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Chapter 13

The Crisis over Slavery, 1848–1860

CREATED EQUAL A History of the United States

Combined Volume | Fifth Edition

Mining for Gold Near Sacramento, California

Chinese and European American miners pan for gold in the Auburn Ravine in California in 1852. Within a few years, individual miners would be replaced by machines that extracted the precious metal from rivers and mountains. Although this photo suggests a rough equality among the men and the work they were doing, the Chinese miners were subject to a discriminatory Foreign Miners Tax.

Courtesy of the California History room, California State Library, Sacramento, California

Journal Prompt 13.1

How are the cultural differences between Chinese and European miners inscribed in their clothing and on their persons?

Answer: The Chinese laborers are wearing traditional, loose-fitting buttonless tunics. They wear no hats. Their foreheads are shaved, they have no beards, and each wears his hair in a long braid in the back. In contrast, the European Americans wear buttoned shirts with collars, and all have hats. Two of the three men have beards, and none of them is close-shaved.

Focus Questions (1 of 2)

13.1 Regional Economies and Conflicts

To what extent, and in what ways, were U.S. regional economies interdependent by 1860? Were certain regions, or groups of people, outside the emerging national economy?

13.2 Individualism versus Group Identity

In what ways did the American ideal of individualism clash with group stereotypes and prejudices enshrined in 1850s law and customs?

Focus Questions (2 of 2)

13.3 The Paradox of Southern Political Power

How could white Southerners dominate all three branches of the national government and still perceive themselves on the defensive, under siege?

13.4 The Deepening Conflict Over Slavery

During the 1850s, what specific events and developments pushed the nation toward armed conflict?

13.1 Regional Economies and Conflicts (1 of 2)

Native American Economies Transformed

Land Conflicts in the Southwest

Ethnic and Economic Diversity in the Midwest

Regional Economies of the South

A Free-Labor Ideology in the North

Focus Question:

To what extent, and in what ways, were U.S. regional economies interdependent by 1860? Were certain regions, or groups of people, outside the emerging national economy?

13.1 Regional Economies and Conflicts (2 of 2)

Changes occurred in regional economies, and a national economy emerged

Railroads, factory system, efficient farm equipment

Migration into Midwest sped up, and slavery shaped life in the South

Native Americans experienced changes

Americans continued to debate slavery

Lecture Outline:

Changes occurred in regional economies, and a national economy emerged

Railroads, factory system, efficient farm equipment

Migration into Midwest sped up, and slavery shaped life in the South

Native Americans experienced changes

Americans continued to debate slavery

Key Terms:

Compromise of 1850: Congressional legislation that provided that California would enter the Union as a free state that year and that New Mexico and Utah would eventually submit the slavery question to their voters. As part of this compromise, the federal government abolished the slave trade in Washington, D.C.

13.1.1 Native American Economies Transformed

Cherokees: rebuilding after forced removal

1850s: Established capital at Talequah

Treaties with Plains Indians

Fort Laramie Treaty and Treaty of Fort Atkinson

Plains Indians became overwhelmed by technology, weaponry, and new settlers

Lecture Outline:

Cherokees: rebuilding after forced removal

1850s: Established capital at Talequah

Public schools, newspaper, print culture in their own language

Treaties with Plains Indians

Fort Laramie Treaty and Treaty of Fort Atkinson

Government could build roads and establish forts along western trails

Indians would be compensated with food for the loss of hunting rights in the region

Later disregarded by whites

Plains Indians became overwhelmed by technology, weaponry, and new settlers

13.1.2 Land Conflicts in the Southwest

Gadsden Purchase

55,000 acres south of Gila River

Texas conflicts

European Americans battled Tejanos for political and economic control

1859: Cortina’s War

Juan Cortina (Tejanos) vs. Robert E. Lee (United States)

Lecture Outline:

Gadsden Purchase

55,000 acres south of Gila River

Texas conflicts

European Americans battled Tejanos for political and economic control

White migrants brought slaves to the region

German immigrants arrived

Commercial farming, cattle industry, railroads arrive

Tejanos had cultural influence

Cuisine

Music and architecture

1859: Cortina’s War

Juan Cortina (Tejanos) vs. Robert E. Lee (United States)

Courts disregarded titles held by Californios and Tejanos

Attacks on European Americans

Key Terms:

Gadsden Purchase: A total of 30,000 square miles of land (located in present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico) purchased by the United States from Mexico in 1853.

