1. 15.3 Slavery Dominates Politics
Disagreement over slavery led to the formation of the Republican Party and heightened sectional tensions.

2. The Republican Party
Antislavery politicians from various parties met to form a new party “to concentrate the popular sentiment of this state against the aggression of the slave power.”
In memory of Thomas Jefferson, they called themselves Republicans.

3. Dred Scott Case, 1856
Stated Scott was not a citizen & could not sue in U.S. courts as a result
Declared that African Americans were not U.S. citizens
Congress could not ban slavery in the territories
Would violate slaveholders’ 5th Amendment rights

4. Lincoln – Douglas Debates
Both running for Illinois Senator
Main topic: Expansion of slavery
Lincoln: Slavery should be contained
Douglas: Gov. stay out of issue / popular sovereignty
Victor: Douglas

5. Abraham Lincoln, Springfield, Illinois, June 16, 1858
A VOICE FROM THE PAST
“A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved—I do not expect the house to fall—but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other.
Abraham Lincoln, Springfield, Illinois, June 16, 1858

6. John Brown Attacks Harper’s Ferry
Wanted slaves to fight for freedom
Oct. 16, 1859: Brown & 18 followers captured the arsenal at Harpers Ferry
Killed 4 people in the raid
Brown wanted slaves to take up arms and fight
No one joined
Brown and six of his men were captured by U.S. Marines
Brown was tried for murder & treason

7. 15:4 Lincoln’s Election and Southern Secession

8. Election of 1860
Candidates: Douglas, Lincoln, John Breckenridge (V.P.), John Ball (Const. Union Party)
Turned into two races – one in the North, one in the South

9. Election of 1860 Lincoln & Douglas had Northern power
Breckenridge & Bell held Southern power
Slavery:
Lincoln: contained
B-Ridge: Fed. Gov. protect slavery in the territories
Lincoln won

10. Southerners saw the Republican victory as a threat to the
Despite Lincoln’s statements that he would do nothing to abolish slavery in the South, white Southerners did not trust him.
Southerners saw the Republican victory as a threat to the
Southern way of life.
Lincoln
Breckenridge
Bell
Douglas

11. Southern States Secede
South threatened to secede if Lincoln was elected
Dec. 20, 1860: S.C. became the first state to secede
Next 6 weeks, 6 more left
MS, FL, AL, GA, LA, TX

12. Southern States Secede
Feb. 1861, states that seceded formed the Confederate States of America
Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy

13. Abraham Lincoln’s Inaugural Address
On March 4, Lincoln took the oath of office and gave his First Inaugural Address. He assured the South that he had no intention of abolishing slavery there. He spoke forcefully against secession, and ended his speech with an appeal to friendship:
A VOICE FROM THE PAST
We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies.
Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.
The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

14. Lincoln would not press the South
Wanted no invasion, but he would not abandon the government’s property there.
Several forts in the South, including Fort Sumter in South Carolina, were still in Union hands. These forts would soon need to be resupplied.
Throughout March and into April, Northerners and Southerners waited anxiously to see what would happen next.

15. Test next class on chapters 13-15!