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

Sectionalism: restriction of ___ to a narrow ____. Each ___ developed its own unique ____, customs, and ____.

interest, sphere, region, culture, identity

Nation in Puberty: ___ and ____
1. Millions of Americans - moved from farms to ____

• Still, _____ of the nation’s 31 million people remained in ____ areas in ___.

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

• This trend included ___ and immigrant populations.

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

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

1840s, 1850s, cities, 80% rural, 1860, factories, 1860, women, steam, transportation, travel, train

____ Twins

Imagining the ____ (occurring or existing before a particular war, especially the American Civil War) North and South as conjoined twins.

• Their ____ economies ___ on each other (symbiotic)

• ____ is the political wedge beginning to ____ them apart

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

• New England led the nation in ______

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

• Southern States led the nation in ______

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

Conjoined, antebellum, different, rely, slavery, drive, glue, manufacturing, SOUTH, agriculture, NORTH

pictue anlaysis

The ___ Economy

• __ and —- Am. society —— some more than others

• _____ was indicated as a means to a better end

• Free-labor spokesmen celebrated ____, self-relevance, and _____.

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

• Free labor sparked rise of _____ (Horace Mann)

Northern, 1840s, 1850s, benefited, “Free Labor”", hard work, independence, egalatarian, public schools

Egalatarian
(adj) relating to or believing in the principle that all people are equal and deserve rights and opportunities
Meritocratic
(adj) A meritocracy is a system where power, rewards, and positions are earned based on individual ability, talent, and hard work rather than wealth, family connections, or social status. In a true meritocracy, people advance based on what they know and can do, often characterized by equal opportunities

egal

The ___ Great Awakening

• Powerful ___ movement in early ___ in the back country ____

• quickly spread to _____

• It was evangelical movement that stressed ___ ideas:

1. The ____ is the final authority

2. ____ can be achieved only through faith in Jesus

3. You demonstrate faith through good ___

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

Second, religious, 1800s, Kentucky, New England NY, three, Bible, Salvation, deeds, DEMOCRATIC

2nd Great Awakening → ____ Rights and _____:

• Women took an active role in _____ and increased their ___

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

• Free-labor ideal → Americans believe insufficient ____ caused major social ____

• Example: _______________: organized campaign groups against alcohol consumption

Women’s, Self Control, 2nd GA, power, societal, self-control, problems, TEMPERACE MOVEMENT

Slavery’s ___ Base

• __ of Southern whites did —- own slaves

• of the ¼ who did, ____ had fewer than __ slaves

• Top ___ owned _ and the top —- owned —-

• The Southern Aristocracy was _______

• ____ whites: small farmers, mechanics, etc (_____ of slavery)

• __ whites: lived in App Mts (—- slaves and planters → ——)

Social, 3/4 , not, 80%, 20, 5%, 50+, 1%, 150+, undemocratic, lowland, strong defenders, mountain, resented, PRO UNION

Why support ___ if you are __ and —-?

• ____ Relationship

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

• Lastly, they sought ____ from the ____ when their crops ___ and from possible slave ___.

slavery, white, poor, love/hate, superiority, protection, slaveholders, failed, revolts

Feminism: ___
- Throughout early American history ___ were seem as virtuous ____ of _____ - liberty, freedom, and righteousness.

• Despite this, ___ lacked many legal ___ during this time!

1840s, women, protectors, American ideals, lacked, rights

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 ___

• Unable to ___

• Legal status of a ___ (child)

• Single → could __ property.

• Married → no ___ over her property or her children

• Could not initiate ___.

• Couldn’t make ___, sign a ___, or being suit in ____ without her husband’s permission.

