Presidents: #15 James Buchanan, Dem, 1857-1861

Dred Scott v Sanford, 1857

a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court and Chief Justice Roger Taney held that African Americans, whether enslaved or free, were not American citizens and therefore had no standing to sue in federal court. The ruling protected the property rights of slave owners and and declared the Congress had no power to regulate slavery in the new territories. It is considered one of the worst rulings ever handed down by the Court. The ruling is also considered one of the factors that constributed to the Civil War

Lecompton Constitution, 1857

a proslavery document that declared Kansas a slave state, supported the existence of slavery, and protected rights of slaveholders. It was rejected by the voters in Kansas. Kansas joined the Union as a free state in 1861

Lincoln-Douglas Debates, 1858

a series of formal political debates between the challenger, Lincoln, and the incumbent, Stephen A. Douglas, in a campaign for one of Illinois' two US Senate seats. Lincoln lost the election but these debates launched him to national prominence which eventually led to his election as President. The main theme of the debates was slavery, particularly the issue of slavery's expansion into the territories. It was Douglas's Kansas-Nebraska Act that repealed the Missouri Compromise's ban on slavery in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. Lincoln opposed the spread of slavery into the western territories.

Presidential Election of 1860

considered a critical election in US history, Lincoln was elected and led to the outbreak of the Civil War. The nation had been divided during the 1850s on questions surrounding the expansion of slavery and the rights of slave owners. In 1860, these issues broke the Democratic Party into Northern and Southern factions. In the face of a divided opposition, the Republican Party, dominant in the North, secured a majority of the electoral votes, putting Abraham Lincoln in the White House with almost no support from the South. First Republican president. The South considered his election a direct threat to slavery.

Jefferson Davis Elected, 1861

delegates from Southern states met in Alabama to create and staff a new government called the Confederate States of America and select a leader; the meeting marked the formal break with the Union

South Carolina seceded, 1861

first state to secede from the Union after Lincoln's election. A few weeks later, the first shots of the Civil War were fired on Ft. Sumter when Southerners tried to seize the federal fort at Charleston. Other Southern states quickly followed-- MS, FL, AL, GA, LA,TX, VA, AR, NC, TN all seceded in 1861. South Carolinians supported states' rights, nullification, and secession if the federal government assumed more power than the states.

John Brown's attack on Harper's Ferry, 1859

one year before the presidential election of 1860, a stauch abolitionist and his followers seized the federal arsenal in Virginia and hoped to mount a mass slave uprising. The raid was quickly put down but significantly increased tensions between the North and South. Southern states began or organize military units.

First Trans-Atlantic cable message, 1858

reduced communication time between North America and Europe from ten days - the time it took to deliver a message by ship - to a matter of minutes.

Democratic Party divided along north-south lines, 1860

the U.S. was expanding into the West. As the presidential election approached, differences surfaces among members over the issue of slavery in the territories Reflecting the nation's division, delegates found it impossible to agree on a single candidate or party platform. The split allowed Republicans (Lincoln) to win the election of 1860

Kansas entered the Union, 1861

was admitted to the Union as a free state. The struggle between pro- and anti-slave forces in Kansas was a major factor in the eruption of the Civil War.

Abraham Lincoln delivered the "House Divided" Speech, 1858

Drew attention to the danger posed to the nation, and it rallied Republicans across the North. It became one of the best-known speeches of his career. The best-known passage of the speech: "A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become lawful in all the States..."