The Debate Over Slavery
18.1 Notes
The Expansion of Slavery
-Mexican War victory adds over 500,000 square miles to US – renews slavery debate
Missouri Compromise – 1820 – let Missouri enter US as slave state
- divided the rest of Louisiana Purchase into free and slave territory
- North of 36’30 = no slavery. South = slavery
- President Polk and others want to run 36’30 line to Pacific
Wilmont Proviso – neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any part of the territory acquired in the Mexican Cession
- House of Representatives had northern majority – and forced Proviso through
- Dies in Senate – South had more power
- Never became law, but showed growing sectionalism in nation
- Sectionalism – happens when people favor the interests of one region over the interests of the country as a whole
Popular Sovereignty – would allow voters in a territory to decide whether they wanted to allow or ban slavery.
- would make their choice by electing antislavery or pro-slavery representatives to their legislative assemblies
- these legislators would then pass laws to allow or ban slavery
Presidential campaign of 1848 – dominated by slavery issue
- neither Democrats nor Whigs take clear position on slavery in the West
Free Soil Party – formed in 1848 by thousands of anti-slavery northerners who supported the Wilmont Proviso
-California gold rush – allows California to become a state – free or slave?
- most Californians don’t want slavery – wanted to be a free state
* this would upset the balance of free and slave states
The Compromise of 1850
Henry Clay – helped settle the Missouri crisis of 1820 – nicknamed “The Great Compromiser”
5 Main Points of Clay’s Compromise
1. Urged Congress to let California enter as a free state
2. Rest of Mexican Cession should be organized as a territory.
- called New Mexico – popular sovereignty would decide slavery status
3. Texas-New Mexico border dispute = Texas will give up claim of land E of upper Rio Grande River. Federal government will pay off Texas’ old debts
4. End to Slave trade – but not slavery in Washington D.C.
5. Needs to be a new, effective fugitive slave law.
-Clay’s plan comes under attack.
John C. Calhoun – spoke for the South – too weak to read his speech
- argued that letting California in as a free state would destroy the balance
- said that the slave states could not remain in the Union unless they were allowed to separate and part in peace.
Daniel Webster – in favor of Clay’s Plan – was personally opposed to expansion of slavery
The Compromise of 1850 – became law in Sept. 1850
- accomplished most of Clay’s plan
- California entered as free state
- Rest of the Mexican Cession divided into two territories – Utah and New Mexico
o Slavery status would be decided by popular sovereignty
- Texas gave up its land claims in New Mexico in exchange for federal $
- Outlawed the slave trade in Washington D.C. and produced new fugitive slave law.
The Fugitive Slave Act
Fugitive Slave Act – made it a federal crime to help runaway slaves
- let government officials arrest runaways in areas where slavery was illegal
- slaveholders and agents could take suspected fugitive slaves before US commissioners
o then would try to prove ownership through documents or testimony of white witnesses
- accused slaves could not testify in their own defense
- thousands of African Americans went to Canada to escape persecution
Many Northerners upset by Fugitive Slave Act
- didn’t like lack of trial by jury
- disliked higher $ given to commissioner who returned slave
Anti-Slavery Legislature
- Abolitionists use stories of fugitive slaves to help their cause
-Made Slave Narratives – Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth
Truth’s narrative differed from most other slave narratives in two ways.
1. its central character was a woman
2. Truth had been a slave in the North – New York City
Uncle Tom’s Cabin – written by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Novel sparks outrage in South and praised in North
Trouble in Kansas
18.2 Notes
The Election of 1852
Franklin Pierce wins Democratic nomination
- little known politician from New Hampshire
- promised to honor the Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Act
= reliable on slavery
Whigs –nominate Winfield Scott.
Scott – from Virginia but didn’t completely support the Compromise of 1850.
-Democrats win in a landslide – 27 of 31 states
The Kansas-Nebraska Act
Stephen Douglas – Congressman from Illinois - wanted to build railroad to the Pacific –
start the line from Chicago
- to build railroad – Louisiana Purchase had to made into federal territory
- Missouri Compromise banned slavery in the region – would be free states.
