Unit 8-Causes of the U.S. Civil War

1. Unit 8-Causes of the U.S. Civil War Lesson 48-Slavery is Challenged

2. Review The Fugitive Slave Act angered many Northerners, causing an even bigger division of the North and South. More harsh feeling between the two U.S. regions grew with the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854. Fighting between supporters of slavery and antislavery in Kansas showed the increasing hostility between the North and South.

3. New Political Party • The issue of slavery weakened the political parties, with the Democratic Party dividing along sectional lines and the Whig Party being completely destroyed. • In 1854 the antislavery Northern Democrats and Whigs joined with the Free-Soil Party to form the Republican Party.

4. Republican Party • The Republicans challenged the proslavery Democrats and Whigs in state and congressional elections in 1854. • They argued that the government should ban slavery from any new territories. • The Republicans were strong in the North, gaining control of the House of Representatives and many state governments.

5. Republicans • The Republicans had almost no support in the South. • Democrats had almost no support in the North, with almost ¾ of Democratic candidates from free states losing in 1854. • The Democrats were slowly becoming a Southern party.

6. Republicans

7. Election of 1856 • Republicans chose John C. Fremont of California as their presidential candidate in 1856. • He was well known as an explorer in the West. • The Republicans used the slogan “Free soil, free speech, and Fremont,” and called for free territories.

8. John C. Fremont

9. Election of 1856 • The Democrats nominated James Buchanan from Pennsylvania, who was an experienced politician and former member of Congress. • The Democratic Party supported the idea of popular sovereignty, or allowing the people of the state or region to decide if they should have slavery or not.

10. James Buchanan

11. Election of 1856 • The American Party, also known as the Know-Nothing Party, had grown quickly in the early 1850s by attacking immigrants. • The American Party nominated former president, Millard Fillmore as their candidate.

12. Millard Fillmore

13. Election of 1856 • The voting for president was divided along sectional lines. • Buchanan won the election by winning all of the Southern states, except for Maryland, receiving 174 electoral votes to Fremont’s 114 votes and Fillmore’s 8. • Fremont did not win an electoral vote from any Southern states, but did win 11 of the 16 free states.

14. Election of 1856

15. Dred Scott Case • Two days after Buchanan took office in March 1857, the Supreme Court made a decision about slavery and the territories that divided the country more. • The case involved a African American slave named Dred Scott, who had been bought by an army doctor in the slave state of Missouri.

16. Dred Scott Case

17. Dred Scott Case • In the 1830s, the doctor moved to the free state of Illinois, and then to the Wisconsin Territory where slavery was banned by the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. • When the doctor died, his family returned to Missouri. • In 1846, their slave, Dred Scott, would sue for his freedom, using the help of antislavery lawyers.

18. Dred Scott Case • Dred Scott argued that he should be free because he once lived on free soil. • After eleven years, with anger growing about slavery, the case had reached the Supreme Court. • The Court had the opportunity to rule on the issue of slavery in territories. • Many Americans paid close attention to the case, hoping the Court would resolve the issue for good.

19. Dred Scott Case • The Court ruled that Scott was still a slave, which meant he was not a citizen and did not have the right to file a lawsuit. • The Court also stated that a slave is property and the Fifth Amendment prohibits Congress from taking away property without “due process of law.” • Living on free soil does not make one free.

20. Dred Scott Case • The Court continued by stating that Congress had no right to ban slavery in any territory, making the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional. • Popular sovereignty was also unconstitutional because that could result in taking away a person’s property. • The Constitution supported slavery according to the Supreme Court’s decision.

21. Reaction to Dred Scott Case

22. Reaction to Dred Scott Case • The Supreme Court had the chance to solve the issue, but instead created a larger division between the North and South. • Southerners were happy because the Supreme Court ruling went with what they had been saying for years, that nothing could legally stop the spread of slavery.

23. Reaction to Dred Scott Case • Northern Democrats were happy because the Republicans’ idea of banning the spread of slavery was now considered unconstitutional. • The Republicans and antislavery groups were angered, saying that the decision was “a wicked and false judgment” and “the greatest crime” the nation’s courts had ever committed.