Map 13.1: Territorial Expansion in the Nineteenth Century

As a result of the Mexican War (1846–1848), the United States won the territory west of Texas by conquest. In 1853, James Gadsden, U.S. ambassador to Mexico, received congressional approval to pay Mexico $15 million for 30,000 square miles in present-day southern Arizona and New Mexico. That year marked the end of U.S. continental expansion.

13.1.3 Ethnic and Economic Diversity in the Midwest (1 of 2)

Yankee Strip: northern Midwest

Northeasterners and European immigrants

Cultural conflict

Northern parts of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota

Lower Midwest

Southern parts of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois

Held cultural ties to the South

Maintained support for slavery

Lecture Outline:

Yankee Strip: northern Midwest

Settled by Northeasterners

Established public schools

Congregational churches

European immigrants

Germans, Belgians, Swiss in Wisconsin

Scandinavians in Minnesota

Cultural conflict

Control over public schools

Northern parts of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota

Lower Midwest

Southern parts of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois

Held cultural ties to the South

Maintained support for slavery

Legal system had anti-black bias

Blacks could not vote, make contracts with whites, or testify in trials involving whites

Black migrants could not enter the state

13.1.3 Ethnic and Economic Diversity in the Midwest (2 of 2)

Rural Midwest

Traditional agricultural lifestyle

Family farming had become dependent on expensive machinery

Was becoming the breadbasket of the world

Lecture Outline:

Rural Midwest

Traditional agricultural lifestyle

Family farming had become dependent on expensive machinery

Deere’s plow and McCormick’s mechanical reaper

Was becoming the breadbasket of the world

13.1.4 Regional Economies of the South (1 of 2)

Black Belt

West from South Carolina

Focus on cotton

Economic extremes among whites

Small percentage were extremely wealthy

Many nonslaveholding whites were tenants

Majority were yeoman farmers

Lecture Outline:

Black Belt

West from South Carolina

Focus on cotton

Moved slaves from nonagricultural positions to the fields

Slave artisans, mill operators, sawmill laborers

White laborers took their places in mills and workshops

Economic extremes among whites

Small percentage were extremely wealthy

Many nonslaveholding whites were tenants

Majority were yeoman farmers

Average of 50 acres

Produced what they consumed

Occasional help of hired hand

Little affected by cotton culture

Neighborhood networks of exchange

13.1.4 Regional Economies of the South (2 of 2)

Slavery discouraged immigrants from moving to the rural South

Southern blacks in the cities

Highly skilled could hire themselves out

Free people of color

Lecture Outline:

Slavery discouraged immigrants from moving to the rural South

Slaves undercut immigrants’ labor

Farmers could not compete with plantation owners

Southern blacks in the cities

Highly skilled could hire themselves out

Relative freedom

Not free, but not fully slave

Free people of color

Own communities

Churches and clandestine schools

13.1.5 A Free-Labor Ideology in the North (1 of 2)

Free-labor ideology

Glorified family farmer

Increasingly, Northerners earning wages

Settlers migrating to towns, mill villages, or the West

Farming replaced by mills, water-powered factories

Lecture Outline:

Free-labor ideology

Glorified family farmer

Increasingly, Northerners earning wages

Settlers migrating to towns, mill villages, or the West

Competition from the Midwestern farmers

Unfavorable growing conditions

Farming replaced by mills, water-powered factories

13.1.5 A Free-Labor Ideology in the North (2 of 2)

Unpaid labor

Still some slaves

Form of apprenticeship

Women and children

White working class thought they were “wage slaves”

Did not receive fair wages

Lecture Outline:

Unpaid labor

Still some slaves

1846: New Jersey ended slavery

Form of apprenticeship

Black children taken from families and forced to work

Women and children

All work in the home was without compensation

White working class thought they were “wage slaves”

Did not receive fair wages

Maine Textile Workers

Maine textile workers, with their shuttles, pose for a formal portrait around 1860. Some early New England textile mills, such as those in Lowell, Massachusetts, hired young unmarried white women exclusively, most from the surrounding rural areas. Although women factory workers developed a collective identity distinct from that of middle-class wives, most young, native-born women eventually married and withdrew from the paid labor force.

