APUSH Unit 6 study guide

Bleeding Kansas - PottawatomieMassacre, Sack of Lawrence, LeCompton Constitution, New England Immigrant Aid Society, Beecher's Bibles, Border ruffians

(Bleeding Kansas): - period of violence settling of Kansas territory. -1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act abolish Missouri Compromise's latitude's boundary between slave & free territory & using popular sovereignty to allow residents to determine area free or slave state. - Proslavery & freestate settlers came to Kansas to influence the decision. -Violence erupted as both factions fought for control. - Abolitionist John Brown led antislavery fighters in Kansas before his raid Harpers Ferry. (Pottawatomie Massacre:) -John Brown, crazy, led followers to Pottawatomie Creek May of 1856, -hacked to death 5 pro-slaveryites. -his brutal violence surprised most ardent abolitionists -"Bleeding Kansas" earned its name. - Event brought free-soil cause/ vicious retaliation from proslavery forces. -Civil war in Kansas erupted 1856 continued until merge w/ nation wide Civil War of 1861 (Sack of Lawrence:) -center of Kansas anti-slavery movement, May 21, 1856, pro-slavery activists attacked, ransacked town of Lawrence -Kansas: founded by anti-slavery settlers to ensure Kansas be "free state". - Named for Amos Lawrence, New England financier, provided aid to anti-slavery farmers, settlers. - a direct act of violent aggression by slave-owning southern "Fire eaters" (Lecompton Constitution:) -2nd constitution for Kansas Territory, written by proslavery supporters. -document permitted slavery, excluded free blacks from living in Kansas, only male citizens of U.S. to vote. -By 1857, Kansas had enough people to apply for statehood, those for slavery devised Lecompton Constitution, people only allowed to vote for constitution "with slavery" or "without slavery." if constitution passed "without slavery," slaveholders already in state would be protected. Slaves would be in Kansas, despite vote. - Angry free-soilers boycotted polls. Kansas approved the constitution w/ slavery. -Washington, James Buchanan succeeded Franklin Pierce, like former president, Buchanan was towards South, firmly supported the Lecompton Constitution. (New England Immigrant Aid Society:) - formed in response to Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. -Bill declared eligible voters in Kansas Territory would determine future state would allow or prohibit slavery as requisite for admission to the Union, creating what became known as popular sovereignty. -Antislavery Northerners denounced the act, because it essentially repealed Compromise of 1820, which barred slavery in lands attained from Louisiana Purchase above 36°30' parallel, including area that would become Kansas. (Beecher's Bibles:) -New England Abolitionists shipped boxes of Sharps rifles, named "Beecher's Bibles" to anti-slavery forces. - name of rifles came from comment by Henry Ward Beecher, anti-slavery preacher remarked rifles might be more powerful moral agent on Kansas plains than a Bible. (Border ruffians): - pro-slavery activists from slave state Missouri, who in 1854 to 1860 crossed state border into Kansas Territory, to force the acceptance of slavery there. The name was applied by Free-State settlers in Kansas and abolitionists throughout the North.

Abolitionists - Wendell Phillips, Frederick Douglass, Elijah P. Lovejoy, William Lloyd Garrison

(Wendell Phillips:) -Harvard graduate, sacrificed social status, political career to join antislavery movement. became close associate of abolitionist leader William Lloyd Garrison, began lecturing for antislavery societies, writing pamphlets, editorials for Garrison's The Liberator, contributing financially to abolition movement. -Phillips's reputation as orator established at Faneuil Hall, Boston (December 8, 1837), at meeting called to protest murder of abolitionist Elijah Lovejoy at Alton, Illinois. -was recognized 1 of the most brilliant orators of his day. Reform crusader, Phillips allied himself w/ Garrison in refusing to link abolition w/political action. Together they condemned federal Constitution for its compromises over slavery, advocated national disunion than continued association w/ slave states. During Civil War (1861-65) he assailed President Lincoln's reluctance to uproot slavery at once, after Emancipation Proclamation (January 1863) he threw support to full civil liberties for freedmen. 1865 he became president of American Anti-Slavery Society after Garrison resigned. (Frederick Douglass:) -prominent American abolitionist, author, orator. Born a slave, Douglass escaped age 20 went to become world slavery activist. His 3 autobiographies considered important works of slave narrative tradition as well as classics of American autobiography. -Douglass' work as reformer ranged from abolitionist activities in 1840s. Thousands of speeches, editorials, he levied powerful indictment against slavery, racism, provided a voice of hope for his people, embraced antislavery politics, preached his own brand of American ideals. -Douglass most important black American leader 19th cent. he was the son of a slave woman, her white master. Douglass immortalized his years as a slave in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845). Mark his greatest contributions to American culture. Written as antislavery propaganda, personal revelation, they are regarded finest examples of slave narrative tradition, classics American autobiography . -In 1850s he broke w/ strictly moralist brand of abolitionism led by William Lloyd Garrison; he supported early women's rights movement; he gave direct assistance to John Brown's conspiracy led to the raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859. - few better starting points than his timeless definition of racism as a "diseased imagination." Douglass welcomed Civil War in 1861 as moral crusade against slavery. -He viewed Union victory as apocalyptic rebirth of America as nation rooted in a rewritten Constitution and ideal of racial equality. - Douglass became a symbol of his age, unique voice for humanism, social justice. His life will always speak profoundly to meaning of being black in America, as well as the human calling to resist oppression. Douglass died in 1895 -(Elijah P. Lovejoy:) born 1802, U.S. American newspaper editor, martyred abolitionist died in defense of his right to print antislavery material in period leading up to Civil War. -Missouri a slave state, 1835 a letter signed by a number of important men in St. Louis requested him to moderate tone of his editorials. He replied in an editorial reiterating his views, his right to publish them. -Threats of mob violence, forced him to move his press across Mississippi River to Alton, in free state of Illinois. Despite its new location, his press destroyed by mobs several times in one year. -November 1837, mob attacked the building, Lovejoy killed in defense. News of his death stirred people of North profoundly led to great strengthening of abolitionist sentiment -(William Lloyd Garrison:) - voice of Abolitionism. supporter of colonization, Garrison changed position became leader of emerging anti-slavery movement. His publication, THE LIBERATOR, reached thousands of individuals worldwide. His position on moral outrage on slavery made him loved, hated by many Americans. - 1831, Garrison published 1st edition of The Liberator. Garrison wasn't interested in compromise. He founded NEW ENGLAND ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY that year. 1833, he met w/ delegates from around nation to form American Anti-Slavery Society. - aid of his supporters, he traveled overseas to garner support from Europeans. The Liberator wouldn't been successful if not for free blacks who subscribed. -It took a lifetime of work. But in the end, the morality of his position held sway.

