Chapter Fourteen
Sectional Conflict and
Shattered Union, 1850-1860
Learning Objectives
When you complete this chapter, you should be able to:
1. Identify the issues that shaped public opinion during the early 1850s, and analyze their impact on the nation's political parties;
2. Explain what motivated Stephen Douglas when he proposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and describe the effect of the latter on relations between North and South;
3. Analyze the election of 1860 in terms of the deep division of opinion within the United States over slavery, and chart the course of events that led afterward to secession;
4. Describe the choices available to the North and the South in March 1861.
Chapter Outline
I. NEW POLITICAL CHOICES
A. The Politics of Compromise
1. Califomia!s application for statehood revived tensions between North and South.
a. California wished to bar slavery.
b. What to do about slavery in the Utah and New Mexico territories divided the two.
2. The Compromise of 1850 sought to resolve all issues as follows:
a. California to be a fiee state
b. Popular sovereignty to determine whether Utah and New Mexico territories would have slavery
c. Fugitive slave law to placate Southerners
d. Slave trade in Washington, D.C., to end
3. The Whig party collapsed during the election of 1852.
a. Conscience Whigs (antislavery) and Cotton Whigs (proslavery) divided
b. Animosity between Catholics (immigrants) and Protestants (native-born Americans) also split the party.
B. A Changing Political Economy
1. Industrialization increased during the 1850s.
a. Steam power, advanced interchangeable parts, assembly lines, and mass production contributed to the expansion of factory industry.
2. The railroad moved to center place in the economy.
a. Railroad mileage more than tripled.
b. Agriculture, mining, and manufacturing expanded because of more rail transport.
c. Government at all levels helped finance railroad development.
3. The Weses economic and political power increased.
a. World grain prices rose during the 1850s.
b. New farming equipment made greater production possible.
4. The labor force expanded through immigration.
a. Irish immigration climbed.
b. German immigration also increased.
5. Regionally different economies contributed to sectional division.
a. Slavery seemed to loom behind every issue and debate.
C. Decline of the Whigs
1. The Whig party weakened because of the foregoing economic changes.
a. Efforts to mw immigrants angered American artisans and evangelical Protestants.
2. The American party (the Know-Nothings) attracted anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic support.
3. Differences over slavery further split the Whigs.
a. Publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin gave new impetus to antislavery sentiment.
b. Some northemers began to assist slaves to escape via the Underground Railroad.
4. Temperance reformers also left the Whig party.
D. Growing Tension Under Pierce
1. Choice of a transcontinental railroad route inflamed sectional opinion.
a. Southerners wanted a southern route, to encourage the development of more slave states.
b. Northern Free Soilers, evangelicals, and manufacturers wanted a northern route.
2. The Gadsden Purchase angered antislavery forces.
a. It facilitated development of a southern continental railroad route.
3. Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois maneuvered to obtain a northern route.
a. He sought a route based in Chicago.
b. Ms Kansas-Nebraska Act (to organize the territories through which a northern route would have to, pass) allowed for popular sovereignty on the slavery question.
II. TOWARD A HOUSE DIVIDED
A. A Shattered Compromise
1. The Kansas-Nebraska Act infuriated opinion in the North.
a. Northern coalitions to defeat it did not succeed, but instead coalesced to form the Republican party.
2. Northerners found further evidence of a Slave Power conspiracy in:
a. Filibustering by Southerners in the Caribbean and Central America
b. The Ostend Manifesto
B. Bleeding Kansas
1. Both sides began to send armed settlers to Kansas.
2. Kansas erupted in violence.
a. Proslavery forces entered Kansas from Nfissouri and voted illegally in elections to organize the territory.
b. They attacked the antislavery town of Lawrence when antislavery forces organized their own government.
c. John Brown then seized and murdered five proslavery men.
3. The Kansas issue led to violence in Congress.
a. Southerners praised the assault on Senator Sumner by Representative Brooks.
4. The Republican party did well in the presidential election of 1856.
a. Its relatively narrow defeat underscored the new party's appeal in the North.
b. The American party collapsed over the issue of slavery; many of its northern members joined the Republicans.
C. Bringing Slavery Home to the North
1. The Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision finther angered the North.
a. It decreed that Congress could not limit slavery in the territories.
2. In Kansas, the proslavery Lecompton constitution kept tensions high.
a. Congress did not approve it, because nonresidents had participated in the ratification vote.
b. It was defeated in a second ratification vote, this time because Free Soilers in Kansas voted.
