The 1850s: Road to Secession

The Rising Storm Losing the bubble? Sailors say the ship’s navigator has lost a clear sense of where he is and where he is bound

Uneasy Balances Gag Rule (in Congress) More states entering union: AK (Slave), MI (Free), TX (slave) Congressional debates erupt in violence

Mexican Territory and the issue Polk: Extend Missouri Com. To Pacific O Douglas: Popular Sovereignty – Wilmot Proviso: – Wilmot’s answer to newly purchased territory from Mexico Threats: secession, cut of commerical realtions with North, refusal to pay debts owed to North Never passed

1848 Election Lewis Cass Dem. - split Pop. Sov. Zachary Taylor Whig Unknown political views Martin Van Buren Free Soil Party’s beliefs?

Problems of Sectional Balance in 1850 California statehood. Southern “fire-eaters” threatening secession. Underground RR & fugitive slave issues: Personal liberty laws Prigg v. Pennsylvania (1842)

Compromise of 1850: A work in Progress over 9 months long

Elements of the Compromise 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Bonus: If Pres. Taylor was against this, how did it ultimately pass?

Fugitive Slave Act “Personal Liberty Laws” as a means of combatting this Act How did enforcement of this Act change the nation?

Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) Uncle Tom’s Cabin, 1852 Sold 300,000 copies in the first year. 2 million in a decade! “So this is the lady that started the civil war!” Abraham Lincoln

1852 Presidential Election Franklin Pierce Gen. Winfield Scott John Parker Hale -- Democrat (NH) Whig Free Soil -Compr. 1850 supporter

1852 Election Results

Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854 Repeals Missouri Decide by Compromise Popular Sovereignty

“Bleeding Kansas” Missouri border ruffians Emigrant Aid Society - Abolitionist immigrants Rival gov’ts --- violence ensues Charles Sumner, “Crime against kansas”

John Brown: Madman, Hero or Martyr? Mural in the Kansas Capitol building by John Steuart Curry (20c)

Birth of the Republican Party, 1854 K-N Act Bleeding KS Opposed to expansion of slavery, not abolition Northern Anti-slavery Whigs and Democrats Free-Soilers, Know-Nothing Other miscellaneous opponents of the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

1856 Presidential Election James Buchanan John C. Frémont Millard Fillmore (PA) Democrat Republican Whig

1856 Election Results

Dred Scott v. Sanford, 1857

What caused the Panic of 1857?? What were its affects on the nation?

The Lincoln-Douglas (Illinois Senate) Debates, 1858 A House divided against itself, cannot stand.

Stephen Douglas & the Freeport Doctrine Popular Sovereignty?

John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry, 1859

1860 Presidential Election √ Abraham Lincoln Republican John Bell Constitutional Union 1860 Presidential Election Stephen A. Douglas Northern Democrat Stephen John C. Breckinridge Southern Democrat

Republican Party Platform in 1860 Non-extension of slavery [for the Free-Soilers. Protective tariff [for the No. Industrialists]. No abridgment of rights for immigrants [a disappointment for the “Know-Nothings”]. Government aid to build a Pacific RR [for the Northwest]. Internal improvements [for the West] at federal expense. Free homesteads for the public domain [for farmers].

1860 Election: 3 “Outs” & 1 ”Run!”

1860 Election: A Nation Coming Apart?!

1860 Election Results

Crittenden Compromise: A Last Ditch Appeal to Sanity Senator John J. Crittenden (Know-Nothing-KY)

Secession!: SC Dec. 20, 1860

Fort Sumter: April 12, 1861 A strategic Location

Events of that day Union Major Robert Anderson needed reinforcements He refused to abandon Fort Sumter P.G.T. Beauregard and troops opened fire After 34 hours, Anderson formally surrendered