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Explore the tumultuous period from 1848 to 1861, marked by political instability, the Fugitive Slave Law, emergence of new parties, and the ominous shadow of secession, culminating in the Election of 1860 and the secession threats that followed.
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The Union in Peril, 1848-1861 Arnab Mitra, Tazrin Tripti, Chengke Xia, Shruti Vyas
Henry Clay (for) takes the floor of the Old Senate Chamber; Millard Fillmore presides as Calhoun and Webster look on.
SOUTHERN REACTION • Positive good for slave and master • Slavery was sanctioned by Bible • Firmly grounded in philosophy and history • Contrasted the “wage slaves” in the north to the family bonds developing in the plantations.
National Parties in Crisis • The weakening of the two major parties- Democrats and Whigs- and a disastrous application of popular sovereignty in Kansas caused further political instability.
Election of 1852 • The Whig party nominated General Winfield Scott in the 1852 election for presidency, who ignored the slavery issue and concentrated on improving roads and harbors • The Democrats nominated Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire, who supported the Fugitive Slave Law. In the electoral college vote, Pierce won all but four states in a sweep.
Kansas-Nebraska Act • Senator Stephen Douglas devised a plan for building a railroad and promoting western settlement. He needed to win southern approval for his plan. • Therefore, he introduced a bill to obtain southern approval. The Kansas-Nebraska Act proposed that the Nebraska Territory be divided into the Kansas Territory and Nebraska Territory. And the settlers there decide whether or not to allow slavery. The passage of this act renewed the sectional controversy that was resolved by the Compromise of 1850. • A new political party emerged- the Republican party- whose purpose was to express opposition to the spread of slavery in the territories.
New Parties • There were growing ethnic tensions in the North between native-born Protestant Americans and immigrant Germans and Irish Catholics. Nativist hostility to those newcomers led to the formation of the American party AKA Knowing Nothing Party. The especially drew support away from the Whigs. Their main issue was opposition to Catholics and immigrants pouring into the northern cities. • Republican Party was founded in Wisconsin as a reaction to the Kansas-Nebraska Act. A mixture of Free-Soldiers and anti-slavery Whigs and Democrats made up this new party. It called for the repeal of both the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Fugitive Slave Law.
Election of 1856 • In the 1856 presidential election, the Republican party nominated John C. Fremont. They called for no expansion of slavery, free homesteads and a pro-business protective tariff. • The Democrats nominated James Buchanan who won a majority of both the popular and electoral vote. • Yet the Republicans carried 11 out of 16 free states in the electoral college showing anti-slavery Republicans can win the White House without a single vote from the south.
Constitutional Issues • Buchanan faced great challenge as president while deciding to accept or reject a pro-slavery constitution for Kansas submitted by the southern legislature. He asked Congress to accept the document and admit Kansas as a slave state. • Congress did not do so since many Democrats joined the Republicans in rejecting the Lecompton constitution. The following year the pro-slavery document was defeated by the majority of Kansas settlers.
Dred Scott vs. Sandford • Dred Scott was held in Missouri as a slave and then taken to free territory of Wisconsin where he lived for 2 years before returning to Missouri. He argued that this period of residence on free soil made him a free citizen, therefore he sued the Missouri Court for his freedom. • The case was appealed by the Supreme Court where a majority of the Court decided against Scott. • The Southern Democrats were delighted while the Northern Republicans were infuriated. In effect, Supreme court declared that all parts of the western territories were open to slavery. • It increased northerners' suspicions of a slave power conspiracy and induced thousands of former Democrats to vote Republican.
A series of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephan A. Douglas for an Illinois seat in the U.S. Senate. Practically the only issue discussed was slavery. Lincoln-Douglas Debates
John Brown’s Raid at Harpers Ferry First white American abolitionist to advocate and practice insurrection as a means to the abolition of slavery.
Crittenden Compromise Senator John Crittenden of Kentucky proposed a constitutional amendment that would guarantee the right to hold slaves in all territories south of 36°30’. But then Lincoln said it violated the Republican position against the extension of slavery in the territories. The south whites wanted secession because they believed that they had a right to national independence and not be protected by the “tyranny” of the north. Many thought that Lincoln would also support secession.
This is the end of Chapter 13!! Good Luck on May 11th from Shruti, Tazrin, Chengke and Arnab