"lame-duck" James Buchanan

-James Buchanan U.S. 15th president, in his term, 7 Southern states seceded from Union and nation on brink of civil war. -Buchanan, Democrat morally opposed to slavery but believed it protected by the U.S. Constitution, elected to White House in 1856. president, he tried to maintain peace between pro-slavery, anti-slavery factions in the government, tensions only escalated. -1860, after Abraham Lincoln elected to succeed Buchanan, South Carolina seceded and the Confederacy was soon established - April 1861, a month after Buchanan left office, U.S. Civil War (1861-1865) began. In 1854, President Pierce signed Kansas-Nebraska Act, created 2 new territories, allowed settlers to determine whether they would enter Union as free states or slave states. Pierce's support for the Kansas-Nebraska Act hurt him politically, and in 1856, Democrats opted not re-nominate him. Instead, chose James Buchanan. -In general election, Buchanan maintained slavery was issue to be decided by individual states and territories, his Republican challenger, John Fremont an senator from California, asserted federal government should ban slavery in all U.S. territories. -Buchanan received 174 electoral votes, Fremont 1st Republican presidential candidate had 114 votes. The popular vote was closer, w/ Buchanan capturing 45% of total ballots cast. -in office, James Buchanan appointed cabinet composed of Northerners, Southerners hoped to keep peace between the country's pro-slavery, anti-slavery factions. Instead, the national debate over slavery intensified, -2 days after he was sworn in, U.S. Supreme Court handed down its Dred Scott decision, which said federal government: no power to regulate slavery in territories, denied African Americans rights of U.S. citizens. -Buchanan hoped ruling would resolve America's slavery issue, he reportedly pressured a Northern justice to vote w/ Southern majority in case. Far from settling the issue, the Dred Scott decision, which Southerners applauded and Northerners protested, led to increased divisiveness. -Buchanan further rankled Northerners by supporting Lecompton Constitution, allowed Kansas to become a slave state. In 1858, relations between Congress and president were further strained when Republicans won a plurality in Congress and blocked much of Buchanan's agenda. He, in turn, vetoed Republican legislation. -Buchanan asserted states didn't have right to secede; he also believed he had no constitutional power to stop them. In the end, he left slavery crisis to be resolved by Lincoln administration.

Ostend Manifesto

-Southern slave owners had special interest in Spanish-held Cuba. Slavery existed on island, recent rebellion in Haiti spurred some Spanish officials to consider emancipation. -Southerners didn't want freed slaves close to their shores, others thought Manifest Destiny should be extended to Cuba. -1854 3 American diplomats, Pierre Soulé (minister to Spain), James Buchanan (minister to Britain), and John Y. Mason (minister to France) met in Ostend, Belgium. Acting under instructions from Secretary of State William Marcy, the 3 were to investigate the possibility of acquiring Cuba from Spain. -They went further. Representing views of many Southern Democrats, diplomats issued warning to Spain that it must sell Cuba to U.S. or risk it taken by force. price of $120 million proposed. In justifying the price,

Popular sovereignty

Popular sovereignty: doctrine, people who lived in a region should determine for themselves nature of their government. -It was applied to idea settlers of federal territorial lands should decide terms under which they would join the Union, applied to status as free or slave. -The first proponent of concept was Senator Lewis Cass of Michigan put the idea forward while opposing Wilmot Proviso in 1846. -concept, widely popularized by Stephen A. Douglas in 1854. Douglas coined term, thought settlers should vote on their status early in territorial development. -Other supporters adopted a different stance, arguing the status should be determined by vote taken when territory was fully prepared for statehood. -Popular sovereignty was invoked in Compromise of 1850, later in Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854). -Tragic events in "Bleeding Kansas" exposed doctrine's shortcomings, as pro- and anti-slavery forces battled each other to effect outcome they wished. -Popular sovereignty, 1st termed "squatter sovereignty" by John C. Calhoun and designation adopted by its critics, included proslavery Southerners and many New Englanders

Results/Effects of the U.S. victory in the Mexican War

The Mexican-American War (1846-1848) marked the first U.S. armed conflict chiefly fought on foreign soil. It pitted a politically divided and militarily unprepared Mexico against the expansionist-minded administration of U.S. President James K. Polk, who believed the United States had a "manifest destiny" to spread across the continent to the Pacific Ocean. A border skirmish along the Rio Grande started off the fighting and was followed by a series of U.S. victories. When the dust cleared, Mexico had lost about one-third of its territory, including nearly all of present-day California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico.

Crittenden Compromise

- 1860, eve of the Civil War, Kentucky Senator John J. Crittenden (Whig/ disciple of Henry Clay) introduced legislation for resolving secession crisis in South. "Crittenden Compromise" included 6 proposed amendments and 4 resolutions, Crittenden hoped appease Southern states and help nation avoid civil war. - compromise guaranteed permanent existence of slavery in slave states by reestablishing free-slave line drawn by 1820 Missouri Compromise. line of 36' 30' been repealed in Kansas-Nebraska Act. -Crittenden's plan drew support: Southern leaders, rejection: Northern Republicans ( President Lincoln, led to it's failure. was unsuccessful effort,) -amendments forbade abolition of slavery on federal land in slaveholding states, compensated owners of runaway slaves -1st amendment guaranteed future constitutional amendments couldn't change other 5 amendments or 3/5th & fugitive slave clauses of Constitution. -Compromise called repeal of northern personal liberty laws. Aware of congressional divisions, Crittenden urged his plan be submitted to nationwide vote. Despite popular support for compromise, Congress failed to enact it. -secretary of state William Seward, viewed by southerners as radical on slavery, backed the plan, most Republicans agreed w/ President Lincoln, who opposed it. -Lincoln rejected Compromise & elected on platform opposed extension of slavery, felt matter of principle, couldn't afford to yield, even if gains for slavery in territories are temporary.

