Drifting Toward Disunion

I. Stowe and Literary Incendiaries

a. Harriet Beecher Stowe

i. Wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) – Because of the Fugitive Slave Law, she was determined to awaken the North to the wickedness of slavery by showing its inhumanity, especially the cruel splitting of families

ii. She believed God wrote the book – Her antislavery sentiments began in the Second Great Awakening

b. Results of the Novel At Home

i. The success of the novel at home was profound:

1. It was made into a play

2. It was translated into many languages

3. No other novel in American history can be compared with it as a political force

4. To many, it made slavery appear as evil as it really was and would make people want to have nothing to do with the new Fugitive Slave Law

5. The South condemned Stowe and her book as unfair

c. Results of the Novel Abroad

i. Popular in England and France

ii. Their governments seriously thought about helping the South, but the popularity of the book with their people made them feel like they would not support them

d. Odd facts:

i. She never witnessed slavery in the South, only for a brief time during a visit to Kentucky

ii. She had lived for many years in Ohio, a center for the Underground Railroad

iii. When meeting her in 1862, Lincoln remarked “So you’re the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war.”

e. The Impending Crisis of the South (1857)

i. Written by Hinton R. Helper, a white from North Carolina

ii. He attempted to prove through statistics that indirectly the nonslaveholding whites were the ones who suffered most from slavery

iii. His message was negligible to the poor whites he was trying to address. The South’s planter elite certainly took note of the book, which fueled fears that the nonslaveholding majority might abandon them

iv. In the South, the book was banned and burned. They also didn’t like that northerners were spreading these “lies”

v. In the North, thousands of copies were sold

II. The North South Contest for Kansas

a. The Make-Up of Kansas

i. Pioneers in search of rich lands

ii. Financed group of abolitionists or free-soilers (New England Emigrant Aid Company – sent 2,000). These people were armed with rifles

b. Southern Response

i. Supported the Kansas-Nebraska Act with the unspoken understanding that Kansas would become slave (2 slaves) and Nebraska free (15 slaves)

ii. Sent small groups of well-armed slave-owners with black slaves

iii. However, slaves were valuable and owners would be foolish to take them in a volatile area

c. Election of the First Territorial Legislature

i. 1855 – Proslavery people poured in from Missouri to vote early and often

ii. Slavery won fraudulently and set up their government in Shawnee Mission

iii. The antislavery people set up their own government in Topeka

iv. People ended up disputing over conflicting land claims, which would lead to violence in Lawrence (proslavery raiders claimed they were provoked into shooting up the free-soil town)

III. Bleeding Kansas

a. John Brown

i. May 1856 – With the recent attack on Lawrence in mind, he and his men killed five proslavery advocates

ii. This butchery tainted the free-soil cause and brought retaliation from proslavery forces

b. Civil War In Kansas

i. Continued intermittently until it merged with the Civil War

ii. Results:

1. Destroyed million in property

2. Paralyzed agriculture in certain areas

3. Cost many lives

c. Lecompton Constitution (1857) and Statehood

i. Proslavery forces drew up this constitution. The people were not allowed to vote for or against the constitution as a whole, but for the constitution either “with slavery” or “with no slavery”

ii. If they voted against it, one of the remaining provisions of the constitution would protect the owners of slaves already in Kansas. Free-soilers were infuriated and boycotted the polls

iii. Proslavery forces approved the constitution with slavery

d. The National Government’s Response

i. President James Buchanan was now in office

ii. He supported the Lecompton Constitution

iii. Senator Douglas championed true popular sovereignty and fought for fair play/democracy

iv. The compromise was a popular vote on the constitution. The free-soil voters in a majority voted against it. Kansas remained a territory until 1861

e. The Democratic Party Splits

i. President Buchanan alienated the North by supporting the Lecompton Constitution

ii. Douglas alienated the South by supporting a compromise

iii. This turned the national party into a party split into sections

IV. Brooks Bludgeoning Sumner

a. Senator Charles Sumner (MA)

i. Was a leading abolitionist

ii. Was cold, humorless, intolerant, and egotistical and very disliked in the Senate

iii. In a speech called “The Crime Against Kansas” he:

