Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Drifting Toward Disunion

1854-1861

Stowe and helper: Literary Incendiaries

Harriet Beecher stowe- uncle tom’s cabin- showed cruelty of slavery, made slavery appear as an evil
Governments in london and paris considered helping the south but fear of no support cut this idea short

The impending crisis of the south- written by hinton R. helper- tried to show that poor whites suffered the most from slavery

banned in the south , but was distributed in the north as literature by the republicans

the north-south contest for kansas

new England immigrant aid company- sent 2000 people to forestall the south and make profit
in 1860 only 2 slaves were found in Kansas and 15 in Nebraska

Kansas in convulsion

in 1857 Kansas had enough people to apply for statehood on a popular sovereignty basis
le Compton constitution- people should vote for a slavery constitution or non-slave constitution
if the people voted for a slavery constitution then the left over provisions would protect slave owners already in Kansas
constitution was approved with slavery in 1857

"bully" brooks and his bludgeon

senator charles summer insulte the pro-slavery men , south carolinaand andrew butler
on may 1856 brooks (congressman of south carolina) beat up summer while sitting in his chair
brooks resigned but was reelected
copies of brook’s cruel speech were sold by the thousands
emotions startde to get high

"old Buck" versus "the pathfinder"

democrats did not nimimate douglas or pierce because they tainted by the kansas-nebraska act
democrats niminated james buchanan-enemyless and kansasless
not good in a crisis
republicans nominated john c. fremont- for no slavery in the territories while democrats called for popular sovereign
know-nothing party nominated fillmore in election of 1856- americans must rule america cried the know-nothing party
buchana was not married and his mom had left her husband before he was borned-assailed
fremont was a roman catholic - checked of

the electoral fruits of 1856

buchanan won

A Rail Splits the Union

The Dred Scott Bombshell

The decision taken by the supreme court interrupted Buchanan’s honeymoon in march 6, 1856
Dred Scott was a black slave
He sued his master for his freedom because he had lived for a long time in freesoil
Supreme Court said that he was not a citizen therefore he could not sued through the court system
Taney used the 5th amendment to support his decision insisting that Scott was property and that his master could no be deprived of it
The Missouri compromise was repealed and congress stated that the compromise was unconstitutional from the very beginning
South was happy because they felt supported

The Financial crash of 1857

The panic of 1857 was the greatest panic in the 19th century
Californian Gold played a part in the inflation of the currency
Thousands of businesses failed within a year
Unemployment and hunger were present
North suffered more that the south
South depended in cotton, the cotton industry was not as severely affected
The crisis increased the demand for free agricultural land
160 acres of public land were given
The South was not very content with the decision because t hat would ship the balance of the south toward the north
In 1860 the homestead act was vetoed by Buchanan
In 1857 Several month before the crisis erupted pressure from the South resulted in the reduction of the tariff to 20%

An Illinois Rail-Spliter emerges

Abraham Lincoln was chosen by the republicans to attack Douglas
Abe was born in a poor family in Kentucky (1809)
Abraham’s private and professional life were boring
His wife was called "She Wolf" by her enemies
He was called "Hones Abe" because he refused to take trial in which his conscious could no be in peace
He did not do much to be recognized before 1854
When John Fremont was nominated Lincoln received 110 votes to be Vice President

The Great Debate: Lincoln versus Douglas

Lincoln in 1858 challenged Douglas to a speech
Abraham was not very physically attractive
His most famous speech happened in Freeport Illinois there he was clear to the point in how much he disagree with the Dred Scott decision
On the other hand Douglas insisted that slavery would always be present even if the people turn it down

John Brown: Murderer or Martyr?

Once again Brown emerged
They created a free slavery movement
They planned to invade the south and supplying the slaves with weapons
In October 1859 at Harpers Ferry Brown seized the federal arsenal in doing so 7 innocent people were killed
US marines later capture brown and the rest of his band
Robert E. Lee was in charge of the operation
Ironically he later became the preeminent general of the Confederate army
When Brown died his last words were "This is a beautiful country"
Brown became almost a hero for some of the abolitionist

The Disruption of the Democrats

The election of 1860 was one of the most important ones in the American history
In it were factor of peace or civil war
Democrats meet in Charleston they considered Douglas as their representative South also assembled a meeting of their own were they said that Douglas was a traitor and decided to chose Bell from

The Electoral Upheaval of 1860

The Secessionist Exodus

Four days after the election of Lincoln South Carolina seceded and later on six more states followed South Carolina
Later on four more joined
Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, and four more. A total of eleven
Alabama created its own government known as the confederate states of America

The Collapse of compromise

Farewell to Union