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The 1850’s: The Road to Succession and the Civil War. Edited by Karen Auwers Original ~Ms. Susan M. Pojer. Problems of Sectional Balance begins in the 1840’s. Southern “ fire-eaters” threatening secession
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The 1850’s: The Road to Succession and the Civil War Edited by Karen Auwers Original ~Ms. Susan M. Pojer
Problems of Sectional Balancebegins in the 1840’s • Southern “fire-eaters” threatening secession • Underground RR & fugitive slave issues: * Personal liberty laws (1840’s Northern states will not cooperate with the Fugitive Slave laws…) * Prigg v. Pennsylvania(1842) (Prigg was a crucial case because it announced that slavery was a national issue that could not be disturbed by state action. It also disclosed that the institution of slavery was woven into the Constitution • California Statehood -1850
HarrietBeecherStowe 1811 - 1896 So this is the lady who started the Civil War. -- Abraham Lincoln
Uncle Tom’s Cabin 1852 • Sold 300,000 copies in the first year. • 2 million in a decade!
Human Zoos—When Real People Were the Exhibit This recent article by the BBC describes how racism continued based on pseudo – scientific knowledge of the late 19th century. Read the article…
The “Know-Nothings” [The American Party] • Nativists. • Anti-Catholics. • Anti-immigrants. • 1849 Secret Order of the Star-Spangled Banner created in NYC.
Two issues: foreign immigration and the reemergence of the issues of slavery expansion (1850) A massive wave of immigration from Ireland and Germany after 1845 led to an outburst of anti-foreign and anti-Catholic sentiment. Between 1846 and 1855, three million foreigners arrived in America. Nativists--ardent opponents of immigration--capitalized on deep-seated Protestant antagonism toward Catholics and working-class fear of economic competition from cheaper immigrant labor. Nativists charged that Catholics were responsible for a sharp increase in poverty, crime, and drunkenness, and were subservient to a foreign leader, the Pope. In 1849, native-born Protestant workingmen formed a secret fraternal organization, "The Order of the Star-Spangled Banner," which became the nucleus of a new political party known as the Known-Nothing or American party. The party received its name from the fact that, when members were asked about the party's workings, they were supposed to reply, "I know nothing." (Digital History--http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/documents/documents_p2.cfm?doc=126)
1852 Presidential Election √Franklin Pierce Gen. Winfield Scott John Parker Hale Democrat Whig Free Soil
“The Crime Against Kansas” Sen. Charles Sumner(R-MA) Congr. Preston Brooks(D-SC)
“Bleeding Kansas” Border “Ruffians”(pro-slavery Missourians)
Bleeding KansasPopular Sovereignty Explodes One of the most publicized events that occurred in BleedingKansaswas when on May 21, 1856 Border Ruffians ransacked Lawrence, Kansas which was known to be a staunch free-state area. One day later, violence occurred on the floor of the U.S. Senate when Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina attacked Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts with a cane after Sumner spoke out against Southerners responsible for violence in Kansas.
Birth of the Republican Party, 1854 • Northern Whigs. • Northern Democrats. • Free-Soilers. • Know-Nothings. • Other miscellaneous opponents of the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
1856 Presidential Election √James Buchanan John C. Frémont Millard Fillmore Democrat Republican Whig
Panic of 1857 The Panic of 1857 abruptly ended the boom times that followed the Mexican War. The immediate event that touched off the panic was the failure of the New York branch of the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Co., a major financial force that collapsed following massive embezzlement. Hard on the heels of this event arrived other setbacks that shook the public's confidence: The decision of British investors to remove funds from American banks raised questions about overall soundness The fall of grain prices spread economic misery into rural areas. Manufactured goods began to pile up in warehouses, leading to massive layoffs Widespread railroad failures occurred, an indication of how badly over-built the American system had become Land speculation programs collapsed with the railroads, ruining thousands of investors.
Further Complications Confidence was further shaken in September when 30,000 pounds of gold were lost at sea in a shipment from the San FranciscoMint to eastern banks. More than 400 lives were lost as well as public confidence in the government's ability to back its paper currency with specie.In October, a bank holiday was declared in New England and New York in a vain effort to avert runs on those institutions. Eventually the panic and depression spread to Europe, South America and the Far East. No recovery was evident in the United States for a year and a half and the full impact did not dissipate until the Civil War. As an unfortunate sidelight, the South was hurt less than the other regions of the country and many there concluded that the superiority of their economic system had been vindicated.
Dred Scott Decision-1857 The most unpopular Supreme Court decision that further separated the North and the South…
The Lincoln-Douglas (Illinois Senate) Debates, 1858 A House divided against itself, cannot stand.
Stephen Douglas & the Freeport Doctrine PopularSovereignty?
1860PresidentialElection √Abraham LincolnRepublican John BellConstitutional Union Stephen A. DouglasNorthern Democrat John C. BreckinridgeSouthern Democrat
Republican Party Platform in 1860 Non-extension of slavery [for the Free-Soilers. Protective tariff [for the No. Industrialists]. No abridgment of rights for immigrants [a disappointment for the “Know-Nothings”]. Government aid to build a Pacific RR [for the Northwest]. Internal improvements [for the West] at federal expense. Free homesteads for the public domain [for farmers].
1860 Election Results
Crittenden Compromise:A Last Ditch Appeal to Sanity Senator John J. Crittenden(Know-Nothing-KY)
