Unit 7: Setionalism, Reform, and the Road to Civil War (USH)

Sectionalism: restriction of interest to a narrow sphere. Each region developed its own unique culture, customs, and identity.

Nation in Puberty: 1840s and 1850s
1. Millions of Americans - moved from farms to cities

• Still, 80% of the nation’s 31 million people remained in rural areas in 1860.

2. The number of Americans working in factories (mainly in urban centers) grew to about 20% of the labor force by 1860.

• This trend included women and immigrant populations.

3. Shift from water-power to steam raised overall productivity, especially in factories and transportation.

• Steam boats allowed for quick upriver travel and powered train engines → also allowed for inland factories

Conjoined Twins

• Imagining the antebellum North and South as conjoined twins.

• Their different economies rely on each other (symbiotic)

• Slavery is the political wedge beginning to drive them apart

• Ironically it is also the economic glue that binds them together

• New England led the nation in manufacturing

• (Desks, guns, clocks, plows, etc.) ALL SOLD SOUTH

• Southern States led the nation in agriculture

• (Sent wheat, whiskey, pork) ALL SOLD NORTH

pictue anlaysis

The Northern Economy

• 1840s and 1850s Am. society benefited some more than others

• “Free Labor” was heralded as a means to a better end

• Free-labor spokesmen celebrated hard work, self-relevance, and independence.

• The free-labor ideal affirmed an egalatarian and meritocratic vision for the United States

• Free labor sparked rise of public schools (Horace Mann)

Egalatarian
(adj) relating to or believing in the principle that all people are equal and deserve rights and opportunities
Meritocratic
(adj) relation to or (finish definition)

The Second Great Awakening

• Powerful religious movement in early 1800s in the back country Kentucky

• quickly spread to New England NY

• It was evangelical movement that stressed three ideas:

1. The Bible is the final authority

2. Salvation can be achieved only through faith in Jesus

3. You demonstrate faith through good deeds

This appealed to people because it was more DEMOCRATIC than the organized church

2nd Great Awakening → Women’s Rights and Self Control:

• Women took an active role in 2nd GA and increased their power

• 2nd GA goes hand in hand w/ societal reforms

• Free-labor ideal → Americans believe insufficient self-control caused major social problems

• Example: TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT: organized campaign groups against alcohol consumption

Slavery’s Social Base

• ¾ of Southern whites did not own slaves

• of the ¼ who did, 80% had fewer than 20 slaves

• Top 5% owned 50+ and the top 1% owned 150+

• The Southern Aristocracy was undermocratic

• Lowland whites: small farmers, mechanics, etc (strong defenders of slavery)

• Mountain whites: lived in App Mts (resented slaves and planters → PRO UNION)

Why support slavery if you are white and poor?

• Love/Hate Relationship

• Also slavery gave the poor whites a sense of superiority (racial solidarity/racial hegemony)

• Lastly, they sought protection from the slaveholders when their crops failed and from possible slave revolts.

Feminism: 1840s
- Throughout early American history women were seem as virtuous protectors of American ideals - liberty, freedom, and righteousness.

• Despite this, women lacked many legal rights during this time!

The Second Great Awakening → “Spiritual Reform From Within” [religious revivalism] → Social Reforms & Redefining the Ideal of Equality

Temperance, Asylum and Penal Reform, Abolitionism, Women’s Rights, Education

Status of Early 19th Century Women

• Unable to vote

• Legal status of a minor (child)

• Single → could own property.

• Married → no control over her property or her children

• Could not initiate divorce.

• Couldn’t make wills, sign a contract, or being suit in court without her husband’s permission.

“Separate Spheres” Concept 1720-1880

• A woman’s “sphere” was in the home → “Cult of Domesticity” four cardinal virtues:

1. Piety - REligion was valued → did not interfere with her “proper sphere,” the home.

2. Purity - Virginity was seen as a woman’s greatest treasure, kept sacred until marriage

3. Submission - True women were required to be submissive and obedient “as little children.” Men were regarded as women’s superiors “by God’s appointment”

4. Domesticity - a good wife made a home for her husband & children; reading for personal pleasure was discouraged

The first Women’s Rights conference, Seneca Falls, NY in 1848
Advocated for:

• Suffrage rights

• More educational and professional opportunities

• Property rights and legal equality

• Fairer custody laws

The Leaders:

Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Lucy Stone

Seneca Fall is located in the Burned Over District (2nd Great Awakening)

Abolitionist Responses to American Slavery

• Invention of the cotton gin revolutionizes the cotton industry → more plantations in the Deep South grow cotton → forced relocation of thousands of slaves to the Deep South (Second Middle Passage) → slave uprisings and rebellions → aggressive defense of slavery by Southerners and stronger abolitionist push from Northerners → increase in escaping slaves (F. Douglass) → Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

