The Causes of the American Civil

WarManifest Destiny, Slavery, States Rights, Economics,

The United States Constitution A Bundle of

Compromises Representation in

government The 3/5’s Compromise Validation of slavery in

the original Constitution The concept that “All

men are created equal” was not universal

The concept of property

Slavery

Slavery was an old institution and in the ancient world was not limited to people of any one color or race

Slavery was very profitable for those who dealt in the trade – in was not profitable to those who were the slaves!

In modern times we associate slavery with race and in the United States we think of slaves as being African

English settlers first tried to use native Americans as slaves but these people did not last long as slaves – they were very susceptible to disease and often died of depression

The English settlers were very good at antagonizing the natives and frequently there were hostilities between the two – Do you want to make a slave of someone who was trying to kill you?

The First Africans in the New World The first Africans came to the New World with the Spanish and the French as

explorers but not with the English The English needed help on their farms and Indians were not much help so they

thought of Africans as a source of labor Africans would be easy to spot in the English colonies and many thought that

since the Africans were pagans they could be given harsh discipline with no penalty to the owner

The Europeans also saw the Africans as an endless supply of laborers In 1619 the first Africans arrive in Jamestown as indentured servants – they are

brought in by a Dutch trader who acquired them from a Spanish ship- some scholars believe that English pirates captured a Portuguese ship and brought the Africans in to Jamestown

Indentured servants were to work for the master for seven years (usually) and then they would be set free with a set of clothes and possibly some money or tools. However, the length of the indenturement could be extended if the servant did not behave well

The Triangular Trade

Europeans sailed to Africa with rum and manufactured goods

African chiefs captured African people to be sold as slaves

British colonials, especially New Englanders, sailed directly to Africa, often carrying cargoes of rum, to trade for slaves

The Middle Passage, from Africa to the New World, became a trip of terror and horror

The Middle Passage

Slaves were packed into the slave ships like sardines!

Slaves were kept in chains and only let on deck for a short period each day

Slaves slept spoon-fashion The Africans who resisted

were beaten or killed Perhaps as many as half of

the people who left Africa in chains did not make it to the New World

Statistics on Slavery

It is very difficult to give exact numbers on this subject Between 1783 and 1793 303,737 slaves landed in the

United States In the 16th century 900,000 slaves landed in the New

World In the 17th century 2,750,000 slaves landed in the New

world In the 18th century 7,000,000 slaves landed in the New

World In the 19th century 4,000,000 slaves landed in the New

world

Slavery in the Colony of Virginia The Virginians tried Indian servitude and slavery but it

failed In 1640 John Paunch, one of three runaway

indentured servants, who also happened to be African, was sentenced to be a slave for life, while the two white men received an extra year of servitude

The first laws regarding slavery in Virginia were passed in 1661

In the last quarter of the 17th century there was a sharp rise in the number of salves in Virginia 1708 – 12,000 Africans and 18,000 whites 1713 – 23,000 Africans and 72,500 whites 1756 – 120,156 Africans and 173,316 whites

Fear Seemed to Rule!

The Whites feared a slave revolt The first slave revolt was in 1687 but it failed Slave Codes were set up by 1700

No slave could leave the plantation without a pass or permit Slaves who were guilty or murder or rape could be hanged by the

master on the spot and compensated by the colony For stealing, a slave could get 60 lashes from the sheriff, put in

the pillory with his ears nailed to a post for one half hour, and then his ears would be cut from his head

Slaves would be shipped, maimed or branded for petty offenses Before the end of the colonial period Virginia was an armed camp

Slavery in the Northern Colonies and Early States Slavery – via the slave trade- was a big part of the economy of New

England Boston had a big auction center for slave auctions Northern farms, especially in New England, did not lend themselves to

the use of large numbers of slaves so there were not large numbers of slaves in the North

Northern states began to outlaw slavery during the American Revolution – Pennsylvania 1780, Massachusetts 1783, Connecticut and Rhode island 1784, New York 1785, New Jersey 1786

