USW34

1. USW34 The Coming Crisis, 2

2. Reasons for Rise of Antislavery Thought • Rise of Religious Liberalism: • Perfectionism • Higher criticism • from sin as slavery to slavery as sin • Rise of Enlightenment Thought • Natural rights • Universal Freedom • Rigid Social Hierarchy • Shift in Understanding of Sympathy • All of above are responses to Atlantic slave trade and New World slavery

3. Responses to Rise of Antislavery Thought: • Abolitionist enters English usage in 1770s: • Idea, articulated through language, that mobilized people to act. • England: Somerset Decision 1772: interpreted as outlawing slavery in England • Northern states gradually abolish slavery • Vermont first constitution in history that outlaws slavery.

4. Responses to Rise of Antislavery Thought (cont): • Abolition Societies strongest in Upper South (Va. Md.) • Masters manumit 20,000 slaves by 1800 (27m free blacks in North) • Excludes slavery from entering Northwest territories • End of international slave trade • False belief that ending intl trade a promissory note for ending slavery.

5. Strategy of Early Abolitionists (1770s-1810s) • Very gradual abolition (30-100 years) • Colonization/Emigration • Black and white leaders advocated colonization/emigration • American Colonization Society founded 1816. • Voluntary colonization to Liberia.

6. Strategy of Early Abolitionists (1770s-1810s), cont. • Conservative response to slavery • Early abolition societies run by elites • Ben Franklin President of Penn. Abol. Society • Alexander Hamilton led NY Abol. Society • Refused to accept blacks as members • Black and white leaders: emphasized prudence rather than defiance as strategy for ending slavery. • Most white abolitionists “firmly in the camp” of Federalist Party • Stronghold in New England States • Strong Central Government • Clearly defined social hierarchy • Blacks become free but not equal; remain at or near bottom of social order or shipped to another country.

7. Constitution: Proslavery v. Antislavery

8. National Crises Over Slavery • “Hartford Convention” of Federalists of 1814 • Indignant over rise to power of Jefferson’s Democratic-Republican Party • Jefferson the “Negro” president • Indignant over War of 1812 • Indignant that Louisiana Purchase opened the way for slavery’s expansion • Worried that Louisiana Purchase will upset political balance struck by 3/5s Compromise • Convention attracts only 26 delegates from 3 states • Do not advocate secession; instead seek to curtail Congress’s ability to wage war, regulate commerce (inc. slaves), and admit new states.

9. National Crises Over Slavery, cont. • Missouri Crises and Compromise, 1819-21 • 1819: Missouri petitions to enter Union as slave state • Northern statesmen try to prohibit slavery in Missouri. • Explodes perceived agreement between Northern and Southern statesmen: North will not interfere with slavery in Southern states; Southerners recognize slavery as an evil that should be discouraged and eventually abolished. • Southerners threaten to secede • Compromise: • Missouri enters Union as slave state • Missouri’s southern border (36-30) determines slavery in Louisiana Purchase territories. • States enter Union in pairs (1 free, 1 slave) until Texas in 1845

10. Map of U.S. 1821

11. Effects of Missouri Compromise • Western territories/land becomes battleground over slavery. • Perceived safety valve for northern workers. • Don’t want to compete with slave labor • Free soil worth more than slave soil • Crucial to continued growth of commodity agriculture in South • Southerners hope to stem tide of emancipation movements • 1823-42: Mexico, Central America, Bolivia, Uruguay, Chile abolish slavery • 1833-38: British colonies abolish slavery • 1807-1850: Most of Europe abolishes serfdom & indentured servitude

12. Effects of Missouri Compromise • Rise of Higher Law: • Rufus King, 1821: First politician to invoke “higher law” in reference to slavery: any law upholding slavery was “absolutely void, because it is contrary to the law of nature, which is the law of God.”

13. Effects of Missouri Compromise • Rise of Modern, or Immediate Abolitionism • Advocate immediate end to slavery • millennialist/prophetic) • Led by blacks: • Freedom’s Journal (John Brown Russworm, Samuel Cornish, Peter Williams Jr. • David Walker’s Appeal, 1829-31 • Integrated Societies and Communities • Garrison’s Liberator, New England Anti-Slavery Society • American Anti-Slavery Society, 1833: blacks, women equal members. • In theory abolitionists embrace racial equality • Oppose colonization • Most Northerners, Southerners despised them as fanatics. • Threaten Union • Threaten white man’s government • Very small numbers (no more than few hundred thousand)

14. “Liberal” abolitionists of 1770s-1810s become “liberal”antislaveryadvocates of antebellum era.“Radical” abolitionists a new phenomenon.

15. Effects of Missouri Compromise • Southerners stage a “counter-revolution.” • Refuse to tolerate dissent against slavery • Refuse to debate slavery: impose Gag Rules in Congress • South Carolina attempts to nullify federal law, 1828-31. • Seek New territories to continue growth of commodity agriculture • (Hiatus of territorial acquisition from Mo. Comp to Texas annexation of 1845) • New Territories prevent Southern class war. • Control Democratic Party, National Politics • Democratic Party: State’s rights, oppose modernization, centralization, federal subsidies • Northern Democrats mob abolitionists • Annexation of Texas leads to Mexican War • Texas declares independence from Mexico in 1836.

16. Disputed Texas Territory

17. Effects of Mexican War • Size of U.S. increases by 1/3. • New territories become battleground over slavery • Southerners want all new territories as slave territories • Representation in Congress. • New forms of slave labor. • Reverse tide of New World emancipation • Emergence of Free-Soil Party in 1848 • Influenced by abolitionists • Gold discovered in California • Southerners want it for slavery • Southerners threaten to secede • Northerners worried about “slave power conspiracy.”

18. Effects of Mexican War, cont. • Compromise of 1850: • California enters as free state • New Mexico, Utah territories: no restrictions on slavery • End slave trade in District of Columbia • Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 • Denies habeas corpus • Federal commissioners oversee cases • Paid double for sending person back into slavery • Requires all Northerners to participate in roundup of suspected fugitives • Radicalizes antislavery northerners: many endorse higher law or become outright abolitionists • Inspires Uncle Tom’s Cabin • Suicidal to South.

19. Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854 • Repeals Missouri Compromise • Opens Northern territories to slavery • Kansas becomes battleground.

21. How did small number of abolitionists influence national politics and society? • Foundation of antislavery political parties • Liberty Party evolves into Free-Soil Party (antislavery), and National Liberty Party (abolitionist) • Free-Soil Party evolves into Republican Party (1854-55) • National Liberty Party evolves into Radical Abolition Party (1855) • Helps split two-party system (Whigs dissolve) • Understand the power of words as weapons • Small numbers, huge voice • Slave narratives become popular, critically acclaimed genre. • Convince antislavery Northerners that slavery is moral and economic evil. • Foundations of racial equality in U.S. • Examples of Boston, upstate New York. • As we’ll see, abolitionists become crucial catalysts in the election of Lincoln and secession.