American Textile History Museum, Lowell, MA

Journal Prompt 13.2

Why would an employer seek to hire workers of a similar cultural background in terms of religion, age, marital status, and racial identity?

Answer: Employers may have sought workers of similar backgrounds for a number of reasons. Some may have felt that certain groups made the best workers for a particular business. Others might have been attracted to the low wages commanded by particular groups of workers, such as women and children. Still others might have hired a homogenous workforce in an effort to avoid conflict between different groups of employees.

13.2 Individualism versus Group Identity (1 of 2)

Putting into Practice Ideas of Social Inferiority

“A Teeming Nation”—America in Literature

Challenges to Individualism

Focus Question:

In what ways did the American ideal of individualism clash with group stereotypes and prejudices enshrined in 1850s law and customs?

13.2 Individualism Versus Group Identity (2 of 2)

Discriminatory ideas and practices gain traction

Defined by nationality, language, religion, and skin color

American individualism

Universal qualities of Americans

United States a collection of individuals

Support in group identity

Lecture Outline:

Discriminatory ideas and practices gain traction

Defined by nationality, language, religion, and skin color

Limited in legal status

Limited in jobs that could be obtained

Degrading images part of popular culture

Songs

Pictures in literature

American individualism

Universal qualities of Americans

United States a collection of individuals

Support in group identity

Sioux Indians

Resisted selling land to individuals

African Americans and white women

Struggled for full citizenship rights

On the Mississippi

Just as American writers explored questions of national identity, American artists portrayed everyday scenes related to the vitality of American enterprise and democracy. This painting, Raftsmen Playing Cards (1847), was one from George Caleb Bingham’s series of pictures of Missouri river men. A contemporary observer speculated that the youth on the right is “a mean and cunning scamp, probably the black sheep of a good family, and a sort of vagabond idler.” Large rivers such as the Missouri and Mississippi remained powerful symbols of freedom in the American imagination.

Raftsmen Playing Cards, 1847 (oil on canvas). Bingham, George Caleb (1811–79)/Saint Louis Art Missouri, Missouri, USA/Bequest of Ezra H. Linley by exchange/Bridgeman Images

Journal Prompt 13.3

What do the jug on the left, the pair of shoes on the right, and the card players in the middle, in George Caleb Bingham’s painting shown above, suggest about the nature of work that raftsmen do?

Answer: Bingham’s painting emphasizes the leisurely pace of life on a raft. Called on only intermittently to work, the raftsmen enjoy the traditional male pastimes of drinking and card playing. Shoes off and pants rolled up, they are more prepared to dip their legs in the river water than to do hard work.

13.2.1 Putting into Practice Ideas of Social Inferiority

Groups blocked from citizenship rights

African Americans, Hispanos, immigrants

Whites based discrimination on inferiority

Groups fell into patterns of work

Chinese as laundrymen

Mexicans as vaqueros

Similarity in European American prejudices

Immoral, sneaky, dirty, low IQs

Lecture Outline:

Groups blocked from citizenship rights

African Americans, Hispanos, immigrants

Whites based discrimination on inferiority

California: concept of “white blood”

Groups fell into patterns of work

Chinese as laundrymen

Mexicans as vaqueros

Similarity in European American prejudices

Immoral, sneaky, dirty, low IQs

13.2.2 “A Teeming Nation”— America in Literature

Northeast writers

Emerson, Thoreau, Melville, Whitman

Critique of American materialism

Busy-ness of American culture

Walt Whitman

Lecture Outline:

Northeast writers

Emerson, Thoreau, Melville, Whitman

Connection between external world of nature and inner spirit

Critique of American materialism

Busy-ness of American culture

Walt Whitman

Leaves of Grass in 1855: restlessness of people on the move

13.2.3 Challenges to Individualism

Many not able to realize individual potential

Native Americans

African Americans

Northern middle-class women

Women’s rights movement

Working women

Lecture Outline:

Many not able to realize individual potential

Native Americans

Sought collective response to threats: cattle ranchers and U.S. cavalry

Performed ceremonies to celebrate kinship above individual

African Americans

Community similar to extended family

Formed mutual-aid societies

Took in boarders

Northern middle-class women

The self-sacrificing woman

Family obligations and emotional relationships

Take pride in raising virtuous citizens and caring for husband

Women’s rights movement

Seneca Falls Convention in upstate New York

Derived inspiration from abolitionist movement

Protested white men’s attempt to exclude women

Led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott

Linked treatment of women and treatment of slaves

Supported by African American leaders such as Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth

