1. Drifting Towards Disunion
Chapter 19

2. How Did We Get Here?
Stephen Douglas – wanted to break deadlock over western expansion
Status will be decided by popular sovereignty
Problem: violates Missouri Compromise
North begins to ignore Compromise of 1850, too (Fugitive Slave Law)
Kansas-Nebraska Act passed  1854
Free-Soilers (Lawrence) v. Border Ruffians (Shawnee Mission)

3. Bleeding Kansas 1856  Pro Slavery raiders attack abolitionists
Pottawatomie Creek Massacre
John Brown and supporters hack five Border Ruffians
to death with swords
Violence continues through entirety of war
1857- Statehood
Lecompton Constitution 
vote “with slavery” or “without slavery”
Protected those with slaves already
Abolitionists boycott
Kansas remains territory until 1861

4. Other “Titbits” Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)
Harriet Beecher Stowe
The Impending Crisis of the South (1857)
Hinton R. Helper
Charles Sumner (Senator/Abolitionist) gives speech, insults Andrew Butler (SC)
Sumner beaten by Preston Brooks
Panic of 1857 – inflation/speculation
Affects North, South protected by cotton
Homestead Act proposed (160 acres)
Rejected by South

5. The Republican Party & Election of 1856
Formerly organized on July 6th, 1854 in Jackson, Michigan
United in opposition to Kansas-Nebraska Act
Keeping slavery out of the territories
Conservative and radical factions
Democrats – James Buchanan
Wins with 45% popular vote
Republicans – John C. Fremont
Strong showing 33%
Know-Nothings – Millard Fillmore
22% of popular vote
Whig party splits/dissolves Buchanan – Pro South

6. The Dred Scott Decision (1857)
Slave whose owner took him to live in free territory for several years.
Sued owner for freedom
Supreme Court  Scott was ‘private property’, did not have right to sue
Used Fifth Amendment (cannot deprive people of their property)
ALSO: Missouri Compromise was UNCONSTITUTIONAL
Congress had no power to ban slavery from territories
Infuriated Abolitionists, free-soilers, supporters of popular sovereignty

7. Well I’ll be John Brown…
Radical Abolitionist
1859 – Raid on Federal Arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, VA
Goal – Arm slaves, lead violent uprising
Seizes facility but did not have enough support
Captured, sentenced to death, hanged
Became martyr for abolitionists
"His zeal in the cause of my race was far greater than mine—it was as the burning sun to my taper light—mine was bounded by time, his stretched away to the boundless shores of eternity. I could live for the slave, but he could die for him.“ – Frederick Douglass

8. Lincoln/Douglas Debates
Illinois Senate seat (1858)
Seven debates
Lincoln: “What if the people of a territory should vote down slavery?”
Douglas  Freeport Doctrine
in spite of Dred Scott, slavery could be excluded from territories by local legislation.
Angered Southerners
Southern anger towards Douglas leads Democratic Party to nominate two candidates in 1860 – Douglas (North) & Breckinridge (South)

9. The Election of 1860 Republican Party (Lincoln)
Protective Tariff (North +)
Prevention of extension of slavery (Free-Soilers, Abolitionists +)
Transcontinental Railroad (West +)
Protection of rights for (Immigrants +)
Supported Homestead Act (Farmers +)
Lincoln does not appear on most ballots in South
Democrats split their votes between Douglas and Breckinridge
Lincoln wins with ~40% of vote

10. Secession! Election of Abe causes seven states to secede from Union
SC, AL, MS, FL, GA, LA, TX
Many expected North to accept
Form Confederate States of America
Jefferson Davis (MS) elected President
Buchanan does nothing to prevent split
Lincoln refuses Crittenden Compromise
Had attempted to recreate Missouri Compromise