In 1787 the Northwest Ordinance was passed by the Articles of Confederation government and it outlawed slavery in the new territory This was the high point of the anti-slavery movement in the 18th century The northwest Territory included the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,

Michigan, and part of Wisconsin

Slave Revolts

The British encouraged slaves to rise up against their rebel masters during the American Revolution

Gabriel’s Plot in 1800 – Gabriel Prosser and 1,000 slaves march on Richmond but are dispersed by the militia with Prosser and 35 others hanged

Denmark Vesey Insurrection in 1822 – Vesey was a freed African and he plotted for a long time but was betrayed and 47 Africans were hanged and 4 white men were arrested, fined, and imprisoned

Nat Turner’s Rebellion – August, 1831- Turner attacks and his men kill 60 whites in 24 hours but the Virginia militia will counterattack and kill over 100 slaves. Turner and many others are hanged

Results of the Slave Revolts

Southern whites fear for their lives and the South becomes an armed camp to ensure that the slaves do not revolt

Strict slave codes or laws are passed and the freeing or emancipating of slaves is strongly discouraged

Fugitive Slave Laws are passed to help capture runaway slaves The Underground Railroad was organized by anti-slavery people

in the North and South At least 3,000 conductors helped runaways to escape Harriet Tubman is one of the most famous conductors Many escape to Canada, and in the states the largest number of

runaways went to Ohio The Underground Railroad was an illegal activity

Manifest Destiny and Expansion Lead to Political and Legal Troubles

Manifest Destiny was “our God-given right to expand to our natural boundaries.”

English settlers had been moving westward since they landed at Jamestown in 1607

In1819 the territory of Missouri applied for statehood and the North and South divided over this

Representative James Tallmadge, of New York, added an amendment to the Missouri statehood bill saying that “the further introduction of slavery was prohibited into Missouri and that all children born of slaves would be free at age 25.”

The Tallmadge Amendment passes the House of Representatives but is defeated in the United States Senate

The Louisiana Purchase

The Missouri Compromise

Henry Clay helps to work a compromise Missouri will enter the Union as a slave state Slavery will be prohibited in the Louisiana Territory above the

36o30. latitude line, except for Missouri (this line is the southern boundary of Missouri)

Maine, which had been a part of Massachusetts, becomes a free state

Now there are 12 slave states and 12 free states and the balance of power is maintained in the Senate The North fears the extension of slavery into the North and the

South feels that it can take its property anywhere that it wants to The Missouri Compromise puts the question of the extension of

slavery to rest for a generation

The War For Texas Independence American Southerners began to

move into Texas in the 1820s in large numbers and before long they were agitating for Texas to break away from Mexico

In 1835 the Texans revolt against Mexico and this leads to the Alamo, Goliad, and San Jacinto

Texan leaders are William Travis, Jim Bowie, Davy Crockett, and Sam Houston – The Mexicans are led by Santa Anna

Texas wins its independence in 1836 and becomes an independent country for 9 years

The War With Mexico

In 1846 the United States annexes Texas to the union and the Mexicans protest

The southern boundary of Texas had been in dispute for 9 years Fighting breaks out between Mexican and United States forces and

the United States declares war on Mexico Abraham Lincoln – “Show me the spot!” David Wilmot, of Pennsylvania, amended a money bill to say

“neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any part of the territory acquired from Mexico.” This bill passed the House but was defeated in the Senate.

American forces defeat overwhelming numbers of Mexicans in Texas and northern Mexico

The United States Invades

U.S. forces under General Winfield Scott attack at Vera Cruz The city falls after a siege and then Scott marches inland to

capture Mexico City The American forces are greatly outnumbered but are extremely

well lead and often lucky! Young officers, graduates of West Point, such as Robert E. Lee,

Pierre Beauregard, Thomas Jackson, George McClellan, George Thomas, James Longstreet, George Pickett, and many others, lead the way

Mexico City falls and the Mexican government surrenders

The Treaty of Guadeloupe- Hidalgo The United States gains Texas, New Mexico,

Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, parts of Colorado and Oklahoma

The southern boundary of Texas is recognized as the Rio Grande

The U.S. gave the Mexicans $15,000,000 as compensation for the war

The U.S. forgave the Mexicans any debts that they had to U.S. citizens

Manifest Destiny was validated

Gold in California

James Marshall found gold at Sutter’s Mill in January, 1848

The U.S. gains California as part of the treaty of Guadeloupe – Hidalgo

Thousands of people came to California, starting in 1849, to find gold – they came from the Eastern United States, from Europe, from South America, from Australia, from China

By 1850 there were enough people in California to apply for statehood What problems would California face

in its desire to become a state in the union?

