The Road to War

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The Road to War

• Major Events leading to the American Civil War

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Missouri Compromise (1820)

• Missouri Compromise (1820)
• Drafted by Henry Clay of KY
• Missouri enters as a slave state
• Maine enters as a free state

• The of free and slave states remains equal
  thus, the of Senators free and slave remain
  equal
• Line drawn through Louisiana Territory at 36
  latitude slavery would be allowed in new states
  only below this line

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Missouri Compromise (1820)
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Compromise of 1850

• The population of California grew so rapidly that
  by 1850 it had applied to join the country as a
  state
• Since the MO Compromise line was drawn only
  through the Louisiana Territory, the question
  became would CA enter as a free or slave state?
  (either way, CA would upset the balance in the
  Senate)

• The Missouri Compromise was successful for about
  30 years
• Recall with the discovery of GOLD in California
  in the late 1840s that thousands of people rushed
  to CA in hopes of striking it rich

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Compromise of 1850

• Recall the U.S. had recently provoked Mexico
  into war and had won a significant amount of land
  with the Treaty of Guadalupe
• Hidalgo to end the
• Mexican American
• War

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Wilmot Proviso

• David Wilmot wished to stop all slavery from
  existing in the new territory
• Showed the growing sectionalism in the country
• The country was divided over
• Slavery, tariffs, war, internal improvements, in
  general states rights

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Popular Sovereignty

• Many believed the population in the territory
  should make that decision
• Established citizens knew that the decision about
  the spread of slavery could change the course of
  the country
• Slavery was a huge issue

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FREE -SOILERS

• This political party was committed to stopping
  the spread of slavery into the new territories
• Martin Van Buren was their first candidate to run
  for president in 1848
• Whig candidate Zachary Taylor (war hero) won the
  election

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Compromise of 1850

• Like the MO Compromise, this compromise was
  drafted by Henry Clay of KY
• California entered as a free state
• The rest of the Mexican Cession land (NM and UT
  territories) would be open to slavery

• The slave trade was ended in the nations capital
  (Washington, D.C.) but slave owners there could
  keep their slaves
• A stricter fugitive slave law was enacted
  obligating Northerners to return runaway slaves
  to Southerners

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Fugitive Slave Act

• A result of the 1850 Comp.
• Arguably most detrimental law enacted towards
  blacks.
• Background (reasons for law)
• Northern abolitionists (white and black)
  encouraged escapees to come North.
• Southern slave catchers
• Nine Northern states created personal liberty
  laws laws that would not cooperate with federal
  recapture efforts.
• Southerners were enraged at Northerners
• North legal and personal rights denied
• South illegal infringement of property rights

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• During the Comp. of 1850, Southerners demanded
  strong federal law.
• The Fugitive Slave Law
• Dramatically increased power of slave owners to
  catch escaped slaves
• Slave owners had support of federal authority
• Accused slaves were allowed a trial, but not to
  testify
• The law imposed federal penalties on those who
• Assisted or protected escaped slaves
• Did not cooperate in their return

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Compromise of 1850
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Uncle Toms Cabin

• In 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe (a northern
  abolitionist woman) published a novel, Uncle
  Toms Cabin
• Although fiction, the novel depicted the
  cruelties of slavery

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Uncle Toms Cabin

• Stowes novel was widely popular in the North
  and sparked outrage in the South
• In 1862 (during the War) Stowe met President
  Lincoln who supposedly remarked that she was the
  little lady who made this big war.

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Section 2

• Trouble in Kansas

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Election of 1852

• Democrats Franklin Pierce (agreed to support
  the Compromise of 1850)
• Whig Winfield Scott (war hero that was not sold
  on Compromise of 1850)
• Franklin Pierce won

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Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)

• The Kansas-Nebraska Act is an example of
  political wheeling-and-dealing
• Illinois Senator Stephen Douglas supported
  building a railroad to connect the Eastern U.S.
  to the Pacific Ocean
• He wanted the railroad to run from Chicago
  through the Louisiana Territory

• Southerners wanted the railroad to originate in a
  Southern city and not Chicago
• Douglas fashioned a deal If the Southerners
  agreed to let the railroad run from Chicago then
  Douglas would help overturn the ban on slavery
  above the MO Compromise line

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Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)

• In 1854, Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act
• The remainder of the Louisiana Purchase land (all
  of it north of the MO Compromise line) would be
  divided into 2 territories Kansas Territory and
  Nebraska Territory

• The issue of slavery would be decided in both
  territories by popular sovereignty the people in
  each territory would decide whether to be free or
  slave by voting on the issue
• The KS-NE Act eliminated the MO Compromise line