Women, vote, minor, own, control, divorce, wills, contract, court,

“Separate ___” Concept _____

• A woman’s “sphere” was in the ___→ “Cult of ___” —- cardinal virtues:

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

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

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

4. ____- a good wife made a ___ for her husband & children; reading for personal pleasure was _____

Spheres, 1720-1880, home, Domesticity, four, Piety, Purity, marriage, Submission, God’s, Domesticity, home, discouraged

The first _____ conference,____
Advocated for:

• __ rights

• More ____ and professional opportunities

• __ rights and legal ——

• Fairer ____ laws

Women’s Rights, Seneca Falls NY 1848, Suffrage, educational, property, equality, custody

The Leaders of the Women’s Rights Movements:

__________________________

Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, 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

Abolitionist, slavery,

Two Distinct Types of __________
1. ______: favored gradual erasure by _______

(a) Some suggested financial ______ to the owners

(b) Gradual emancipation to ___ major social problems
2. _____: who argued that no _____ with the evil of slavery was ____

(a) Demanded _____ emancipaction ____ compensation

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

• Shared ___ of Organized Abolitionists

1. End slavery. 2. Free slaves that they could (Und. ___) 3. Pressure ____ to end slavery. 4. ____________ with aggressive media coverage

Abolitionism, Gradualist, Southern Legislators, compensation, avoid, militant, compromise, possible, immediate, without, collusion, goals, RR, Congress, PRESSURE THE PUBLIC

____ Defenses of Slavery

1. Slavery was ordained by __ [permitted by the —-]

2. Slavery was practiced in both ___ and ___ cultures

3. It was essential to the Southern _____ and thus the ______ economy

4. Slaves have a better __ than poor wage laborers in the —— (paternalism)

5. Beneficial to the Africans ____, leaving ______in Africa and being civilized by Americans (paternalism)

Southern, God, bible, Greek, Roman, economy, national, life, north, culturally, barbarism

____ Key Problems of Slave ___

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

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

2. Lack of ____ over ____: ____ weren’t legal, families could be _____, children often __ off (all this could be used as leverage)

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

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

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

Four, Life, Freedom, all, control, family, marriages, arranged, sold, violence, resistance, Racial inferiority, whites, lower

Institution of Violence
This photograph of Gordon

Abe Lincoln Runs for ___
- In ___, Senator Douglas (Democrat) was up for ____

• He faced ____ over his controversial ____

• His most ____ challenger in Illinois was Able Lincoln (_____)

• Lincoln didn’t have ____ recognition

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

• Douglass accepted and seven _____ 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

Senate, 1858, re-election, opposition, Kansas-Nebraska Act, vocal, Republican, name, debates, PUBLIC

X. Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address

• On _______, Abraham Lincoln delivered his First Inaugural Address as ___. Lincoln tried to calm the ___and avoid ___.

What Lincoln Said:

• Lincoln promised that he had no intention of interfering with ____ where it ____existed. He hoped this would ____ the South.

• At the same time he made several important points:

• Secession was ____

• The Union was ______

• The federal government would continue to hold its ____ and ____ 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 ___ without surrendering the ___ of the federal government. But by this point, ___ between North and South had nearly ____.

March 4, 1861, president, nation, war, slavery, already, reassure, illegal, permanent, property, enforce, peace, war, authority, trust, disappeared

VII. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates

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

• The Main Issue: ____

• The debates focused on whether slavery should be allowed to ____ into the ___ territories.

• Douglas’s Position

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

• Lincoln’s Position

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

• “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

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

• Why it Mattered

Douglas ___ 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.

1858, Republican, Democrat, Senate, Illinois, Slavery, spread, western, popular sovereignty, morally, expand, immediate, contained, House Divided, divided, won,

Election of ___ in a Nutshell

• ____ and the _________ split the ____ party

• ______ protected ___ at all cost (_____)

• ______ protected _____ (_____)

• ____ Party needed a ___ to appeal to all of the ____ states on their new platform:

• Could not be too __ on slavery

• Sounds like _____

1860, John Brown, Kansas-Nebraska Act, democratic, Southern democrats, slavery, John Breckenridge, Northern democrats, popular sovereignty, Stephen Douglas, Republican, MODERATE, northern, radical, Abe Lincoln

Lincoln ___ & The ___ Responds

• Southern States were ___ when Lincoln won.

• Were they overreacting?

Lincoln ___ claimed he would end slavery (just ___ its spread)

____ were a minority in __ houses of Congress

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

__ of the 32 states were —- states (—- comp in the House)

Southern slaveholders were still disproportionately ___.

Wins, South, angry, never, limit, Republicans, both, South, Supreme Court, 15, slave, 2/5, powerful

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

IX. The ___ Crisis

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

What is Secession?

