Challenges to Slavery

The Supreme Court’s decision in the Dred Scott case resulted in even more division in the country

• After the Kansas/Nebraska Act, the Democratic Party began to divide among sectional lines

• Northern Democrats left• The Whig party was divided over

slavery as well and collapsed• In 1854 antislavery Whigs and

Democrats joined with Free-Soilers to form the Republican Party

• The Republicans won control of the House of Reps-No Support in the South

• Democratic Party now is mainly in the South

The Election of 1856

• Republicans choose John C. Fremont to run for President “Free Soil, Free Speech, and Fremont.”

• Democrats choose James Buchanan and endorsed the idea of popular sovereignty

• Buchanan won winning all southern states except Maryland

The Dred Scott Decision

• Until 1857, slaves who had lived in free states or territories were successful when they sued for their freedom

• Dred Scott was a slave who was brought into a free state and free territory; therefore, he sued for his freedom

• Chief Justice, Roger B. Taney ruled that Dred Scott was a slave. As a slave he had no rights, and Scott was property of his owners.

• The fifth amendment prohibits Government from taking away anyone’s property w/o due process of law.

• Taney also stated that Congress had no power to prohibit slavery. No one could prohibit slavery because it would be taking a person’s property.

• It meant that the Constitution protected slavery.

Reaction to the Dred Scott Decision

• Rather than settle the issue, the Supreme Court’s decision divided the country even further

• The South was elated (happy)

• Republicans and other antislavery groups were outraged

• They called the Dred Scott Decision “The greatest Crime” ever committed in the nation’s courts.

Lincoln and Douglas • The Lincoln and Douglas

debates helped Lincoln emerge as a leader

• Congressional election of 1858, was the center of national attention

• Stephen Douglas was called “the Little Giant”-said, “let the states decide”-Popular Sovereignty

• Abraham Lincoln was nearly unknown born poor in Kentucky

• House Divided Speech

The Lincoln Douglas Debates• Not as well known as

Douglas, Lincoln challenged Douglas to a series of debates

• 7 meetings in 3 months in Illinois

• Slavery was the main topic• Douglas questioned Lincoln if

African Americans are to be equal to whites?

• Lincoln says the real issue is if slavery is wrong-the republican party believes it is wrong.

• Lincoln lost the election, but the debates had won him a national reputation

• These debates are reenacted every year in Illinois-they are perhaps the most famous debates in US History

The Raid on Harpers Ferry

• As the Republican party begins to grow in power, Southerners began to feel threatened

• In late 1859, John Brown led 18 men, both white and Black, on a raid on Harper’s Ferry, Virginia-an arsenal, a storage place for weapons and ammunition.

• Brown hoped to lead a slave rebellion by arming slaves against their owners

• Financed by abolitionists• Brown and his men were

defeated and he was sentenced to death by hanging

• Transcendentalist, Ralph Waldo Emerson called Brown a Martyr-a person who dies for a cause he believes in.

• John Brown’s Death became a rallying point for abolitionists

• South see Brown’s ties to abolitionist as a great Northern conspiracy-nation is nearing disaster