Chapter 14

From Compromise to Secession: 1850-1861

14.1 THE COMPROMISE OF 1850

Focus Questions• The Compromise of 1850

• The Collapse of the Second Party System, 1853-1856

• The Crisis of the Union, 1853-1856

• The Crisis of the Union, 1857-1860

• The Collapse of the Union, 1860-1861

The Compromise of 18501. Free soiler wanted Congress to prohibit slavery

in new territories2. MO Compromise line: 36’30 to the Pacific: slaves

in N. Mex & S. CA3. Popular sovereignty: let the states decided;

pleased neither free soiler nor proslavery advocates

• Crisis:UT & CA sought free slave admission while slaved TX claimed ½ (eastern) of N Mex where already abolished

• Northerners attacked slavery in DC; southerners complained about lax enforcement of the fugitive slave act of 1793

The Compromise of 1850: Z. Taylor at the Helm1. Became pres. 1848 (ended of Mex War); also a slaveholder

2. Rejected Calhoun’s idea that extension of slavery in the West will protect the institution

3. Encouraged CA & New Mex to apply as free state w/ position of popular sovereignty

• This plan angered both the free soilers and southerners (Calhoun)

The Compromise of 1850: H. Clay• Trio: Clay, Calhoun, Webster = distinguished

senators

• Clay as conciliator over MO issue in 1820 and nullification crisis in early 1830s: warned S. against secession & N. that slavery’s spread will be limited naturally; “omnibus” measures

• Calhoun: complained tariffs enriched the N & MO Comp. exclude slaveholders fr. N. of LA Purchase lead to imbalance

• D. Webster: speaking as “an American”

The Compromise of 1850: Millard Fillmore

1. Taylor overate & died of gastroenteritis in1850

2. M. Fillmore became pres. & D. Webster his secretary of state

3. Democrat Stephen Douglas pushed to get each individual components of Clay’s omnibus measures approved

The Compromise of 1850: Clay’s Omnibus bill (pushed by S. Douglas)

1. CA statehood

2. Territorial status for N Mex and Utah

3. Allowing popular sovereignty

4. Resolution of Texas-New Mexico boundary disagreement

5. Federal assumption of TX’s debt

6. Abolition of slave trade in DC

7. New fugitive slave law

The Compromise of 1850: assessment

1. N. & S. both gained & lost

2. The S. split over pro- & anti- compromise & talked of secession

The Compromise of 1850: Enforcement of Fugitive Slave Act

Distasteful to northerners and anger moderate

• Denied alleged fugitives the right of trial by jury

• Can’t testify on their own behalf

• Permitted return on testimony of claimant alone

• Enable court-appointed commissioners to collect $10 if they ruled for slaveholders, $5 for the fugitive

The north became hunting ground; nationwide issue rather than just peculiar institution of the South

The Compromise of 1850:Anthony Burns and Margaret Garner

Pres. Franklin Pierce sent federal troops to enforce fugitive law by escorting Burns to harbor: 50 Th people lined the street to watch w/ anger

Margaret slit her daughter’s throat & tried to kill other children instead of watching them go to slavery

The Compromise of 1950: Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

• Novel increased N. sympathy for fugitive slaves

• Portrayed evil of institution despite good intention & how family life was torn

• 300Th copies sold in 1852, 1.2M by 1853

• The play turned indifferent working class to be enraged against slavery

• IT changed northern attitude toward slavery

The Compromise of 1850: Election of 1852

• Fugitive Slave Act fragmented the Whig party

• Whig nominated Winfield Scott

• Democrats nominated Franklin Pierce: winner– Won both electoral and popular vote in both N. &

S., didn’t happen again until FDR in 1932

The Collapse of the Second Party System, 1853-1856

• Whig party disintergrated w/in first 4 yrs. Of Pierce presidency

– American (Know-Nothing) party and the Republican party

– Republican: sectional (N)

The Collapse of the 2nd Party system, 1853-1856: Kansas-Nebraska Act

• ’54 Pierce signed Kansas-Nebraska Act to organize ter. into states

• Conflict:– Which city as starting point: Chicago, N. Orleans,

or Memphis?– Nebraska w/in LA purchase & N. of the MO Com

line 36’30 (free) so the S. doesn’t like– Stephen Douglas modified act: split into 2 ter.

(Nebraska & Kansas)– Ignore MO Compromise by pop. sovereignty

The Collapse of the 2nd Party system, 1853-1856: Surge of Free Soil

Support for free soil united northerners

• Some on moral ground, others on racism( no blacks on soil)

• All agreed: slavery hindered whites’ progress (slaves v. free laborer)

• Accused S. of spreading slavery to the North by ignoring the MO Comp.

