1. What was Abraham Lincoln’s position regarding slavery?
Who won the election of 1860?
What was Abraham Lincoln’s position regarding slavery?
How many southern states voted for Lincoln?
How do you think southerners felt about this election?

3. The Rise of the Republican Party
During the controversy over the Kansas-Nebraska Act, anti-slavery activists formed a new political organization called the Republican Party.
The Republicans were united by their beliefs that “no man can own another man That slavery must be prohibited in the territories that all new states must be free states that the rights of our colored citizen must be protected.”

4. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates
In 1858, Republicans in Illinois nominated Abraham Lincoln to run for the Senate.
His opponent was Senator Stephen Douglas, who saw no reason why the nation could not go on half-slave and half-free.

5. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Lincoln challenged Douglas to debate the issue of slavery.
Lincoln lost the election, but the debates were widely reported, and they helped make him a national figure.

7. he felt slavery was wrong.
he felt the slavery issue was settled through the Dred Scott decision.

8. The abolitionist John Brown adopted an extreme approach to try and end slavery.
He planned to seize the federal arsenal (the place where weapons are stored) at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. He hoped to use the weapons to arm slaves for a rebellion that would destroy slavery forever.
All of Brown’s men were killed or captured during the raid and Brown himself was convicted of treason and sentenced to death.
John Brown’s Raid

9. they considered John Brown a hero.
slave rebellions might spread throughout the South.

10. The Election of 1860
In the 1860 election, Republicans united behind Abraham Lincoln while the Democrats split between northern and southern factions.
Northern Democrats nominated Stephen Douglas.
Southern Democrats supported John Breckinridge.
In addition, a group called the Constitutional Union Party nominated John Bell of Tennessee.

12. With his opposition divided, Lincoln sailed to victory.
However, he only won just 40 percent of the votes, all of them cast in the North. Ten southern states didn’t even have him on the ballot.
Lincoln’s election sent the message to southerners that they no longer had the power to shape national events or policies.
It seemed that sooner or later Congress would try to abolish slavery and the South feared that it wouldn’t be able to stop it.
Talk of secession filled the air as senators formed a committee to search for yet another compromise that might hold the nation together.

13. Lincoln was opposed to the spread of slavery.
they had lost most of their political power.

14. Group Work You and your partner must both agree upon the compromise.
Work with your partner to develop a compromise.
In developing your compromise, find the best way to protect your side’s interests without escalating (increasing) the tensions.
You and your partner must both agree upon the compromise.
Once agreed upon, write down your compromise under Part 2 on pg. 149.

16. Secession
On December 20, 1860, delegates attending a state convention in Charleston, South Carolina voted to leave the Union.
Six more southern states soon followed South Carolina’s lead and seceded from the U.S.

17. Lincoln’s Inauguration
Three months later, on March 4, 1861, Lincoln became president of a shattered nation.
In his inaugural address, he stated that secession was both wrong and unconstitutional.
He then asked the rebellious states to return in peace.
Lincoln’s Inauguration

18. Civil War
On April 12, South Carolina rebels opened fire on Fort Sumter, a federal fort in Charleston Harbor.
After 33 hours of heavy shelling, the defenders of the fort surrendered.
The news that rebels had fired on the American flag unleashed a wave of patriotic fury in the North.
The time for compromise was over.
The issue that had divided the nation for so many years would now be decided by war.

19. Bombardment of Fort Sumter

20. - South Carolina and six other states seceded (separated) from the Union. - South Carolina fired on Fort Sumter.

21. Free/Slave Status of U.S. States (1789-1861)