Compromises and the national move towards Civil War

The Shaky Union 1) The South feared that the North would take control of CONGRESS and SOUTHERNERS began to proclaim states’ rights as a means of self- protection. 2) The North believed that the nation was a UNION and could not be divided. 3) While the Civil War did not begin as a war to abolish SLAVERY, issues surrounding slavery deeply divided the NATION.

Issues that Divided the Nation 1) An important issue separating the country related to the power of the FEDERAL government. 2) Southerners felt that they had the power to declare any national law ILLEGAL (nullification). Northerners believed that the national government’s power was SUPREME over that of the states. 3) Southerners felt that the abolition of SLAVERY would destroy their region’s economy. Growing numbers of northerners believed that slavery should be abolished. for MORAL reasons.

Compromise of 1850 Created in reaction to new lands gained from Mexican-American War Missouri Compromise is inadequate now that U.S. geography has changed

Compromise of 1850 California wants to be a free state But the South assumed it wouldn’t be So... California will be free, BUT Utah and New Mexico will vote on slavery Fugitive Slave Law: meant to appease South; many Northerners feel it turns them into slave-catchers...

1850 Compromise Agreement North Gets:South Gets: California admitted as a free state No slavery restrictions in Utah or New Mexico territories Slave trade prohibited in Washington D.C. Slaveholding permitted in Washington D.C. Texas loses boundary dispute with New Mexico Texas gets $10 million Fugitive Slave Law

Fugitive Slave Laws (1850) 1. No jury trials for blacks 2. Slaves cannot testify against masters 3. Federal commissioners handled all cases –$5 if slaves are freed by the ruling –$10 if ruling in favor of claimant (master)

The Underground Railroad “Escape” Route from South for runaway slaves

Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe Personalized Slavery Sold 3 million copies Banned in the South –“Book of Lies”

Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) Authorized the creation of Kansas and Nebraska Ended the border Line (Missouri Compromiseof 1820) Supported Popular Sovereignty

Kansas-Nebraska Act

Compromises Attempting to Resolve Differences 1) Missouri Compromise (1820): Missouri entered the Union as a SLAVE state. Maine entered the Union as a FREE state. 2) Compromise of 1850: California entered the Union as a FREE state. Southwest territories would DECIDE about slavery (popular sovereignty). 3) Kansas-Nebraska Act: People in each state would decided the SLAVERY issue (popular sovereignty)

The rush to Kansas: Senator David Atchison *Leads 5,000 pro slavery Missourians into Kansas *Attempts to swing slavery vote *Kansas = slave state

Bleeding Kansas (1856) Pro-slavery Missourians (in Kansas) attack Lawrence, KS (anti-slavery city) Lawrence is burned, 200 die in total

John Brown "These men are all talk. What we need is action—action!"

John Brown Abolitionist Involved in the Underground Railroad Moves to Kansas to support the anti-slavery cause Responds to violence by proslavery men by organizing the murder of 5 proslavery settlers: Pottowatomie Creek Massacre

Brooks-Sumner Incident (1856) Sen. Charles Sumner (MA) gives anti- slavery speech in the Senate Insults Sen. Andrew Butler (SC) Butler’s nephew, Rep. Preston Brooks (SC) felt his family was insulted Beats Sumner unconscious with his cane

Sumner suffers severe brain damage – 3 year coma Brooks receives hundreds of canes to replace the one he broke on Sumner’s head

William Cullen Bryant, of New York Evening Post: "Has it come to this, that we must speak with bated breath in the presence of our Southern masters?... Are we to be chastised as they chastise their slaves? Are we too, slaves, slaves for life, a target for their brutal blows, when we do not comport ourselves to please them?” Preston Brooks Charles Sumner

Dred Scott Case (1857) Upheld slavery –Dred Scott sues for his freedom Roger B. Taney (Chief Justice) Rules: –Slaves cannot sue –Slaves are not citizens –Slaves are property –Consequence = Slavery cannot be stopped

Final ruling in Dred Scott Case: Missouri Compromise declared unconstitutional (Congress could not ban slavery from any state) Chief Justice Taney

Reaction Harper’s Ferry, WV – John Brown leads 21 abolitionists on a raid Raids a federal arsenal – hopes to arm southern slaves to lead rebellion Hoped to establish a base to conduct raids from the Blue Ridge Mountains Captured, executed for treason Became a martyr for the cause

EXCERPT FROM BROWN’S ADDRESS TO THE COURT “I have, may it please the Court, a few words to say. In the first place, I deny everything but what I have already admitted, of a design on my part to free slaves. I intended, certainly, to have made a clean thing of that matter, as I did last winter when I went into Missouri, and there took Slaves without the snapping of a gun on either side, moving them through the country, and finally leaving them in Canada. I designed to have done the same thing again on a larger scale. That was all I intended. I never did intend murder, or treason, or the destruction of property, or to excite or incite Slaves to rebellion, or to make insurrection.”

THOUGHTS ON JOHN BROWN FROM HIS CONTEMPORARIES “If John Brown did not end the war that ended slavery, he did a least begin the war that ended slavery.” – Frederick Douglass, 1881 “This old man Brown …was nothing more than a murderer, a robber, a thief, and a traitor.” – Senator Andrew Johnson (Tenn.), 1859 “I find in John Brown…a lover of mankind-not of any particular class or color, but of all men…He fully, really, practically and actively believed in the equality and brotherhood of man” – Charles H. Livingston, Black Leader in Ohio, 1859 You charge that we stir up insurrections among your slaves. We deny it; and what is your proof? Harper's Ferry! John Brown!! John Brown was no Republican...” – Abraham Lincoln, Copper Union Address, February 27, 1860

“I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood. I had, as I now think, vainly flattered myself that without very much bloodshed it might be done.” –John Brown, written the day of his death.