• “labor loses its dignity, religion finds no churches, and the whole land of slavery is impoverished”

The Collapse of the 2nd Party system: Manifest Destiny

• Kansas-Nebraska act hinders Manifest destiny: harder to approve bills for new ter.

• Cuba as example: John Quitman planned a filibuster (unofficial military expedition) to take Cuba fr. Spain but quit due to N. opposition

• US ambassadors to Br, Fr, & Sp (2 fr. S) issued unofficial Ostend Manifesto to acquire Cuba by any means, but Pierce rejected due to storm over Kan-Neb Act.

The Collapse of the 2nd Party system: Manifest Destiny continues

• Still desired to expand into the Carribean

• 1853-60, William Walker led fillibustering expeditions into Central Amer.– Nicaragua: reinstituted slavery; wanted it to be

US colony

• Some Southerners (LA) didn’t support acquisition of Cuba due to sugar competition

• Worried N.

The Collapse of the 2nd Party system: Whigs disintegrated 1854-1855

• Kan-Neb Act destroyed the Whig Party

• Whigs blamed Democrats for K-N Act & recruited free-soil Democrats, who blamed Southern Whigs for supporting Douglas

• Also, northen Whigs divided between antislavery “Conscience” Whigs (William Seward) and conservative Whigs (Ex Pres. Millard Fillmore)

• Fillmore advocates strict adherence to Comp of 1850

The Collapse of the 2nd Party system: Know-Nothings, ’53-56

• Rise: secretive nativist organization: the Order of the Star-Spangled Banner, ’50– Members’ standard response “I know nothing”

• Responded to unprecedented immigration

• Sought to rid immigrants & Catholic influence

• Pressured existing parties to nominate and appoint only native-born Protestants to office

• Wanted extension of naturalization period before immigrants could vote

• Used to vote Whigs but changed to Know-Nothing due to Winfield Scott who courted Dem Catholics

The Collapse of the 2nd Party system: Know-Nothings, ’53-56

• Power: ’54 captured governorship, all congressional seats, & almost all seats in the state legislature in MASS

• vulnerable to sectionalism over slavery

• Strong in N, but had southern wing of former Whigs who hated antislavery northerners & southern Democrats

• ’55 accepted K-N act as platform: blurred the attraction of Know-Nothing & to those northern voters who were more antislavery than anti-Catholic

• A Lincoln: criticized them “All men are created equal, except Negroes & foreigners & Catholics”

• Republican party emerged

The Collapse of the 2nd Party system: Republican Party & crisis in Kansas, ’55-56

• Born in aftermath of K-N Act & became main opposition to the Democratic party

• Won pres. Election fr. ’60 to ’80

• United by the K-N Act: conservatives (restore MO Comp), former Liberty party abolitionist; & free soilers

• Used to compete w/ Know-Nothing for same voters; found a way to make voters worry more about slave power than rum or Catholics

The Collapse of the 2nd Party system: Republican Party & crisis in Kansas, ’55-56• Boston’s NE Emigrant Aid Co. sent antislavery settler to

Kansas• Bulk of settlers in Kansas fr. MO “I kem to Kansas to live in a

free state… and I don’t want niggers a-tramping’over my grave”• Bleeding Kansas: battleground for pro & anti slavery settlers• Lecompton, Kansas: Proslavery forced stole election by illegal

votes & w/ revolvers to silence judges: mistake• Then threw out anti-slaver legislators & passed outrageous acts

The Collapse of the 2nd Party system: Republican Party & crisis in Kansas, ’55-56

• Reaction to Lecompt: Topeka Kansas organized a rival gov’t

• Then, Lecompt sent a dispatch to Lawrence (free staters who adhered minister Henry Ward Beecher’s words “riffles would do more than Bible to enforce morality in Kansas”)– Dispatchers w/ arms and dubbed their guns as

Beecher’s Bibles to destroy 2 printing press

• The John Brown got mad: God now beckoned him “to break the jaws of the wicked”

The Collapse of the 2nd Party system: john Brown ’55-56

• Brown led 7 men, including 4 sons & son-in-law near Lawrence in Pottawatomie Creek to attacke 5 men assocaited w/ Lecompten gov’t– Shot one, hacked one into pieces,

• Pres. Admin. Recognized only the Lecompton gov’t as pop. Sovereignty failed in Kansas: awkward for N. Democrats

