The Union in Crisis

1. The Union in Crisis Sectionalism

2. Slavery Divides the Nation • Northern Views on Slavery • African Americans inferior in North • Many Northerners were never exposed to slavery • Southern Views on Slavery • Integral part of their economy • Claimed slaves were healthier than Northern wage laborers

3. Politics About Slavery • Wilmot-Proviso • Ban slavery in land acquired from Mexico • Free-Soil Party • Supports the Wilmot-Proviso • Popular Sovereignty • Allow the people in the state to vote whether it should be slave or free

4. Compromise Over Slavery John C. Calhoun – Southerner supports slavery Daniel Webster – Northerner who opposes slavery Henry Clay – Representative of the west Compromise of 1850 – California was admitted as a free state and popular sovereignty was applied to land acquired from Mexico

6. Fugitive Slave Act Northerners were required to return a fugitive slave to their owner – helping a fugitive slave would result in fines and/or jail time Personal liberty laws in the North went against the Fugitive Slave Act

7. Northern Abolition Underground Railroad – Harriet Tubman Harriet Beecher Stowe – Uncle Tom’s Cabin in which Northerners learned the horrors of slavery

8. Kansas-Nebraska Act Nullifies the Missouri Compromise which entered Maine as a free state and Missouri as a slave state The Kansas-Nebraska Act created potential for slavery in Kansas and Nebraska territories by allowing popular sovereignty

10. Violence Over Slavery • “Bleeding Kansas” • Violence erupts over popular sovereignty • John Brown – abolitionist fighting against slavery • Proves popular sovereignty will not work • “The Caning of Charles Sumner” • Preston Brooks beats Sumner over his remarks over slavery and the South

11. Political Realignment The Whig Party vanishes due to Millard Fillmore supporting California as a free state Know-Nothing Party – Nativist group Republican Party is born supporting opposition to slavery Democrats win election of 1856 – James Buchanan

12. Dred Scott Dred Scott claims he is a free man based on living in the Illinois/Wisconsin territory with his slave owner Roger Taney and the Supreme Court rule that a slave is property and have no rights as a citizen to be heard or to appeal to a court Dred Scott loses – The Southerners celebrate – Northerners are fearful about the slavery issue

14. The Rise of Abe Lincoln Lincoln/Douglas Debates – Set Abe Lincoln on the national stage as a honest, moral, well-educated person who opposed the Dred Scott decision

15. Harpers Ferry John Brown raids and seizes an arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia John Brown and his men get captured and Brown gets executed Brown’s execution creates a divide between North and South – North see him as a martyr and the South see him as a villian

16. Lincoln, Secession, and War Republicans nominate Abe Lincoln for President Lincoln wins the election of 1860 – did not receive one electoral vote from the South A growing political divide occurs between North and South Southerners were outraged a person could be elected President without a single southern electoral vote

18. Secession • Southern states start seceding from the Union • South Carolina is the first state to secede • The Confederate States of America is started • President Jefferson Davis • A final compromise fails – Crittenden Compromise

19. WAR! • Lincoln takes action – sends food relief to Fort Sumter • Northerners were attacked at Fort Sumter • Surprise attack • Fort Sumter falls to the Confederacy • Other states secede including Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina • The Confederacy quickly draws in volunteer militia • Both North and South made themselves ready for what they thought would be a short war