SECTIONAL TENSIONS

Missouri Compromise

1820

terms of the Missouri Compromise

prohibited slavery for all new states north of the 36°30' line besides Missouri, which was admitted as a slave state, for all states wanting to join the union

problems with the Missouri Compromise

really only a temporary fix for the problems caused by westward expansion- the admission of states then part of Mexico later on would divide the compromise line and create more tension

Texas join the union

1845

problems with Texas and California joining the union

huge amount of land in Texas that became slave- north unhappy with this, felt it was early power/slave conspiracy

represented problems to come, would shift the balance from 15 slave and 15 free

California would split the Missouri compromise line down the middle- needed new way to decide the slave status of a state

Compromise of 1850

written by Henry Clay, Agreement designed to ease tensions caused by the expansion of slavery into western territories

Compromise of 1850 terms

California enters the Union as a free state

more effective Fugitive Slave Law is passed

New Mexico and Utah will decide the issue of slavery by popular sovereignty

Texas receives $10 million to surrender its claims to New Mexico

the sale of slaves is banned in the District of Columbia, but slaves are not illegal there

success of 1850 compromise

managed to stabilise sectional tensions

BUT ultimately just kicking along the can, civil war happened 10 years later

1848 election

Zachary Taylor (whig); Lewis Cass (democrat); Martin Van Buren (free Soil)

Taylor becomes president with 47.5% of the votes (163 electoral)

% vote secured by Taylor in the 1848 election

47.5%

Nashville Convention

1850, Southern extremists convened to discuss their positions on slavery. Condemned the Compromise of 1850 and considered secession

Kansas-Nebraska Act

1854, Created Nebraska and Kansas as states and gave the people in those territories the right to choose to be a free or slave state through popular sovereignty.

population split north vs. south 1854

north had almost double the population

Salmon Chase's anti Kansas-Nebraska pamphlet

January 1854, challenged bill from an abolitionist standpoint

1852 Election

Franklin Pierce (Dem) avoids divisive issues, Winfield Scott (Whig) war hero, unknown political views. Both unidentified w/ sectional tension

internal tensions in the Whig party helped Pierce to win (divide between northern and southern whigs)

Uncle Tom's Cabin

1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe

no. copies of Uncle Tom's Cabin sold by 1853

300k

the Burns Affair

1854, Anthony Burns arrested and tried as an escaped slave, before being sent back to Virginia

caused outrage in the North (enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act) and a growth in abolitionism

California admitted as a state

1850

California prohibit slavery

1847

Panic of 1857

Economic crash caused by over-speculation of western lands, railroads, gold in California, grain, coupled with a dip in foreign economy

Mostly affected northerners, who called for higher tariffs and free homesteads

John Brown

extreme abolitionist, led militant action to free slaves and prevent slavery expanding throughout the late 1840s and 1850s

Potawatomi Massacre

1856, John Brown and group of abolitionists attacked and killed 5 pro-slavery settlers in Kansas

Lecompton Constitution

1858, supported the existence of slavery in the proposed state and protected rights of slaveholders in Kansas- removed non-whites from its constitution on civil rights

It was rejected making Kansas an eventual free state (FAILURE)

the Dred Scott case

1857, enslaved Dred Scott sued for his freedom, but he lost. The judge ruled that slaves were property and not to be interfered with by federal government

Dred Scott outcomes

ruled that slaves are not citizens but are property, affirmed that property cannot be interfered with by Congress, slaves do not become free if they travel to free territories or states

seen as a huge victory for the south but was very influential in growing the abolitionist movement

represented slave power- the ruling meant that a slave owner could take his slaves anywhere in the union and they would still be his property, undermining the banning of slavery as a practice in free states

Bleeding Sumner

May 1856, Charles Sumner was attacked in office because of a speech that he made against proslavery forces in Kansas

showed increase in sectional tensions

Lawrence Raid

1856, The sack of an antislavery town in Kansas. Contributed to the escalation of violence in the state

1856 election

democrats nominate Buchanan, Republicans nominate Fremont, know-nothings nominate Filmont

Buchanan wins all slave states except for Maryland

republicans do surprisingly well, Fremont wins 39% of the vote, all from the north and west

Kansas enters the union as a state

1861

% vote won by Fremont in 1856

39%

John Brown's Raid

1859, attempt to start an armed slave revolt by seizing US Arsenal at Harpers Ferry in Virginia. defeated by detachment of US marines led by Robert E. Lee. Within 36 hours most of Browns men were either killed or captured.

Effects of John Brown's raid

convinced the South of Northern plan to destroy the institution of slavery- increased sectional tensions

1860 election

Lincoln (Republican), Breckinridge (Democrat), and John Bell (Constitutional Union Party)

Lincoln won 40% of popular vote, but won a large majority of electoral votes. Lincoln's victory leads the south to secede.

Florida secedes from the Union

10th Jan, 1861

the Republican Convention

1860

Virgina Peace Convention

1861