A PERSONAL VOICE JOHN C. CALHOUN “ I have, Senators, believed from the first that the agitation of the subject of slavery would, if not prevented by some timely and effective measure, end in disunion.... The agitation has been permitted to proceed... until it has reached a period when it can no longer be disguised or denied that the Union is in danger. You have thus had forced upon you the greatest and the gravest question that can ever come under your consideration: How can the Union be preserved?” —quoted in The Compromise of 1850 John C. Calhoun was a longtime Senator from South Carolina who defended slavery.

As mentioned in Chapter 3, the North and South had developed different customs and, more importantly, different economies owing to the industrial revolution, climate, and geography. But there really was one central issue that divided the nation – Slavery. Southern attempts to claim states rights had much to do with the subject because it was feared that a more populous North would outvote the South and deny them their (human) property. Slavery was profitable because products like cotton and tobacco brought plantation owners large profits. Fears of slave rebellion and of Northern agitators kept Southerners on the defensive.

Daniel Webster: Yea Henry Clay: Yea John C. Calhoun: Nay

Because of the gold rush in California (1849) there was a huge population explosion there and a need to make it a state. But California was both in the North and South. Should it be slave or free? Compromise was the answer and Henry Clay proposed a strict Fugitive Slave Act and Popular Sovereignty. States would decide whether or not they would be slave or free. This created big problems in places like Kansas, which had its own civil war long before the rest of the nation.

The Fugitive Slave Act shocked many in the North. If you helped a slave you could be fined and jailed. A movement to help slaves escape to Canada emerged with the energetic leadership of Harriet Tubman. It was called the Underground Railroad. Harriet and others helped slaves escape the South. This infuriated slave owners and more calls for Secession were made. Meanwhile, Harriet Beecher Stowe published the bestselling book Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which received national and international acclaim. It made Queen Victoria cry and played a part in anti-slavery sentiments around the world.

In 1856 Abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner (above left) spent time on the floor of the Senate attacking pro-slavery people from the South in fiery speeches and diatribes. One of the people Sumner attacked verbally was Senator Andrew P. Butler of South Carolina, who had written the Kansas- Nebraska Act. His nephew, Congressman Preston Brooks (above right, also from South Carolina) became so angry he attacked Senator Sumner on the floor of the Senate. Sumner almost died and spent years recovering.

In the 1850’s the Whig Party split over slavery, and new parties emerged. There was the Nativist “Know-Nothing” Party, which only supported white candidates for office. Then there was the Free Soil Party, which called for an immediate end to slavery in the South. They were also racist; they didn’t want slaves or African Americans in their communities. The Republican Party, which also called for an end to slavery, emerged and in 1856 they put up Mexican War hero John C. Fremont up as their candidate. He lost to Democrat James Buchanan. Had Fremont won the South would have immediately seceded.