3. In Illinois, Abraham Lincoln ran against Douglas for the Senate.
a. The two engaged in a series of debates about the expansion of slavery.
b. In the Freeport Doctrine, Douglas said @ despite the Dred Scott decision, a territory could exclude slavery by making it uncomfortable for slaveowners.
D. Radical Responses to Abolitionism and Slavery
1. Southerners defended slavery's expansion as vital to their economic and political wellbeing.
2. They defended slavery by:
Offering religious reasons and biblical examples
b. Arguing that it made whites freer and more cultivated in the South than in the North
c. Suggesting that slave labor was more humane than the wage labor of the North
3. John Brown attacked the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia.
a. His goal was a mass slave insurrection.
b. The attack frightened the South, leading many to consider secession.
4. The Impending Crisis of the South by Hinton Rowan Helper pushed more Southerners to consider secession.
a. Northerners distributed it widely; though written by a southern racist, it assailed slavery.
III. THE DIVIDED NATION
A. The Dominance of Regionalism
1. In 1860, the Democratic party split over the issue of slavery in the territories.
a. Northern Democrats nominated Douglas for president on a platform of popular sovereignty in the territories.
b. Southern Democrats nominated Breckenridge on a platform demanding federal protection for slavery in the territories.
2. The Constitution Union party nominaged Bell.
a. It hoped to force the election into the House of Representatives.
3. The Republicans nominated Lincoln.
a. The platform opposed the extension of slavery in the territories, supported higher tariffs, internal improvements, and land legislation for the West.
B. The Election of 1860
1. The Republicans emphasized the slavery issue, and also played on Democratic party corruption.
2. Douglas attempted to save the Union by uniting moderate Democrats and Constitutional Unionists, but failed.
3. Southerners panicked at the prospect of a Republican victory.
a. Rumors of slave uprisings swept the South.
4. The Republican victory was the first time a president was elected by a single region.
a. Lincoln won in all northern states (plus California and Oregon).
C. The First Wave of Secession
1. Sentiment for secession mushroomed in the Deep South after the Republican victory.
2. Crittenden's compromise proposal in the Senate went down to defeat.
a. Republicans refused to extend the Nfissouri Compromise line and agree to the extension of slavery south of it.
3. Secession began in the Deep South.
a. South Carolina led the way in December 1860.
b. Five more states seceded in January 1861.
c. 'Me six established the Confederacy, complete with a constitution.
d. Texas seceded and joined the Confederacy.
D. Responses to Disunion
1. Some in the South still favored compromise.
a. Their peace conference in February 1861 failed.
2. Jefferson Davis became president of the Confederacy.
3. Outgoing President Buchanan did nothing to calm the situation.
4. Lincoln included all the major figures in the- Republican party in his cabinet in order to forge unity.
IV. THE NATION DISSOLVED
A. Lincoln, Fort Sumter, and War
1. Lincoln re'ected secession and slavery's expansion in his inaugural speech, but promised not to interfere with slavery in the South.
a. Secessionists characterized his speech as a declaration of war.
2. In South Carolina, all federal troops in Charleston were moved to Fort Sumter.
a. Confederate troops fired on the fort when Lincoln sent supply ships; it ndered.
3. The North coalesced behind the Union cause after the attack on the fort.
a. Lincoln issued a call for 75,000 volunteers.
B. Choosing Sides in Virginia
1. Lincoln's call for volunteers provoked a second round of secession.
a. Virginia led the way.
b. Unionists in western Virginia opposed secession, withdrew from the state, and later applied for statehood.
c. Robert E. Lee resigned from the U.S. Army and returned to Virginia to lead its forces.
C. The second wave of secession spread beyond Virginia.
1. Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee followed Virginia.
a. In eastern Tennessee, Unionists were unable to copy what happened in western Virginia
D. Trouble in the Border States
1. The border states remained in the Union, though not without bloodshed (except in Delaware).
a. In Mmyland, Lincoln used the army to suppress secessionists.
b. In Kentucky, the legislature voted to stay neutral, but fighting broke out between secessionists and Unionists.
c. In Nfissouri, fighting and rioting o=ffed, but Unionisu managed to hold the
Identifications
Identify and explain the significance of each of the following in four or five sentences.