Free-Soilers (views and platforms

- Free Soil Party: short-lived political party in U.S. active 1848-1852 presidential elections. Founded in Buffalo, New York, 3rd party and single-issue party that largely appealed to, drew its greatest strength from New York State. -The Free-Soil Party developed in part from political rivalry in New York State. The Democratic Party consisted of contending factions: the Barnburners, who were strongly opposed to slavery, Hunkers, who were neutral or supportive of slavery. - Election of 1844, both national parties were impacted by the nagging slavery issue. Southern Democratic forces managed engineer nomination of proslavery James K. Polk, denying the nod to former president Martin Van Buren, who was moderately antislavery. -The Whigs nominated Henry Clay, changed his stand on supporting annexation of Texas during the campaign. James G. Birney headed 3rd-party ticket for Liberty Party, took enough votes from Clay-especially in New York State-to enable a Polk victory. -Election of 1848, Van Buren passed over again by Democrats, so he, antislavery forces from Democratic, Whig, Liberty parties formed Free-Soil Party. -The resulting Free Soil Party was built on a coalition of four elements: the previous Liberty Party, Free-Soil Democrats, Barnburners, and Conscience Whigs. The convention adopted a platform that called for: Opposition to the extension of slavery into the territories Support for national internal improvement programs Support for moderate tariffs designed for revenue only Support for the enactment of a homestead law.

Types of slave rebellions and their effects/consequences

- bloody rebellion erupted. Turner, 7 other slaves on plantation killed Joseph Travis and his family while they slept. They set off on campaign of brutal murders along countryside, picking up slave recruits as they progressed from plantation to plantation. -Turner, his fellow escapees moved through Southampton County toward Jerusalem, the county seat, where they were intent on seizing the armory. Some slaves on horseback, they could run down anyone trying to escape the murderous rampage. The rebels killed all the white people they found, including women, children and the elderly. - When killing came to end, 55 white people lay dead. After 48 hours of killing, band confronted by armed citizens and state militia outside Jerusalem, most members were captured or killed. Nat Turner managed to escape, hid out for six weeks before he was captured. Turner, 16 of his followers hanged 1831. -The aftermath: followed, a reign of terror against all blacks in Virginia. State, federal troops beat, tortured, murdered some 200 blacks, many had nothing to do w/ rebellion. -Virginians debated over abolishing slavery after uprising, instead enacted new slave codes to prevent future uprisings, including strict control of slaves' movements. -In addition, educating slaves outlawed. The long-term impact in south of Nat Turner's rebellion adverse to civil rights before the Civil War. -While in jail, Nat Turner dictated a confession to his attorney, Thomas R. Gray. It was later published. Nat Turner is regarded as hero by large numbers of black people worldwide. No slave uprising, before or after the incident, had inflicted such a blow on the ranks of slaveholders and their families in the United States.

Uncle Tom's Cabin (effects of)

-1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe published Uncle Tom's Cabin, popular book, awakened passions of North toward evils of slavery. -one line about splitting up of a slave family, cruel mistreatment of likeable Uncle Tom by cruel slave master. sold millions of copies, overseas, British people were charmed by it. -South cried foul, saying Stowe's portrayal of slavery was wrong and unfair. book helped Britain stay out of Civil War because its people, who read the book now denounced slavery because they sympathized w/ Uncle Tom, wouldn't allow intervention on behalf of the South. -Published in the North, Uncle Tom's Cabin banned in South, but widely read in the North. They drove the North—South wedge deeper.

Lincoln-Douglas debates (date, result, and effects)

-1858, Senator Stephen Douglas' term about to expire, against him Republican Abraham Lincoln. Abe had risen up the political ladder slowly but good lawyer, had a down-home common sense about him, pretty decent debater. -Lincoln challenged Douglas, nation's most devastating debater, to series of 7 debates, Senator accepted, despite expectations of failure, Lincoln held his own. -Most famous debate at Freeport, Illinois, Lincoln essentially asked, "Mr. Douglas, if the people of a territory voted slavery down, despite the Supreme Court saying that they could not do so, which side would you support, the people or the Supreme Court?" -"Mr. Popular Sovereignty," Douglas replied w/ his "Freeport Doctrine," said that no matter how the Supreme Court ruled, slavery would stay down if people voted it down; since power was held by the people. -Douglas won Illinois race for senate, more people voted for Abe, he won moral victory. Douglas "won the battle but lost the war" because his answer in Freeport Doctrine caused South to dislike him even more. -The South loved Douglas prior to this due to his popular sovereignty position,then came Kansas pro-slavery vote which he'd shot down. -Freeport Doctrine came down where he turned his back on the Supreme Court's pro-South decision, Freeport statement ruined the 1860 election of presidency for him, which was what he really wanted all along.

