CH14.PPTTHE SECTIONAL CRISIS
America: Past and Present,
Chapter 14
The Compromise of 1850
- North and South conflict violently over slavery’s extension into the territories
- Professional politicians mediate conflict
2
The Problem of Slavery in the Mexican Cession
- Slavery traditionally kept out of politics
- Congressional power over slavery includes
setting conditions to make territories states
forbidding slavery in new states
- Mexican Cession of 1848 puts status of slavery in new territory into question
3
The Wilmot Proviso Launches the Free-Soil Movement
- Mexican War mobilizes antislavery groups
- Wilmot Proviso--ban all blacks from new territories to preserve for white farmers
- Proviso passes in House, fails in Senate
- Battle over the Proviso foreshadows sectional conflict of 1850s
4
Squatter Sovereignty and the Election of 1848
- Democratic presidential candidate Lewis Cass proposes popular sovereignty
Congress allows territorial settlers to decide
supported by many antislavery forces
- Free-Soil candidate Martin Van Buren demands definite limits on slavery
- Whig Zachary Taylor takes no position
- Taylor wins election with less than 50%
5
Taylor Takes Charge
- Taylor proposes admitting California and New Mexico as states immediately
- South reacts angrily
not enough time for planters to settle
immediate admission would result in ban
- Proposed Nashville convention prompts fears of Southern secession
6
Forging a Compromise
- Henry Clay’s compromise package
California admitted as a free state
slave trade prohibited in District of Columbia
strong fugitive slave law
enlarged New Mexico territory to be admitted on basis of popular sovereignty
- Taylor’s death permits passage of slightly altered Compromise as separate measures
7
The Compromise of 1850
Political Upheaval, 1852-1856
- Whigs and Democrats manage controversy in 1850
- Sectionalism destroys both parties in 1850s
8
The Party System in Crisis
- Parties need new issues after 1850
- Democrats succeed
claim credit for the nation's prosperity
promise to defend the Compromise of 1850
- Whigs fail, become internally divided
- 1852--Whig Winfield Scott loses a landslide to Democrat Franklin Pierce
9
The Kansas-Nebraska Act Raises a Storm
- 1854--Stephen Douglas introduces Kansas-Nebraska bill
apply popular sovereignty to Kansas, Nebraska
repeal Missouri Compromise line
- Act passes on sectional vote
- Northerners outraged
10
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854
The Kansas-Nebraska Act Raises a Storm (2)
- Whig indecision causes party to disintegrate
- Mass defection among Northern Democrats
- “Anti-Nebraska” candidates sweep North in 1854 congressional elections
- Democrats become sole Southern party
- President Pierce’s effort to acquire Cuba provokes antislavery firestorm
11
An Appeal to Nativism: The Know-Nothing Episode
- Know-Nothings (American Party) appeals to anti-Catholic sentiment
- 1854--American party surges
- By 1856 Know-Nothings collapse
- Probable cause: no response to slavery
12
Congressional Election of 1854
Kansas and the Rise of the Republicans
- Republican party unites former Whigs, Know-Nothings, Free-Soilers, Democrats
- Appeals to Northern sectional sympathies
- Defends West for white, small farmers
- “Bleeding Kansas” helps Republicans
struggle among abolitionists, proslavery forces for control of Kansas territory
Republicans use conflict to appeal for voters
13
“Bleeding Kansas”
Sectional Division in the Election of 1856
- Republican John C. Frémont seeks votes only in free states
- Know-Nothing Millard Fillmore champions sectional compromise
- Democrat James Buchanan defends the Compromise of 1850, carries election
- Republicans make clear gains in North
14
The House Divided, 1857-1860
- Sectional quarrel becomes virtually irreconcilable under Buchanan
- Growing sense of deep cultural differences, opposing interests between North and South
Cultural Sectionalism
- Major Protestant denominations divide into northern and southern entities over slavery
- Southern literature romanticizes plantation life
- South seeks intellectual, economic independence
- Northern intellectuals condemn slavery
- Uncle Tom's Cabin an immense success in North
15
The Dred Scott Case
- Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857): Supreme Court can decide on slavery in the territories
- Court refuses narrow determination of case
- Major arguments
Scott has no right to sue because neither he nor any other black, slave or free, a citizen
Congress has no authority to prohibit slavery in territories, Missouri Compromise unconstitutional
- Ruling strengthens Republicans
16
The Lecompton Controversy
- 1857--rigged Lecompton convention drafts constitution to make Kansas a slave state
- House defeats attempt by Buchanan, Southerners to admit Kansas
- Lecompton constitution referred back
- People of Kansas repudiate
- Stephen Douglas splits Democrats in break with Buchanan over Lecompton
17
Debating the Morality of Slavery
- Lincoln
decries “Southern plot” to extend slavery
promises to work for slavery’s extinction
casts slavery as a moral problem
defends white supremacy in response to Douglas
- Douglas accuses Lincoln of favoring equality
- Lincoln loses election, gains national reputation
18
The South's Crisis of Fear
- October, 1859--John Brown raids Harper’s Ferry
- Brown executed, North mourns as martyr
- December, 1859--Republican candidate for Speaker denounced as seditious “Helperite”
- Republicans seen as radical abolitionists
- Southerners convinced they must secede on election of Republican president
19
The Election of 1860: Democrats
- Party splits
- Northern Democrat Stephen Douglas
- Southern Democrat John Breckenridge
20
The Election of 1860: Constitutional Union Party
- Candidate John Bell
- Promises compromise between North and South
21
The Election of 1860: Republicans
- Abraham Lincoln nominated
home state of Illinois crucial to election
seen as moderate
- Platform to widen party’s appeal
high tariffs for industry
free homesteads for small farmers
government aid for internal improvements
- Lincoln wins by carrying North
22
Explaining the Crisis
- Republicans a strict sectional party
- Fundamental conflict of ideals
- Southern ideals
paternalism, generosity, prosperity
slavery defended on the grounds of race
- Northern ideals
inspired by evangelical Protestantism
each person free and responsible
slavery tyrannical and immoral
23