The Fateful Decade

The Compromise of 1850 Uncle Tom’s Cabin The Kansas – Nebraska Act

0f 1854 Bleeding Kansas The Rise of the Republican

Party The Dred Scott Case The Lincoln-Douglas

Debates John Brown’s Raid

The Great Debate of 1850 All of this was a direct result of the war with Mexico The North wanted California to enter the Union as a

free state, wanted the Wilmot Proviso to be implemented, wanted to reduce the size of Texas, wanted to abolish slavery in Washington, D.C., and jury trials for fugitive slaves

The south wanted slavery to be permitted in California and New Mexico, Texas to have the boundaries that it originally claimed, slavery to continue in Washington, and a new fugitive slave law that would force officials to return slaves to their masters immediately and with no trials

Henry Clay – “The Great Compromiser” comes forth for his last great fight Clay had been the author of the

Missouri Compromise in 1820 Clay proposed an “Omnibus Bill”

which included: California to enter as a free state, all other land gained from Mexico to be divided into two territories – Utah and New Mexico, “Squatter’s Sovereignty would decide the issue of slavery in these territories, Texas would be reduced from 379,000 square miles to 264,000 square miles and the chopped off land went to New Mexico, Texas would get $10,000,000 to help pay her debts, slavery would continue in Washington but the slave trade would be outlawed in that city, and a new stricter fugitive slave law would be passed.

The fight for passage of the bill

Henry Clay and Daniel Webster spoke in favor of this compromise

John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina, was against the bill but he was dying from TB and so had to have his speech read for on the floor of the Senate

Senator William H. Seward was against it since it allowed the possible extension of slavery

The Compromise of 1850

The Compromise of 1850 passed Congress President Zachery Taylor was

an anti-slavery Whig and he refused to sign the bill

Congress did not have enough votes to over-ride Taylor’s veto

On July 5, 1850 Taylor suddenly gets sick and dies 4 days later

Millard Fillmore becomes president and he signs the bill

The South benefited the most from this bill because it did allow the extension of slavery and had a strong fugitive slave law

Uncle Tom’s Cabin – one of the most important books in American history! Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe

who was a very strong abolitionist (as was her entire family)

The book was passionate but not totally accurate

Stowe condemns slavery, not the South, and also condemns the North – “The people of the free states have defended, encouraged, and participated in the slave trade, and are more guilty before God than the South in that they have not the apology of education or custom.”

Reaction to Uncle Tom’s Cabin This book was written as a reaction to the Fugitive Slave Law that was part

of the Compromise of 1850 The book was published as a serial in the newspapers of the country – so

this story was read across the nation by very large numbers of people Mrs. Stowe avoided the problem of racial adjustment by having her

successful fugitives migrate first to Europe for education and then to Liberia as residents

Uncle Tom was the hero and Simon Legree was one of the villains The book had very graphic descriptions of slave conditions and harrowing

escapes of fugitives Southerners said that Mrs. Stowe did not know what she was talking about

and that slavery was not that bad Uncle Tom becomes a Christ-like figure in the North and is the first African

hero created by an American author When Abraham Lincoln met Harriet B. Stowe in 1862 he said, “So you’re the

little lady who started all of this.”

