Challenges to Slavery 15-3

A New Political Party After the Nebraska- Kansas act the Democratic party began to divide along sectional lines. Northern Democrats left the party. Differing views over slavery destroyed the Whig Party.

A New Political Party The Republicans challenged the proslavery Whigs and Democrats by choosing candidates to run in state and Congressional elections of 1854. There message was to ban slavery from the new territories. P.7

A New Political Party The Republicans showed their strength in the North by winning the majority in the House of Representatives and several state legislatures. In the South there was no support. P.4

A New Political Party Northern Democrats suffered a beating by losing 75% of the Democratic candidates in the free states. Democrats were increasingly becoming a Party of the South.

Election of 1856 Democrats and Republicans faced off in the election of 1856. The Whigs did not put forth a candidate. The Republicans chose John C. Fremont from California and the Democrats chose James Buchanan of PA.

Election of 1856 Buchanan was a former diplomat and endorsed popular sovereignty. Fremont gained fame by his exploration of the West. His platform called for ”Free soil, free speech and Fremont.

Election of 1856 The American Party or the Know Nothings, had put forward their candidate former President Millard Fillmore. The presidential vote divided along rigid sectional lines.

Election of 1856 Buchanan won the election winning all of the Southern States except Maryland. ELECTORAL VOTE Buchanan 174 Fremont 114 Fillmore 8 Fremont carried 11 of the 16 free states.

Dred Scott Decision Buchanan took office 4 March 1857. 2 days later the Supreme Court handed down a decision concerning slavery that would shake the country.

Dred Scott Decision Dred Scott was an enslaved African American bought by an Army doctor in Missouri, a slave state. The doctor moved his Family to ILL, a free state, then to the Wisconsin territory.

Dred Scott Decision Slavery was banned in the Wisconsin Territory by the Northwest Ordinance of 1787. Later, upon returning to Missouri, the doctor died.

Dred Scott Decision In 1846, with the help of antislavery lawyers, Scott sued for his freedom. Scott claimed that he should be free since he once lived on free soil. 11 Years later his case reached the Supreme Court. P.7

Dred Scott Decision The case attracted attention with enormity across the nation. The issue was Dred Scott’s status, but the court had a chance to rule on the slavery question in the territories. Americans were hoping the Courts would settle the issue once and for all.

Dred Scott Decision & the Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney said that Dred Scott was still a slave. Dred Scott was not a citizen and therefore could not bring a lawsuit. Quiz 15-3A p.4

Dred Scott Decision & the Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Taney addressed the broader issue saying that Scott’s residence on free soil did not make him free.

Dred Scott Decision & the Supreme Court An enslaved person was property and the 5th amendment prohibits Congress from taking away property without due process of law.

Dred Scott Decision & the Supreme Court Taney also wrote that Congress had no right to prohibit slavery in any territory and that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional and for that matter so was popular sovereignty.

Dred Scott Decision & the Supreme Court Not even voters in a territory could prohibit slavery. Thus Taney by his ruling protected slavery in the Constitution.

Dred Scott Decision & Reaction to the Decision The decision by the Supreme Court divided the country even more. The South was elated. The Northern Republicans were outraged. Republicans called the decision “a wicked and false judgment” and “the greatest crime” ever committed in the nations Courts.