Challenges to Slavery Section Two

Republican Party In 1854, antislavery Democrats left the party to join the new Republican Party. They joined with the Whigs and Free Soilers to end slavery in the United States or, at the least, to stop it from spreading West. The Republican Party quickly won many seats in the House in the North leaving the Democratic Party a Southern party.

Democratic Party

John C. Fremont (Republican) Presidential Candidates 1856 John C. Fremont (Republican) JAMES BUCHANAN (DEMOCRAT) MILLARD FILLMORE (KNOW NOTHING) In 1856, the Republican Party chose John C. Fremont and the Democratic Party chose James Buchanan while the Know Nothing Party chose former President Fillmore.

Election of 1856 Buchanan won the election as it went straight down regional lines. Fremont did not get a single Southern vote.

Dred Scott In 1846, a slave named Dred Scott traveled from Missouri, a slave state, with his owner to Illinois and then the Wisconsin Territory, a free territory. They then returned back to Missouri where the owner died. Antislavery lawyers sued for his freedom based on the fact that Scott had lived in a free territory, so he should have been set free.

Chief Justice Roger B. Taney In 1857, the United States Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, argued that Scott was still a slave and property owned by the family with no rights to bring a case. Also, that slavery could NOT be banned in any U.S. Territory by Congress or popular sovereignty.

Dred Scott Decision

The North and South reacted differently: the South was elated while the North was outraged.

Lincoln-Douglas debates Lincoln thought slavery was wrong and needed to be halted. Douglas did not like slavery, but did not want to divide the nation. In 1858, Stephen Douglas debated Abraham Lincoln over the issue of slavery.

Lincoln Loses The Lincoln–Douglas debates were a series of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln, the Republican candidate for the United States Senate from Illinois, and incumbent Senator Stephen Douglas, the Democratic Party candidate. The debates previewed the issues that Lincoln would face in the aftermath of his victory in the 1860 presidential election. Although Illinois was a free state, the main issue discussed in all seven debates was slavery in the United States. After winning a plurality of the voters but losing in the legislature, Lincoln edited the texts of all the debates and had them published in a book. The widespread coverage of the original debates and the subsequent popularity of the book led eventually to Lincoln's nomination for President of the United States by the 1860 Republican National Convention in Chicago.

Return of John Brown In 1859, John Brown led 18 men on an attack of the U.S. arsenal of Harpers Ferry, Virginia. He wanted to steal weapons to give to slaves, which would hopefully lead to a slave uprising. Brown was captured and tried for treason. He was found guilty and executed. He became a martyr for the abolitionists.

Harper’s Ferry, Virginia

U.S. Marines Respond Robert E. Lee

Capture/Execution of John Brown