1. Condemned proslavery men as “hirelings picked from the drunken spew and vomit of an uneasy civilization”

2. Referred insultingly to Senator Andrew Butler, one of the best-liked senators

b. House Member Preston S. Brooks (SC)

i. He resented the insults to Butler, who was his cousin

ii. He would’ve dueled Sumner, but his language felt like he dropped him to a lower level

iii. May 1856 – Brooks went up to Sumner, who was sitting at his desk, and beat him with a cane until it broke. No one helped Sumner

iv. It took years for Sumner to recover from the immediate injuries, but he never recovered fully

v. The House of Representatives couldn’t get enough votes to kick out Brooks, but he resigned

c. Northern Reaction

i. Many northerners approved of his speech

ii. Although he couldn’t serve the next term, the people of MA voted him in anyhow

d. Southern Reaction

i. The South was angered that many people in the North supported Sumner’s terrible speech

ii. He was given canes, some of them golden, by Southern supporters

iii. Although some southerners disapproved of Brooks’ action, he was reelected during the next election

e. At this point, emotion is replacing rational thought in both the North and South!!!

V. President Pierce Versus James Buchanan

a. Democratic Party Candidate For 1856

i. Didn’t nominate Pierce or Douglas. Each was too tainted from the Kansas-Nebraska Act

ii. Chose James Buchanan. Was muscular and 6’ tall. Had an eye defect that made him carry his head to one side

iii. He had served as minister to London during the Kansas-Nebraska Act, so he hadn’t been corrupted from that issue

iv. Platform placed less emphasis on popular sovereignty

b. Republican Party Candidate For 1856

i. Chose Captain John C. Fremont, an explorer who was not tarnished by the Kansas-Nebraska Act

ii. Their platform was against the extension of slavery into the territories

c. Antiforeignism and the Know-Nothing Party

i. The recent influx of immigrants from Ireland and Germany alarmed “nativists” because they were taking low-paying jobs away from other people

ii. They organized the American Party or the Know-Nothing Party (because of its secretiveness)

iii. Nominated Millard Fillmore as their presidential candidate

iv. Platform was anti-Catholic and antiforeign; many Whigs and some Republicans joined this party

d. Mudslinging

i. Buchanan was a bachelor (his fiancée died in his youth after a lover’s quarrel)

ii. Fremont was illegitimate (his young mother had left her elderly husband (a VA planter) to run away with a French adventurer); people alleged he was Catholic

VI. President James Buchanan

a. Election of 1856 Results

i. Buchanan – 174-114; 1.8 million-1.3 million-900,000

b. Why Were the Republicans Defeated?

i. Fremont lost because many southerners threatened succession if he was elected president

ii. Anxious to save the Union and their business connections with the South, they were forced to vote for Buchanan

iii. However, the Republican Party, which was two years old, made a strong showing

c. Fremont

i. People doubted his honesty, capacity, and sound judgment

ii. He was certainly no Lincoln, so it is lucky that he didn’t become president and the South succeed at this point

VII. Dred Scott

a. Background Case Information

i. March 1857 – The Supreme Court made the decision on this case

ii. It was about a slave who had lived with his master for 5 years in IL and Wisconsin Territory. Backed by abolitionists, he sued for freedom on the basis of his long residence on free soil

iii. The Supreme Court ruled:

1. That Dred Scott was a black slave and not a citizen, and couldn’t sue in federal courts

2. That as a slave he was private property, so he could be taken into any territory and legally be held there in slavery. The reasoning was that the 5^th Amendment clearly forbade Congress to deprive people of their property without due process of law

3. The Compromise of 1820 had been unconstitutional. Congress didn’t have the power to ban slavery

b. Make-Up of the Supreme Court

i. Chief Justice Taney was from MD (a slave-holding State)

ii. There was a prosouthern majority on the Supreme Court

c. Reactions

i. North – It drove another wedge between them and the South. They refused to honor the Supreme Court’s decision. They believed that it was merely an opinion

ii. South – Delighted with the decision, but appalled that the North was not enforcing it. How could they stay in a Union that didn’t uphold federal decisions?