"John C. Calhoun's plan

-Calhoun rejected ralph Waldo Emerson was outraged by Webster's support of concessions to South in the Fugitive Slave Act. -His impassioned plea was to leave slavery alone, return runaway slaves, give the South its rights as a minority, and restore the political balance. He had in view, as was later revealed, an utterly unworkable scheme of electing two presidents, one from the North and one from the South, each wielding a veto. - Calhoun's plan :Overall his plan's to protect slavery were the election of two presidents, one from the North and one from the South, and Wilmot proviso

Effects of the Election on 1860 on South Carolina

-Democrats met Charleston, South Carolina, April 1860 to select candidates for President in upcoming election. Northern democrats felt Stephen Douglas, best chance to defeat "BLACK REPUBLICANS." -Although supporter of slavery, southern Democrats considered Douglas traitor because his support of popular sovereignty, permitting territories to choose not to have slavery. Southern democrats stormed out of the convention, w/o choosing a candidate. -Northern Democrats chose Douglas, separate convention the Southern Democrats nominated then VICE-PRESIDENT JOHN C. BRECKENRIDGE. - Republicans met in Chicago, May, recognized Democrat's turmoil gave them a chance to take election. They needed to pick a candidate who could carry North, win a majority of Electoral College. -Republicans needed someone who can carry New Jersey, Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania 4 important states remained uncertain. -In end Abraham Lincoln emerged best choice, Lincoln symbol of frontier, hard work, self-made man, American dream. His debates w/ Douglas made him national figure and publication of debates in 1860 made him even better known. After 3rd ballot, he had nomination for President. -Aging politicians, distinguished citizens called themselves CONSTITUTIONAL UNION PARTY, nominated JOHN BELL, wealthy slaveholder as candidate for President. They decided best way out of present difficulties that faced the nation was take no stand at all on issues that divided north and south.

Kansas-Nebraska Act - date, terms, and its effects v

-Kansas-Nebrask Act: 1854 bill mandated "popular sovereignty"-allowing settlers of territory to decide whether slavery be allowed within a new state's borders. -Proposed by Stephen A. Douglas-Abraham Lincoln's opponent in influential Lincoln-Douglas debates-the bill overturned the Missouri Compromise's use of latitude as the boundary between slave and free territory. -Conflicts arose between pro-slavery, anti-slavery settlers in aftermath of act's passage led to period of violence known as Bleeding Kansas,helped paved way for the American Civil War (1861-65). This 1854 bill to organize western territories became part of political whirlwind of sectionalism and railroad building, splitting two major political parties and helping to create another, as well as worsening North-South relations.

Population of white southerners (different groups in the South)

-Large planters: Less than 1% of total number of white families, wealthiest class in all of America, large planters exercised social, political power far beyond their percentage of the population. Most owned 50 slaves or more. -Planters :Perhaps 3% of white families, owned 20-49 slaves. Provided many political leaders and controlled much of the wealth of the South -Small slaveholders: 20% of white families Owning fewer than 20 slaves, the small slaveholders were primarily farmers, though some were merchants in Southern towns. Nonslaveholding whites About 75% of white families, Yeoman farmers. owned their small pieces of land and produced enough food for the family. 20% did not own either slaves or land and squatted on poor lands where they often grazed livestock or raised corn. Some were day laborers in towns.

Webster's Seven of March speech

-Northerner Daniel Webster proclaimed new land couldn't hold slaves anyway, since it couldn't cultivate cotton, his 7th of March speech helped move North into compromise. -As a result of speech, though, Webster was also proclaimed a traitor to North, since he called for ignoring slavery subject. As for slavery in territories, asked Webster, why legislate on subject? To do so was act of sacrilege, for Almighty God had already passed the Wilmot Proviso. -The good Lord had decreed-through climate, topography, and geography-that a plantation economy, and hence a slave economy, could not profitably exist in the Mexican Cession territory.* - Webster sanely concluded that compromise, concession, and sweet reasonableness would provide the only solutions. Webster's famed Seventh of March speech, 1850, was his finest. - It helped turn the tide in the North toward compromise. His tremendous effort visibly strengthened Union sentiment. It was especially pleasing to the banking and commercial centers of the North, which stood to lose millions of dollars by secession.

Matthew Perry

-Over the Pacific, America ready to open to Asia. Caleb Cushing sent to China on a goodwill mission. The Chinese welcoming since they wanted to counter British. U.S.—China trade began to flourish. -Missionaries sought to save souls; largely kindled resent however. Relations opened up Japan when Commodore Matthew C. Perry steamed into the harbor of Tokyo in 1854 and asked/coerced/forced them to open up their nation. -Perry's Treaty of Kanagawa formerly opened Japan. This broke Japan's centuries-old traditional of isolation, started them down a road of modernization, then imperialism and militarism. Between 1815 and 1833, Matthew C. Perry was called upon for myriad duties. He fought Algerian pirates in Mediterranean Sea, helped repatriate African Americans to Liberia, West Africa, and took command of his first ship, the USS Shark, claiming Key West off the Florida coast for the United States. -Between 1833 and 1844, Perry was stationed at New York Navy Yard. There, he helped advance the U.S. Navy by advocating the conversion of U.S. sailing ships to steam power. He also established a Navy museum and assisted in developing the curriculum for the U.S. Naval Academy at West Point. During the Mexican War, he commanded naval forces and played an important role in supporting General Winfield Scott's capture of Veracruz

Panic of 1857

-Panic of 1857, worst of 19th century, though really wasn't bad as the Panic of 1837. -causes were: California gold causing inflation/over-growth of grain/over-speculation, in land and railroads. -North especially hard hit, but South rode it out w/ flying colors, proving cotton was indeed king, raising Southern egos. -1860, Congress passed Homestead Act would provide 160 acres of land at cheap price for those less-fortunate, but vetoed by Buchanan. This plan, opposed by the northeast, had long been unfriendly to extension of land, feared it would drain its population even more, south knew it would provide easy way for more free-soilers to fill territories. -The panic brought calls for higher tariff rate, had been lowered 20% only months before.

Freeport Doctrine

-The most famous debate came at Freeport, Illinois, where Lincoln essentially asked, "Mr. Douglas, if the people of a territory voted slavery down, despite the Supreme Court saying that they could not do so (point #2 of the Dred Scott decision), which side would you support, the people or the Supreme Court?" "Mr. Popular Sovereignty," Douglas replied with his "Freeport Doctrine," which said that no matter how the Supreme Court ruled, slavery would stay down if the people voted it down; tsince power was held by the people. Douglas won the Illinois race for senate, but more people voted for Abe, so he won the moral victory. Plus, Douglas "won the battle but lost the war" because his answer in the Freeport Doctrine caused the South to dislike him even more. The South had loved Douglas prior to this due to his popular sovereignty position, but then came the Kansas pro-slavery vote which he'd shot down. Then the Freeport Doctrine came down where he turned his back on the Supreme Court's pro-South decision). This Freeport statement ruined the 1860 election for presidency for him, which was what he really wanted all along.