1. Zachary Taylor
2. fugitive slave law
3. Stephen Douglas
4. Compromise of 1850
5. Conscience Whigs
6. Isaac Singer
7. Cyrus McCormick
8. Know-Nothings
9. nativists
10. Uncle Tom's Cabin
I 1. Harriet Tubman
12. Gadsden Purchase
13. Kamm-Nebraska Act
14. Ostend Manifesto
15. New England Emigrant Aid Society
16. John Brown
17. border ruffians
18. Charles Sumner
19. Dred Scott decision
20. Lecompton Constitution
21. Freeport Doctrine
22. Constitutional Union Party
23. John J Crittenden
24. Jefferson Davis
25. Fort Sumter
Multiple-Choice Questions
Select the correct answer:
1. The Compromise of 1850 attempted to
a. convince northemers to suppress the abolitionist movement.
b. resolve the controversy over the extension of slavery to all territories recently acquired in the war against Mexico.
c. establish a transcontinental railroad route through the South.
d. permit a constitutional amendment allowing for resumption of the slave @e.
2. Among the most important outcomes of the election of 1852 was
a. the beginning of a brilliant career for Millard Fillmore.
b. the death of popular sovereignty as a political issue.
c. the end of the Whig party.
d. new life for the Liberty party.
3. To encourage the growth of railroads,
a. English investors were given subsidies to buy their stocks and bonds..
b. government at all levels provided assistance.
c. the United States threatened to go to war with Mexico again, in order to obtain land suitable for laying tracks.
d. President Pierce recommended that Congress create a cabinet-level department of transportation.
4. Harriet Beecher Stowe's influence was of critical importance in
a. the fight for equal rights for women.
b,. stimulating opposition to slavery.
c. formulation of the Ostend Manifesto.
d. shaping Stephen Douglas's political direction.
5. According to Stephen Douglas, the best way to handle the issue of slavery in the territories was
a. with a constitutional amendment.
b. to prohibit debate in Congress about it through a gag rule.
c. by returning all controversial territories to Mexico.
d. through popular sovereignty.
6. The Know-Nothing movement was symptomafic of tensions during the 1850s arising from
a. differences of opinion over the extension of slavery to the territories.
b. splits within the abolitionist movement between Garrisonians and moderates.
C. the rapid growth of Catholic immigration.
d. economic shifts caused by increased reliance on new technology.
7. The Kansas-Nebraska Act inflamed opinion in the North because it
a. made the development of a southern transcontinental route more likely than a northern one.
b. reversed the Compromise of 1850 by again permitting the slave trade in Washington, D.C.
c. decreed that the Missouri Compromise had been unconstitutional.
8. Bleeding Kansas refers to
a. heated congressional debates over the Kansas-Nebraska bill.
b. the issue of Kansas in the presidential election of 1856.
c. the way abolitionists refeffed to the future of slavery in Kansas.
d. actual violence between pro- and antislavery forces in Kansas in 1855-1856.
9. Charles Sumner and Preston Brooks
a. were among the first senators to seek a moderate solution to the Kansas crisis.
b. were symbolic of just how emotional the political issue of slavery had become by 1856.
c. were good examples of Conscience Whigs.
d. co-authored a famous indictment of slavery on economic grounds.
10. The structure of American politics changed during the 1850s with
a. the appearance of third parties for the first time in American history.
b. the disappearance of the Democratic party 'm the North.
c. the collapse of the Whig party and the creation of the Republican party.
d. a reduction in the time required for Catholic immigrants to become citizms.
11. The Republican party in the 1850s arose in response to
a. the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
b. John Brown's attack at Harpers Ferry.
c. increased immigration from Ireland.
d. the Compromise of 1850.
12. The most likely reason why southemers approved of the Dred Scott decision was
a. its directive to northern states to permit Southerners to bring their slaves into the North.
b. the implication dw something like the Nfissouri Compromise could never again be enacted by Congress.
c. its decree dW the fugitive slave law was constitutional.
d. its order permitting slaveowners to settle in Kansas.
13. The primary motivation behind the Gadsden Purchase of 1853 was to
a. facilitate the building of a ntinental railroad.
b. c@ a slaveholding state in the West.
c. find a haven for Mormons moving west.
d. develop a place for free blacks to escape from discrimination in the South.
14. The effect of Lincoln's election to the presidency in 1860 was to
a. lead Lincoln to immediately issue the Emancipation Proclamation.
b. provoke a first wave of secession from the Union.
c. encourage slaves all over the South to rise up against their masters.
d. cause a devastating wave of attacks on northemers who happened to be in the South at the time.
15. In his inaugural address in 1861, Lincoln made it clear that he
a. regarded the Union as sacred and inviolable.
b. would end slavery in the South soon.
c. was willing to go to war to achieve abolitionist goals.