“Declaration of Sentiments” modeled after Declaration of Independence

Working women

Could not spend time caring for home or working for more rights

Had to work to live

Sojourner Truth

Isabella Baumfree was born into slavery in New York State in 1797. Thirty years later, she escaped from bondage and became a preacher. In 1843, she changed her name to Sojourner Truth. A powerful orator, she spoke on behalf of abolition and urged white women’s rights activists to embrace the cause of enslaved women. Truth sold small cards, called cartes de visite, to support herself. On this card, a portrait taken in 1864, she notes that she must sell her image (“the Shadow”) to make a living. Some activists during this period argued that white women and all enslaved men and women suffered some similar kinds of prejudices and legal liabilities. At the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, organized by Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the delegates declared, “All men and women are created equal.”

Bettman/Corbis

Journal Prompt 13.4

How might Sojourner Truth have perceived the “equality” of all women with each other?

Answer: While Sojourner Truth would have agreed with the principle of the equality of all women, she certainly was aware that such equality did not exist in practice. Black women did not enjoy the same rights as white women. Nor did poor women enjoy the same rights as their wealthier counterparts. Truth would have experienced such inequalities firsthand within the early women’s rights movement.

Interpreting History: Professor George Howe: On the Subordination of Women (1850) (1 of 2)

Does Professor Howe believe that women are naturally inferior to men? Why or why not?

Why would Howe argue against citizenship rights for women, including the right to vote and serve on juries?

Interpreting History: Professor George Howe: On the Subordination of Women (1850) (2 of 2)

What were the tensions implicit in white women’s status, considering that they were neither full citizens like their husbands nor slaves like the workers who toiled on their behalf?

13.3 The Paradox of Southern Political Power (1 of 2)

The Party System in Disarray

The Compromise of 1850

The Violent Politics of Expansionism

The Republican Alliance

Focus Question:

How could white Southerners dominate all three branches of the national government and still perceive themselves on the defensive, under siege?

13.3 The Paradox of Southern Political Power (2 of 2)

Slavery proponents wanted expansion

Cotton fields in South were being exhausted

Political power in Congress

United States pulled in two directions

North – growing economic opportunities

South – slaveholders preserve staple crop economy

Southern fears of abolitionism

Lecture Outline:

Slavery proponents wanted expansion

Cotton fields in South were being exhaused

Political power in Congress

The “three-fifths clause” gave unequal representation to the South in Congress

Jackson’s American party system fades

Republicans came to the fore

Democratic idealism and economic self-interest of Northerners

United States pulled in two directions

North – growing economic opportunities

South – slaveholders preserve staple crop economy

Southern fears of abolitionism

13.3.1 The Party System in Disarray

Two-party system cracks: 1848 Election

Free-Soilers – Martin Van Buren

Democrats – General Lewis Cass

Whigs – General Zachary Taylor

Slave owners’ political power

Controlled presidency, Supreme Court, and House of Representatives

New states could tip Senate

Abolitionists

Lecture Outline:

Two-party system cracks: 1848 Election

Free-Soilers – Martin Van Buren

No slavery in the territories and pro-Wilmot Proviso

Attracted Whigs

Federal aid for internal improvements

Free homesteads for settlers

Protective tariffs for manufacturers

Democrats – General Lewis Cass

Father of popular sovereignty

New states decide if they want to permit slavery or not

Whigs – General Zachary Taylor

Louisiana slaveholder

Mexican War veteran

Won, but died after a year and a half

Replaced by vice president Millard Fillmore

Slave owners’ political power

Controlled presidency, Supreme Court, and House of Representatives

New states could tip Senate

California – 16 free states vs. 15 slave states if admitted

Other future states

Utah and New Mexico set to ban slavery once admitted

Abolitionists

Calling for immediate emancipation

Black men and women working with abolitionists

Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad

Key Terms:

popular sovereignty: The idea that residents of a state should be able to make decisions on crucial issues, such as whether or not to legalize slavery.

emancipation: National or state-sponsored program to free slaves.

