
the natural rights enumerated in the Declaration of
Independence, the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness. I hold that he is as much entitled to those rights as
the white man.
I agree with Judge Douglas he is not my equal in many respectscertainly not in color, perhaps not in moral or intellectual
endowment.
But in the right to eat the bread, without leave of anybody else,
which his own hands earns, he is my equal and the equal of
Judge Douglas, and the equal of every living man.”
Lincoln View
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All humans deserve freedom. “All me are born
equally free. The natural right to human liberty
applied to all people. Where no law established
slavery, freedom prevailed.”
(Territories)
Lincoln
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1860 Republicans nominated Lincoln for
president
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He tried to reassure the South by stating, A
Republican administration would not “Interfere
with their slaves, or with them about their
slaves.”
Election of 1860
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Democrats split into Two
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North- Stephen Douglas- procompromise
South- Breckenridge- the
Southern candidate
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Republican Umbrella Group:
Northern Anti-Slavery
Democrats
Anti-Immigration “Know
Nothings”
Former Whigs
Abolitionists extremists
What factors persuaded the North to
elect Republicans?
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Victories by Slave Holding
States
Dread Scott Decision
Fighting in Kansas over
Slavery
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Compromise of 1850
Enforcement of Fugitive
Slave Act
Lincoln was not allowed
on the ballot of 10
Southern states
Why does the Election results
of 1860 cause the Southern
states to secede?
Election of 1860
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The 37th Congress
was elected in 1860
Republicans
House = 105; Senate
= 31
Democrats
House = 43; Senate =
10
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The 38th Congress in
1862
Republicans
House = 102; Senate
= 36
Democrats
House = 75; Senate =
9
Secession Crisis
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Southern states fearing the end of slavery and the limitations of
their rights as states, decide to leave the Union and created their
own government
First to go:
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South Carolina Dec. 1860
Mississippi
Florida
Alabama
Georgia
Louisiana
Texas…
Buchanan,
th
15
President
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Buchanan was weak, an apologist for the South
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“The south was in no real danger because
Lincoln would be restrained by Congress. The
president would have to follow the dictates of
the federal courts, which sustained slavery in the
territories and the fugitive slave law.”
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If the South did secede, the president lacked the constitutional power to stop
it.
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Perhaps a constitutional convention to pass an amendment protecting slavery
in any state that now had or should later want it would calm things… would
help.
Northern Democrats
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said:
“If a state secedes, it is revolution and the seceders are
traitors. Those who are charged with the executive branch of
government are recreant to their oaths if they fail to use all
lawful means to put down such rebellion”
Some senators looked back to Andrew Jackson, regarding the
South Carolina nullification issue, “By the eternal, I will hang
them.”
“Oh for one hour of Jackson!”
Lincoln Before Inauguration: privately wrote
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Not interfere with slavery where it existed
Would favor the end of opposition to the fugitive slave law
Had no intention of using the power over interstate
commerce to touch slavery
He desperately wanted to avert a conflict;
He said, “Each and all of the states will be left in as
complete control of their own affairs respectively and at as
perfect liberty to choose, employ, their own means of
preserving and protecting property, and preserving peace and
order…”
He and others both North and South Democrats wanted one
more compromise.
Moderate Republicans helped negotiate with moderate
Crittenden Compromise:
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Slavery within the states to be protected from national
government interference
The revival of the Missouri Compromise line 3630’- extended
to the Pacific
No interference with interstate slave trade
Slaveholders who lost runaways to Northern states to be
compensated
Attempt was made to reassure the south and protect slavery
Republicans don’t allow it. Compromise was dead.
Last Word From Lincoln
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However, Lincoln would not compromise on the issues of
Expansion of Slavery and he clearly made a concerted
commitment to the concept of equality and associate this
with African Americans!:
“ Let there be no compromise on the question of extending
slavery.”
“There is no possible compromise upon it… hold
firm as with a chain of steel.”
“ I will be inflexible on the territorial question, I am
for fighting again- that is all.”
Southerners were correct that he intended to reverse slavery
in the territories.
Lincoln Agreed With Jackson
Regarding Secession
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The Constitution of the United States, then,
forms a government, not a league; and
whether it be formed by compact between
the states or in any other manner, its
character is the same. It is a government in
which all the people are represented, which
operates directly on the people individually,
not upon the states; they retained all the
power they did not grant. But each state,
having expressly parted with so many
powers as to constitute, jointly with the
other states, a single nation, cannot, from
that period, possess any right to secede,
because such secession does not break a
league, but destroys the unity of a nation;
and any injury to that unity is not only a
breach which would result from the
contravention of a compact, but it is an
offense against the whole Union. To say that
any state may at pleasure secede from the
Union is to say that the United States are
not a nation, because it would be a solecism
to contend that any part of a nation might
dissolve its connection with the other parts,
to their injury or ruin, without committing
any offense . . . .
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“. . . The laws of the United States must be
executed. I have no discretionary power on
the subject; my duty is emphatically
pronounced in the Constitution. Those who
told you that you might peaceably prevent
their execution deceived you; they could not
have been deceived themselves. . . . But be
not deceived by names. Disunion by armed
force is treason. Are you really ready to
incur its guilt? If you are, on the heads of
the instigators of the act be the dreadful
consequences; on their heads be the
dishonor, but on yours may fall the
punishment. On your unhappy state will
inevitably fall all the evils of the conflict you
force upon the government of your country
. . . . The consequence must be fearful for
you, distressing to your fellow citizens here
and to the friends of good government
throughout the world.” Andrew Jackson,
Speech on Nullification, 1832.
End of Compromise
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“All hope of relief in the union, through the
agency of committees, Congressional legislation
or constitutional amendments is extinguished.”
“The Mountain People”
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In the South along the
Appalachian range
Not Slave holders
West Virginia to Northern
Georgia and Alabama
Resented the Rich whites in
the south who owned slaves
Will support the union in the
WAR.