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Reaction to the Kansas-Nebraska Act Opposition
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Bleeding Kansas

• Anti-slavery and pro-slavery people rushed to
  both Kansas and Nebraska so they could be counted
  in the vote
• Violence broke out between the two factions

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Bleeding Kansas

• In 1856, white abolitionist (from New England)
  John Brown led a raid on a pro-slavery settlement
  in Kansas
• In what became known as the Pottawatomie Creek
  Massacre, Brown and his sons murdered 5
  pro-slavery men
• Brown managed to evade capture and claimed he
  acted on the orders of God

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Bleeding Congress

• Blood was not only spilled in Kansas but on the
  floor of the Senate in Washington as well
• The Sumner-Brooks Affair of 1856

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What is this artists view of John Brown??
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Section 3

• Political Divisions

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Republican Party

• The Democrats and Whigs lost a considerable
  amount of support over the Kansas Nebraska bill
• Whigs and Democrats in the north joined the
  Know-Nothing Party which fell apart after the
  1854 election Millard Fillmore
• Democrats supported James Buchanan-quiet and
  non-confrontational
• Republicans John C. Fremont- anti slavery

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The Dred Scott Case

• In 1857, the Supreme Court ruled on the case
  involving a slave, Dred Scott, who had traveled
  to and lived in Illinois (free state) and
  Wisconsin (free territory)
• Upon his masters death, when he was transferred
  as property to his masters widow, Scott sued in
  court for his freedom based on his having lived
  in free areas

• The Supreme Courts decision was a blow to
  abolitionists
• The Court ruled that Scott was not a citizen and
  neither was any African American (free or slave)

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The Dred Scott Case

• The Court further ruled that Scott was not free
  because he had traveled to free soil as property
• Finally, the Court ruled that the MO Compromise
  ban on slavery was unconstitutional Congress
  could not ban slavery in any territory

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Lincoln Douglas Debates
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Lincoln- Republican Douglas-Democrat

• Lincoln hoped to challenge the well-known
  politician that stood for popular sovereignty
• He was very impressive but not impressive enough,
  Douglas won the election for Illinois Senator and
  left Lincoln open to run for the presidency

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Lincoln Quotes

• I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to
  interfere with the institution of slavery in the
  states where it exists. I believe I have no
  lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination
  to do so.
• First Debate with Stephen Douglas in the
  Lincon-Douglas debates of the 1858 campaign for
  the US Senate, at Ottawa, Illinois
• Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not
  for themselves and, under a just God, can not
  long retain it.
• Letter to Henry L Pierce and others (6 April
  1859)

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Lincoln quotes

• I am not, nor ever have been in favor of bringing
  about in any way the social and political
  equality of the white and black races. I am not
  nor ever have been in favor of making voters or
  jurors of negroes, nor qualifying them to hold
  office, nor to intermarry with white people and
  I will say in addition to this that there is a
  physical difference between the white and black
  races which I believe will ever forbid the two
  races living together on terms of social and
  political equality. ... And inasmuch as they
  cannot so live, while they do remain together
  there must be the position of superior and
  inferior, and I as much as any other man am in
  favor of having the superior position assigned to
  the white race.
• Fourth Lincoln-Douglas Debate (18 September 1858)
  

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Freeport Doctrine

• Douglas believes in popular sovereignty but the
  Dred Scott Decision found that land could not be
  FREE or SLAVE
• Lincoln asked Douglas how he felt about this new
  enlightenment
• Douglas replied that the people could enforce
  what laws they truly wanted

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Section 4

• Secession

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Raid at Harpers Ferry

• He and a small group of men broke into the
  national arsenal at Harpers Ferry to steal
  weapons to arm the slaves
• U.S. Army troops under the leadership of Col.
  Robert E. Lee captured Brown and his men
• Brown was convicted of treason and sentenced to
  death

• Recall John Brown from the Pottawatomie Creek
  Massacre
• Now in Virginia in 1859, Brown wanted to start a
  slave rebellion

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1860 Election of Lincoln

• 4 candidates for President
• Republican Abraham Lincoln
• Northern Democrat Stephen Douglas
• Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge (of KY)
• Constitutional Union John Bell

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1860 Election of Lincoln

• Lincolns campaign position on slavery slavery
  could continue where it already existed BUT it
  could not expand into new states/territories
• This position frightened Southerners
• As a result of Lincolns election, Southern
  states begin to secede (break away from the U.S.)
• SC is first, with 11 total states by 1861

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