THE UNION IN PERIL

Conflict in the Territories  The defeat of the Wilmot Proviso left deep a sectional schism  It also left the Union without a solution to the issue of slavery in the territories  This left three competing ideas on resolution:  The Free-Soilers  The Southern View  Popular Sovereignty

The Three Positions Free Soil Movement  Northern Democrats and Whigs support Wilmot  This would have NO BLACKS, free or slave in the Mexican Cession  Favored this approach because they didn’t want to compete for jobs  They also advocated free homesteads and internal improvements The Southern View  Most southerners felt any restriction of slavery was a violation of their Constitutional rights  Moderate Southerners saw the Missouri Compromise line as acceptable Popular Sovereignty  This was the idea that the residents of a particular territory would vote on whether slavery was allowed

The Compromise of 1850  The 1849 Gold Rush created the desperate need for law and order in the West generally, and California specifically  To admit California would upset the slave/free balance  The Compromise of 1850 solved this issue  Proposed by Henry Clay, it was another band-aid on the simmering slavery issue  Admit California as a free state  Divide the remaining Mexican Cession lands into the New Mexico and Utah Territories and allow popular sovereignty  Disputed land is given to the new territories in return for $10 million to Texas  Slave trade is banned in D.C.  A new, and stringent fugitive slave law

Slavery and the Rise of Tension Fugitive Slave Law  The new law called for vigorous enforcement which enflamed Northern sentiments Underground Railroad  This helped escaped slaves to the North guided by the North star Literature  Uncle Tom’s Cabin was the most influential novel of its day and aroused the North  The Impending Crisis of the South was another anti-slavery book that was banned in the South

The Crisis Deepens The Election of 1852  The Whigs attempted to ignore the slavery issue and were defeated by Franklin Pierce, a Northern Democrat who supported the Fugitive Slave Law The Kansas-Nebraska Act  Stephen Douglas introduced this as a way to resolve the slave issue in the Kansas and Nebraska Territories  In effect if repealed the Compromise of 1820 New Political Parties  The Know-Nothings (Nativists)  The birth of the Republicans

Extremists and Violence Bleeding Kansas  The Kansas-Nebraska Act set the stage for a violent showdown in the new territories  Settlers form Missouri and Free- Soilers sponsoring the New England Emigrant Aid Society fueled tension and violence  John Brown led his sons on a raid on a pro-slavery farm settlement and killed 5 The Caning of Sumner  Charles Sumner of Massachusetts was beaten by Preston Brooks after inflammatory remarks about the South and a personal attack on SC Senator Andrew Butler

Constitutional Issues The Lecompton Constitution  The proslavery legislature at Lecompton, Kansas submitted a proslavery Constitution that would admit Kansas as a slave state  James Buchanen asked Congress to accept the Lecompton Constitution, but Congress rejected it.  The document was defeated the next year in 1858 by the voters of Kansas Dred Scott v Sandford (1857)  This decision made the free state/slave state debate moot  Congress did not have the power to deprive people of property without due process

The Road to Secession John Brown’s Raid: Harper’s Ferry  The assuredly crazy John Brown led a raid on a Federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia  The idea was to steal the weapons and lead an armed uprising of slaves  Southerners felt this exemplified the feelings of Northerners in general, although most condemned the assuredly crazy John Brown  Brown was captured and hanged for his crimes, but was hailed as a martyr by some in the North

The Election of 1860  This was the final straw in the division of the Union  Lincoln won the election without a single electoral vote from a Southern state  They knew that they would never have a chance to pass favorable legislation in a system so dominated by the North  South Carolina was the first to secede in 1860  Seven other states followed in 1861

The Election of 1860

A last-ditch effort The Crittenden Compromise  This called for a Constitutional amendment to be passed re-establishing the 36*30’ line from the Compromise of 1820  This would put slavery outside the reach of the Supreme Courts Dred Scott ruling  Lincoln did not accept the Crittenden Compromise as he felt it violated the Republican principal of anti- slvaery.  This effort failed as many Southerners also thought they were invoking the rights outlined in the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions