Chapter 14

 Free- Soil Movement  Did not demand end of slavery  Keep land in west a land of opportunity for whites only so that the would not have to compete with labor of slaves or free blacks  “free soil, free labor, and free men”  Advocated free homesteads  Public land grants to small farmers  Advocated internal improvements  Southern Position  Any restriction a violation of rights  Saw abolitionists and free-soilers intent as the destruction of slavery  Moderates wanted extension of Missouri Compromise  Popular Sovereignty  Lewis Cass, Michigan  “Squatter” sovereignty  Election of 1848  Cass – Democrat nominee  Zachary Taylor- Whig Nominee  Martin Van Buren- Free-Soil

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 Ralph Waldo Emerson’s prediction:  “American victory in Mexico would be like swallowing arsenic”  Balance of free/slave states  End of Mexican War 15 states each  New territory  Gold rush of 1849 and influx of 100,000 into California created need for law and order in west  Zachary Taylor  Elected President, 1848  Strategy:  Prompted California to bypass the territorial stage, draw up constitution, and apply as free state  Wanted New Mexico to do the same  Thought it was practical solution  Response  Angered Southerners in both parties  Nine states agreed to send delegates to a convention in Nashville, June 1850

 Henry Clay  Proposed:  Admission of California as a free state  Division of the remainder of the Mexican cession into two territories, New Mexico and Utah with restrictions on slavery  Settlement of Texas-New Mexico boundary dispute on terms favorable to New Mexico  Texas, an agreement that the federal government would assume the considerable public debt of Texas  Continuance of slavery in District of Columbia but the abolition of the slave trade  More effective fugitive slave law  “Omnibus” Bill  Debates: Clay, Webster, Calhoun

 Fillmore steps in July 9, 1850  Appointed Daniel Webster secretary of state  Stephen Douglas takes over for Clay  Chopped into parts  Included popular sovereignty in New Mexico and Utah  Passed by Summer 1850  Assessing the Compromise  Each section gained and lost  North  California Free State  New Mexico and Utah future free states  Texas- New Mexico border settlement  Abolition of slave trade in D.C.  South  Fugitive slave law

 Law:  Denied alleged fugitives the right of trial by jury  Not allowed to testify on their behalf  Permitted return to slavery on testimony of claimant  Paid $10 if ruled for the slaveholder, only $5 for the slave  Federal marshals allowed to “hunt” fugitives in North  Outrage:  Abolitionists  Anthony Burns incident  “The Funeral of Liberty”  Vigilance communities  “Personal-liberty” laws  Underground Railroad

 Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1852  Daughter of Lyman Beecher  Reaction to Fugitive Slave Act  Story  Targeted slavery  How slavery tears apart family  Reaction  Sold 300,000 copies in 1852  Enthralled working-class  Consequences  Impact cannot be measured  Northern attitude toward slavery in North “never quite the same”

 Impending Crisis of the South  1857, Hinton R. Helper  Attacked slavery by using statistics to prove its negative impact on southern economy  Southern Reaction  Counterarguments  Slavery “good”  Wage slaves of the North  Effects  In North, slavery became a moral issue  Growing number of southerners convinced North’s goal was to destroy institution of slavery and way of life

 Problems:  Fugitive Slave Act fragmented Whig party  Nominees:  Whigs: General Winfield Scott  Mexican War Hero  Virginia, but supported by “free- soil” Whigs  Focused on improving roads and harbors  Democrats: Franklin Pierce  dark-horse candidate  No one really opposed him  Compromise of 1850 and Popular Sovereignty  Supported Fugitive Slave Law  Results:  Pierce sweeps to victory

 Kansas- Nebraska Act  Shattered second party system  Originally a bill by Stephen Douglas to organize Nebraska territory  Wanted to promote settlement in Mid-West, railroad  Needed to make concessions for southerners to vote for his bill  Apply popular sovereignty  Superseded Missouri Compromise, voided it  Set off protest  Passed the Senate, but barely the House of Rep.  Surge of Free Soil  United Northerners who agreed on nothing else  Believed slavery impeded white progress  Labor loses its dignity  Kansas-Nebraska Act last straw

