The 1850s: Road to Secession

Problems of Sectional Balance in 1850 California statehood Underground RR & fugitive slave issues

Popular sovereignty or the sovereignty of the people is the principle that the authority of the government is created and sustained by the consent of its people, through their elected representatives (Rule by the People), who are the source of all political power.

Compromise of 1850 California a free state No more slave trade in Washington D.C. Stricter Fugitive Slave Law Popular Sovereignty to determine slavery in the Mexican Cession

A free California meant more free states

No more slave trade in Washington DC

A stricter Fugitive Slave Law

John C. Calhoun A prominent politician and southerner he opposed the Compromise of 1850 States should decide for themselves to be slave or free

Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811 – 1896) So this is the lady who started the Civil War. -- Abraham Lincoln

Uncle Tom’s Cabin 1852 Sold 300,000 copies in the first year. 2 million in a decade!

Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854

Border “Ruffians” (pro-slavery Missourians) “Bleeding Kansas” Border “Ruffians” (pro-slavery Missourians)

http://www. youtube. com/watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy48hYnhz4M&list=PLYyOVUZNmT5_u4oolzXQDbJM8-MCcWy4r (6:03 min)

John Brown: Madman, Hero or Martyr? Mural in the Kansas Capitol building by John Steuart Curry (20c)

Sen. Charles Sumner (R-MA) Congr. Preston Brooks (D-SC)

Dred Scott v. Sanford, 1857

The Lincoln-Douglas (Illinois Senate) Debates, 1858 A House divided against itself, cannot stand.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrAGZ8LDHi4

Stephen Douglas & the Freeport Doctrine Popular Sovereignty should settle slavery issue!

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. (1861)

John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry, 1859 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bB_kbFAui-U&list=PLXkdBLzdHtzvwT-qt312zpThCBcFhEje1 (7:07 min)

1860 Presidential Election √ Abraham Lincoln Republican John Bell Constitutional Union 1860 Presidential Election Stephen A. Douglas Northern Democrat John C. Breckinridge Southern Democrat

Republican Party Platform in 1860 Non-extension of slavery [for the Free-Soilers]

1860 Election: A Nation Coming Apart?!

1860 Election Results

Secession!: SC Dec. 20, 1860

Fort Sumter: April 12, 1861