• Secession is the __________

Which States Left First?

• In _______, ______ became the first state to secede. It was soon followed by:

• ____(6)

• These states formed the ______ States of America and selected _____ 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 ____ to their economy, ___, and ____ power. They feared that Lincoln’s presidency _____ 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 ___

Secession, Southern, formal withdrawal of a state from a political union, December 1860, South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Confederate, Jefferson Davis, essential, society, political, threatened, war

Growing Tensions over ___
- Sen. ________ (IL) again ___ the issue of slavery in the territories...

• Two reasons

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

2. Wanted to run for ____ → needed ___ support

• The Kansas-Nebraska Act (___)

• Proposed that ______ should decide the territory’s fate.

Kansas, Stephen Douglas, raised, railroad, president, Southern, 1854, popular sovereignty

The Act passed (K-N Act)… now what?

• Popular sovereignty (decided by population will) created a ______

• EFFECTUAL ____ OF _________

settlement race, repeal, MC LINE of 1820

____ sues for Freedom

• Dred Scott = enslaved African American brought by his master to the free state of ___ and then to the _______

• He filed a lawsuit for his freedom based on the fact that he had ___ the ___ territories for _______

• SCOTUS ruled ___ Scott in __ (Dred Scott v. —-)

• Chief Justice Roger B. Taney explained that:

1. “Negroes” enslaves or ___, “were not ___of the U.S”

2. Congress ___ prevent Southern citizens from taking their “___” across state lines

3. Thus, the Missouri Compromise of 1820 was _____ was and slaves could be held in __ in —— states

Dred Scott, Illinois, Wisconsin Territory, lived, free, five years, against, 1857, Sandford, free, citizens, cannot, property, UNCONSTITUTIONAL, slavery, northern

Raid on Harper’s Ferry

1. Brown led a ___ raid at federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, __ (goal: ———)

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

3. The Northern Reaction — though ___.. blamed ___ and the ___ for Brown’s actions.

failed, VA, national slave insurrection, South, mixed, slavery, South,

VIII. The Election of 1860.

• By ___, the United States was politically ___. The ____Part split over ___, and ___major candidates ran for president.

The Candidates:

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

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

• John C. Breckenridge — ____Democrat: Supported ______ of slavery

• John Bell — _______ Party: Focused on ____ the Union

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

Why It Mattered

• To many white _____, Lincoln’s election was unacceptable. Even though Lincoln had __ promised to abolish slavery where it —— existed, Southerners feared that the South was losing —- of the federal government. His victory convinced many Southern leaders that their —— inside the Union was no longer safe.

1860, fractured, Democratic, slavery, four, Opposed, Northern, Southern, federal protection, Constitutional Union, preserving, won, Southerners, not, already, control, future

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.

bkcs

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.

sec

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.

jbr

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.

knasd

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?

dsd

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.

fsl

• Charles Grandison Finney
  → Religious leader who inspired people to reform society (end slavery, improve morals)

• Harriet Beecher Stowe
  → Wrote a novel that made many Northerners oppose slavery

• Wilmot Proviso
  → Tried to ban slavery in new land → increased North vs. South tension

• James Buchanan
  → President who failed to stop the country from splitting apart

• William H. Seward (I think you meant Seward, not Howard)
  → Anti-slavery politician who said slavery would eventually end

• Lucretia Mott
  → Fought for ending slavery and women’s rights

• Elizabeth Cady Stanton
  → Led the women’s rights movement (Seneca Falls Convention)

• Mary Todd Lincoln
  → First Lady during Civil War; supported Lincoln but was controversial

• James Henry Hammond
  → Defended slavery, said “Cotton is King”

• Harriet Tubman
  → Helped enslaved people escape to freedom

cgf

• Free Soil Party
  → Wanted to stop slavery from spreading into new territories

• Cotton gin
  → Machine that made cotton faster → increased slavery in the South

• Sack of Lawrence
  → Pro-slavery forces attacked an anti-slavery town → more violence

• Know Nothing Party
  → Political party that was anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic

• Uncle Tom's Cabin
  → Book that showed slavery as cruel → made more people oppose it

fsp