Two Distinct Types of Abolitionism
1. Gradualist: favored gradual erasure by Southern Legislators

(a) Some suggested financial compensation to the owners

(b) Gradual emancipation to avoid major social problems
2. Militant: who argued that no compromise with the evil of slavery was possible

(a) Demanded immediate emancipaction without compensation

(b) Attacked the government’s collusion with the institution

• Shared goals of Organized Abolitionists

1. End slavery. 2. Free slaves that they could (Und. RR) 3. Pressure Congress to end slavery. 4. PRESSURE THE PUBLIC with aggressive media coverage

1. Gradualist: favored gradual erasure by Southern Legislators

(a) Some suggested financial compensation to the owners

(b) Gradual emancipation to avoid major social problems
2. Militant: who argued that no compromise with the evil of slavery was possible

(a) Demanded immediate emancipaction without compensation

(b) Attacked the government’s collusion with the institution

• Shared goals of Organized Abolitionists

1. End slavery. 2. Free slaves that they could (Und. RR) 3. Pressure Congress to end slavery. 4. PRESSURE THE PUBLIC with aggressive media coverage

Southern Defenses of Slavery

1. Slavery was ordained by God [permitted by the bible]

2. Slavery was practiced in both Greek and Roman cultures

3. It was essential to the Southern economy and thus the National economy

4. Slaves have a better life than poor wage laborers in the north (paternalism)

5. Beneficial to the Africans culturally, leaving barbarism in Africa and being civilized by Americans (paternalism)

Four Key Problems of Slave Life

1. Lack of Freedom: enslaved men, women & children are deprived of all freedoms (basic-decision making)

• Whether to work (where/how), what to eat (when/how)

2. Lack of control over Family: marriages weren’t legal, families could be arranged, children often sold off (all this could be used as leverage)

3. Violence: whipping was ubiquitous. Used to break slaves or “season” them and punish rule-breakers (on display)

• Resistance was never prudent and often not possible (no support structure in place)

4. “Racial inferiority:” context of time period making it difficult if not impossible to gain sympathy from any whites (even lower class)

Institution of Violence
This photograph of Gordon

Abe Lincoln Runs for Senate
- In 1858, Senator Douglas (Democrat) was up for re-election

• He faced opposition over his controversial Kansas-Nebraska Act

• His most vocal challenger in Illinois was Able Lincoln (Republican)

• Lincoln didn’t have name recognition

• To get some name recognition he challenged Douglas to a series of debates

• Douglass accepted and seven PUBLIC debates were scheduled

— TWO VERY DIFFERENT MEN —-

• Stephen A. Douglas - small, latest fashions, animated speaker

• Abe Lincoln - tall and thin, rumpled clothing, still and composed

X. Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address

• On March 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln delivered his First Inaugural Address as president. Lincoln tried to calm the nation and avoid war.

What Lincoln Said:

• Lincoln promised that he had no intention of interfering with slavery where it already existed. He hoped this would reassure the South.

• At the same time he made several important points:

• Secession was illegal

• The Union was permanent

• The federal government would continue to hold its property and enforce federal laws

Lincoln ended by appealing for peace and unity, asking Americans to listen to “the better angels of our nature”

• Why it Mattered

• Lincoln was trying to avoid war without surrendering the authority of the federal government. But by this point, trust between North and South had nearly disappeared.

VII. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates

• In 1858, Republican Abraham Lincoln challenged Democrat Stephen A. Douglas for a U.S. Senate seat in Illinois. Their campaign featured a series of famous public debates known as the Lincoln-Douglas Debates.

• The Main Issue: Slavery

The debates focused on whether slavery should be allowed to spread into the western territories.

• Douglas’s Position

Douglas supported popular sovereignty. He argued that settlers in each territory should decide the slavery question for themselves.

• Lincoln’s Position

Lincoln argues that slavery was morally wrong and should not be allowed to expand into the territories. He did not yet call for immediate abolition everywhere, but he believed slavery had to be contained. Before the debates, Lincoln gave his famous “House Divided” speech, in which he said

• “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

• Lincoln meant that the United States could not remain permanently divided between free and slave systems.

• Why it Mattered

Douglas won the Senate race, but Lincoln became a national political figure. The debates helped define the major political arguments over slavery just before the Civil War.

Election of 1860 in a Nutshell

• John Brown and the Kansas-Nebraska Act split the democratic party

• Southern democrats protected slavery at all cost (John Breckenridge)

• Northern democrats protected popular sovereignty (Stephen Douglas)

• Republican Party needed a MODERATE to appeal to all of the northern states on their new platform:

• Could not be too radical on slavery

• Sounds like Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln Wins & The South Responds

• Southern States were angry when Lincoln won.

• Were they overreacting?

