1. The Divisive Politics of Slavery
Chapter 4
Section 1

2. Instructional Objectives
Students will be able to identify differences between the North and the South.
Students will be able to describe the operation of the Underground Railroad and other forms of protest against slavery.
Students will be able to explain the political conditions that gave rise to the Republican Party and divided the Whigs.
Students will be able to describe the conflicts that led to Secession.

3. Differences Between the North and the South

4. Since American foundations, the Northern states and Southern states had developed differently.
What made them different?
Geography and climate
Religious and cultural traditions
The North:
Thousands of Immigrants have entered the North.
Diversified industrial base
Fast “Modern” pace with growth of Railroads and moving west.

5. What about the South:
Far less immigrant interactions
Agriculture base
Largely dependent on a “peculiar institution” (slavery).
What made divisions between these regions worse?
Admittance of new states to the Union…are they “slave states” or “free states”?

6. Slavery in the Territories

7. What does this lead Congressmen to decide?
How did the slavery argument intensify stress and distrust between the North and the South?
California and other Western Territories led heated debates in Congress over the issue of slavery.
Why California?
California had grown rapidly since the gold rush began
Applied for statehood in 1850
California’s constitution forbid slavery…it wants to be a “free state”
The South was upset by this request…balance of “slave” v. “free” would be broken
Main argument was the Missouri Compromise of 1820 – according to this Compromise, California would be open to slavery.
What does this lead Congressmen to decide?
Another very fragile compromise…the Compromise of 1850

8. Compromise of 1850
1849: California statehood was the main issue for the 31st Congress.
Is there another HUGE issue?
YES! Texas (a slave state) claimed part of the New Mexico Territory.
How does the South respond?
Threats of Secession!
Is compromise possible?
Henry Clay, with the support of Daniel Webster, worked to shape a compromise.
Clay’s compromise was designed to appease Northerners and Southerners…What were these provisions? (pg )

9. Protest, Resistance, and Violence

10. What threatened the Compromise of 1850?
Enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Laws
How did people work to circumvent this law?
The Underground Railroad – helping slaves escape!
“Conductors” would lead fugitives on secret routes and escort them from “station” to “station” (safe haven to safe haven).
Harriet Tubman was one of the MOST famous conductors.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Slavery is a moral struggle – not just a political issue
This book increased abolitionist protests against slavery.
Southerners felt the book was an attack on the South – Stowe did not visit the south until AFTER the Civil War!

11. Violence also erupted in the Senate (attack on Sen. Sumner)
What about Kansas?
Kansas Territory was north of the Missouri Compromise line!
1854: Kansas and Nebraska proposal made (this would divide Kansas Territory into 2 parts)
Passage of this bill would repeal the Missouri Compromise…
Both territories would be granted popular sovereignty!
Arguing ensued…months later – Kansas-Nebraska Act PASSED!
By 1855, Kansas was embroiled in a VIOLENT struggle to determine its “slave” or “free” status.
Violence also erupted in the Senate (attack on Sen. Sumner)

12. New Political parties emerge
Downfall of the Whigs:
Whigs were split on the issue of slavery and lost support in both the North and South.
1852 Whig vote fell dramatically which helped Democratic candidate Franklin Pierce win.
When the Kansas-Nebraska Act passed in 1854, the Whigs were officially done.
American Party, Know-Nothings, and Free-Soilers
American Party became the Know-Nothings…favored nativism, which meant they supported native-born people over immigrants.
Party was split over issue of slavery in territories…Northern faction started to edge toward the Republican party.

13. 3. Others began to move towards the Free-Soilers
3. Others began to move towards the Free-Soilers. This party opposed the expansion of slavery in the new territories.
4. Objected to slavery because it was in direct competition with the wage-based labor force.
Republican Party
Were united in opposing the Kansas-Nebraska Act and keeping slavery out of the territories.
As the party grew, it took in Free-Soilers, antislavery Whigs, and Democrats.
1856 John C. Fremont was candidate.

14. Conflicts lead to secession
Dred Scott Decision:
Dred Scott, a slave, was taken from a slave state to a free state and then back.
Appealed to the Supreme Court for his freedom based on the fact that he was living in a free state, which would make him a free man.
1857 Supreme Court ruled against Scott saying he lacked any legal standing because he was a slave, not a citizen.
Naturally this began splitting the North and South further apart.

15. Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln were in a race for a Senate seat in 1858
Had several debates over the issue of slavery and how it would be handled…neither man wanted it to spread into the territories.
Douglas believed in popular-sovereignty
Lincoln believed that slavery was vastly immoral, but the only way to abolish it was for Congress to create an amendment.
Douglas won the Senate seat, but Lincoln was beginning to make a name for himself.

16. Lincoln Elected President in 1860
Harpers Ferry
John Brown leads a raid into Harpers Ferry, VA
21 men, black and white, try to seize a federal arsenal in hopes to start a general slave uprising.
Federal troops put it down before anything can happen
John Brown tried and hanged
Further division of the North and South
Lincoln Elected President in 1860
South did not trust his word on the slavery issue
Final straw that led to secession
South officially secedes Dec. 20, 1861 with South Carolina leading the way