Created by jerrythesquirrel on Mar 31, 2011
Last updated: 04/07/11 at 08:29 PM
Events Leading to the Civil War has no followers yet. Be the first one to follow.
- The main issue in the U.S. at this time was the issue of whether or not slavery should be allowed, and who should run for president so that everyone will get something that they want. - In 1860, Americans wanted a new president. However, northern and southern democrats could not decide on a candidate. Northern Democrats favored Senator Stephen Douglass. Southern democrats favored the vice president, John Beckinridge, who supported slavery. At the same time, a new political party was formed. The Constitutional Union Party recognized no political principles other than the Constitution of the country, the Union of the states, and the enforcement of laws. Members of this party favored John Bell. Bell was a slaveholder but opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act. At first, Senator William Seward was the Republican's leading candidate, but later it turned out that Abraham Lincoln appealed to many more party members. Lincoln was against slavery, but promised that he would not abolish it where it already existed. Douglass, Beckinridge, and Bell did not want Lincoln to win the electoral votes, but Lincoln had had a unified Republican Party behind him. This made Lincoln win. The election results angered southerners because Lincoln did not campaign in their territory, so they thought that they'd be losing national political power. Lincoln said that he would not change slavery in the south, but he said that slavery was not allowed to be spread which would cause it to eventually die out. - The decision of having Lincoln for president angered many southerners. People in the south believed that their economy and way of life would be destroyed without slaves. Within a week of Lincolns election, South Carolina's legislature called for a special convention. The delegates considered pulling away from the Union. People in the south believed they had a right to leave from the Union. They said that the states voluntarily joined the union by holding a special convention that had ratified the constitution. They reasoned that the same process could be used to leave the Union. People opposing the secession thought that this reasoning was ridiculous. Lincoln said that no state could get out of the Union; they can only do so against law, and by revolution. Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas also seceded from the Union to form the Confederate States of America. Its constitution guaranteed people the right to own slaves.
in 1858, John Brown tried to start an uprising. He wanted to attack the federal arsenal in Virginia and seize weapons there. He planned to arm local slaves. Brown expected to kill ortake hostage white southeners ho stood in his way. He urged abolitionists to support him by contributing money for a small army. But after about two years, Brown's army had twenty people. - On October 16, 1859, John Brown's raid began when he and his men took over the arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Vriginia, in hopes of starting a slave rebellion. He sent several of his men into the countryside to get slaves to join hm. However, because they were afraid of punishment, the African Americans did not come. Instead, locl white southerners attaked brown. Eight of his men and thee local men were killed. Brown and some of his followers retreated into a firehouse. The following night, federal toops arrived at Harpers Ferry and stormed th firehouse. This resulted in two more of Browns men being killed and the rest being captured. Brown was convicted for treason, murder, and conspiracy. Some of his men recieved death sentences. As exoected, Brown also recieved a death sentence and was hung on December 2, 1859. - Many northerners mourned John Brown's death, but some abolitionists critisized his extreme actions. Abraham Linoln said Brown agreed with us in thinking that slavery was wrong; howver, tha cannot excuse the violence, treason, and bloodshed. Most southrn white people felt threatened by John Brown's actions. They worried "John Brown the Second" mioght attack. One person aid that the only safe place for the south lies outside of the union. A newspaper stated that the sooner we get out f te Union the better.
-The main issue in the U.S. at this time was te debate over whether slavery should be spread west. Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglass. Abraham Lincoln stressed the issue of slaver in the west. He said tha the democrata were trying to spread slavery across the nation. He also said tat all African Americans were entitled to all natural rights listed in the Declaration of Independence. However, Lincoln believed that African Americans were not socially and politically equal to a white man. Douglass criticized Lincoln for saying that the nation could not remain half free and half slave. Doulass believed that this statement revealed a republican desire to make all states free states. He warned that this would lead to te destruction of the Union and warfare between the north and south. At the second debate Lincoln pressed Douglass about the Democrat's belief in popular soverigny and the Dred Scott decision. Lincoln asked Duglass to explain how, if congress could not ban savery fro a federal territory, congress could could allow the citizens of that territory to ban it. Dougass responded that it did not matter what th Supreme Court decidedabout slavery. He argued that people have the lawful means to introduce it or exclude it as they please, for the reason that slavery cannot exist anywhere unless it is supported by police regulations. This idea tha the police would enforce the voters decision if it contradicted the Supreme Courts decision in the Dred Scott case became known as the Freeport Doctrine. The Freeport Doctrine helped put the question of slavery back into the hands of Americans and it helped Douglass win the Senate seat.