The Collapse of the 2nd Party system: john Brown ’55-56

• The day before the sack of Lawrence, Republican Sen. Charles Sumner of Mass delivered an angry speech criticizing most of the US senate for complicity in slavery, particularly Senator Andrew Butler of SC– For his choice of “the harlot, slavery” as his mistress

and for the “loose expectoratoin” of his speech (Butler’s drool)

• 2 days later, Butler’s relative named Preston Brooks (Democratic Rep.) found Sumner at his desk & struck him repeatedly with a cane– Broke after 6 strike, Brooks became a hero in the S

The Collapse of the 2nd Party system: Republican Party 55-56

• Bleeding Kansas & Bleeding Sumner united the N.– Republicans sidestepped moral issue of slavery &

portrayed S. as arrogant aristocrats: SLAVEOCRACY

• Called southerners: “the pukes” “Misouri savages”

The Collapse of the 2nd Party system: Election of 1856• Rep. John C. Fremont, the “pathfinder” as role in the

seize of CA during the Mex War– Congressional prohibition of slavery

• Know-N. chose ex. Pres. Millard Fillmore– Called for moderation in the face of sectionalism

• Democrats dumped Pierce for James Buchanan (PA): – Congressional non-interference

• Quickly became 2 races: Buchanan won– Fremont v. Buchanan () in free states– Fillmore v. Buchanan in slave states

The Collapse of the 2nd Party system: Election’s 3 conclusions1. American Party (know-nothing) died:

joined other parties including Republican

2. Republican party rose (almost got presidency) from sectional to national one.

3. Democrats united behind moderate James Buchanan

Buchanan, Dred Scott

The Crisis of the Union, 1857-1860

1. Buchanan’s admin: Dred Scott decision, proslavery Lecompton constitution, J. Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry, secession

2. So much for running on moderation: one of the most controversies-ridden admin

The Crisis of the Union: Dred Scott case, 1857• Dred Scott v. Sanford decision 2 days

before inauguration– In ’30s Scott’s master took him fr. MO to IL,

then enslaved again in MO

– Scott sued for freedom on ground of having lived in free state

• Roger B. Taney (appointed by Jackson), succeeded J Marshall = chief justice

The Crisis of the Union: Dred Scott, Taney’s ruling• Slave could not sue for his

freedom

1. NO black, whether a slave or a free person descended from a slave, could become a citizen

2. Even if Scott had been legal plaintif, his residence in free terr did not make him free because the MO Comp was unconstitutional as it violated the 5th Amendment’s protection of property

The Crisis of the Union: Dred Scott, Reaction to Taney• The Republicans cried “We are now one

great homogenous slaveholding community”

• Antislave press flayed as “willful perversion”

• Called it fiendish Slave Power conspiracy (5 out of 6 justices fr. Slave states)

The Crisis of the Union: The Lecompton Constitution, 1857Buchanan’s dilema:• For pop. Sovereignty but

Lecompt gov’t was fraudulent; Kansas constitution drawn by only 10% of eligible voters

• But he got 112 of 174 electoral votes fr. the South in ’56; saw the need to expedite admission of Kansas by its constitution

• He endorsed the constitution,

The Crisis of the Union: The Lecompton Constitution, 1857• Buchanan endorsed the constitution, but

attacked by S. Douglas due to constitution protect existing slavery by just allowing more slaves or not.

• Led to 2nd convention’s election & constitution was defeated, but Buchanan ignored it by submitting plan

• Deadlock in the House led to 3rd referendum: accept or reject the entire constitution. They rejected it!!

• Douglas became hero to the N democrats & even some Republicans

The Crisis of the Union: The Lincoln-Douglas Debates, 1858• S. Douglas v. A Lincoln for Senate seat

Lincoln: tall 6’4 “piece of floating driftwood” called himself:appose K-N act &Mex War

• Energy, ambition, self-educated• Fr. Log cabin in KT to politition• Farm laborer, surveyor, rail-splitter, flatboatman• Got westerner’s support for internal improvements to

gain election to Congress in 1846 as a Whig; joined the Republican in ’56

• “House Divide” speech: This nation cannot permanently exist half slave & half free”

The Crisis of the Union: The Lincoln-Douglas Debates, 1858• Democrat S. Douglas: a footer shorter than

Lincoln

• Compact frame, fr. NE, supported by IL’s small farmers whose origin fr. the South