VIII. The Financial Crash of 1857

a. What Caused the Crash?

i. CA gold helped to inflate the currency

ii. Demands of the Crimean War had over stimulated the growing of grain

iii. Frenzied speculation in land and railroads

b. Results of the Panic in the North and South

i. North –

1. Grew grain and was hardest hit

2. Unemployment and hunger was prominent

ii. South –

1. Enjoyed favorable cotton prices

2. This helped boost the confidence that “Cotton Was King” and that they could support themselves in a war with the North

c. Free Land

i. Because of the Panic, it gave way to the push for free land

ii. The government sold land out west for revenue

iii. Many people argued that 160 acres of land should be given for free to the pioneers as a reward for risking health and life to develop it

iv. Opposition –

1. Eastern Industrialists –

a. Were afraid that their low-paid workers would go out west to try to make a living

2. South –

a. Believed that 160 acres of land was not enough to support slavery, so the territories would fill rapidly with free-soilers and further tip the political balance against them

v. The Homestead Act passed Congress, but was vetoed by the president who was a southern sympathizer

d. Clamor For Higher Tariffs

i. Tariff of 1857 –

1. Was passed because of a large surplus

2. It reduced duties to 20%

ii. Then, the Panic took place. Northern manufacturers blamed their misfortunes on the low tariff and they wanted a higher tariff

e. In the next election, this would give two economic issues for the two parties, free farms and higher tariffs

IX. Abraham Lincoln

a. Characteristics of Lincoln

i. 6’4” tall and 180 pounds

ii. Odd features – legs, arms, and neck were abnormally long

iii. Was born in a Kentucky log cabin to poor parents

iv. He attended a frontier school for less than a year; he was self-educated

v. Was a wrestler and weight lifter

vi. He was a good story and joke teller; had bouts of depression

vii. Split logs for fence rails

b. Becoming A Lawyer

i. He married a rich wife, Mary Todd

ii. She was known for having temperamental outbursts

iii. Became one of the best trial lawyers in IL

iv. He carried important papers in his stovepipe hat

v. Was referred to as “Honest Abe” because he would refuse cases that he would feel guilty about

c. Lincoln As a Political Figure

i. Was in the IL legislature as a Whig logroller (a person who will cast their vote for you if they get your assistance in passing your projects)

ii. Served one term as a House member in Congress

iii. Had done nothing special until the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, when he joined forces with the Republicans and became one of foremost politicians and the best speakers of the Northwest (he received 110 votes at the Republican convention to be vice-president to Fremont)

iv. Wanted to run against Douglas in the senatorial election of 1858

X. The Great Debate: Lincoln Versus Douglas

a. Lincoln Challenges Douglas

i. 1858 – Lincoln challenged Douglas to seven debates

ii. Douglas was one of the country’s best orators

iii. They seemed unmatched because Lincoln was not a comfortable speaker (at least not at first in a debate)

b. Freeport, IL Debate

i. Lincoln asked what would happen if the people of a territory should vote slavery down? The Supreme Court in the Dred Scott decision had said that they could not. Who would prevail, the Court or the people?

ii. Douglas argued that no matter what the Supreme Court said, slavery would stay down if the people voted it down. Laws to protect slavery would have to be passed by the territorial legislatures

iii. Lincoln morally opposed slavery

c. Results of the Senatorial Election

i. Douglas defeated Lincoln for the Senate seat

ii. His loyalty to popular sovereignty appealed to the people in IL

iii. Back then, Senators were chosen by State legislatures, and there were more pro-Douglas members then pro-Lincoln

iv. However, the districts represented by the Douglas senators was smaller in population than the districts represented by the Lincoln senators. Lincoln won the popular vote

d. Results of the Debates For Lincoln

i. He was noticed by the most prominent northern politicians

ii. Put in the national spotlight by newspapers in the East

iii. Began to emerge as a potential Republican nominee for president

e. Results of the Debates For Douglas

i. He further split his own party by his opposition to the Lecompton Constitution and his defiance of the Supreme Court at Freeport

ii. Southern Democrats were determined to break up the party (and the Union) rather than accept him