Lincoln never claimed he would end slavery (just limit its spread)

Republicans were a minority in both houses of Congress

The South had a 5-4 majority in the Supreme Court

15 of the 32 states were slave states (2/5 comp in the House)

Southern slaveholders were still disproportionately powerful.

Seneca Falls is located in the Burned Over District (2nd Great Awakening)

IX. The Secession Crisis

• After Lincoln’s election, Southern states began leaving the Union in what became known as the Secession Crisis.

What is Secession?

• Secession is the formal withdrawal of a state from a political union.

Which States Left First?

• In December 1860, South Carolina became the first state to secede. It was soon followed by:

• Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas

• These states formed the Confederate States of America and selected Jefferson Davis as president.

Why Did They Secede?

• Southern leaders argued that states had the right to leave the Union. But Slavery was at the center of the crisis. Southern succession documents made clear that many leaders believed slavery was essential to their economy, society, and political power. They feared that Lincoln’s presidency threatened that system.

Why It Mattered

• Secession raised a huge question: Could states simply leave the United States if they disagreed with the results of an election? That question would soon be answered through war.

Growing Tensions over Kansas
- Sen. Stephen Douglas (IL) again raised the issue of slavery in the territories...

• Two reasons

1. Chicago man — wanted it to be a major railroad hub

2. Wanted to run for President → needed Southern support

• The Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)

• Proposed that popular sovereignty should decide the territory’s fate.

The Act passed (K-N Act)… now what?

• Popular sovereignty (decided by population will) created a settlement race

• EFFECTUAL REPEAL OF MC Line of 1820

Dred Scott sues for Freedom

• Dred Scott = enslaved African American brought by his master to the free state of Illinois and then to the Wisconsin Territory

• He filed a lawsuit for his freedom based on the fact that he had lived the free territories for five years.

• SCOTUS ruled against Scott in 1857 (Dred Scott v. Sandford)

• Chief Justice Roger B. Taney explained that:

1. “Negroes” enslaves or free, “were not citizens of the U.S”

2. Congress cannot prevent Southern citizens from taking their “property” across state lines

3. Thus, the Missouri Compromise of 1820 was UNCONSTITUTIONAL was and slaves could be held in slavery in northern states

Raid on Harper’s Ferry

1. Brown led a failed raid at federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, VA (goal: national slave insurrection)

2. Brown’s actions deeply scared/angered the South

3. The Northern Reaction — though mixed.. blamed slavery and the South for Brown’s actions.

VIII. The Election of 1860.

• By 1860, the United States was politically fractured. The Democratic Part split over slavery, and four major candidates ran for president.

The Candidates:

• Abraham Lincoln — Republican Party: Opposed the expansion of slavery

• Stephen A. Douglas — Northern Democrat: Supported popular sovereignty

• John C. Breckenridge — Southern Democrat: Supported federal protection of slavery

• John Bell — Constitutional Union Party: Focused on preserving the Union

• Lincoln won the election without carrying a single state in the Deep South.

Why It Mattered

• To many white Southerners, Lincoln’s election was unacceptable. Even though Lincoln had not promised to abolish slavery where it already existed, Southerners feared that the South was losing control of the federal government. His victory convinced many Southern leaders that their future inside the Union was no longer safe.

IV. Bleeding Kansas and the Caning of Charles Sumner

Bleeding Kansas

• After the Kansas-Nebraska Act passed, pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers rushed into Kansas to influence whether it would become a free or slave state. Instead of peaceful voting, the territory descended into violence. This conflict became known as Bleeding Kansas.

What Happened?

• Pro-slavery voters crossed over from Missouri to illegally influence elections

• Anti-slavery settlers formed their own governmenet

• Armed groups attacked each other

• The anti-slavery town of Lawrence was attacked by pro-slavery forces

• In response, abolitionist John Brown and his followers killed five pro-slavery men at Pottawatomie Creek

• Kansas became a small-scale preview of the larger war to come.

The Caning of Charles Sumner

• Violence also entered Congress. In 1856, Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts gave a powerful anti-slavery speech criticizing Southern leaders. A few days later, Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina attacked Sumner on the Senate floor and beat him with a cane.

Why It Mattered

• Both events show that Americans were no longer simply debating slavery—they were becoming willing to fight over it. In the North, many saw Brooks’ attack as proof that the South used intimidation and violence. In the South, Brooks was celebrated by many as a defender of Southern honor.

Sectionalism: The Road to Civil War, 1850-1861

Introduction:

• By the middle of the 1800s, the United States was deeply divided over the issue of slavery. As the nation expanded westward, Americans argued over whether slavery would spread into the new territories and states. This debate was not only about economics or politics—it was also about power, morality, and the future of he country. During the 1850s, a series of laws, court decisions, violent events, and elections pushed the United States closer and closer to civil war. What began as political disagreement eventually turned into open conflict.

