Should the states have the right to ignore the laws of the national government? The Road to Secession In Antebellum America

Important Vocabulary Secession: The act of withdrawing Nullification: a legal theory that a state has the right to nullify, or invalidate a federal law which the state has deemed unconstitutional.

The Compromise of 1820: A Firebell in the Night!

The Nullification Crisis of 1832: > Tariff > Tariff 1824 – 23%-37% 1824 – 23%-37% > “Tariff ofAbomination” > “Tariff ofAbomination” > new compromise tariff > new compromise tariff

What do you notice about the votes? House Vote on Tariff of 1828 [6] [6] ForAgainst New England1623 Middle States (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware) 566 West (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky) 291 South464 Total10594 Free States8829 Slave States1765

Compromise of

1.California free state 2.Utah/New Mexico- popular sovereignty 3.Texas 10 million 4.Slave trade ended in DC 5.Fugitive Slave law of 1850

5 - Fugitive Slave Law http :// Constitution 1793 law “The only measure of the Compromise calculated to secure the rights of the South.” Provisions: 1.Denied fugitive right to trial by jury. 2.Commissioners paid $5 if released, $10 if sent away 3.Federal officials responsible for enforcing the laws

Resisting the Law 9 States passed personal liberty laws – Forbade the imprisonment of runaway slaves and guaranteed they would have jury trials. Underground Railroad – Harriet Tubman, 19 trips, 300 slaves Uncle Tom’s Cabin – Slavery is not a political contest, a moral struggle

Consequences of the Compromise 1.Political Alignment along party lines grew 2.Americans were now discussing higher law: secession and disunion

Kansas-Nebraska Act “No congressmen had so badly miscalculated the consequences of his actions as had Douglas.” “The Most ill-conceived and wretched piece of congressional handiwork in the nation’s history” James L. Huston Why was the Kansas-Nebraska Act so controversial?

Kansas-Nebraska Act Read –Explain the concept of popular sovereignty and describe Northern and Southern reactions to it as a way of making decisions about slavery in the territories. –Think about: Douglas’s view on continued expansion. Douglas and the Missouri Compromise The congressional balance of power. Use evidence from the text to support your answers.

Kansas-Nebraska Act What led to the Kansas-Nebraska Act? Senator Stephen Douglas –Democrats supported expansion –Popular Sovereignty – most democratic way to decide –Nebraska Territory north of 36, 30 Repeal of Missouri Compromise 90% of Southern Congressman voted for the bill, 64% of Northerners voted against. Bill became law in May 1854

Abolitionist & proslavery forces race to populate Kansas & write state constitution New York Senator William Seward –“Come on, then gentlemen of the Slave States…We will engage in competition for the virgin soil of Kansans and God give the victory to the side that is stronger in numbers as it is in right.”

Bleeding Kansas – Both sides stage terrorist attacks “The sack of Lawrence” –Anti-slavery town determined to be traitors, ransacked by pro-slavery men John Brown responsible for Pottawatomie Massacre 157 violent deaths, but only 38 definitely related to slavery conflict John Brown

“Bleeding Kansas” Border “Ruffians” (pro-slavery Missourians)

Application for Statehood Topeka Constitution – Without Slavery Lecompton Constitution – With Slavery Kansas eventually entered as a free state in 1861

“The Crime Against Kansas” Sen. Charles Sumner (R-MA) Congr. Preston Brooks (D-SC)

The Caning of Sumner Kansas-Nebraska is the leading issue in national politics “The admission of Kansas into the Union as a slave state is now a point of honor. The fate of the South is to be decided with the Kansas issue.” - Congressman Brooks (SC) “The Crime against Kansas…Murderous robbers from Missouri…Rape of Virgin territory.” Congressman Sumner (MA)

The Caning of Sumner Sumner’s speech made fun of aged Senator Andrew Butler Brooks decides to avenge his cousin Beats Sumner with a cane Pride in the South Rage in the North

1852 Presidential Election √ Franklin Pierce Gen. Winfield Scott John Parker Hale Democrat Whig Free Soil

Birth of the Republican Party Mid-term Election of 1854 Horace Greeley printed in June 1854: "We should not care much whether those thus united (against slavery) were designated 'Whig,' 'Free Democrat' or something else; though we think some simple name like 'Republican' would more fitly designate those who had united to restore the Union to its true mission of champion and promulgator of Liberty rather than propagandist of slavery.“  Northern Whigs.  Northern Democrats.  Free-Soilers.  Know- Nothings.  Other miscellaneou s opponents of the Kansas- Nebraska Act.

DateHamiltoniansJeffersonians 1791 Federalists Democratic- Republicans 1820 Republicans “Era of Good Feelings” National Republicans Democratic- Republicans 1834 Whigs Northern Whigs Antislavery Democrats Jacksonian Democracy Southern Democrats 1854 Republicans Democrats Present RepublicansDemocrats

PartyTotal seats (change) Seat percentage Democratic Party % American Party % Whig Party % Republican Party % Totals %

The Election of 1856 Democrats nominate Ambassador James Buchanan Republican Party – nominate Fremont James BuchananJohn C. Fremont

Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857) Dred Scott was slave of Army doctor – had lived in free state & territory Chief Justice Roger Taney: – African Americans cannot be citizens, state laws to the contrary – Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional – Any attempt to limit slavery in territories (even by territorial legislature) unconstitutional Dred Scott

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates Buchanan backed fraudulent pro- slavery Lecompton Constitution (1858) Douglas opposed – declared “Freeport Doctrine” in debates with Lincoln – Dred Scott ruling must be respected – Territories could still bar slavery by failing to pass necessary laws – Lincoln pointed out inherent contradiction

John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry Brown was Connecticut native with apocalyptic vision Led raid on federal arsenal in Harper’s Ferry, VA to start slave rebellion Convicted of treason against Commonwealth of Virginia & executed Became martyr to abolitionists The arraignment of John Brown Brown’s Last Moments, by Thomas Hovdenden (1884)

John Brown: Madman, Hero or Martyr?

1860 Presidential Election √ Abraham Lincoln Republican John Bell Constitutional Union Stephen A. Douglas Northern Democrat John C. Breckinridge Southern Democrat

1860 Election: A Nation Coming Apart?! Cartoon from the 1860 presidential election showing three of the candidates—(left to right) Republican Abraham Lincoln, Democrat Stephen A. Douglas, and Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge—tearing the country apart, while the Constitutional Union candidate, John Bell, applies glue from a tiny, useless pot

Republican Party Platform in 1860 ßNon-extension of slavery [for the Free-Soilers]. ßProtective tariff [for the No. Industrialists]. ßNo abridgment of rights for immigrants [a disappointment for the “Know-Nothings”]. ßGovernment aid to build a Pacific RR [for the Northwest]. ßInternal improvements [for the West] at federal expense. ßFree homesteads for the public domain [for farmers]. ßNon-extension of slavery [for the Free-Soilers]. ßProtective tariff [for the No. Industrialists]. ßNo abridgment of rights for immigrants [a disappointment for the “Know-Nothings”]. ßGovernment aid to build a Pacific RR [for the Northwest]. ßInternal improvements [for the West] at federal expense. ßFree homesteads for the public domain [for farmers].

1860 Election Results 1860 Election Results

Crittenden Compromise: A Last Ditch Appeal to Sanity Senator John J. Crittenden (Know-Nothing-KY)

Secession!: SC Dec. 20, 1860

Fort Sumter: April 12, 1861