24. Lincoln and Douglas • The nation’s attention was focused on a congressional race for Senator of Illinois, in 1858. • Senator Stephen A. Douglas, a Democrat who was a likely candidate for the presidency in 1860, was taking on an almost unknown Republican by the name of Abraham Lincoln.

25. Lincoln and Douglas

26. Stephen A. Douglas • Douglas had been a successful lawyer who was short, stocky, and powerful, and nicknamed “the Little Giant.” • He disliked slavery, but thought that the issue would interfere with the growth of the country. • He believed that slavery could be resolved through popular sovereignty.

27. Stephen A. Douglas

28. Abraham Lincoln • Lincoln was born in the poor backcountry of Kentucky, but moved to Indiana as a child, and later to Illinois. • He was intelligent and a successful lawyer, who had very little formal education. • Saw slavery as morally wrong, that it should not be allowed to spread, but also believed there was no easy way to eliminate slavery where it already existed.

29. Abraham Lincoln

30. Lincoln-Douglas Debates • Lincoln challenged Douglas to a series of debates to help get himself more known to the people of Illinois. • Douglas agreed to the debates, but not without hesitation. • The two met seven times throughout the state of Illinois between August and October, 1858. • Thousands came to the debates, which the main issue discussed was slavery.

31. Lincoln-Douglas Debates

32. Lincoln-Douglas Debates • While debating at Freeport, Lincoln pressured Douglas to discuss his views on popular sovereignty, and if the people of a territory could legally ban slavery before becoming a state. • Douglas answered that the people could ban slavery by refusing to pass laws that protected the rights of slaveholders.

33. Lincoln-Douglas Debates • Douglas’ response pleased those that were antislavery, but it was not the response that Southerners wanted to hear. • His response became known as the Freeport Doctrine.

34. Lincoln-Douglas Debates • Douglas then retaliated by claiming that Lincoln wanted African Americans to be fully equal with whites. • Lincoln denied this claim, stating “in the right to eat the bread…which his own hand earns, [an African American] is my equal and the equal of Douglas, and the equal of every living man.”

35. Lincoln-Douglas Debates • Lincoln said the real issue was about who thought slavery was wrong and who did not think it was wrong, and “the Republican Party thinks it wrong.” • Douglas won the election for the seat in Senate by a narrow margin, but Lincoln gained a national reputation, which would help him gain votes in the presidential election of 1860.

36. Lincoln-Douglas Debates

37. Raid on Harpers Ferry • After the elections in 1858, Southerners felt threatened by the growing strength of the Republican Party. • This fear was realized after the abolitionist John Brown led 18 men, both whites and African Americans, on a violent raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia on October 16, 1859.

38. Raid on Harpers Ferry • John Brown’s focus was on an arsenal, a storage place for weapons and ammunition. • Brown, who had already killed 5 proslavery Kansans in 1856, wanted to arm slaves with weapons, with hopes of starting a rebellion against slaveholders.

39. Raid on Harpers Ferry

40. Raid on Harpers Ferry • Federal troops and local citizens quickly defeated Brown and his men. • Brown was convicted of treason and sentenced to death by hanging. • In the North, some antislavery Northerners, including Republican leaders, said that the use of violence was wrong, while others viewed Brown as a hero, dying for a great cause.

41. Raid on Harpers Ferry • Abolitionists used John Brown’s death as a rallying point for their cause. • Southerners fears of a conspiracy by the North seemed to be confirmed when they learned of Brown’s raid being funded by abolitionists.

42. Conclusion The division of the country on the issue of slavery led to the creation of a new political party, the Republicans. During the 1850s, many developments in regards to slavery caused a stronger sense of sectionalism between the North and South. By the end of the 1850s, both the North and South had grown upset to the point that the nation was on the brink of disaster.

43. Assignments • Answer the four review questions for this lesson. • Complete the Reading Activity on Harpers Ferry. You will have a Unit 8 test after you complete Lesson 49