1. By: Ms. Susan M. Pojer Horace Greeley HS Chappaqua, NY
The 1850s:
Road to
Secession
By: Ms. Susan M. Pojer Horace Greeley HS Chappaqua, NY

2. Problems of Sectional Balance in 1850
California statehood.
Southern “fire-eaters” threatening secession.
Underground RR & fugitive slave issues:
Personal liberty laws
Prigg v. Pennsylvania (1842)

3. Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811 – 1896)
So this is the lady who started the Civil War Abraham Lincoln

4. Uncle Tom’s Cabin 1852 Sold 300,000 copies in the first year.
2 million in a decade!
South was Furious & banned this
Awakened the evils of slavery

5. Uncle Tom’s Cabin, 1852

6. The Contest for Kansas
1855 election day hordes of Southerns from MO crossed into KS help make it a salve state
Free Soilers hated this so set up own govt. in Topeka KS
2 Govt ‘s to choose from one illegal free govt in Topeka the other fraudulent (slavery in Shawnee KS
In 1856 a group of Pro-Slavery rednecks shot up and burnt part of Lawrence KS & started violence

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

8. John Brown: Madman, Hero or Martyr?
Mural in the Kansas Capitol building by John Steuart Curry (20c)

9. John Brown Pottawatomie Creel Massacre May 1856
Chopped up & killed 5 pro-slaveryites
The South was outraged by such violence
The North shocked that Brown went so far & very upset with his actions

10. 1857 KS wants to apply for statehood
KS erupted into off and on violence until it merged w/ the Civil War in 1861
1857 KS wants to apply for statehood
Pro-Slaveryites proposed the “Lecompton Constitution” – only allowed to vote on a constitution w/ or w/o slavery
Also it protected owners who already had slaves) hmmm
Angry Free Soilers were upset and did not vote
President James Buchanan (1856) supported this Constitution = this will doom the democratic party

11. Douglas was furious with this fraudulent vote and demanded a fair revote
Wanted true popular sovereignty & threw away his southern support

12. “The Crime Against Kansas”
His speech sparked violence in Congress when he was beat almost to death by Brooks!
Sen. Charles Sumner (R-MA)
Congr. Preston Brooks (D-SC)

13. Birth of the Republican Party, 1854
Northern Whigs.
Northern Democrats.
Free-Soilers.
Know-Nothings.
Other miscellaneous opponents of the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

14. 1856 Presidential Election
√ James Buchanan John C. Frémont Millard Fillmore Democrat Republican Whig

15. 1856 Election Results

16. Dred Scott v. Sanford, 1857
A slave who’s master took him North to free territories
After his master’s death he sued for his freedom from his new master in won in a MO Court
BUT . . His new master appealed to the Supreme Court & won

17. Dred Scott v. Stanford Justice Roger B. Taney made the ruling stating:
No Slave could be a citizen
Congress is not allowed to outlaw slavery b/c that would go a/g 5th amendment (congress is not allowed to take Property away from citizens w/o due process)
The court then said that the MO compromise had been unconstitutional all along

18. North’s Reaction
Inflamed millions of abolitionists even those who did not care before
The South clearly had advantages by 1857:
Supreme Court
President
Constitution on its side

19. What caused the Panic of 1857?? What were its affects on the nation?
CA Gold Rush caused Inflation
Over-Growth of Grain
Over Speculation in Lands & Railroads
The North was hard hit
South Rode it out with flying colors
Higher tariff rate

20. The Lincoln-Douglas (Illinois Senate) Debates, 1858
A House divided against itself, cannot stand.

21. Stephen Douglas & the Freeport Doctrine
Popular Sovereignty?
No matter how the Court rules the people should be allowed to vote slavery in or out!

22. John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry, 1859

23. 1860 Presidential Election
√ Abraham Lincoln Republican
John Bell Constitutional Union
1860 Presidential Election
Stephen A. Douglas Northern Democrat
John C. Breckinridge Southern Democrat

24. Republican Party Platform in 1860
Non-extension of slavery [for the Free-Soilers.
Protective tariff [for the No. Industrialists].
No abridgment of rights for immigrants [a disappointment for the “Know-Nothings”].
Government aid to build a Pacific RR [for the Northwest].
Internal improvements [for the West] at federal expense.
Free homesteads for the public domain [for farmers].

25. 1860 Election: 3 “Outs” & 1 ”Run!”

26. 1860 Election: A Nation Coming Apart?!

27. 1860
Election
Results

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

29. Secession!: SC Dec. 20, 1860

30. Fort Sumter: April 12, 1861