The Kansas Nebraska Bill of 1854 Stephen Douglas was

appointed by President Franklin Pierce to head a committee to find “a solution” to the unorganized territories

At first Douglas thought that the land could be one territory and he wrote the Nebraska Bill which left the question of slavery up to the people in the territory – this was called “popular sovereignty” – This violated the Missouri Compromise and the South was against it

Douglas writes a new bill – The Kansas-Nebraska Act The first thing that this bill did was to repeal

the Missouri Compromise The unorganized territory was divided into 2

new territories – Nebraska and Kansas – they were separated at the 40o North Latitude – Nebraska to the north and Kansas to the south

The question of slavery was to be settled by popular sovereignty in each territory

Reaction to the Kansas-Nebraska Act The North was upset because it feared that

both territories could vote for slavery – and for 34 years slavery had been outlawed in this land

The South was not sure that it wanted the Missouri Compromise to be repealed

Stephen Douglas was able to convince Congress to pass the bill – he was a fiery and passionate speaker and considered to be one of the best of his time

The Focus Goes to Kansas

Both North and South thought that Nebraska would be a free state since the land and climate did not lend itself to slavery

Both sides thought that they needed to gain control of Kansas – since the issue of slavery was to be settled by popular sovereignty – by sending in people committed to “their” beliefs

Northerners created the “Emigrant Aid Society” to send abolitionists to Kansas – these people were also called “Free Soilers”

Bleeding Kansas –a civil war

The Northerners established Lawrence as a town and their “headquarters”

Southerners came into Kansas from Missouri and were called “Border Ruffians” by the Northern press

A Southern sheriff comes to Lawrence to capture a runaway slave and is killed

In May, 1856, 800 Southerners attack Lawrence in retaliation and burn the newspaper offices, the hotel and the home of the governor (who was a Free-Soiler)

This really sets off a war in Kansas!

Murder in Kansas

There are a lot of murders and bushwhacking

Over 200 men are killed in this fighting

Both sides organize militias to fight

John Brown at Pottawatomie Creek John Brown was an

extreme abolitionist who had been furious ever since the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 had been passed

Brown was sure that God had called him to punish the sinners – those who believed in slavery

The Wrath of God – according to John Brown

Brown and his followers capture 5 Southern men who had nothing to do with any murders

Brown said that these men were guilty of “murder” and he uses a broadsword to kill them

This was done in retaliation for the attack on Lawrence and to show that Free Soilers had “rights”

Is it murder?

The Government in Kansas is in total Chaos

Governors come and go Elections are fraudulent – in one district 584 ballots out of 604 cast

were not legitimate! Two rival governments are set up – one is pro-northern and one is

pro-southern – and each ask Washington for recognition as the legitimate government

Southerners write the LeCompton Constitution for the state which will allow slavery but also has a clause that says no matter what the vote on the state constitution will be that the slaves already in Kansas can stay – this would mean that Kansas would be a slave state!

Northerners had stayed away from LeCompton since they feared that they would be killed

This constitution was decisively defeated and more chaos follows Northerners had their own constitution, written at Topeka, and it

outlawed slavery in the state

The Fighting in Kansas spills over into Washington, D.C.

Senator Charles Sumner –an ardent abolitionist – gave a very passionate speech entitled “The Crime Against Kansas” that lasted two days on the floor of the Senate

He said, “Murderous robbers from Missouri, hirelings picked from the drunken spew and vomit of an uneasy civilization have committed a rape of a virgin territory, compelling it to embrace slavery.”

Sumner goes on with his speech! Sumner then attacked Senator Andrew Butler of

South Carolina by saying that South Carolina with “its shameful imbecility from slavery” had sent to the Senate in his person (meaning Butler) a “Don Quixote who had chosen a mistress to whom he has made his vows, and who… though polluted in the sight of the world, is chaste in his sight – I mean the harlot, Slavery.”

Sumner said that he had made the “most thorough and complete speech of my life”

Democrats and Southerners were appalled and even Republicans felt that Sumner had gone too far

First Bleeding Kansas, now Bleeding Sumner!

