VIOLENCE ESCALATES cHAPTER 7.2

Kansas Nebraska Act Stephen Douglas introduced a bill to set up a gov't in the Nebraska Territory area would be set up according to popular sovereignty The South was afraid of Nebraska becoming a free state Douglas changed the bill and divided the territory into 2 regions - Kansas and Nebraska idea was that Kansas would be a slave state and Nebraska a free state Some northerners pointed out that the Kansas-Nebraska Act nullified the Missouri Compromise

Disputes in Kansas proslavery advocates set up a gov't near the Missouri border Border Ruffians, from Missouri, came over and voted in Kansas elections to get proslavery people into power Northern abolitionists also came into the state to set up a free gov't 2 different gov'ts applied for statehood

BLEEDING KANSAS May 21, 1856 - Border Ruffians raid the antislavery town of Lawrence Kansas John Brown, an abolitionist, retaliates he and his sons carry out a midnight execution of 5 proslavery settlers proslavery and antislavery armed for battle - violent outbreaks occurred. Territory known as "Bleeding Kansas"

Violence in the Senate Charles Sumner, a Massachusetts senator, accused Southerners of bullying and fraud insulted SC senator Andrew Butler who wasn't present Butler's nephew, Preston Brooks, attacked Sumner with a cane Congress tried to remove Brooks from office but was voted back in Sumner injuries kept him out for 3 years but voters voted him in and left his seat open

National Politics Whigs lose power and never achieve success with a presidential candidate after Millard Fillmore Republican Party opposed to slavery grew rapidly by attracting antislavery Democrats, Know Nothings, Whigs, and Free-Soilers Know-Nothings - native born white Protestants who were against immigration afraid of Catholics changing religious freedom

Election of 1856 Republicans - abolitionist John C. Fremont Democrats - James C. Buchanan promised he would stop "the agitation of the slavery issue" won the election - 15th president

Dred Scott Dred Scott - a Missouri slave sued for freedom said his master had taken him from the free state of Illinois and Wisconsin where slavery was outlawed according to the Missouri Compromise between 1834-1838 he had been a slave on free soil His case went to the Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney ruled against Scott stated that slaves and their descendants were property, not citizens, so they could not sue in courts

Dred Scott cont. Taney also ruled that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional because it was illegal for Congress to deprive an owner of his property without due process Dred Scott parody

Lincoln Douglas Debates Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas had 7 debates, competing for a Senate seat each side presented views on slavery and its role in America Lincoln opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act opposed the expansion of slavery against popular sovereignty condemned slavery did not believe African Americans were socially or politically equal to whites

Lincoln Douglas Debates not a slaveholder but sympathetic to slavery believed popular sovereignty was implied by Constitution believed in the power of states' rights Douglas wins the Senate seat but Lincoln builds a following

Raid on Harper's Ferry John Brown - believed he was an angel of God believed he needed to avenge the evil of slavery - he was a fanatic recruited people and money to launch an attack on slavery tried to seize the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry, VA. had 21 men, including 5 free African Americans hoped to inspire slaves to join him Frederick Douglass refused to support 2 of Brown's sons killed Brown and several others hung

John Brown Execution Day he predicted "the crimes [of slavery] of this guilty land will never be purged away...without very much bloodshed" John Brown parody

Works Cited Lapansky-Werner, et al. United States History. Pearson Education. 2016. Print.