15-03 Road to Civil War Challenges to Slavery Road to Civil War Secession and War

The Dred Scott Decision The Supreme Court announced a decision about slavery that shook the nation. Dred Scott was a slave owned by an army doctor in Missouri, a slave state.

In the 1830s the doctor moved to a free state. Later the family returned to Missouri, where the doctor died. In 1846 Scott sued for his freedom. He claimed he should be free because he had once lived on free soil.

Eleven years later the case reached the Supreme Court. The case attracted enormous attention. Many Americans hoped that the Court would resolve the slavery issue for good.

Chief Justice Roger B. Taney said that Dred Scott was a slave and had no right to file a lawsuit because he was not a citizen. He also said that a slave was property, and the 5th Amendment prohibits Congress from taking away property.

Taney also said that Congress had no power to prohibit slavery in any territory and that The Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional. For that matter, so was popular sovereignty. The voters in a territory could not take away a person's property either.

The decision meant that the Constitution actually protected slavery. Rather than settling the issue, the Supreme Court's decision divided the country even more. Nothing could legally prevent the spread of slavery. Republicans and other antislavery groups were outraged.

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates The congressional election of 1858 pitted Democrat Stephen A. Douglas against Republican Abraham Lincoln.

Douglas disliked slavery but believed the voters should decide in each state. Lincoln saw slavery as morally wrong. He saw no way to eliminate slavery where it already existed. However, he was sure that slavery should not be allowed to spread.

Lincoln challenged Douglas to a series of debates. Thousands came to hear the debates. The main topic, of course, was slavery. Douglas won the election, but Lincoln gained a national reputation.

The Raid on Harpers Ferry After the 1858 elections, Southerners began to feel threatened by increasing Republican power. On October 16, 1859, John Brown led 18 men, both whites and blacks, in a raid on an arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia.

Brown hoped to start a rebellion against slaveholders by giving slaves weapons. Brown and his men were quickly defeated. Brown was convicted of treason and murder and was hanged.

Some antislavery Northerners and Republican leaders disagreed with Brown's use of violence. Others felt he was a hero. His execution caused an up-roar in the North. John Brown's death became a rallying point for abolitionists.

Brown’s raid had been financed by a group of abolitionists. When Southerners learned of his connection to abolitionists it seemed to confirm their fears of a great Northern conspiracy against them. The nation was on the brink of disaster.

15-04 Road to Civil War Secession and War

The Election of 1860 During the election of 1860 the slavery issue split in the Democratic Party. The Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln and said that slavery should be left alone where it already existed, but that it should be banned from the territories.

Some Southern states had already said they would secede if Lincoln were elected. With the Democrats divided, Lincoln won the election. He received only 40% of the popular vote, but that was more than any other candidate.

The South Secedes On December 20, 1860, South Carolina voted to secede. Even then, many people still wanted to preserve (save) the Union. The question was how.

By February 1861, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and Georgia had also seceded. Delegates from these Southern states met and formed a new government and nation called the Confederate States of America.

Jefferson Davis Chosen as President of the Confederate States of America.

Southerners justified secession with the theory of states' rights. They said that the states had voluntarily entered the Union and that because the national government had refused to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act and had denied the Southern states equal rights in the territories, the states were justified in leaving the Union.

Reactions to Secession Many Southerners wanted secession. Most Northerners wanted to save the Union. For Lincoln the issue was "whether in a free government the minority have the right to break up the government whenever they choose."

In his Inaugural Address, President Lincoln said that secession would not be allowed. He vowed to keep control of federal property in the South and to enforce the laws of the United States.

At the same time, he asked the South for reconciliation: “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies.”

The War Begins On his inauguration day, Lincoln received a message from Fort Sumter off the coast of South Carolina.

(Discussion) The message said they were low on supplies and that the Confederates were demanding their surrender. Lincoln sent a message to the Governor of South Carolina. It said that he was sending an unarmed supply transport to Fort Sumter. Lincoln said that Union forces would not fire unless they were fired upon.

Confederate president Jefferson Davis and his advisers ordered their forces to attack Fort Sumter before the Union supplies could arrive.

Confederate guns opened fire on April 12, Thousands of shots were exchanged during the next 33 hours before the North was forced to surrender, but no one died on either side.

When news of the attack reached President Lincoln, he called for 75,000 troops to save the Union.

Meanwhile, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas voted to join the Confederacy. The Civil War had begun.