Chapter 11 Sectional Conflict Increases

1. Chapter 11Sectional Conflict Increases Section 1 – An Uneasy Balance

2. A. Missouri Compromise • 1819 – Missouri applies for statehood • Debate over slavery/sectional fears – • Georgia congressman tells James Talmadge (NY), who wanted to gradually eliminate slavery if Missouri became a state: • “You have kindled a fire which all the waters of the ocean cannot put out, which seas of blood can only extinguish.” • Would he prove to be correct?

3. A. Missouri Compromise • Agreement – Henry Clay led Congress • Missouri admitted as a slave state • Maine admitted as a free state • Slavery banned in Louisiana Territory north of Missouri’s southern border (36°30’ N latitude) • Result – Temporary relief • See quotes on next slide

5. A. Missouri Compromise • Sectional Concerns • Sectional antagonism, Jefferson wrote, "is hushed, indeed, for the moment. But this is a reprieve only, not a final sentence… and every new irritation will mark it deeper and deeper." • John Quincy Adams agreed. The Missouri crisis, he wrote, is only the "title page to a great tragic volume.“ • Why did Jefferson and Adams say this? • Will they be proven correct?

6. B. The Slavery Debate Reopens • A Tense Time • Southern members of House able to outlaw talk of abolishing slavery on the floor • Equal numbers continue – Arkansas admitted as slave state in 1836, Michigan as free state in 1837 • February 1838 – Congressmen from Maine and Kentucky have a duel, northerner was killed

7. B. The Slavery Debate Reopens • Annexation of Texas • Slave states vs. free states • Result – • Texas admitted as a slave state but it could be divided into as many as five states if it wanted • Missouri Compromise line extended westward • Between 1845 and 1848, Texas and Florida added as slave states, Iowa and Wisconsin added as free states

8. B. The Slavery Debate Reopens • Popular Sovereignty and Wilmot Proviso • Big question – What should be done with slavery in newly acquired land from Mexico in Mexican war? • Polk’s proposal – extend Missouri Compromise line all the way to Pacific Ocean • Popular sovereignty – proposed by Senators Lewis Cass (MI) and Stephen Douglas (IL) – would allow the citizens of new territories to vote on whether or not to allow slavery • How was this different from previous discussions about the expansion of slavery?

9. B. The Slavery Debate Reopens • Neither proposal satisfied antislavery people • What did they want? • Wilmot Proviso –wanted to make it a law and ban slavery in all lands that were added from Mexico • Result – DID NOT BECOME A LAW

10. C. Election of 1848 • Democrats – Lewis Cass • Supported popular sovereignty and was against Wilmot Proviso • Whigs –Mexican War hero Zachary Taylor • People didn’t know Taylor’s views on slavery but since he had slaves it was assumed he would be in favor of it

12. C. Election of 1848 • Free Soil Party – • Formed by antislavery Whigs and Democrats in August 1848 • Nominated former president Martin Van Buren • Platform [position] – Demanded that slavery be banned in all territories • Result – Taylor beats Cass 163-127 • Free Soil party takes enough votes in NY (Van Buren’s home state) to cost Cass the election

14. D. Gold in California • Sutter’s Fort – fort and trading post owned by Swiss immigrant John Augustus Sutter along the California Trail • California Trail – trail that split away from Oregon Trail near the southernmost point of the Snake River • Gold discovered in the bottom of a wooden canal on January 24, 1848

17. D. Gold in California • Discovery led to a huge number of incoming people to join the search (40,000 by May 1849 over California Trail) • Forty-niners – migrants to gold rush, named because of the year (1849) • Nearly 80 percent of forty-niners were Americans, others were from Mexico, Australia, China, Europe and South America

18. E. Slavery in Congress • By 1850, California had enough people to apply for statehood • Wanted to enter the Union as a free state – Taylor OK but Southerners said no • Texas’ role – wanted more land, threatened to hold up approval of California

19. F. Clay’s Proposal • Henry Clay wanted Northern and Southern members of the Senate to compromise on slavery • Clay returned to Congress after a long absence due to illness • “All society is formed upon the principle of mutual concession [compromise]” • His rival in the Whig party Daniel Webster agreed with his ideas and so Clay presented them to the Senate

20. F. Clay’s Proposal • The Compromise of 1850 • Admit California as a free state • Abolish the slave trade, but not slavery itself, in D.C. • Pay Texas $10 million to give up its claim to part of New Mexico

21. F. Clay’s Proposal • Create New Mexico and Utah Territories – have slavery decided by popular sovereignty • Pass a tougher fugitive slave law that would force everybody to help federal officials track runaway slaves • State and local authorities along with private citizens were required to help • Clay urged both sides to solve their differences and save the Union • What factors were at work here?