Congressman Preston Brooks, a cousin of Butler, wants revenge for the insults – he knows that Sumner is not a gentleman and therefore should not be treated as one

Brooks goes into the Senate, walks up to Sumner, and attacks him with his cane – hitting Sumner at least 30 times on his head, face, and shoulders

Brooks is a hero to the South and a villain in the North – Sumner becomes a hero to all of the North but will suffer from his injuries for the rest of his life

Most reasonable people could see that things were out of hand

Federal troops are sent to Kansas Even though United States soldiers had been

in Kansas for several years they had not taken an active role in keeping the peace

U.S. cavalrymen are ordered to stop the violence and that is the only way some peace comes to Kansas

The Election of 1856

The Federal government and the Federal leadership was very weak at this point – Franklin Pierce was just not a strong leader

The Democratic Party, which had been a national party, begins to split along sectional lines

Stephen Douglas was the most famous Democratic leader and he had made his position on the extension of slavery clear with his popular sovereignty doctrine

A New Party Emerges in 1856

The Republican Party is created and grows very quickly

The name “Republican” appealed to many groups and had a historical connection to Thomas Jefferson and Henry Clay

The most important plank of the party was that it was opposed to the extension of slavery – so the common ground for this party in 1856 was what is was against, not necessarily what it was for!

The Republicans hold their Convention in Chicago

David Wilmot is the Chair of the party

The party plank in 1856 includes: Opposition to the extension of slavery, re-enactment of the Missouri Compromise, admitting Kansas to the Union as a free state, and building a railroad across the continent to the Pacific

Their candidate for president was John C. Fremont – The Pathfinder

Abraham Lincoln was second in the balloting for vice president

The Democrats hold their convention in Cincinnati

This was an unusual place to hold their convention but they wanted to appeal to the people of the West

The Democrats had to stand on Douglas’ popular sovereignty doctrine but did not try to flaunt it

They picked James Buchanan of Pennsylvania as their candidate for president

A third party – The American Party or the “Know Nothings” were also running The Know Nothings were anti-

immigrant and anti-Catholic They got their nickname by

saying “I know nothing” when asked about the party

They picked Millard Fillmore to be their candidate- but Fillmore was not a member of the party! – and he did not endorse their ideas!

Fillmore stressed the need for all sections of the country to get along and he was worried that sectional conflict was in the near future – he saw the Republicans as a sectional party

The Election of 1856 boils down to Buchanan versus Fremont

Most of the South votes for Buchanan as the Democratic candidate The Democratic lost a lot of its strength in the North to the Republicans The states of Pennsylvania, Indiana and Illinois go for Buchanan – due

to better party organization and money – Douglas alone contributed $100,000 in Illinois

James Buchanan wins the election The south sees the Republican Party as a real threat and open talk of

secession is common If the votes for Fillmore and Fremont are added together it is clear that

the electorate did not endorse the Kansas Nebraska Act Politicians see that if a candidate can hold the Upper North and then

carry Pennsylvania, Indiana and Illinois that candidate would win the presidential election in 1860

The Dred Scott Case

Dred Scott had been a slave of an army doctor who took him to many states, some slave and some free (Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri) and both his owner and Scott ignored this

Ten years after the master dies Scott sues for his freedom claiming that residence in areas made free by the Missouri Compromise had made him a free man

A lower court in Missouri upholds Scott’s plea but the Missouri State Supreme Court reversed that decision in 1852

Dred Scott

Scott is sold to John Stanford of New York who is an abolitionist and the case is appealed to the United States Supreme court as Scott vs. Sanford

The Court’s initial reaction was to rule that Scott had “no right to bring suit, since he was a Negro and Negroes were not citizens nor entitled to use the judicial process”

This decision was not accepted by many and President James Buchanan wanted to use the case to settle sectional differences Buchanan wanted the Court to decide the issue of slavery in the

territories Buchanan persuaded Judge Robert C. Grier of Pennsylvania to

side with the Southern judges and said that the “Mason-Dixon Line should not decide justice”

In his inaugural speech Buchanan had said the he would “cheerfully submit” to the court’s decision on Dred Scott and that every American should do likewise

Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger B. Taney Decides The

Issue Taney had been appointed to his position by Andrew Jackson so that Jackson could use the Court to validate the removal of the Cherokees

