Deteriorating Situation

1
Deteriorating Situation

• 1850-1854

2
Aftershocks of 1850

• Many Northerners dissatisfied that territories
  still open to slavery
  
• Among Southerners, secession gained credibility
• Fire-eaters
• Minority, but gaining audience
• Right Edmund Ruffin, ca. 1860, photo from
  National Archives

3
Aftershocks of 1850

• Fugitive Slave Law passed as promised
• No jury trial for accused
• Federal magistrates paid by number of cases
  heard
  
• Marshals could force citizens to cooperate

• Imaginary problem
• 1850-1856 only 200 fugitives returned
• Escaped slaves rarely ran northward

4
Northern resistance to Fugitive Slave Law

• Exaggerated by South mainly passive
• 1850-1856 only three detained fugitives released
  by force
  
• Personal liberty laws
• Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Toms Cabin (1852)
• Right Harriet Beecher Stowe, photo from National
  Archives

5
1852 Whigs in Crisis

• 1844 1848 hard on Whig party
• Emerging third party
• Know-Nothings
• Nativism
• Whigs nominate Winfield Scott
• Hero of Mexican War
• Close to Know-Nothings
• Right Winfield Scott, ca. 1852

6
1852 Democrats Must Please South

• Deadlock and two-thirds rule
• Cant nominate a southerner
• Northern nominee must follow Souths line
• Franklin Pierce
• NH Senator, war hero
• Northern man with Southern principles.
• Defeats Scott easily
• Right Franklin Pierce, Democratic nominee, 1852,
  Library of Conrgess

7
Pierce seeks territory for slavery

• Cuba a long-sought prize among Souths
  politicians
  
• Repeated attempts to buy
• US government collusion with rebel groups
• Spains hold weak

• US offers Spain 130 million for island
• Rejected
• Ostend Manifesto
• Secret meeting of US diplomats
• Advise Pierce to take Cuba by force if needed
• Became public, increased divisions

8
Kansas-Nebraska Crisis

• Example of slaverys reach into every political
  issue
  
• Destroyed the Whigs and helped create
  Republicans
  
• Eroded the political center even more
• Helped bring out divisions among Democrats

9
Transcontinental Railroad

• Seen as best way to develop new territories and
  tie country together
  
• Cannot be achieved without massive federal aid
• Will require new territories
• Right Driving the Golden Spike, 1869, photo by
  Andrew J. Russell, American Geographic Society,
  New York

10
Two plans

• Southern route
• New Orleans-San Diego
• Proposed by Sec. of War Jefferson Davis
• Gadsden Purchase (1853)
• Southern AZ, NM
• Advantages
• Terrain, potential for slavery in mining/industry

11
The other plan

• Northern route
• Chicago-San Francisco
• Sen. Stephen Douglas (D-IL)
• Path through Indian territories
• Will cost to acquire rights
• Douglass committee passes his bill
• Right Stephen Douglas, ca. 1855, Library of
  Congress

12
Douglas needs friends

• Cant get his bill out of committee w/o Southern
  senators
  
• Douglas wants to create Nebraska Territory
• Popular sovereignty
• What about Missouri Compromise

13
Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)

• Southerners force Douglas to compromise
• Create Kansas as well as Nebraska
• Repeal the Missouri Compromise
• Popular sovereignty
• Douglas completely misread situation
• Felt that this could strengthen the Democrats in
  South
  
• Believed that Whigs would be damaged
• Did not fully understand Southern intentions

14
Bill passes

• Democrats and Pierce force it through
• Senate 37-14 House 113-100
• Southerners back bill, only one votes against
• Sam Houston
• Outrage in North Appeal of the Independent
  Democrats
  
• Missouri Compromise a sacred pledge
• Bill part and parcel of an atrocious plot

15
Union unraveling

• Protestant denominations split over slavery
• Whig Party disintegrates
• Democrats barely hold together
• Birth of the Republican Party Third Party
  System
  
• Northern Whigs
• Independent Democrats
• Free-Soilers
• Nativist, Protestant, pro-temperance, anti-slavery