XI. John Brown

a. John Brown’s Scheme

i. Wanted to:

1. Invade the South secretly with a handful of followers (paid for by northern abolitionists)

2. Call upon the slaves to rise up and join them in arms

3. Hoped to start a rebellion and seize a federal arsenal

4. Establish a black free state as a sanctuary

ii. October 1859 – At Harper’s Ferry in Virginia (eventually WV), he and his group killed 7 innocent people and injured 10 more

iii. The slaves didn’t know about Brown’s raid and failed to rise

iv. Brown and his men were captured by U.S. Marines under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Robert E. Lee

b. Arrest and Conviction

i. Was convicted of murder and treason

ii. His defense was insanity and many people attested to that fact (some of his relatives were as well)

iii. His last words before he were hung were “this is a beautiful country.” This contributed to his martyrdom

c. Results of John Brown’s

i. The South thought he was a murderer. They questioned how they could stay in a Union when murderous gangs of abolitionists were being financed by the North?

ii. Moderate northerners hated his actions, but the South felt that the majority applauded his actions

iii. Abolitionists and free-soilers were infuriated with Brown’s execution. They were somewhat ignorant of his bloody actions and believed him to be an great reformer who was working for a righteous cause

XII. The Disruption of the Democrats

a. Democratic National Convention

i. Met in Charleston, SC

ii. Douglas was the leading candidate for the northern wing of the party. The South regarded him as a traitor (stance on Lecompton Constitution and Freeport Doctrine)

iii. Delegates from most of the southern States walked out

iv. The remainder couldn’t get together the 2/3 vote for Douglas, so the entire body dissolved

b. Second Democratic National Convention

i. Met in Baltimore, MD

ii. Most of the southern State again walked out

iii. This time, the North had enough votes to nominate Douglas (IL)

iv. His platform:

1. For popular sovereignty

2. Against obstruction of the Fugitive Slave Law (to try to appease the South)

c. The Other Democratic National Convention

i. Southern Democrats organized a rival convention in Baltimore

ii. They formed the Constitutional Union Party and nominated the vice-president John C. Breckinridge (KT) as their candidate

iii. His platform was:

1. Favored extension of slavery in the territories

2. Annexation of slave-populated Cuba

d. Constitutional Union Party

i. Met in Baltimore

ii. The party consisted mainly of former Whigs and Know-Nothings

iii. Wanted to select a moderate, compromise candidate to hold the Union together

iv. Selected John Bell (TN)

XIII. Election of 1860

a. Republican National Convention

i. Met in Chicago

ii. William H. Seward was one of the best known contenders, but his radical speeches caused concern (he referenced that a conflict between slavery and freedom would occur)

iii. Lincoln was the other candidate. He had made fewer enemies, so he was nominated

b. Republican Platform

i. Appealed to every nonsouthern group:

1. Free-soilers – nonextension of slavery

2. Northern manufacturers – a protective tariff

3. Immigrants – rights would be abridged

4. Northwest – a Pacific railroad

5. West – internal improvements at federal expense

6. Farmers – free homesteads

c. Southern Thoughts On Lincoln

i. Thought that his election would split the Union

ii. Lincoln wasn’t an outright abolitionist, although he didn’t like slavery (as late as February 1865 he offered cash compensation to the owners of freed slaves)

iii. He could’ve made statements to disquiet southern fears, but those statements also could have roused them