 Bleeding Kansas  Majority of population anti-slavery farmers  Slaveholders from neighboring state of Missouri set up homesteads as means of winning control of the territory for the South  Response: New England Emigrant Aid Company  Northern Abolitionists and Free-Soilers  Paid for transportation of antislavery settlers to Kansas  Fighting broke out  Proslavery Missourians  “border ruffians”  Created pro-slavery legislation in Lecompton, Kansas  Anti-slavery Missourians  Refused to recognize Lecompton legislation  Created new one in Topeka  Response  Attack of Free-soil town Lawrence, Kansas  Caning of Senator Sumner

 Know-Nothing Party  Nativists hostile to immigrants  “I know nothing”  Drew support away from Whigs  Opposed Catholics  Won few local and state elections  Lost influence when sectional influence became center  Republican Party  Founded 1854, Wisconsin as reaction to Kansas-Nebraska Act  Coalition of Free-Soilers and anti-slavery Whigs and Democrats  Platform  Repeal of Kansas-Nebraska Act and Fugitive State Law  Prohibit slavery in new teritories  Abolitionists eventually joined  Grew rapidly in North, became 2 nd largest party  Success only alienated and threatened South

 Nominees  Republicans  John C. Fremont, senator from California  No expansion of slavery, free homesteads, probusiness protective tariff  Made strong showing  South not needed to win election  Foreshadowed emergence of powerful political party that would win all but four elections between  Know-Northings  Millard Fillmore  Won 20% of popular vote  Democrats  James Buchanan  Won majority of both popular and electoral vote

 Lecompton Constitution  Buchanan’s challenge whether to accept  Asked Congress to accept it, admit Kansas as a slave state  Rejected, mainly by Republicans led by Stephen Douglas  Dred Scott v. Sandford 1857  Dred Scott  Slave, taken to free territory and returned to Missiouri  Sued for freedom  Decision  Chief Justice Roger Taney  No right to sue in Federal court, Africans not U.S. Citizens  Congress had no power to deprive a person of property without due process of law  Missouri Compromise Unconstitutional

 Campaign for senator of Illinois  Douglas  Seeking re-election  Popular  “Little Giant”  Angered South by not supporting Dred Scott decision enough  “Freeport Doctrine”  Slavery could not exist in a community if the local citizens did not pass and enforce laws (slave codes) for maintaining it  Lincoln  Successful trial lawyer  Former member of Illinois legislature  Publically unknown  Morality of slavery, though not yet an abolitionist  “House-divided” speech  Results  Douglas wins campaign  Lost ground in party by alienating Democrats  Lincoln emerged a national figure and contender for Republican party

 Sectional divisions  South alarmed at Republicans success  Antislavery platform  Economic program  Favored Northern industrialists at expense of the South  Higher tariffs, hurt South’s dependence on cotton  John Brown’s Raid  Harper’s Ferry 1859  Attacked Federal Arsenal  Wanted to inspire a slave revolt  Federal troops called in  Robert E. Lee  Tried for Treason, convicted, and hanged in Virginia  Consequences  Condemned in the North by moderates  Southern whites had final proof of North’s true intentions  Later became humanitarian martyr  Election of 1860  Breakup of Democratic Party  Democratic convention last hope for compromise  Held in Charleston, SC  Stephen Douglas leading candidate, blocked by Buchanan  Deadlock led to walkout  Remaining delegates nominated Douglas  Platform: popular sovereignty and enforcement of FSL  Southern Democrats nominated John C. Breckinridge  Platform: unrestricted extension of slavery and annexation of Cuba  Nominations  Republicans: Lincoln  Platform: appealed to economic self- interest of North and West and exclusion of slavery from territories  Constitutional-Union Party  Former Know-Nothings and Whigs  John Bell, Tennessee  Enforce laws and preserve Union  Results  Lincoln Wins

 Lincoln’s Election  December 1860, a special convention needed for disunion in SC  Within 6 weeks, six states followed  FL, GA, AL, Miss, LA, TX  February 1861  Representatives of seven states of Deep South  Created Confederate States of America  Created Constitution  Placed limits on governments power to impose tariffs and restrict slavery  Elected President Jefferson Davis, Alexander Stephens Vice President  Crittenden Compromise  Buchanan lame-duck president for 5 months  Did nothing to prevent secession  Congress had last-ditch effort  Proposed by John Crittenden  Guaranteed slavery south of 36’30  Lincoln would not accept, it violated the Republican position