Underground Railroad: A secret network of abolitionists developed during the antebellum period to help slaves escape and find refuge, many in the North or in Canada.

Table 13.1: The Election of 1848

Candidate	Political Party	Popular Vote (%)	Electoral Vote
Zachary Taylor	Whig	47.4	163
Lewis Cass	Democratic	42.5	127
Martin Van Buren	Free-Soil	10.1	—

SOURCE: Historical Election Results, Electoral College, National Archives and Records Administration

13.3.2 The Compromise of 1850

California admitted as free state

New Mexico and Utah: popular sovereignty

D.C. abolished slavery

Build up Fugitive Slave Law

Some leaders upset

Fugitive Slave Law of 1850

Reality of slavery

Lecture Outline:

California admitted as free state

New Mexico and Utah: popular sovereignty

D.C. abolished slavery

Build up Fugitive Slave Law

Some leaders upset

William H. Seward

Compromise would solidify the institution of slavery

Formed offshoot of Whig Party: Conscience Whigs

Whig party split in 1852 election foreshadowed emergence of regional political parties over national political parties

Fugitive Slave Law of 1850

Reality of slavery

Required local and federal law to retrieve runaway slaves

Blacks denied a trial or the right to testify on their own behalf

Fugitive slave commissioners earned $10 for each slave returned

Ordinary citizens must aid in capture

Key Terms:

Fugitive Slave Law of 1850: Congressional legislation that required local and federal law enforcement agents to retrieve runaways no matter where they sought refuge in the United States.

Table 13.2: The Election of 1852

Candidate	Political Party	Popular Vote (%)	Electoral Vote
Franklin Pierce	Democratic	50.9	254
Winfield Scott	Whig	44.1	42
John P. Hale	Free-Soil	5.0	—

SOURCE: Historical Election Results, Electoral College, National Archives and Records Administration

13.3.3 The Violent Politics of Expansionism (1 of 2)

Southerners wanted to expand

Find new land for cotton cultivation

Bolster political power of slave owners

Expansion attempts in Cuba

Polk’s offer in 1848 was rebuffed

1854: Ostend Manifesto

William Walker set up regime in Nicaragua

Lecture Outline:

Southerners wanted to expand

Find new land for cotton cultivation

Bolster political power of slave owners

Expansion attempts in Cuba

Polk’s offer in 1848 was rebuffed

1854: Ostend Manifesto

If Spain would not negotiate, United States justified in seizing Cuba because of Monroe Doctrine

Abolitionists saw as a plot to gain more power

William Walker set up regime in Nicaragua

Declared himself president and won U.S. recognition

Driven out a year later

Set stage for anti-American movement that would reappear in the twentieth century

13.3.3 The Violent Politics of Expansionism (2 of 2)

1853: Commodore Perry traveled to Japan

Opened Japan to trade with United States

Kansas–Nebraska Act (1854)

Senator Douglas developed compromise

Effects

Whigs moved to Know-Nothing party

Condemn growing political power of immigrants

Lecture Outline:

1853: Commodore Perry traveled to Japan

Opened Japan to trade with United States

Kansas–Nebraska Act (1854)

Senator Douglas developed compromise

Territory split into two territories

Gave choice of slavery to voters

Part of Missouri Compromise of 1820 had to be repealed

Effects

Slave Power Conspiracy

Free-Soilers believed slaveholders would not stop until whole country allowed slavery

Plains Indians

Deprived them of one-half of land they had been granted by treaty

Whigs moved to Know-Nothing party

Condemn growing political power of immigrants

Gained support of urban, native-born workers and Protestant farmers

13.3.4 The Republican Alliance

Republican party forms

Formed by disaffected Whigs

Core belief

Alliances

Not all unified

Abraham Lincoln becomes leader in party

Believed in advancement through labor

Election of 1856

Lecture Outline:

Republican party forms

Formed by disaffected Whigs

Core belief

Slavery must not be allowed to spread into western territories

Alliances

Northern Democrats

Fear that slaveholding Democrats would control Democratic Party

Upset over Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

Liberty and Free-Soil Parties

Antislavery

Free soil is for free labor

Not all unified

Some Northerners could tolerate slavery if it stayed in the South

Midwesterners wanted to end black migration to area

Abraham Lincoln becomes leader in party

Believed in advancement through labor

Hard work leads to better condition

Should not shift work onto slaves – unfair

Election of 1856

Wrapped in slavery controversy

Democrats: sectional compromise

James Buchanan

Proslavery Northerner

Supported sectional compromise on slavery issue

Republicans

John C. Frémont of California

Opposition to slavery as platform

Supported transcontinental rRailroad, and other federally sponsored internal improvements

Know-Nothing (American)

Anti-immigration platform

President Millard Fillmore

Key Terms:

Republican party: Founded in 1854, this political party began as a coalition of Northerners who opposed the extension of slavery into the western territories.

