Causes of the Civil War-The Crisis of the Union

1848-1860

Problems of Sectional Balance in 1850

ß California statehood.ß Southern “fire-eaters”

threateningsecession.

ß Underground RR & fugitive slave issues: Personal liberty laws Prigg v. Pennsylvania

(1842)

COMPROMISE OF 1850

Compromise of 1850

• Problems of sectional balance in 1849– California – Gold Rush– Fugitive slaves

• Attempts at compromise – Henry Clay– Zachary Taylor/Millard A. Fillmore– Stephen A. Douglas

• Compromise of 18501) California2) Remainder of Mexican Cession3) Fugitive slaves4) Slave trade in D.C.

Henry Clay Presenting his compromise of 1850 in the Senate

Stephen A. Douglas

RESPONSES TO THE COMPROMISE OF 1850

Old national leadership:(Clay, Webster, Calhoun)

Northern opposition to Fugitive Slave ActGrowth of Free-Soil Party (founded 1848)

Whig Party?

Personal Liberty Laws• Ableman v. Booth (1857)

“Young America” Ostend Manifesto (1854)

Gadsden Purchase (1853)

HarrietBeecherStowe(1811 – 1896)

So this is the lady who started the Civil War.

-- Abraham Lincoln

Uncle Tom’s Cabin1852

Sold 300,000 copies inthe first year.

2 million in a decade!

KANSAS-NEBRASKA

ACT & the Emergence of the

Republican Party

Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854

“The Crime Against Kansas”

Sen. Charles Sumner

(R-MA)Congr. Preston

Brooks(D-SC)

Douglas (who was present in the chamber) was a "noise-some, squat, and nameless animal...not a proper model for an American senator." Butler was a pimp who took "a mistress who, though ugly to others, is always lovely to him; though polluted in the sight of the world, is chaste in his sight—I mean, the harlot, Slavery."

“Bleeding Kansas”

Border “Ruffians” (pro-slavery Missourians)

“Bleeding Kansas” (1854-58) John Brown Pottawatomie Massacre

(1856) Lecompton Constitution

(1857)

Political Parties

The “Know-Nothings” [The American Party]

ß Nativists.ß Anti-

Catholics.ß Anti-

immigrants.1849 Secret Order of the Star-

Spangled Banner created in NYC.

Birth of the Republican Party, 1854ß Northern Whigs.

ß Northern Democrats.ß Free-Soilers.ß Know-Nothings.ß Other miscellaneous

opponents of the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

Republican Party Platform in 1860ß Non-extension of slavery [for the

Free-Soilers.ß Protective tariff [for the No.

Industrialists].ß No abridgment of rights for

immigrants [a disappointment for the “Know-Nothings”].

ß Government aid to build a Pacific RR [for the Northwest].

ß Internal improvements [for the West] at federal expense.

ß Free homesteads for the public domain [for farmers].

A. PRO- AND ANTISLAVERY ARGUMENTS

AND CONFLICTS

PRO- AND ANTISLAVERY CONFLICTSSlavery & the

Territories “gag rule” Wilmot Proviso (1846-

47)

Provided, territory from that, as an express and fundamental condition to the acquisition of any the Republic of Mexico by the United States, by virtue of any treaty which may be negotiated between them, and to the use by the Executive of the moneys herein appropriated, neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any part of said territory, except for crime, whereof the party shall first be duly convicted.Rep. David Wilmot

(D-PA)

PRO- & ANTISLAVERY ARGUMENTS

Sectional Controversy Hardened Attitudes:

South - “positive good” thesis• Good for slaves, southern society, the U.S.

North – Free Labor ideology• Slavery is bad for white Americans• American democracy=property, opportunity for

advancement• “free soil”• “slave power conspiracy”

Free and slave states and territories, 1848

1856Electio

n Result

s

DRED SCOTT DECISION

Dred Scott Decision (1857) Dred Scott v.

Sandford Slaves were

property, not citizens, even if taken to free states

Result: U.S. govern-ment prohibited from limiting the spread of slavery in territories

John Brown’s Raid

on Harper’s Ferry

John Brown’s Raidon Harper’s Ferry, 1859

John Brown’s Raidon Harper’s Ferry, 1859

John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry, Oct.

16, 1859John Brown and 21 men attacked the federal arsenal in Harper’s Ferry, VA to ob-tain guns for a slave rebellion

Reactions to John Brown’s RaidNorthern

abolitionists made Brown into a martyr- but most didn’t like him, including Lincoln

Southerners were terrified that other abolitionists would incite slave rebellions

John Brown: Martyr or Madman?

John Brown ca. 1850

“The Tragic Prelude (John Brown)”

Election of 1860

1860Presidenti

alElection

√ Abraham LincolnRepublican

John BellConstitutional Union

Stephen A. DouglasNorthern Democrat

John C. BreckinridgeSouthern Democrat

1860Electio

nResults

Election of 1860

For the South Lincoln’s electionwas the final straw – they were convinced he intended to abolish slavery.That was not his intent, ratherhe saw slavery as a moral issueand that it should not be allowed to spread. ( Southern states would not have had to give up slavery.)

Secession

Secession!: SC Dec. 20, 1860

The Process of Secession, 1860-1861

Flyer from South

Carolina announcing secession

Fort Sumter: April

12, 1861

Ft. SumterBoston Evening Transcript, April 13, 1861

Sources Uncle Tom’s Cabin and American Culture, Institute for Advanced

Technology in the Humanities, University of Virginia - http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/utc/index2f.html

Harriet Beecher Stowe Center - http://www.harrietbeecherstowecenter.org/life/

PBS “Africans in America” - http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/home.html

Lincoln/Net, Northern Illinois University - http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/ Brinkley 10th ed Susan M. Pojer, Horace Greeley H.S., Chappaqua, NY American Pageant, 13th ed. Faragher, Out of Many, 3rd ed.