Douglass – convinces key southern senators to support his plan.
- In return – they wanted new territory west of Missouri open to slavery.
Kansas-Nebraska Act – introduced by Douglass in January 1854
- would divide the rest of the Louisiana Purchase into two territories
= Kansas and Nebraska
- In each territory – popular sovereignty would decide the slavery question.
- This plan would remove the Missouri Compromise’s restriction on slavery north of 36’30 line.
- Anti-Slavery Northerners outraged – attend meetings, and send anti-Nebraska petitions to Congress.
- Act carried strong Southern support
- Measure passed in the Senate in March 1854 and House in May.
- Signed into law on May 30, 1854
- Douglass’ railroad plan is forgotten – construction doesn’t begin until 1862.
Bleeding Kansas
Anti-slavery and pro-slavery groups rushed to get people to Kansas – popular sovereignty
-Elections for Kansas territorial legislature held in March 1855.
- to ensure pro-slavery victory – thousands of men cross the border from Missouri, voted in Kansas, and then returned home.
- Result = legislature had a huge pro-slavery majority – at Lecompton
- pass series of pro-slavery laws
-ex: crime to question anyone’s rights to hold slaves.
- anyone caught helping slave escape could be sentenced to death.
In protest – anti-slavery Kansans form their own legislature in Topeka – 25 miles away
By 1856 – Kansas had two governments and population divided.
- settlers brought guns and asked for weapons shipments from friends.
- violence breaks out
- May 1856 – pro-slavery jury charged leaders of anti-slavery movement with treason.
- Posse of 700 men rode to Lawrence and destroyed buildings
John Brown - Abolitionist – felt it was his duty to punish pro-slavery forces for the “Sack of Lawrence”
- said “it was time to strike terror in the hearts of the pro-slavery people”
- Night of May 24, 1856 – he led a group of 7 men across Pottawatomie Creek in eastern Kansas and killed 5 pro-slavery men
- = Pottawatomie Massacre
- Kansas collapsed into civil war – 200 people killed
- Became known as Bleeding Kansas
Charles Sumner – senator from Massachusetts who gave a speech called “The Crime Against Kansas”
- criticized pro-slavery efforts in Kansas – insulted Senator Andrew Pickens
Preston Brooks – Representative from South Carolina – relative of Pickens
- approached Sumner in Senate on May 22, 1856 and beat him unconscious with a cane.
- Called Bully Brooks by northerners
Political Divisions
18.3 Notes
New Divisions
Republican Party – formed by Whigs, Democrats, Free-Soilers, and abolitionists in 1854.
- all united to oppose the spread of slavery in the West
- Kansas Nebraska Act – even more damaging for the Whigs
- Election of 1856 – showed how divided the nation was
- Know-Nothing Party – formed by Whigs and Democrats – fell apart over slavery – nominate Millard Fillmore for President
- Democrats – could not nominate anyone associate w/ Kansas-Nebraska
o nominate James Buchanan (Pennsylvania) for President
§ had served 20 years in Congress
§ had not been involved with Kansas-Nebraska
- Republicans chose John C. Fremont as their Presidential nominee
o Little political experience but was opposed to spread of slavery
o Party seen as a “single-issue party”
o Anti-slavery platform meant they had no support outside the free-states
- some white southerners said they would not accept a Republican President
- Buchanan wins election of 1856.
The Dred Scott Decision
Dred Scott – Slave of Army surgeon from St. Louis Missouri
- 1830’s – Scott had gone with surgeon on tour of duty in Illinois and northern
part of Louisiana Purchase
- 1846 – Scott sued for freedom when he returned to Missouri
o argued he had become free when he lived in free territory
-Case reached Supreme Court in 1856
- majority of justices were from the South
- 3 major issues the Supreme Court had to decide:
1. rule on whether Scott was a US citizen
- this would determine if he was able to sue in federal court
2. if the time he spent on free soil made him free
3. if the ban on slavery in parts of the Louisiana Purchase was constitutional
- this would affect the Missouri Compromise
Roger B. Taney – Chief Justice of Supreme Court
- came from slaveholding family in Maryland
- wrote the majority opinion in the decision
Dred Scott Decision – March 1857 – Taney said the nation’s founders believed African
Americans “had no rights which a white man was bound to respect”
- concluded that African Americans were not citizens under the Constitution
- = Dred Scott did not have the right to file suite in federal court
- said living on free soil did not make Scott free.
