pre-civil war notes

• north begins to rely on industry and commerce
• south relies on agriculture
• south exports cotton and invests in slave
• not all southerners own slaves and southerners are jealous
• many southerners oppose slavery as an economic threat to jobs
• northern abolitionism were still actually racists
• slave owners defended the right of owning slaves, saying they gave them religion care and living
• sort of like white mans burden, positive good
• wilmot proviso - a bill to outlaw anti slavery in land obtained from the war with mexico
• passed in house but not senete
• movement created “free soil party”
• wanted to make sure that territories gained had no slavery
• based on economic reasoning, more white jobs not taken by slaves
• california wants to enter as a free state, no longer be a republic
• would upset the balance of power in congress between free and slave states
• henry clay offered the compromise of 1850
• provisions state:
• california will enter as a free state
• slave trade will be abolished in DC
• congress agrees to not pass any laws about banning slavery in territory gained in mexican war
• pass tougher fugitive slave laws
• open up utah and new mexico to slave trade through popular sovereignty
• daniel webster, supports compromise
• steven douglas is in charge of ensuring the passing of the compromise
• compromise was only a temporary solution to the free/slave state debate
• harriet beecher stowe
• wrote book called uncle tom’s cabin
• book was influential to abolitionist movement
• uncle toms cabin was a novel about a runaway slave that escaped to the north
• made people aware of slavery
• “moral crusade”
• gave perspective and a character to relate to
• fugitive slave act:
• act was a law that said slaves could be arrested without a warrant and brought back to their owner in the south once your have crossed border into north
• southerners felt that the act was justified because slaves were viewed as property
• brought issue of slavery to the north
• north now had to face the issue of slavery
• nebraska territory became next issue
• stephen douglas makes kansas and nebraska act which created kansas and nebraska
• each territory will decided whether free or slave by popular sovereignty
• people of both beliefs ran to these territories to vote on whether they are free or slave
• fights broke out, “bleeding kansas”
• john brown is in kansas and begins to become an abolitionist
• sumner of massachusetts was beaten down in congress and hit with a cane over 30 times by a slavery supporter
• whig party is destroyed on account of nebraska and kansas
• creates more of a divide
• republican party
• northern whigs join with anti nebraska democrats, free soilers, and abolitionist
• supported the end to slavery
• know-nothing/american party
• anti imagrint
• anti catholic
• nativism
• john c fremont is first presidential nominee for republican party, (1856)
• main goal was to abolish slavery
• james buchanan is democratic nominee for president (1856)
• main goal was to keep the union together
• muchanan won in 1856 but strong republicans showed the strength and power of the anti slavery side
• dred scott case
• an african american who had been a slave an was moved by his master to a state where slavery was illegal
• dred scott v. stanford
• scott sued for his freedom, claiming that since he was held as a slave where it was illegal, he should be free
• supreme court ruled that, since he was not technically an american citizen because he was a slave, and thus could not sue
• northerners were outraged
• south felt that had won
• roger b taney
• chief justice that ruled over dred scott
• appointed by jackson
• abraham lincon
• ran for illinois senate seat in 1858
• republican
• ran against stephen douglas
• lincoln douglas debates
• lincoln and stephen douglas held formal debates throughout illinois and set the standard for modern day debates
• very important, were seen by lots of people
• douglas wins but lincoln shows he has leadership potential
• harpers fary
• weapons arsenal in virginia
• john brown plans to capture this arsenal, give weapons to slaves who would stage revolt and gain their freedom
• failed because he did not gain enough slave support
• brown was arrested and charged with treason and murder, then sentenced to hang
• he was turned into a martyr by the north
• becomes a moses like figure, led slaves to freedom
• south was glad he was dead
• lincoln and suggestion
• election of 1860
• republican party chooses lincoln as their presidential candidate
• democrats could not agree on how slavery would be explained in their platform
• northern and southern democrats have 2 nominees
• northern run stephan douglas
• southern run john brekanrige
• party of constitutional union run john bell
• lincoln sweeps because democrats are divided
• southern states are now worried that lincoln will abolish slavery
• on dec 20, 1860, south carolina was the first to succeed
• in next 6 weeks, georgia, florida, mississippi, alabama, louisiana, and texas create the confederate states of america
• president of confederates were jefferson davis
• northerners felt the succession was unconstitutional and south did not have the right to leave
• john crittenden of kentucky tries to get both sides to make up
• fails
• lincoln was inaugurated in march of 1861