23. F. Clay’s Proposal • Fire-eaters – • Definition – southern political leaders who were extremely pro-slavery • Wanted slavery to be protected by federal law or constitutional amendment, otherwise wanted southern states to secede from the Union

24. G. Senate Debate • John C. Calhoun – • Leading fire-eater who attacked Clay’s proposal • Said the South would be forced to choose between abolition and secession and it was the North’s responsibility to fix the problem • Webster gave a speech supporting Clay’s proposal but many northerners thought that compromising on slavery was wrong and thus were against the Compromise

25. G. Senate Debate • Change in power – President Taylor died suddenly in July 1850, replaced by Vice President Millard Fillmore • Compromise of 1850 was passed by Congress on September 20, 1850 • Was the Compromise a permanent solution or a temporary fix?

27. Chapter 11Sectional Conflict Increases Section 2 – Compromise Comes to an End

28. A. The Early 1850s • Election of 1852 • Democrats – nominated Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire • Whigs – nominated another Mexican War hero, Winfield Scott • Free Soil – Nominated John P. Hale • Result – Pierce won in a landslide (254-42) • Why did Pierce win? • Term – Pierce’s young son died in a train accident on the way to D.C., Pierce was never the same person

30. A. The Early 1850s • Fugitive Slave Act • What did it do? Made it a federal crime to assist runaway slaves • What effect did it have? • Compromise of 1850 was in trouble long before Pierce’s election in 1852 • Many Northerners did whatever they could to help runaway slaves • Further added to the divide between proslavery supporters and abolitionists

31. B. Antislavery Literature • Uncle Tom’s Cabin – written by abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe – • Novel about the realities of slavery from sugar plantations to homes of slaveholders to plight of runaway slaves • Reactions • Sold 300,000 copies in nine months, over 2 million copies in U.S. by end of 1850s • It was banned in parts of the south, where many novels defending slavery appeared • Another event that widened the gap between north and south

32. Do you think Uncle Tom’s Cabin an accurate portrayal of life in the South, particularly for slaves? Why or why not?

33. C. Kansas-Nebraska Act • Transcontinental railroad wanted from Chicago to West Coast • Douglas behind this one as well • What did the Kansas-Nebraska Act do? • Repealed the Missouri Compromise • Created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska and eventual statehood based on popular sovereignty

35. C. Kansas-Nebraska Act • Reaction was predictable – • Southerners liked the possibility of expanding slavery • Abolitionists were upset at the turn of events • It was also opposed for economic reasons. Why?

36. D. Bleeding Kansas • Both sides (pro- and anti-slavery) organize to help people move to Kansas • Elections in Kansas – March 1855 • About 5,000 pro-slavery residents of Missouri cross the border to vote in territorial elections • How was this possible? • Proslavery candidates win • Antislavery settlers form own government, both claim to be legitimate government of Kansas

37. D. Bleeding Kansas • Violence • Lawrence – May 1856 – Pro-slavery raiders trashed the town that was headquarters of the Free State Party • Pottawatomie Massacre – led by abolitionist John Brown (more about him later), attack on pro-slavery settlement, five men beaten and killed in middle of the night • Bleeding Kansas – nickname given to violence in Kansas

40. D. Bleeding Kansas • Attack on the Capitol Floor – South Carolina Rep. Preston Brooks beat Massachusetts Sen. Charles Sumner unconscious with a cane • End result of Brooks’ attack on Sumner and the violence in Kansas – only created more abolitionists than anything else

42. E. The New Republican Party • Republican Party – created in 1854 by antislavery Whigs and Democrats along with some Free-Soilers, took name from old Republican Party of Jefferson • Elections of 1854 and 1856 • 1854 Congressional Elections – Republicans team up with American Party (anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic Know-Nothings) to defeat Democrats • By 1856, antislavery Know-Nothings officially join Republicans

43. Cuba refers to the Ostend Manifesto, which was a proposal to buy Cuba from Spain and add it as a slave state

44. E. The New Republican Party • Election of 1856 • Republicans – nominate John C. Fremont • “Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Men, Fremont and Victory!” • Democrats – nominate James Buchanan of Pennsylvania over President Pierce • Supported Kansas-Nebraska Act, Democrats called Republicans a party of sectionalism in response

45. E. The New Republican Party • American Party – Know-Nothings and remaining Whigs nominate former president Millard Fillmore • Result – Buchanan wins (174 electoral votes), Fremont (114) and Fillmore (8) only carried Maryland • Why did Buchanan win?

47. E. The New Republican Party • Lecompton Constitution – • It gave Kansas voters only the right to decide if more slaves could enter the territory, not whether or not slavery should exist • Douglas speaks out against Lecompton • Cost him Douglas key support and discredited popular sovereignty. Who was upset with him?

48. Chapter 11Sectional Conflict Increases Section 3 – On the Brink of War

49. A. Dred Scott Decision • Who was Dred Scott? Slave of army doctor John Emerson lived in Missouri, wanted to be free after Emerson passed away • What was his argument? He should be free because he had previously lived with Emerson in Wisconsin Territory and Illinois, both free • Missouri courts had already given slaves freedom in similar cases