saw slavery as a purely political problem. He did not own slaves because he is a senator in a free state
The Kansas-Nebraska Act
In 1854, Stephen A. Douglas proposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act
Talk of building a transcontinental railroad(southern route to California, by passing the Rocky Mountains or through the center of America)
cancels out the 36-30 law
this gives the possibility that the Kansas territory could become a slave state and the Nebraska territory could become a free state
this bill passes
the whig party is torn apart
the Republican Party comes from this act
Nebraska Bill
to set up territorial governments
the southerns think that if a state should be a slave state or not is purely up to popular sovereignty(majority rule)
What came out of this was the Kansas territory and the Nebraska territory
Republican Party
formed by Northern whigs
form of an anti-slavery party(less intense than the abolitionist party)
Bleeding Kansas 1854-56
territorial legislature vote on whether Kansas should be a free or slave territory
people were flocking to Kansas because they wanted to influence the decision
Henry Ward Beecher: minister; brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe
started an aiding company in which they would encourage people to move to Kansas and they would aid with the transportation in turn for the people voting for Kansas to become a free territory
“Beecher’s Bibles” was a term meaning guns that he would supply the people with in case they had any conflict with slave owners
David Atchison(senator) advocating voter fraud. He was organizing people coming over from Missouri to vote for Kansas to become a slave territory
pro slave territorial legislature wins the election
abolitionists are not happy and they see that there was voter fraud. so they don’t recognize the pro slave legislature and set up their own
the Sacking of Lawrence Kansas was when pro slavery people attacked abolitionist. Only one person was killed
John Brown(abolitionist): told people he was an agent of the lord to abolish slavery; people thought he was actually crazy because it ran in his family
he hears about the Sacking of Lawrence County and him and some of his followers go to Potawatomi and drag some southerners out of cabins and hack them to death
conflict breaks out across Kansas
“Bleeding Kansas”
Charles Sumner: senator for Massachusetts(anti-slavery state): gives speech about crime against Kansas
Andrew Butler: senator from South Carolina(has speech impediment)
Sumner criticizes Butler for beliefs and speech impediment
Preston Brooks: congressman from South Carolina and related to Andrew Butler
Brooks hears about the speech when Sumner criticizes Butler
a few days after the speech, he goes over to the senate and attacks Sumner with a cane
after this event, perception of the south is that they are violent
Brooks is fired
South Carolina reelects Preston Brooks for senator and northerners are outraged because the south reelected someone who was violent towards other people of the United State’s government
Election of 1856
The Republican Party runs John C. Fremont
John C. Fremont: army, one of the people who helped explore the west(biggest claim)
The democrats run James Buchanan
James Buchanan: Secretary of State under James K. Polk; seems like good safe candidate
The Know-Nothing Party(American Party) was very involved in immigrant policies
The Know-Nothing Party runs Millard Fillmore(former Vice President who took over the last half of Zachary Taylor’s term)
Republicans(anti-slavery party) geared campaigning toward the northern states
Democrats(generally more pro-slavery party) geared campaigning towards southern states
Know-Nothing party fades away
Buchanan wins the election(but close votes in the electoral college)
Buchanan doesn’t want to upset any state
Dred Scott Case: 1857
Dred Scott was a slave to a doctor who works for the army. His owner travels a lot and various times he travelled north of the 36-30 line with Dred Scott where slavery was illegal
His owner dies and Dred Scott is passed to relatives who weren’t fond of slavery. They think he should sue them for his freedom
Roger B. Taney: Chief Justice appointed by Andrew Jackson
Supreme Court says Dred Scott has no standing to sue because he’s not a citizen
Although there are freed blacks, the Supreme Court basically just said that they aren’t citizens
The Supreme Court ruled that the 36-30 law was a fallacy and said that Congress didn’t have any authority to make slavery illegal above the line
They said that the 36-30 rule was unconstitutional
This upset abolitionists because basically the government can’t stop the spread of slavery
The Dred Scott Case was arguably the worst Supreme Court decision because
The Kansas Statehood Question: 1857-58
Richard Walker: southern governeor who wants to make sure the 1858 election is not fraudulent
The territorial legislature thinks there is a good chance they could lose control of the legislature in the next election so they write a pro-slavery constitution and apply for statehood
Buchanan wants everyone to vote in favor of it
Walker is saying not to approve it
Congress does not approve Kansas into the U.S. as a slave state
This was known as the LeCompton Constitution because this was the place where it was sent to
Midterm Election: 1858
Stephen A. Douglas’s term is up as Illinois senator
Stephen A. Douglas is challenged by Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln did have some schooling, but he mostly taught himself
Lincoln becomes a lawyer without ever going to law school
Lincoln gets into politics
Lincoln’s idol in Henry Clay
Lincoln is a whig
Lincoln was elected on the national congress where he serves one term
Lincoln’s views: against slavery and think it violates the Declaration of Independence, but he’s not sure how to get rid of it. Lincoln thinks that maybe we should send all the slaves back to Africa. This statement is viewed as racist by some
Lincoln runs against Stephen A. Douglas for Illinois senator
Lincoln is feeding off of Douglas’s crowd
They decide to have a debate
Lincoln is telling each crowd what they want to hear and being a hypocrite
Douglas wins the Illinois senator position
But this does get Lincoln national attention and popular upon the Republican Party
Rising Sectional Extremism
Federal slave code for the territories: questioning whether they should write rules and regulations as to what slaves could do
William Seward: was a whig, now a Republican; says that slavery has gone too far
Want to print your doc? This is not the way.
Try clicking the ⋯ next to your doc name or using a keyboard shortcut (
lecture 15