Election of 1860 (all Candidates and platforms)

-U.S. presidential election of Nov. 6, 1860, Republican Abraham Lincoln defeated Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge, Democrat Stephen A. Douglas, Constitutional Union candidate John Bell. -The electoral split between Northern, Southern Democrats severe sectional split over slavery. In months following Lincoln's election (before his inauguration in March 1861), 7 Southern states, led by South Carolina on Dec. 20, 1860, seceded, setting the stage for American Civil War (1861-65). -Following Dred Scott decision 1857, U.S. Supreme Court voided Missouri Compromise (1820), making slavery legal in all U.S. territories, election of 1860 sure to further expose sectional differences between those, especially in North wanted to abolish slavery, those who sought to protect the institution. -The Democratic Party held convention 1860, Charleston, S.C. disagreement over official party policy on slavery prompted dozens of delegates from Southern states to withdraw. -Unable to nominate a candidate Democrats held 2nd convention, Baltimore June 18-23, many of Southern delegates failed to attend. At Baltimore, Democrats nominated Douglas, defeated John C. Breckinridge vice president of U.S. -Democrats, largely Southerners, nominated Breckinridge. Both Douglas, Breckinridge claimed to be official Democratic candidates. -The Republican convention held Chicago May 16-18. The party, Formed only in 1850s, largely opposed to extension of slavery in U.S. territories, many party members favored total abolition of slavery, party didn't call for abolition in states that already had slavery. -Entering convention, Sen. William H. Seward of NY considered favorite for nomination, on 1st ballot led Abraham Lincoln, who been defeated in Illinois 1858 for U.S. Senate by Douglas, as well host of other candidates. - 2nd ballot, gap between Seward, Lincoln narrowed, Lincoln nominated on 3rd ballot. Douglas, Lincoln dominant in North/ Breckinridge, Bell dueling for support in South. -election day Lincoln captured less than 40 percent of vote, he won majority in electoral college 180 electoral votes, by sweeping North -Douglas won 30% of vote but won only Missouri's 12 electoral votes. -Breckinridge, 18% of national vote, 72 electoral votes, winning most states in South. - Bell, won 12.6% of vote, 39 electoral votes -Lincoln didn't win votes in any state would form Confederacy, w/ exception of Virginia, he garnered 1% of total vote.

Wilmot Proviso

-Wilmot Proviso: designed to eliminate slavery within land acquired, result of Mexican War. President James K. Polk sought the appropriation of $2 million as part of a bill to negotiate the terms of a treaty. -Fearing the addition of a pro-slave territory, Pennsylvania Congressman David Wilmot proposed his amendment to bill. Although the measure blocked in southern-dominated Senate, it enflamed growing controversy over slavery, its underlying principle helped bring about formation of Republican Party in 1854. The antislavery declaration reflected the national political situation. The Democrats had divided over slavery and expansion during the 1844 election, -but after his victory James K. Polk pushed for acquisition of Oregon country, for larger share of Texas from Mexico. Northern Democrats such as Wilmot, feared addition of slave territory, resented Polk's willingness to compromise Oregon dispute w/ Great Britain at the forty- ninth parallel-less territory than expected. -interested in northern free labor than in the plight of southern slaves, Wilmot had been an administration loyalist until he presented his proviso. Apparently, it may not even have been his idea. The language was taken from Northwest Ordinance of 1787, and several antislavery congressmen had written similar measures.

Know-Nothing Party platform

-chapter 18 harmful to Fremont allegation, which alienated many Know-Nothings and "nativists," he was Roman Catholic. -A group, fearing for Union, organized Constitutional Union party, sneered at as the "Do Nothing" or "Old Gentleman's" party. Consisted mainly former Whigs, Know-Nothings, a veritable "gathering of graybeards." Desperately to elect a compromise candidate, met in Baltimore and nominated for presidency John Bell of Tennessee. They went in battle ringing hand bells for Bell and waving handbills for "The Union, the Constitution, and the Enforcement of the Laws. -Immigration led to vexation of,"real" Americans. Results formation of "nativistic" groups anti-foreign, anti-Catholic organizations, banded together early 1850s, formed "Know-Nothings" Party rode a wave of xenophobia, racism not to mention political turmoil among the Whigs/Democrats. -mid-1850s Know-Nothing's political ideas call to extend 5yr naturalization period to 21 yrs as well as proscription against holding of elected offices by Catholics and foreigners. -Know-Nothings divided over explosive slavery issue, power of the party: weak. Their nominee for president in 1856, former President Millard Fillmore, received 21% of the popular vote, won only state of Maryland. Still hating urban foreigners, most were Democrats, many Know Nothings allied newly formed Republican Party.

Compromise of 1850

-compromise: last major involvement in national affairs of Senators Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun all exceptional careers in Senate. -Clay introduced an omnibus bill covering these measures. Calhoun attacked the plan and demanded the North cease its attempts to limit slavery. -By backing Clay in a speech delivered on March 7, Webster antagonized his abolitionist supporters. Senator William H. Seward opposed compromise, earned a reputation for radicalism by claiming "higher law" than Constitution required checking of slavery. -President Zachary Taylor opposed compromise, his death on July 9 made procompromise vice president Millard Fillmore. -The Senate defeated the omnibus bill. Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois then split the omnibus proposal into individual bills so congressmen could abstain or vote on each, depending on their interests. They all passed, and Fillmore signed them. The compromise enabled Congress to avoid sectional and slavery issues for several years.

personal liberty laws"

-personal liberty laws: laws passed by U.S. states in North to counter Fugitive Slave Acts of 1793, 1850. Different laws did this in different ways, including allowing jury trials for escaped slaves, forbidding state authorities from cooperating in their capture and return. -Contravening Fugitive Slave Act didn't provide trial by jury, Indiana (1824), Connecticut (1828) enacted laws making jury trials for escaped slaves possible upon appeal. - 1840 Vermont, New York granted fugitives right of jury trial and provided them with attorneys. After 1842, when U.S. Supreme Court ruled enforcement of Fugitive Slave Act was federal function, some Northern state governments passed laws forbidding state authorities to cooperate in capture, return of fugitives. -Reaction to Fugitive Slave Act contained in Compromise of 1850, most Northern states provided further guarantees of jury trial, authorized severe punishment for illegal seizure, perjury against alleged fugitives, forbade state authorities to recognize claims to fugitives. These laws among many assaults on states' rights cited as a justification for secession by South Carolina in 1860.