Map 13.2: The Kansas–Nebraska Act, 1854

Stephen A. Douglas, senator from Illinois, proposed the Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854. Douglas hoped to ensure that any transcontinental railroad route would run through Illinois and benefit his constituents. To secure southern support for the measure, proponents of the bill repealed part of the Missouri Compromise of 1820. As a result of the act, settlers displaced many Plains Indians from their lands. In the mid-1850s, the territory of Kansas became engulfed in an internal civil war that pitted supporters of slavery against abolitionists.

Table 13.3: The Election of 1856

Candidate	Political Party	Popular Vote (%)	Electoral Vote
James Buchanan	Democratic	45.3	174
John C. Frémont	Republican	33.1	114
Millard Fillmore	American	21.6	8

SOURCE: Historical Election Results, Electoral College, National Archives and Records Administration

13.4 The Deepening Conflict over Slavery (1 of 2)

The Rising Tide of Violence

The Dred Scott Decision

The Lincoln–Douglas Debates

Harpers Ferry and the Presidential Election of 1860

Focus Question:

During the 1850s, what specific events and developments pushed the nation toward armed conflict?

13.4 The Deepening Conflict over Slavery (2 of 2)

Debates over slavery

Now encompassed “ordinary people”

Violent and peaceful challenges to Fugitive Slave Law

Lecture Outline:

Debates over slavery

Now encompassed “ordinary people”

Violent and peaceful challenges to Fugitive Slave Law

Bleeding Kansas

Supreme Court

Streets of Boston

Rallies in Illinois

Harpers Ferry

13.4.1 The Rising Tide of Violence (1 of 2)

Effects of Fugitive Slave Law

Some African Americans fled to Canada on Underground Railroad

Abolitionists attempt rescues

Harriet Beecher Stowe: Uncle Tom’s Cabin

George Fitzhugh: Cannibals All! Or, Slaves Without Masters

Lecture Outline:

Effects of Fugitive Slave Law

Some African Americans fled to Canada on Underground Railroad

Abolitionists attempt rescues

Boston – Shadrach Minkins

Harriet Beecher Stowe: Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Showed horrors of slavery

Bestseller – more than a million copies in seven years

George Fitzhugh: Cannibals All! Or, Slaves Without Masters

Argued that civil society demands enslavement of the masses by their betters

Slaves better off than northern factory workers

13.4.1 The Rising Tide of Violence (2 of 2)

Kansas – civil war

Participants

John Brown at Pottawatomie Creek

Lecompton Constitution

Caning of Senator Sumner

Lecture Outline:

Kansas – civil war

Participants

Proslavery

Border Ruffians from Missouri

Installed own government

Free-Soilers

Some had organized abolitionist groups

New England Emigrant Aid Company

Armed themselves

John Brown at Pottawatomie Creek

In retaliation for proslavery raid on Lawrence, Kansas

Raid with his four sons and two other men

Killed five proslavery advocates

Strengthened resolve of proslavery advocates

Lecompton Constitution

Stated voters could approve or reject slavery

President Buchanan supported it

Alienated his own party in the North

Democrats split even more into North and South

Caning of Senator Sumner

Gave a speech condemning Lecompton Constitution in which he made disparaging remarks against Senator Butler of South Carolina

Preston Brooks, Butler’s relative, beat Sumner with a cane

Key Terms:

Lecompton Constitution: A Kansas state constitution drawn up by proslavery advocates in 1857; sought to nullify the doctrine of popular sovereignty in the state, decreeing that even if voters rejected slavery, any slaves already in the state would remain enslaved under the force of law.