• Architect of the infamous K-N act

• Embraced pop sovereignty

• More concerned w/ white expansion, not slavery

• Both he & Lincoln wanted slavery out of white’s paths

The Crisis of the Union: The Lincoln-Douglas Debates, 1858• Douglas’ tactic: accused L of abolitionist &

advocate of racial equality (racist IL voters)• L responded “I am not, nor ever have been in the favor of bringing

about the social & political equality of the white, and black man”

• L asked how D can reconcile sovereignty w/ Dred Scott decision (at Freeport)

– Congress has no power to exclude slavery from a terr, then that means the territorial legislature created by Congress can’t either

– D replied: voters could exclude slavery by simply refusing to enact laws that protect slave property

The Crisis of the Union: The Lincoln-Douglas Debates, 1858• Southerners resented D for aposing the

Lecompton constitution

• S prefer certainty of Dred Scott ruling over uncertainty of pop sovereignty

• Lincoln’s tactic: attacks slavery as “a moral, social, and political evil”

• L argued that D’s view of slavery only as an eccentric custom, which would dull conscience & facilitate slavery everywhere

• L rejected abolition & equality for blacks

The Crisis of the Union: The Lincoln-Douglas Debates, 1858 RESULT• * (p.425) Republican L won, only slightly

• Confirmed sectional split: L hero of the N & a villain in the South

The Crisis of the Union: Legacy of Harpers Ferry• S sees free soil & abolition as

unholy alliance against slavery; N as controlled by demented leaders bent on civil war

• Defender of slavery equated abolitionist doctrines as “Socialists, of Free Love and Free Lands, Free Churches, Free Women and Free Negroes- of NO Marrigae, No-Religion, No-

Private Property, No Law and No-Gov’t”• This perception reinforced by

Harpers Ferry raid & northern admired Brown as martyr

The Crisis of the Union: Legacy of Harpers Ferry• Brown’s raid increase S.’s fear of slave

insurrection

• Had vigilantes to fight conspiracies (in their mind)

• Thousands of slaves rounded up, some were tortured into making things up & then to be lynched

• Directed blame on Republican for raid

The Crisis of the Union: The South contemplates Secession• Talk of secession more as an outrage

rather than a practical tactic w/ clear goals

• Some S. said sucession will make easier to acquire land in the Carribeans, but other S disagreed

• S believed that the N. treat S as inferior

The Collapse of the Union 1860-61: Election of 1860• Buchanan declined reelection

• Economic slump due to Panic of 1857 brought economic concerns to the front

• To woe NE, PA, & IL, Republican platform

– Protective tariff (PA likes)

– Fed. aid for internal improvement Granting settlers (even immigrants, non-citizen) free 160 acre homestead (Midwest likes last 2))

The Collapse of the Union 1860-61: Election of 1860• Republican chose Lincoln instead of

Seward, whose “irrepressible conflict” & “higher law” are too radical

• L affirmed that Congress had no const’l right to interfere w/ slavery in the S. & explicitly rejected “higher Law” doctrine

• Democrats had their own sectional difference to bridge: walk outs during conventions in Charleston & Baltimore

• Divided Democrats had 2: Douglas & John C. Breckinridge

• Constitutional Union Party sent John Bell– Took no stance of issue of slavery

extension

The Collapse of the Union 1860-61: Election of 1860• Lincoln (winner of majority of electoral

votes): Demanded Congress to prohibit extension

• Brenkinage: Congress must protect slavery in any terr. That contains it.

• Douglas: committed to pop sovereignty

• Bell: moderate

The Collapse of the Union 1860-61: Movement for Secession• S. viewed L’s election as insult

• Dec. 20, 1860, S.C. voted unanimously to secession

• Feb 1, 1861: AL, Miss, FL, GA, LA, TX seceded

• Feb 4. delegates fr. These states met in Montgomery, AL to est. the Confederate States of America

• Even a month after this, Upper South still rejected succession: VA, NC, TN, Ark, MD, KN, DL, MO

The Collapse of the Union 1860-61: Upper South hesitated to secede • Upper South had strong economic ties to

the North

• Doubted non-slaveholding population to secede

– Example: VA had its western counties break away to form Unionist West VA

– Hinton R. Helpers published “The Impending

Crisis of the South” questioning the doctrine that slavery makes all whites equal

• If war breaks out, Upper S. will be battleground

The Collapse of the Union 1860-61: Search for Compromise • Republicans believed secession was just

bluster not substance due to lack of unity in the S.

• Moderate John J. Crittenden wanted compromise but Republicans refused

– One was extension of MO Comp.