-The main issue at this time in history was the issue of whether or not people should be allowed to have slaves. -Two days after James Buchanan became president, the Supreme Court issued a ruling about slavery which threw the country back into conflict. The court reviewed and picked the case involving Dred scott who was a slave. -In the 1830's Dr. John Emerson, Scott's slave owner, took Scott on tour of duty in Illinois and Wisconsin. However, when they returned to Missouri, the doctor died. Scott became the slave of Emerson's wife. In 1846, Scott sued for his freedom in the Misourri state courts, argueing that he had become free when he lived in free territory. The Missouri Supreme Court ruled against him. Scott's case reached the U.S Supreme Court eleven years later, where they had to decide whether Scott was an American citizen and if living on free soil made him free. - Chief Justice Roger Taney wrote the majority opinion in the Dred Scott decision in March 1857. He first addressed the issue of Dred Scott's citizenship. Taney said that African Americans had no rights that a white man had. He concluded that all African Americans, slaves or not, were not considered citizens of the U.S. Therefore, Scott did not have the right to file a suit in federal court. Taney also said that Scott was not free even though he was in "free soil." Last, Taney said that the Missouri Comprimise's restriction on slavery was unconstitutional because he believed that slaves were property, and the fifth ammendment said that no one could be deprived of life or property without due process of law. -The impact on the south from this decision was that they were allowed to keep slaves. However, the north did not get their wish of not having slaves. Abraham Lincoln said that there would be a future court ruling that would prohibit the banning of slavery.
-Slavery was the main dispute in this time. In his inagural speech, President Pierce expressed his hope that the slavery issue had been put to rest. However, in less than a year, a proposal to build a new railroad to the west coast revived the issue of slavery. -Stephen Douglass was a supporter of this plan of a railroad to the west coast. Douglass favored a line running from Chicago, Illinois. The first step that had to be taken to accomplish this was organizing what was left of the Lousiana purchase into a federal territory. Southerners in congress did not support Douglass's plan, recommending that the railroad run along a southern route. They prefered a line that ran from New Orleans, across Texas and New Mexico, to Southern California. Douglass asked a few key southern senators to support his plan. They responded that they would abandon their plans if the land west of the Missouri was opened to slavery. -In January 1854, Douglas introduced the Kansas-Nebraska Act, a plan that would divide the remainder of the Louisiana Purchase into two territories, Kansas and Nebraska, and allow people in each territory to decide whether they should have slavery or not. This act eliminated the Missouri Comprimise's restriction on slavery north of the 36* 30' line. -As a result of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Kansas was split into two different governments. One government was ran by pro-slavery people, and the other was ran by the antislavery people. Also, this act resulted in the Pottawatomie massacre. This was caused by a group of angry antislavery men killing five pro-slavery men. -This event affected the north and south because they began fighting with each other over the slavery issue in Kansas and Nebraska. It caused a split in the government also.
- Slavery was a huge issue in 1850. People in the south wanted slavery to be legal, while people in the north wanted to abolish slavery. Also, many disputes about land and territory were being argued about during this time. -Senator Henry Clay had a comprimise plan to settle disputes involving both the slavery issue and the land issues. His comprimise had five main points. His first main point was that he wanted congress to admit California to the Union as a free state. Second, he called for the Mexican Session, already known as New Mexico, to be organized as a federal territory in which popular soveriegnty could determine states of slavery. Third, He wanted Texas to give up its claim to all land east of the upper Rio Grande. In exchange, the federal government would assume the debt of Texas had left over from its days as an independent republic. Fourh, Clay called to end salve trade, but not possession of slaves, in the nations capital. Fifth, he called for more effective fugitive slave laws. -Senator William Seward of New York demanded the admission of California directly without conditions, qualifications, or comprimise. John Calhoun of South Carolina said that the admission of California as a free state would destroy the balance between the two sections of the country. Daniel Webster supported supported Clay's comprimise plan. When President Taylor died, Vice President Millard Fillmore succeeded him, and he favored Clay's ideas. -In September 1850, congress passed Clay's plan and Fillmor signed each bill. As a result of the Comprimise of 1850, California entered the union as a free state. The Mexican cession was divided into two territories, Utah and New Mexico in which the status of slavery was to be decided by popular sovereignty. Texas agrred to surrender its land claims in New Mexico in exchange for financial assistance from the federal government. Finally, the comprimise abolished the slave trade in the nations capital, and a new fugitive slave law was produced.
- The main issue in U.S. at this time was slavery. People in the south believed that they should be allowed to have slaves, while people in the north thought that having slaves was morally wrong. - In 1819, Congress considered Missouri's application to enter the Union as a slave state. At the time, there were eleven free states and eleven slave states. Adding another slave state would tip the balance in the senata in favor of the south. To protect the power of the free states, the House passed a special ammendment that Missouri could enter the Union as a slave state, but slaves could not be imported into Missouri. The ammendment also set free slave children in Missouri. This made many southern politicians angry. North Carolina senator Nathaniel Macon wanted to continue adding slave states. He gave a speech that argued that having slaves was the way things have always been, so why should what keeps us quiet and at peace be taken away? Eventually, the senate rejected the ammendment, and Missouri was still not a state. Henry Clay convinced Congress to agree to the Missouri comprimise with three conditions: first, Missouri would enter the Union as a slave state. Second, Maine would enter the Union as a free state to keep the balance between free and slave states. Third, slavery would be prohibited in any territories south of Missouri's boreder. Congress passed this comprimise in 1820. Even though the comprimise was successful, southerners and northerners still had many heated debates about the issue of the expansion of slavery
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