- Status as free or slave state depended on Missouri Law
- Taney said the Missouri Compromise restriction on slavery north of 36’30 was unconstitutional
o Used 5th Amendment to support decision
§ No one could “be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.”
- slaves were property – so Congress could not ban someone from taking slaves into a federal territory.
-Most white southerners supported the decision
-Ruling stunned many northerners – worried that spread of slavery would not stop
-Republicans very upset with ruling on Missouri Compromise
The Lincoln-Douglass Debates
Abraham Lincoln – unknown outside of Illinois at time of debate
1856 – Republicans nominated Lincoln for US Senate seat to run vrs. Stephen Douglas
- Douglas – had occupied seat since 1847.
- well known for Kansas-Nebraska Act – Lincoln takes advantage of this
- Lincoln challenges him to series of debates throughout state
Lincoln-Douglass Debates – 7 debates attended by thousands of people
- Lincoln stressed the issue of slavery in the West
o Said that Democrats wanted to spread slavery across the country
§ Believed slavery was wrong
- said that African Americans were not the political or social equals of whites
Douglas – said that Lincoln thought the “negro is his brother” – hoped this would cost
Lincoln votes
- criticized Lincoln for saying the country would not remain “half slave and half
free
- said that Republicans wanted to make every state a free state
o said this would lead to destruction of the union and civil war
2nd debate – held in Freeport Illinois
- Lincoln pointed out difference between Democrat’s popular sovereignty and the Dred Scott Decision
- asked Douglas to explain how Congress could allow citizens of federal territory to ban slavery if Congress could not do it itself
- Douglas’ response: Freeport Doctrine – “It matters not” what the Supreme Court decides about slavery
o Put control of slavery in the hands of American citizens
o Helped Douglas win the Senate race
Lincoln lost – but strong showing made him a leader in the Republican Party.
Secession
18.4
John Brown – wanted man after Pottawatomie Massacre – moved to New England
- frustrated that abolitionists wanted to end slavery without violence
The Raid on Harper’s Ferry
- In 1858 – John Brown wanted to attack the military storehouse in Harpers Ferry Virginia and take all the weapons that were stored there.
- planned to arm the slaves in the surrounding area
- was prepared to take hostages or kill any white southerners in the way
- urged fellow abolitionists to give him $ to recruit, train, and supply small army
- after two years of preparation only had 20 men (including himself and 3 sons)
John Browns’ Raid – night of October 16, 1859 – Brown and men enter Harper’s Ferry
- Brown took over federal arsenal and sent several men into countryside to gather slaves
- No slaves joined Brown – knew they would be punished
- Instead: white southerners from surrounding area armed themselves and attacked Brown
- 8 of Brown’s men and 3 locals were killed in gunfight
- federal troops led by Colonel Robert E. Lee arrived in Harpers Ferry on Oct. 17
o ordered Marines to storm firehouse
o killed two of Brown’s men and captured the rest.
Judging John Brown
Brown – charged with treason, murder, and conspiracy to stir up slave rebellion
-some of his men received the death penalty
Brown – ordered to be hanged – Brown hanged on Dec. 2, 1859
-Many people mourned his death
Lincoln – agreed with Brown that slavery should end, but not violently
-Most southern whites felt threatened – worried that someone else might attack them
The Election of 1860
-Democrats meet in Charleston SC – northern and southern members could not agree on a candidate = party split in two
Northern Democrats chose Senator Stephen Douglas
Southern Democrats chose the current Vice President – John C. Breckinridge
- strongly supported slavery in the territories
- did not believe that a Republican victory would give states the right to break up the Union
Constitutional Union Party – formed by former Whigs
- platform: “no political principles other than the Constitution of the country, the Union of the states, and the enforcement of the laws.