• S. cooperationist were sitting on the fence waiting for major concessions fr. N

• Lincoln will not compromise as Republican was found based on free soil

The Collapse of the Union 1860-61: Coming of War • L took office in March 1861 & ignited war

w/ inaugural address “hold, occupy, and possess” fed. Property in the 7 seceded states

– Fort Pickens in FL and Sumter in SC

• Confederate attacked Sumter on April 12, but surrendered the next day

• L appealed for 75Th men to suppress rebellion; this led Upper S. (VA, NC, Ark, TN) to join Confederacy

• N was ready to punish secession

(Chapter 14) Antislavery Almanac In the 1840s and 1850s, abolitionists sought to

project images of slavery that would arouse popular hatred of the institution. In 1840, most northerners were indifferent to slavery or tacitly accepted it as long as it was confined to the southern states. Free blacks faced routine discrimination in the North, whether in obtaining jobs or attending integrated churches. In short, an antislavery illustrator faced a daunting task.

Some of these images focused on the cruelty of slavery to black men. In one scene, a slave is literally cut to pieces, and in another, a slave, presumably a runaway, is simultaneously shot at by whites and drowned by ferocious dogs. Another scene shows a slave being burned alive. However, while their graphic effect is dramatic, northerners may have written off these scenes as uncommon for practical reasons: a dead slave was of no use to slaveholders.

Other images are more subtle. The scene at the top left, showing lynchings and the torture of a slave, also depicts whites fighting savagely with each other and two cocks attacking each other. It suggests that slavery brings out the worst in whites even as it mistreats blacks. Other scenes depict the cruelty of slavery to black women. The middle scene on the second line shows a white man whipping a black man and, alongside, a white woman beating her slave. At a time when both northerners and southerners were portraying women as naturally pure, passive, and virtuous, this depiction suggests that slavery provoked women to act in an unfeminine way. The right scene on the last line makes a different point: slavery is uneconomical, and a self-defeating labor system because slaves have no incentive to work.

Finally, a number of scenes indicate that northerners are complicit in slavery because they return fugitive slaves to their masters or they restrict free blacks to segregated church pews, or because they deny blacks opportunities to work at their trades. By blending the northern and southern scenes, the illustrator suggests that by discriminating against free blacks, northerners are becoming brothers of the savage southern bullies who prefer the whip to the snub.

1. To what extent should these scenes be viewed as a realistic portrait of life under slavery, and to what extent as antislavery propaganda?

2. In your view, which of these scenes would have had the most powerful affect on northern opinion? Why?

(Chapter 14) Antislavery Almanac

(Chapter 14) Antislavery Almanac – Enlarged

(Chapter 14) Antislavery Almanac – Enlarged (cont’d)

(Chapter 14) Antislavery Almanac – Enlarged (cont’d)

(Chapter 14) Uncle Tom PosterHarriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's

Cabin was first published during 1851-52 as a serial in an abolitonist newpaper, then in 1852 as a book that sold more than 300,000 copies in that year. Northerners, already angered by the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, felt increasing hostility toward the South. Frequent stage adaptations spread Stowe's antislavery message among northern workers who were unlikely to read books. "So you're the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war," Abraham Lincoln reportedly said when he met Stowe.

In this theater poster a menacing overseer whips a helpless and aged Tom, seemingly for no reason as Tom has picked the cotton now spoiling in the dirt. With his sharp goatee and rakish dress, the overseer, probably meant to represent the novel's fictional Simon Legree, looks vaguely European.

Even in 1860, the vast majority of northerners viewed blacks as an inferior race and opposed the abolition of slavery. But Stowe's novel had persuaded many northerners that slaveholders were bullies and threats to the republic. This poster depicts a dramatic and dangerous contrast between unrestrained power and powerlessness. Recall that the major political parties, Democrat and Whig, had played for decades on the dangers of unrestrained power, on the evils of the Bank of the United States or the dictatorial Andrew Jackson ("King Andrew I"). By showing Simon Legree as a violent tyrant, the poster captures the longstanding American fear of too much power in the hands of one person.

1. What impact might this poster have on northerners who rejected abolitionism?

2. In what ways would it have spurred northern loathing of the white South?

3. How might it have encouraged northerners to think of slavery and slaveholders as threats not just to Uncle Tom but to the American republic itself?

(Chapter 14) Uncle Tom Poster

Map 14.1: The Compromise of 1850

Map 14.2: The Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854

Map 14.3: Bleeding Kansas

Map 14.4: The Election of 1860

Map 14.5: Secession