XIV. Results of the Election of 1860

a. Analysis of the Election

i. Lincoln –

1. Won by a sweeping margin

2. Was minority president more than any other except Quincy Adams

3. 60% of the voters preferred another candidate

4. In 10 southern States, he was not allowed on the ballot

5. SC rejoiced in Lincoln’s win; they now had reason to succeed

ii. Douglas –

1. Got 12 electoral votes

2. Drew from all sections and ranked a fairly close second in the popular vote

3. The two Democratic Parties combined (Douglas and Breckinridge) got 365,000 more votes than Lincoln

4. Even if all of the other 3 parties would’ve voted for Douglas, he still would’ve lost. Lincoln had won 180-123 (169-134). He still would’ve carried the populous States of the North and West

iii. Breckinridge –

1. Favored slavery, but wasn’t for succession

2. He polled fewer votes in the slave States than the combined strength of his opponents, Douglas and Bell (he even failed to carry his own State – Kentucky)

b. The South’s Situation

i. Still had a 5-4 majority on the Supreme Court

ii. Republicans didn’t control the Senate or House

iii. The federal government couldn’t touch slavery in those State where it existed except by a constitutional amendment (an amendment could be defeated by ¼ of the States)

iv. 15 slave States was nearly ½ the total

XV. The South Secedes

a. South Carolina Special Session

i. SC’s legislature voted unanimously to call a special convention

ii. December 1860 – Voted to succeed

iii. Next six weeks – Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas voted to succeed

b. South’s Government

i. Created a government known as the Confederate States of America

ii. The president was Jefferson Davis, a recent member of the Senate from MI

c. Lame Duck Government

i. Lincoln, although elected president in November 1860, could not take office until four months later on March 4, 1861

ii. During this period, Lincoln was still a private citizen, all while 7 of the 11 succeeding States pulled out of the Union

iii. Buchanan too old and powerless to do anything:

1. He was surrounded by prosouthern advisors

2. Much of the 1,500 person army had to be used to control the Indians in the West

3. The North didn’t want to fight; they still wanted reconciliation

iv. The weakness really lied in the Constitution and in the Union itself

d. Lincoln’s Beliefs

i. He believed in the Constitution:

1. Didn’t think it gave the southern States the right to succeed

2. He didn’t think it gave the North the right to stop them with guns

XVI. Collapse of Compromise

a. Crittenden Amendments

i. Designed to appease the South

ii. Slavery in the territories was to be prohibited north of 36 degrees, 30 minutes line. Territories below the line were given federal protection for slavery

iii. Future States, north or south of the line could come in as they choose

b. Lincoln’s Response

i. He disagreed with the Crittenden Amendment

ii. The amendment may have given hope for success, but Lincoln was elected on a platform that was against slavery

c. Buchanan’s Non-Response

i. Was probably a good thing:

1. Had he used force on SC, the war would’ve started three months earlier

2. The North would’ve looked like the aggressor and lost the border States

3. Buchanan used the time to appoint Northerners to federal posts and helped to prepare Fort Sumter with reinforcements

XVII. Farewell to Union

a. Why Did the Secessionists Leave?

i. They were alarmed by the tipping of the majority of northern States in Congress

ii. Didn’t like the triumph of the new sectional Republican party because they threatened southern rights

iii. Weary of:

1. Free-soilers

2. Abolitionists

3. Northern interference (Underground Railroad & John Brown’s Raid)

iv. Felt that the manufacturers and bankers relied too heavily on southern cotton and markets, so they wouldn’t go to war (northern creditors would repudiate (refuse to pay) their debts)

v. The South felt they could develop its own banking and shipping and trade directly with Europe

vi. They were afraid that the Republicans would win control of Congress and be greedy by passing an oppressive protective tariff

vii. Nationalism was growing in the South. They had their own culture and didn’t want to be lorded over by the North

viii. They thought that they were using the principles of self-determination as in the Declaration of Independence. They felt they were throwing off the oppressive yolk of Lincoln and the North. With the North gone, the South felt that it could work out its own destiny more quietly, happily, and prosperously