Reasons and support for secession

-root cause of U.S. Civil War, most controversial topic in U.S. history. -Primary cause of war was Southern states' desire to preserve institution of slavery. -Others minimize slavery: point to other factors, such as taxation or principle of States' Rights. Every state in Confederacy issued "Article of Secession" declaring their break from Union. -4 states went further. Texas, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina all issued additional documents, referred to "Declarations of Causes," explain their decision to leave the Union. - 2 major themes emerge in these documents: slavery, states' rights. All 4 states strongly defend slavery while making varying claims related to states' rights. Other grievances, such as economic exploitation and role of military, receive limited attention in some of the documents.

Helper's The Impending Crisis of the South

Another book, The Impending Crisis of the South, written by Hinton R. Helper , a non-aristocratic white North Carolinian, tried to prove, by an array of statistics, that the non-slave-holding Southern whites were really the ones most hurt by slavery. Published in the North, this book and Uncle Tom's Cabin were both banned in the South, but widely read in the North. They drove the North—South wedge deeper

"black belt"

Fertile region of Deep South, stretching across Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, where the largest concentration of black slaves worked on rich cotton plantations

Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman, famous as "conductor" on Underground Railroad during 1850s. Born a slave on Maryland's eastern shore, she endured harsh existence of a field hand, including brutal beatings. In 1849 she fled slavery, leaving her husband and family behind in order to escape. Despite a bounty on her head, she returned to the South at least 19 times to lead her family and hundreds of other slaves to freedom via the Underground Railroad. Tubman also served as a scout, spy and nurse during the Civil War. Underground railroad: a network of secret routes, safe houses used by 19th-century enslaved people of African descent in the United States in efforts to escape to free states and Canada with aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause.

Immigration to the South

Immigrants played leading roles in the Civil War and the reconstruction of the South. Apart from slavery, few issues were as important in Civil War America as immigrants and immigration policy. Immigrant settlement patterns in the earlier decades of the nineteenth century demonstrated an ever-deepening division between the North and the South that would soon explode into open war. Fromthe founding of the United States through the first quarter of the nineteenth century, white American culture was generally homogenous; most whites were Protestant and could trace their ancestry to Great Britain. The slaves and free blacks in America were notable exceptions, but isolated pockets of non-British and/or non-Protestant whites were also scattered throughout America. The latter included French and Spanish in Louisiana and Florida, Germans in Pennsylvania and parts of the Carolinas, and the descendants of Dutch settlers in New York. Several of the Founders, including Thomas Jefferson, were ambivalent about immigration and argued that it should be limited to those who were culturally and politically similar to native-born Americans. By the 1850's, however, most immigrants were either non-English speaking or non- Protestant. Local reactions were sometimes extreme. During the 1840's and 1850's, anti-immigrant riots occurred in New Orleans, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Louisville, and St. Louis. In the same decades, antipathy toward immigrants led to the development of the Know-Nothing Party, whose dominant plank was the restriction of immigration.

% of white southerners belonging to slaveholding families or owning slaves

In 1860 only 11,000 Southerners, three-quarters of one percent of the white population owned more than 50 slaves; a mere 2,358 owned as many as 100 slaves. However, although large slaveholders were few in number, they owned most of the South's slaves.

The Dred Scott Case (story, decision, and CONSEQUENCES)

In March 1857, in one of the most controversial events preceding the American Civil War (1861-65), the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in the case of Dred Scott v. Sanford. The case had been brought before the court by Dred Scott, a slave who had lived with his owner in a free state before returning to the slave state of Missouri. Scott argued that his time spent in these locations entitled him to emancipation. In his decision, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, a staunch supporter of slavery, disagreed: The court found that no black, free or slave, could claim U.S. citizenship, and therefore blacks were unable to petition the court for their freedom. The Dred Scott decision incensed abolitionists and heightened North-South tensions, which would erupt in war just three years later This convoluted case (1857), both a cause and an effect of sectional conflict, contributed to antebellum political and constitutional controversy. It also made Chief Justice Roger B. Taney seem a satanic figure to contemporary antislavery activists and many later historians. Dred Scott, a black slave, and his wife had once belonged to army surgeon John Emerson, who had bought him from the Peter Blow family of St. Louis. After Emerson died, the Blows apparently helped Scott sue Emerson's widow for his freedom, but lost the case in state court. Because Mrs. Emerson left him with her brother John Sanford (misspelled Sandford in court papers), a New York citizen, Scott sued again in federal court, claiming Missouri citizenship. Scott's lawyers eventually appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Originally, Justice Samuel Nelson was to write a narrow opinion, arguing that the case belonged in the state, not a federal court. But northern antislavery justices John McLean of Ohio and Benjamin R. Curtis of Massachusetts planned to dissent, arguing that Scott should be freed under the Missouri Compromise because he had traveled north of the 36°30′ line, whereas the Court's southerners wanted to rule the compromise unconstitutional. Among several opinions, Taney's was both the most important and the most tortuous. He ruled that blacks, slave or free, could not be citizens (Curtis showed this to be counter to precedent). Nor could Scott have become free by traveling north of the Missouri Compromise line; slavery, Taney said, could not be banned in the territories. Six justices agreed that Scott was not a citizen, but disagreed over whether a freed slave could become a citizen. Nelson concurred in the ruling but not in its reasoning, and McLean and Curtis dissented. Republicans assailed the decision, which they saw as an attempt to destroy their nascent party. Democrats divided over the Dred Scott case. Stephen A. Douglas ended up opposing it as counter to his doctrine of popular sovereignty. President James Buchanan's supporters considered it a final answer to the sectional controversy, although they were unaware at the time that Buchanan had influenced Justice Robert Grier of Pennsylvania to join the southern majority so that it would look less like a sectional decision. The Dred Scott case remained the subject of noisy constitutional and historical debate and contributed to the divisions that helped lead to Abraham Lincoln's election and the Civil War.