Essay Questions
1. What did the founders of the Republican party mean when they said that they opposed "Rum,
Romanism, and Slavery"? To whom did they appeal?
DEVELOPING YOUR ANSWER. 'Me Republican party
alarmed by the great influx of Irish and German immigrants in the late-1840s and 1850s into the United States. "Rum" and "Romanism" referred to these newcomers, who were Catholic and who supposedly used alcohol more than native-born Americans. Animosity to "Rum" also came from evangelical Protestants and from temperance reforrners.
You should note in your essay that, during the early 1850s, those who detested the country's new immigrants found a fonun for their views in the American (or Know-Nothing) party. By taking a stand against "Rum" and "Romanism," the Republicans were able to appeal to these Know-Nothings..
The Republican party arose in the first place, of course, because of the third element in. the slogan, "Slavery." However, you should take care to explain that, to the majority of northemers who joined the Republican party, opposition to "Slavery" meant to the EXTENSION of slavery to the territories. Only a minority, the abolitionists, wished to interfere with slavery in the South. Both groups shunned the Democratic party because Stephen Douglas, a Democrat, had sponsored the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Include in your essay an explanation of why the Kansas-Nebraska Act so upset those who objected to the extension of slavery to the territories, and thereby explain how dw law gave rise to the Republican party.
2. As the North and South pulled apart during the course of the 1850s, many northemers insisted that the South was engaged in a great Slave Power conspiracy. What did those who believed in a southern conspiracy mean, and what could they have possibly cited in evidence?
DEVELOPING YOUR ANSWER: To such northemers, the Slave Power conspiracy was a plot masterminded by elite Southerners dedicated to achieving political power in all sections of the country and to imposing southern ways everywhere.
To many northemers, the inflammatory Kansas-Nebraska Act provided evidence of the South's readiness to subvert existing laws. The act undid the Nssouri Compromise: it , permitted slavery north of the 36'30' line in lands that were part of the Louisiana Purchase.
They could also point to examples of the South's readiness to use illegality and violence. Kansas provided the most evidence. Pro southem 'border ruffians" entered the state from Missouri to vote illegally in elections. Worse, proslavery forces attacked the antislavery town of Lawrence, inaugurating the hostilities known as Bleeding Kansas. Outside the United States, Southerners organized private expeditions to foreign lands in order to spread slavery. In Congress, a southern representative physically attacked an abolitionist senator. The attack on Fort Sumter confirmed the South's readiness to resort to violence.
Efforts to exert power over the federal govenunent supposedly reached into the White House. Northerners who believed in the Slave Power conspimcy's reach were convinced that Presidents Pierce and Buchanan had fallen under the South's sway. Pierce's activism in the Gadsden Purchase and his approval of the Ostend Manifesto, and Buchanan's position on Bleeding Kansas as well as his inactivity after secessionist states established the Confederacy, provided all the proof they required. Furthermore, the Slave Power conspirators, according to the Republicans, employed corruption to influence the executive branch of the federal government.
The Dred Scott decision suggested that even the Supreme Court had fallen under southern domination. By declaring the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional, the decision led many northemers to suspect that ANY restrictions on slavery, including the prohibition of slavery in northern states, would eventually be set aside by southern influence.
3. Most Americans probably believe that the North went to war against the South in 1861 in order to end slavery. In your opinion, is this an accurate explanation of why the war began?
DEVELOPING YOUR ANSWER. Opinion #1: In view of the fact that Abraham Lincoln himself explained that he had no desire to interfere with the existence of slavery in the South, this is not an accurate explanation. You should explain that, as far as slavery was concerned the majority of northemers wanted only to prevent its extension to the territories. Only the abolitionists, a relatively small group, wanted to end slavery everywhere. Indeed, the Republican party platform of 1860 opposed extension, but not slavery where it already existed.
In almost every case, the critical events of the 1850s that led up to the Civil War focused on the issue of slavery in the territories. To illustrate this, discuss the elements of the Compromise of 1850, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the Dred Scott decision, as well as Bleeding Kansas (which can be described as a dress rehearsal for the Civil War). You should also include the Freeport Doctrine in your discussion and how it shaped the election of 1860.
Certainly, slavery was a key factor in bringing about the war. The fact that slavery had plagued the country from its birth cannot be avoided.
If not to end slavery, why then did the North go to war? In his first inaugural address, Abraham Lincoln explained why: to prevent secession and to save the Union.