Taney had all nine justices of the Supreme Court write an opinion on the Dred Scott case but Taney wrote the “Opinion of the Court” which is the official one and the majority of the justices agreed with Taney although for different reasons

Justice John McLean of Ohio and Justice Benjamin R. Curtis of Massachusetts both said that Scott should be free and that the Missouri Compromise was a legal action

Taney said: Scott had no right to bring suit That the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional

Taney’s Rationale

Taney used Maryland and Massachusetts colonial law to prove that the Americans intended to erect “a perpetual and impassible barrier” between the races

Taney said that “Negroes are simply property, not people”

He said that Congress could not rule on territory not owned in 1789 in regard to slavery

Taney said that Congress could not deprive a person of his property when he moved from state to state or state to territory since the Constitution guaranteed the right of property

This is a very strict interpretation of the Constitution

Public Reaction to the Dred Scott Decision

Remember James Buchanan had said that “all good citizens” would “cheerfully submit” to the decision of the Court – This was ridiculous!

The North exploded in opposition, especially the Republican Party Northern legislatures and the Northern press condemned the Court and

it’s ruling There were many demonstrations in the streets and violent speeches Many people who had not been too concerned about the slavery

question now join the Republican Party In the South people thought that the Court had made a good decision John Sanford quietly set Dred Scott free and Scott died two years later

from TB So – a person could take a slave anywhere and Congress could not

make laws concerning slaves since slaves were property and the right to own property was guaranteed in the Constitution

The Great Debate – Lincoln vs. Douglas

The Race For A Senate Seat

In 1858 Stephen A. Douglas’ seat in the United States Senate was up for re-election and Abraham Lincoln challenged Douglas

The actual election then took place in the state legislature – it was not a popular vote like today

Douglas was very well known, a great orator, a statesman, sophisticated, and one of the top men in the Democratic Party

Lincoln appeared to be unkempt, crude, and inexperienced next to Douglas – but Lincoln was a very good public speaker

The Issues

Douglas had to defend his national positions on Dred Scott, popular sovereignty, the extension of slavery and the future of slavery in the United States

Lincoln made slavery the central issue of the challenge and this put Douglas on the defensive

James Buchanan was against Douglas since Douglas had opposed the LeCompton Constitution in Kansas

Lincoln challenges Douglas to debate and Douglas agrees to “debate” in areas where he had not already spoken, and the format would be one in which each speaker presented for a given period of time – this would not be a heated discussion going back and forth

There would be seven debates, covering different congressional districts in Illinois

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates

The Debate Sites

. The debates took place at the following places in Illinois: Ottawa, August 21, 1858, 12,000 people attend. Debate last 3 hours Freeport, 15,000 people attend. Debate lasted 3 hours. Freeport

Doctrine. Jonesboro, 1,400 people attend. A strong slave holding area. Charleston, 12,000 people attend. The “Tall Sucker” vs. the “Little

Giant”. Galesburg, October 7, 1858, 20,000 people attend. Cold, windy, damp

day. Lasted 3 hours. Quincy, October 13, 1858. 12,000 people. Debate lasted 3 hours. Alton, October 15, 1858, 6,000 people attend. There were a total of 78,400 people who attended these

debates. This was the largest audience in U.S. A. history up to that point. In addition, millions of Americans read the speeches in the newspapers. A new dictation-type of machine had recently been invented which allowed reporters to get every word.

Lincoln’s House Divided Speech

June 16, 1858 Lincoln gives a speech to the Illinois House of Representatives. “If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we

could better judge what to do, and how to do it. We are now far into the fifth year, since a slavery agitation. Under the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only, not ceased, but has constantly augmented. In my opinion, it will not cease, until a crisis shall have been reached, and passed. A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe that 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.

Either the opponents of slavery, will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new, North as well as South…..Put that and that together, and we have another nice little niche, which we may, ere long, see filled with another Supreme Court decision, declaring that the Constitution of the United States does not permit a state to exclude slavery from its limits… Such a decision is all that slavery now lacks of being alike lawful in all the States.”

