The Union Dividing 1854-1858
Stephen A. Douglas
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 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
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 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 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 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 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 
lecture 15