I. The Compromise of 1850

• After the Mexican-American War ended in 1848, the United States gained a huge amount of land in the West. Almost immediately, Americans began arguing over whether slavery would be allowed in these new territories.

• To avoid a national crisis, Congress passed the Compromise of 1850m a set of laws designed to reduce sectional tensions between the North and South

Key Parts of the Compromise of 1850

• California entered the Union as a free state

• The territories of New Mexico and Utah would decide the slavery issue by popular sovereignty

• The salve trade was banned in Washington, D.C.

• Texas gave up disputed land claims in exchange for federal money

• A stronger Fugitive Slave Law was passed

• This compromise was meant to reserve peace, but it did not solve the underlying conflict. Instead, it only delayed it.

Why It Mattered

• The Compromise of 1850 showed that the nation was trying to hold itself together through negotiation. But it also showed how difficult that had become. Each side felt it had to give up something important.

VI. John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry

John Brown in Kansas

• Before he became nationally famous, John Brown had already played a violent role in Bleeding Kansas. Brown believed slavery was evil and that violence was justified to destroy it. At Pottawatomie Creek, Brown and his supporters killed five pro-slavery settlers. Brown believed he was acting in the name of justice and religion.

The Raid on Harpers Ferry

• In 1859, Brown launched an even more dramatic attack. He led a small group of followers in a raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia.

• Brown hoped to:

• seize weapons, arm enslaved people, start a large slave uprising across the South

• The plan failed quickly. Brown was captured by U.S. troops led by Robert E. Lee, tried, and executed.

Why It Mattered

• John Brown’s raid terrified white Southerners. It seemed to confirm their fear that Northern abolitionist wanted to destroy slavery through violence. In the North, Brown was a deeply controversial figure. Some saw him as a dangerous fanatic. Others saw him was a heroic martyr who was willing to die for freedom.

III. The Kansas-Nebraska Act and Stephen A. Douglas

• In 1854, Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois proposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Douglas wanted to organize the western territories of Kansas and Nebraska, partly to make way for a transcontinental railroad.

• To win Southern support, Douglas proposed that the people in those territories decide the slavery question for themselves through popular sovereignty, the idea that voters in a territory should choose whether to allow slavery.

The Big Problem

• The Kansas-Nebraska Act effectively repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which had banned slavery in much of the Louisiana Territory norther of latitude 36degree30’. This meant that areas once closed to slavery were now open to the possibility of becoming slave territory. It took a territory where the issue of slavery was already considered a settled matter and now opened it back up to debate and a contest for who can settle the area faster, pro-slavery people, or anti-slavery people.

Why It Mattered

• The Kansas-Nebraska Act reopened the slavery issue in the West and destroyed an earlier compromise that had kept peace for decades. It also led directly to violence. The law angered many Northerners and helped lead to the creation on the Republican Party, a new political party opposed to the spread of slavery into the territories.

V. The Dred Scott Decision

• In 1857, the Supreme Court issued one of the most controversial decisions in American history: the Dred Scott decision.

• Dred Scott was an enslaved man who had lived with his enslaver in free territory. He sued for his freedom, arguing that living in a free area had made him free. The Supreme Court ruled against him.

The Court’s Decision

• Chief Justice Roger B. Taney wrote the majority opinions, which said:

• Black people, whether free or enslaved, were not citizens of the United States

• Therefore, Dred Scott could not sue in federal court

• Enslaved people were considered property

• Congress had no right to ban slavery in the territories

• The Missouri Compromise had been unconstitutional

Why It Mattered:

• This decision shocked and angered many Northerners. It suggested that slavery could legally spread into all U.S. territories, and perhaps even beyond. The ruling made compromise even more difficult. If Congress could not limit slavery, then how could the nation stop its expansion?

II. The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850

• The most controversial part of the Compromise of 1850 was the Fugitive Slave Law, which required that escaped enslaved people be returned to their enslavers, even if they had reached free states.

• This law had several harsh features

• Federal officials had to help capture escaped enslaved people

• Ordinary citizens could be forced to assist

• People accused of being fugitives could not testify for themselves in court

• They were denied a jury trial

• Officials were paid more if they ruled in favor of returning someone to slavery

Why Northerners Opposed It

• Many Northerners were outraged because the law forced them to take part in the system of slavery. Even people who were not abolitionists began to resent what they saw as Southern power over the federal government.

• The law also placed free Black Americans in danger, because they could be falsely accused and kidnapped into slavery.

Why It Mattered

• The Fugitive Slave Law made slavery impossible for many Northerners to ignore. It pushed more people in the North to oppose slavery’s expansion and increased support for the abolitionist movement, which worked to end slavery.