Map 13.3: The Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad consisted of a network of people who helped fugitives in their escape from slavery en route to the North or Canada. Harriet Tubman made an estimated thirteen separate trips to the South to help an estimated seventy slaves escape to freedom.

13.4.2 The Dred Scott Decision

Chief Justice Roger B. Taney ruling

Former slave was not free just because he had lived in a free state

Black people had no rights under the law

Compromise of 1820 declared unconstitutional

Slave owners could not be deprived of their property without due process

Effects

Free people of color

Lecture Outline:

Chief Justice Roger B. Taney ruling

Former slave was not free just because he had lived in a free state

Black people had no rights under the law

Compromise of 1820 declared unconstitutional

Slave owners could not be deprived of their property without due process

Effects

Free people of color

Threatened the freedom of free people of color and extended slavery into the North

Key Terms:

Dred Scott v. Sandford: The 1857 case in which the Supreme Court held that residence on free soil did not render a slave a free person, for black people, enslaved and free, had (in the words of the court) “no rights which the white man was bound to respect.”

13.4.3 The Lincoln-Douglas Debates

Congressional election of 1858

Stephen A. Douglas versus Abraham Lincoln

Series of public debates

Douglas supported popular sovereignty

Douglas won the election, but Lincoln gained loyalty of Republicans all over the North

Lecture Outline:

Congressional election of 1858

Stephen A. Douglas versus Abraham Lincoln

Series of public debates

Included the conflict over slavery

Douglas supported popular sovereignty

Was falling out of favor following the Dred Scott decision

Lincoln ridiculed popular sovereignty

Douglas won the election, but Lincoln gained loyalty of Republicans all over the North

13.4.4 Harpers Ferry and the Presidential Election of 1860

Harpers Ferry

John Brown

Election of 1860

Lincoln wins for Republicans

Lecture Outline:

Harpers Ferry

John Brown

With nineteen other men, attacks federal arsenal

Would raid the arsenal and distribute arms to slaves to incite a rebellion

Received support from Northern abolitionists

Captured by Lieutenant Colonel Robert E. Lee

Brown executed

Election of 1860

Lincoln wins for Republicans

Democrat party splits

Southerners did not support Stephen Douglas, selected John C. Breckinridge

Republican platform

Measures to boost economic growth

Tariff

Railroad

Internal improvements

Free homesteads for western farmers

Renounced Know-Nothings

Gave little hope to immigrants or Indians

John Brown

Augustus Washington, son of a former slave, took this picture of John Brown in 1846, thirteen years before the raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia. A pioneer daguerreotypist, Washington operated a successful studio in Hartford, Connecticut. Based on Brown’s bold act, many white Southerners feared that all northern whites and blacks were committed to the violent overthrow of the slave system.

AUGUSTUS WASHINGTON/KRT/Newscom

Journal Prompt 13.5

Were white Southerners justified in fearing that all northern whites and blacks were committed to the violent overthrow of the slave system?

Answer: White Southerners were correct that antislavery sentiment was on the rise in the North in the 1850s. However, the majority of Northerners did not support the overthrow of slavery where it already existed by any means, let alone by violence. Instead, they supported efforts to halt the expansion of slavery into new territories and states. Some Southerners argued that such a policy would lead to the death of slavery in the long run, but that still did not amount to support for the violent overthrow of the institution.

Shared Writing John Brown

Think about the deepening conflict over slavery that developed during the 1850s, which is discussed in section 13.4.

Was John Brown representative of all northern whites? How did his actions at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, propel the nation toward civil war?

Answer: John Brown was not representative of all northern whites. Most did not support the use of violence to end slavery, and most did not favor immediate abolition of the institution. Still, Brown’s execution prompted an outpouring of sympathy and support in the North for a man that many came to see as a martyr. Southerners responded in horror to this depiction of Brown. From a southern perspective, Brown was a murderer and a traitor. The reaction in the North to Brown’s death convinced many Southerners that there could be no compromise or accommodation between North and South.

Table 13.4: The Election of 1860

Candidate	Political Party	Popular Vote (%)	Electoral Vote
Abraham Lincoln	Republican	39.8	180
Stephen A. Douglas	Democratic	29.5	12
John C. Breckinridge	Democratic	18.1	72
John Bell	Constitutional Union	12.6	39

SOURCE: Historical Election Results, Electoral College, National Archives and Records Administration