The Question of Slavery: The Voice of Abolition is Raised

Several Northern governments passed laws to undermine the FSA! The Fugitive Slave Act Part of the Compromise 1850 Allowed slave owners to retrieve “property” in any territory (free or slave) Was based upon a simple description Fugitives were denied trial by jury & unable to present evidence (free blacks could be enslaved) Several Northern governments passed laws to undermine the FSA!

Uncle Tom’s Cabin - 1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe (Conn) Portrayed Southern slaves owners as evil Exposed the brutality of slavery many parts of the book were fictionalized Created black stereotypes that last for a hundred years Created a literary backlash- N books were banished S cried for sectionalism

Bleeding Kansas Shows flaw in Comp of 1850 Threat to allow slavery in forbidden territories (Comp 1820) Kansas and Nebraska were open to popular sovereignty as slave or free Abolitionists and free-soilers go there to keep it free Slave holders go to make it slave Violence erupts = Bleeding Kansas

Dred Scott v. Sanford - 1857 MO slave Dred Scott is taken to free IL and MN w/ owner Scott sues for his freedom after they return to MO Supreme Court denies him Owner = John Emerson Sanford is executor of Emerson Estate Is given freedom in May,1857 and dies a free man

Results of Dred Scott Slaves had no claim to freedom They were property and not citizens They could not bring suit in federal court Because slaves were private property, the federal government could not revoke a white slave owner's right to own a slave based on where he lived, nullifying the essence of the Missouri Compromise. subject to the Fifth Amendment which prohibits taking property from its owner "without due process".

1858 - The Lincoln / Douglas Debates Republican candidate - Abraham Lincoln and Democratic candidate - Stephen Douglas A lawyer, Lincoln spoke out against the evil slave power of the South -desired self-interests of white men -save territories for better conditions for white people Douglas, a well known orator, was unable to win the heart of Southern voters

Douglas and other Democrats split the ticket four ways. Lincoln would win -won only on electoral college votes -did not win the popular vote Lincoln vowed to follow the position of his party. This concerned the South

1859 - John Brown’s Raid Harpers Ferry, VA -a US arsenal Planned to attack slaveholders and draw liberated slaves to attack and free plantation slaves He was hung December 2, 1859, Brown was backed by rich Northerners and abolitionists Brown uttered a prophetic forewarning of the coming Civil War: "I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood."

The South is outraged Lincoln wins! Republicans felt Southerners would calm down and turn Pro-Union after the election Southerners felt ignored and put off. They felt a show of strength was necessary to win N. respect

South Carolina secedes from the Union! December 20, 1860 South Carolina secedes from the Union! Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas followed. Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas would join later! Missouri, Kentucky, Delaware and Maryland: Slave states that stayed with the Union "We are not fighting for slavery. We are fighting for Independence, and that, or extermination" -- Jefferson Davis