Free blacks in the North

In some Northern states, after emancipation, blacks were legally allowed to vote, marry whites, file lawsuits, or sit on juries. In most, they were not. But even where the right was extended by law, often the white majority did not allow it to happen. In Massachusetts in 1795, despite the absence of any law prohibiting on black voting, Judge James Winthrop and Thomas Pemberton wrote that Negroes could neither elect nor be elected to office in that state.[1] De Tocqueville, in Philadelphia in 1831, asked why, since black men had the right to vote there, none ever dared do so. The answer came back: The law with us is nothing if it is not supported by public opinion. When Ohios prohibition against blacks testifying in legal cases involving white people was lifted in 1849, observers acknowledged that, at least in the southern part of the state, where most of the blacks lived, social prejudice would keep the ban in practical effect.

John Brown (Harper's Ferry- date, story, outcome, effects)

John Brown now had a plan to invade the South, seize its arms, call upon the slaves to rise up and revolt, and take over the South and free it of slaves. But, in his raid of Harper's Ferry, Virginia, the slaves didn't revolt, and he was captured by the U.S. Marines under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Robert E. Lee and convicted of treason, sentenced to death, and hanged. Brown, though insane, was not stupid, and he portrayed himself as a martyr against slavery, and when he was hanged, he instantly became a martyr for abolitionists; northerners rallied around his memory. Abolitionists were infuriated by his execution (as they'd conveniently forgotten his violent past). The South was happy and saw justice. They also felt his actions were typical of the radical North.

Example of specific slave rebellions

Like Gabriel's Rebellion, Denmark Vesey's conspiracy drew inspiration from both democratic and Christian beliefs. Vesey was a resident of Charleston, a slave carpenter who had acquired the money to purchase his freedom in 1800 by winning a lottery. A leading figure in the city's black church life, he "studied the Bible a great deal," a follower later remarked, "and tried to prove from it that slavery and bondage is against the Bible." But he also knew of the rebellion in Haiti and followed closely debates in Congress over the expansion of slavery into Missouri. In 1821 and 1822, along with a group of Charleston house servants and artisans, he recruited rural slaves for an armed attack on the city. But the plot was betrayed, and Vesey and other leaders were tried and executed. The most celebrated slave rebellion in American history, organized by Nat Turner, took place in Southampton County, Virginia, an area of small farms rather than large plantations. Born in 1800, Turner was a slave preacher and something of a mystic. In the 1820s, he began to see visions in the sky: black and white angels fighting, the heavens running red with blood. He became convinced that he had been chosen by God to lead his people to freedom. In August 1831 Turner and five followers met and, without a plan or a clear objective, launched their rebellion. For twelve hours, they moved from farm to farm, killing every white person they encountered (nearly all women and children, for most of the area's adult males had gone off to a nearby religious revival). By the time the militia suppressed the uprising, nearly eighty slaves had joined the rebellion, and sixty whites lay dead. A wave of terror swept over the area. Scores of innocent blacks were murdered by bands of vigilantes. Turner himself escaped, remained at large for several weeks, and was finally captured and executed. In the aftermath of the rebellion, Virginia's legislature debated proposals for the gradual abolition of slavery as a threat to public order. But in the end, it chose to tighten the slave codes, further limiting blacks' freedom of movement and making it illegal for black preachers to conduct services without a white being present. Slavery in the United States was so carefully policed that rebellion became a near-impossibility. It is instructive that the three major plots occurred outside the plantation belt-in two cities and a small farming area. Here, controls on slaves were often lax, and the conspirators could move about relatively freely. The leaders of the three plots were, compared to ordinary slaves, skilled, privileged individuals-a blacksmith (Prosser), a free black (Vesey), and a preacher (Turner). Such men had greater opportunities to learn to read and write and greater knowledge of the outside world than plantation field hands. In all three uprisings, religion played a significant role, reflecting its status as a pillar of the slave community and a source of antislavery values among the blacks. When asked whether he regretted what he had done, Turner replied, "Was not Christ crucified?" If slave rebellions were not nearly so common as individual, day-to-day acts of resistance to slavery, they did keep alive the hope of freedom and expressed in the most dramatic form the discontent that lay just beneath the apparently placid surface of southern slavery.

Attitudes towards free blacks in the North and South

North Attitude: after 2nd great awakening many northern abolitionist had sympathized slaves especially after the publish of Uncle Tom's cabin which displayed the true life of slaves and now northerners saw it as morally wrong and they need it to stop but in general they hated slavery but dislike the race African Americans South on the other hand wanted slavery to continue for an economic purpose and in panic of 1857 it was proven that they were successful with slavery but they rode the panic with the cotton kingdom and they thought or tried to make other believed slaves lived a good life that southern masters taught their slaves religion took care of the in total. They liked slavery and like blacks and the race.

