Unit 3: Civil War 10.25.18
Timeline 1850: The Compromise of 1850 CA enters as a free state, slavery allowed in Utah & New Mexico territories Fugitive Slave Law: Escaped slaves must be returned to their owners 1852: Uncle Tom’s Cabin published 1854: Kansas-Nebraska Act The people who live in the Kansas & Nebraska territories would decide if they are slave or free states Lincoln was a lawyer in Illinios. He gives a speech denouncing the Kansas-Nebraska Act & calls slavery immoral. Lincoln advocated against spreading slavery to the new territories in hopes that this would preserve the Union & see slavery die out over time by being confined to just the Southern states.
Nebraska Territory Kansas Territory ME OR VT MN NH WI NY MA MI CT RI IA PA Utah Territory NJ OH IL IN MD DE Kansas Territory WV CA VA MO KY NC TN New Mexico Territory AR SC AL GA MS TX LA FL
Timeline 1856: Senator Charles Sumner beaten in the Senate 1851: Sumner elected to the Senate (Free-Soiler) He campaigned against what he saw as southern aggression on the slavery issue As North-South tensions heightened, so did Sumner’s rhetoric. In his Crime against Kansas speech, delivered in May 1856, he lambasted southern efforts to extend slavery into Kansas and attacked his colleague, Andrew P. Butler of South Carolina Butler’s cousin, Congressman Preston Brooks, assaulted Sumner on the Senate floor He spent three and a half years recovering from the beating
Timeline 1856: The Dred Scott decision Dred & Harriet Scott sue for their freedom b/c owners moved them to WI (a free territory) Decision: US govt. can’t take away a citizen’s property w/o compensation (5th Amendment) US govt. can’t call Scott free b/c don’t have the authority to ban slavery in territories Dred Scott is a slave & therefore not a citizen so he cannot sue Abolitionists outraged, empowered Republican Party, & fueled violence btwn slaveowners & abolitionists
1860 Presidential Election Stephen Douglass (N. Democrats): supported popular sovereignty (states decide) John C Breckinridge (S. Democrats): pro-slavery John Bell (Constitutional Union): avoided the issue altogether Abraham Lincoln (Republicans): opposed slavery Lincoln wins with less than 40% of the popular vote (all from the North) Lincoln had run against Douglass before – in the 1859 Senate race in Illinois – Lincoln lost