Lincoln and Douglas – back and forth Stephen Douglas said of Lincoln not long after the House Divided Speech:

Mr. Lincoln advocates boldly and clearly a war of sections, a war of the North against the South, of the free States against the slave States- a war of extermination- to be continued relentlessly until one or the other shall be subdued, and all the States shall either become free or become slave.

Douglas also said, at the Quincy debate: Let each State mind its own business and let its neighbors alone!... If

we will stand by that principle, then Mr. Lincoln will find that this republic can exist forever divided into free and slave States… Stand by that great principle and we can go on as we have done, increasing in wealth, in population, in power, and in all the elements of greatness, until we shall be the admiration and terror of the world,… until we make this continent one ocean-bound republic.

Lincoln responded: You say slavery is wrong; but don’t you constantly…argue that this is

not the right place to oppose it? You say it must not be opposed in the free States, because slavery is not here: it must not be opposed in the slave States because it is there; it must not be opposed in politics, because that will make a fuss; it must not be opposed in the pulpit, because it is not religion. Then where is the place to oppose it? There is no suitable place to oppose it.

Douglas proclaims his Freeport Doctrine

At Freeport, Illinois Lincoln tricks Douglas into reconciling the Dred Scott decision with popular sovereignty – The Dred Scott decision contradicted the concept of popular sovereignty since it said that people could take their property anywhere they wanted to and government could not interfere with that

Douglas responds to Lincoln by saying, “It matters not what way the Supreme Court may hereafter decide as to the abstract question whether slavery may or may not go into a territory…In either event the people have the lawful means to introduce it or exclude it as they please, for…slavery can not exist a day or an hour anywhere, unless it is protected by local police regulations.”

So Douglas says that slavery can not exist without local enforcement – does this not contradict all that he has said in the past?

Results of the Lincoln Douglas Debates

Douglas won the Senatorial seat

The Democrats lost most of the races in 1858

Lincoln got tremendous national exposure and gained tremendous credibility

The question of slavery became even more of an issue in American society

John Brown’s Raid On Harper’s Ferry

John Brown had been active in Kansas, had no faith in the political system, and firmly believed that slavery was a sin which the country had to pay for in blood

Brown openly helped slaves escape to Canada

Brown moved to Maryland in 1859 and rented a farm

He collected an army of 21 men

October 16, 1859

Brown and his men raid the Federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry

He intends to liberate the slaves of the South The slaves do not rise up in revolt Brown fortifies himself in the fire house in

Harper’s Ferry and waits – he should have fled to the hills

Federal troops – Marines- arrive under the command of Robert E. Lee and Jeb Stuart

The Storming of the Engine House

Brown is Captured and Tried

The Marines rush the firehouse and kill or capture all of those inside

Brown was wounded, several of his sons were killed

A trail was held in Charles Town, Virginia and Brown was found guilty on October 31, 1859 of treason against the state of Virginia, murder, and inciting a slave rebellion

Brown was still suffering from his wounds and was carried into the court on a stretcher

Brown spoke in his own defense and frequently quoted the Bible

John Brown Is Hanged

Brown was hanged on December 2, 1859 in Charles Town Over 5,000 militia come to Charles Town to maintain security

and/or to watch Professor Thomas J. Jackson led the corps of cadets from

Virginia Military Institute to the hanging John Wilkes Booth joined the Richmond Militia in order to come

to this hanging Brown spoke before he was hanged and said that the United

States would pay in blood for its sin of slavery John Brown becomes the Martyr of Abolition Six of Brown’s men are hanged after him ( at a later date) “John Brown’s Body” became one of the most famous songs of

the era

Generalizations of the Fateful Fifties

The different sections solidified and there was no hope of reconciliation between the sections

Radical leadership took control in each section Blood was spilled in several states and it is easier to

do that the second or third time Abolition became a Holy Crusade and the Cotton

Kingdom a way of life Militia units were forming all over the country and

before long they would need something to do There was no strong leadership in Washington