The Fugitive Slave Law

The Fugitive Slave Acts: pair of federal laws allowed for capture and return of runaway slaves within territory of U.S. -Enacted by Congress 1793, 1st Fugitive Slave Act authorized local governments to seize and return escaped slaves to their owners and imposed penalties on anyone who aided in their flight. -Widespread resistance to 1793 law later led to passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, added further provisions regarding runaways and levied even harsher punishments for interfering in their capture. -The Fugitive Slave Acts were most controversial laws of early 19th cent. many Northern states passed special legislation in attempt to circumvent them. Both laws were formally repealed by an act of Congress in 1864. -mid-1800s, thousands of slaves poured into free states in networks like Underground Railroad. -Due to increased pressure of Southern politicians, Congress passed revised Fugitive Slave Act in 1850. -Part of Henry Clay's famed Compromise of 1850: group of bills helped quiet early calls for Southern secession, this new law compelled citizens to assist in capture of runaway slaves. -denied slaves rights to jury trial, increased penalty for interfering w/ rendition process to $1000 and 6 months in jail. -To ensure statute was enforced, 1850 law also placed control of individual cases in hands of federal commissioners. These agents were paid more for returning a suspected($10) slave than for freeing them($5), leading many argue law biased in favor of Southern slaveholders. -Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 met even more impassioned criticism and resistance than the earlier measure. -States Vermont, Wisconsin passed new measures intended to bypass even nullify law, and abolitionists redoubled their efforts to assist runaway slaves. -The Underground Railroad reached its peak in 1850s, many slaves fleeing to Canada to escape U.S. jurisdiction. -Resistance occasionally boiled over into riots, revolts. 1851 mob of antislavery activists rushed Boston courthouse and forcibly liberated an escaped slave, Shadrach Minkins from federal custody. rescues were made in New York, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. -FUGITIVE SLAVE ACTS: REPEAL: Widespread opposition to Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 saw law become unenforceable in Northern states, 1860 only 330 slaves had been successfully returned to their Southern masters. -Republican and Free Soil congressmen introduced bills, resolutions related to repealing Fugitive Slave Act, law persisted until after beginning of Civil War (1861-65). until June 28, 1864, both of the Fugitive Slave Acts were officially repealed by an act of Congress.

1848 Presidential election

United States presidential election of 1848, American presidential election held on Nov. 7, 1848, in which Whig candidate Zachary Taylor defeated Democratic nominee Lewis Cass. By early 1848 the acquisition of vast amounts of western land by Pres. James K. Polk over the previous two years—as a result of the Mexican-American War (1846-48) and a treaty with Great Britain—had reopened familiar debates concerning the status of slavery within new U.S. territories. Reaction to the Wilmot Proviso of 1846, a congressional proposal to forbid slavery in any territory annexed from Mexico, revealed that the issue remained strongly divisive among the general public. Because Polk had promised during the 1844 presidential campaign to serve only one term, the Democratic Party sought a new candidate at their national convention in Baltimore, Md., in May 1848. Although Secretary of State James Buchanan and Supreme Court justice Levi Woodbury each garnered considerable support on the first ballot, the nomination was ultimately secured by Lewis Cass, a senator from Michigan. Gen. William O. Butler, a former Kentucky representative, became the party's vice presidential nominee. On the slavery issue, Cass defended the doctrine of popular sovereignty, which held that the residents of federal territories should decide for themselves whether to become a free state or a slave state. Because of intraparty dissent, however, the Democrats decided against incorporating Cass's position, or any other on the matter, into their party platform. At the Whig Party convention in Philadelphia in June, delegates gave consideration to U.S. Senators Henry Clay and Daniel Webster—both previous unsuccessful presidential nominees for the party (in 1844 and 1836, respectively)—as well as to army Generals Winfield Scott and Zachary Taylor, whose heroics in both the War of 1812 and the recent Mexican-American War had provided them with broad nonpartisan appeal. The Whigs, perhaps reminded that their only prior presidential victory had been secured by William Henry Harrison, a military hero, gave Taylor the nomination. As its presidential candidate was a slaveholder from Louisiana, the party then selected the New York state comptroller, Millard Fillmore, to balance the ticket. By choosing Taylor, a political novice who had never even voted, and by neglecting to adopt an official platform, the Whigs managed to avoid addressing contentious issues to an even greater extent than the Democrats had. Within this apprehensive political climate, an alliance of disaffected Democrats, "Conscience" (antislavery) Whigs, and a splintered faction of the Liberty Party formed the Free-Soil Party, which unequivocally pledged opposition to the extension of slavery. At a convention in Buffalo, N.Y., in August, the embryonic party put forward a ticket headed by former president Martin Van Buren. The Free-Soil vice presidential nominee was Charles Francis Adams, a son of John Quincy Adams. CAMPAIGN AND RESULTS All three parties campaigned vigorously, and, for the first time, the Whigs and the Democrats established national committees to help direct their efforts. Although popular voting had not been adopted in all states (South Carolina still chose its electors by state legislature), the 1848 election was the first in which all states voted on the same day, owing to federal legislation passed three years earlier that fixed the date of presidential elections in an attempt to deter voter fraud. In the end, the Whig Party's strategy of proffering a popular war hero whose political positions consisted primarily of bromides about national unity succeeded much as it had eight years earlier. Despite concerns about Taylor's presidential qualifications (he was falsely accused of being illiterate) and, within the party, about his commitment to Whig interests, he defeated Cass by a margin of 163 electoral votes to 127. While the Free-Soil Party failed to collect any electoral votes, it commanded more than 10 percent of the popular vote and finished second, ahead of the Democrats, in three Northern states.

William S. Seward and the Young Guards

William S Seward: (1801-1872) was a politician who served as governor of New York, as a U.S. senator and as secretary of state during the Civil War. An ardent abolitionist, Seward After failing in an 1860 bid for the Republican presidential nomination, Seward was appointed secretary of state in Abraham Lincoln's cabinet. He would become one of Lincoln's closest advisers during Civil War, -During Trent Affair, he was instrumental in smoothing over tensions with United Kingdom after U.S. Navy seized two Confederate envoys from a British ship. Seward negotiated the Lyons-Seward Treaty of 1862 w/ British Ambassador Richard Lyons, helped hinder Atlantic slave trade by allowing U.S. British navies right to search vessels that appeared to carry African slaves. Young guards: A new group of politicians, the "Young Guard," seemed more interested in purifying the Union rather than patching it up. William H. Seward, a young senator from New York, was flatly against concession and hated slavery, but he didn't seem to realize that the Union was built on compromise, and he said that Christian legislators must adhere to a "higher law" and not allow slavery to exist; this might have cost him the 1860 presidential election. President Taylor also appeared to have fallen under the influence of the "higher law," vetoing every compromise sent to him by Congress.

William Walker

William Walker (1824-1860) was an American adventurer, filibuster and soldier who became President of Nicaragua in 1856-1857. He tried to gain control over most of Central America, but failed. He was executed by firing squad in 1860 in Honduras.