APUSH Unit 5: 1844 - 1877

Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)

Stephen Douglas wants to build a RR with a hub in Chicago and he needs Southern support so… he proposes the Kansas-Nebraska Act (if they vote for his RR, he’ll try to get slavery above the Missouri Compromise Line)

Kansas-Nebraska Act - proposes to allow the new territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide the issue of slavery popular sovereignty (people vote on whether they will be a free or slave state)

Bleeding Kansas (1854 - 1857)

• Pro Slavery settlement is founded in LeCompton, KA (people are going to move in from Missouri, hoping to sway the vote for a pro slavery state)

• Anti Slavery settlement is founded in Topeka and they will hope to sway the vote to be a free state (move in settlers from New England - New Emigrant Aid Co.)

• Violence, killing, John Brown leads an attack on LeCompton

• VOTE TO BE FREE

Lincoln reentered politics in response to the Kansas-Nebraska Act and Bleeding Kansas

Clayton-Bulwer Treaty (1852)

Decides that the US and GB will not attempt to build a canal through Central America w/o the others’ assistance

Treaty of Kanagawa (1853)

Commodore Matthew Perry will reopen Japan for trade

LeCompton Constitution

 Proslavery Constitution that is written for Kansas and supported by James Buchanan (President) → supports it in the Senate

• Does not pass, but it is a political blunder (President went against the Democratic process, the state had voted to be free)

Dred Scott Decision (1859)

• Dred Scott v. Sanford → Supreme Court, when a slave sues for freedom (arguing that he had been brought into free territory), denies his request

1. He is not a citizen (the founding fathers did not intend for the Constitution to grant him rights) and cannot sue in federal court

2. Can review the Missouri Compromise and find it unconstitutional 

   1. Slavery follows the flag (anywhere the Constitution is the supreme law of the land, you cannot deny a man his property w/o due process of law … slaves are property) → NW Land Ordinance 1787, Missouri Compromise, Compromise of 1850, Kansas-Nebraska Act 

Lincoln-Douglas Debates →

series of debates for a Senate seat in Illinois 

• Lincoln: House Divided Speech → we cannot exist half slave and half free, “A house divided against itself cannot stand” 

• Douglas: Freeport Doctrine → Since he is the “champion of pop sov” he argues that if a state does not want slavery, they will not pass laws to support it.” 

  • Response when Lincoln asks how he can support both pop sov and Dred Scott 

  • Lose Southern support for Douglas which will impact the Election of 1860 (they choose a different candidate)

Crittenden Compromise (1859)

A Constitutional Amendment is proposed that would protect the institution of slavery where it exists and extend the MO Compromise Line to the Pacific … slavery would be allowed below the line 

• Rejected → do not want slavery to expand

Election of 1860

Lincoln (R) vs. Douglas (N.D.) vs. Breckenridge (S.D.) vs. Bell (Const. Union)

• Lincoln wins

• South Carolina holds a secession convention (votes unanimously for secession)

Civil War (1861 - 1865)

• First shots fired on April 12, 1861 at Fort Sumter (Lincoln tried to get supplies into the fort and was blocked by Confederate ships, he said lets us through our open fire … they opened fire) 

• Four Main Causes: Slavery, Constitutional Conflicts, Economic Differences, Political Blunders

• North (Union): Better supplies, more money, better guns, more citizens, better navy, Anaconda Plan, Confiscation Acts (spoils of war can be used in war effort … slaves will fight against the Confederacy)

South (Confederacy): Better generals, only had to fight a defensive war, coastline that was difficult to blockade

Antietam

- Major win for the Union and it sealed the fate of the Confederacy

• European states would not get involved in the war

• Give a warning to Confederacy, free your slaves by Jan 1 or we will free them ourselves

• Emancipation Proclamation (1863) - which will free all slaves in rebellious territories

Gettysburg

Gettysburg Address which will “rally” troops to remember what we are fighting for 

• Mark as turning point in morale

• Last time that Lee takes the offensive

Vicksburg

This allows for the Union to take complete control of the Mississippi, cutting the South in half (as part of the Anaconda Plan)

Anaconda Plan

Secure resources, take control of Mississippi (to cut the south in half), and take the ports

Sherman’s March

Sherman takes troops through Atlanta and marches towards the sea (destroys towns, resources, farms, buildings, RRs along the way)

• Destroys the morale of the Confederacy (will help Lincoln win the election)

Election of 1864

Lincoln vs. McClellan → McClellan wanted to push for compromise (even if there wasn’t a clear winner of the war), Lincoln refused to compromise

• Lincoln wins (Sherman’s March, Total War, War Attrition)

Appomattox Court House

 Lee will surrender after the final defeat at Appomattox Court House 

• Allow Lee and his troops to go home

Reconstruction (1865 - 1877)

• Lincoln’s Plan for Amnesty and Reconstruction (10% Plan) → required 10% of Confederate population to pledge loyalty to the Union and Constitution 

  • Rewrite state constitution to ban slavery

  • Rejected - people thought that Lincoln was being too lenient by only requiring 10%

Wade-Davis Bill

• - increases the amount of people who need to pledge loyalty to 50% 

  • Lincoln pocket vetoes it

Johnson’s Plan for Reconstruction

• Lincoln’s Plan PLUS …

• Only non-Confederates can vote for new Constitutions 

• Johnson can pardon ex-Confederates (Presidential pardon)

• Disenfranchisement for all Ex-Confederates and Southerners who owned more than $20k of land

Freedmen's Bureau

•  provided food, shelter, assistance to all those who were displaced by the war (poor whites and freedmen)

  • Establish schools

  • Took lands from ex-Confederates and granted them to freedmen 

Black Codes:

• Laws to prevent black men from owning land, purchasing land, borrowing money

• Did not allow black men to testify against whites in court

• Put labor contracts into place (kept them in semi-bondage)

Reconstruction Amendments

• 13th: Outlawed slavery

• 14th: Equal protections under law (constitutional rights)

• 15th: Universal male suffrage

Reconstruction Acts

• Placed the south under military occupation (5 districts) to enforce reconstruction / amendments / etc.

• In order to rejoin the Union states had to: ratify the 14th Amendment and guarantee voting rights to all males

Force Act

•  put into place to prevent groups like the KKK denying civil rights throughout the South

North waving the Bloody shirt

blaming repercussion of the war on the south

Amnesty Act (1872)

removed most of the restrictions still in place for Confederates

Corrupt Bargain of 1876

• There was a lot of corruption under Grant’s presidency and the Rep.’s wanted a candidate that “far removed” from the issues → Hayes

• Hayes vs. Tilden - neither won enough electoral votes to become president 

• Hayes needs all votes from Louisiana, Florida, South Carolina in order to win

  • Cuts a deal with those states (“The South”) → if you vote for me, I will end the military occupation of the South (which will officially end Reconstruction)

  • HE WINS. 

  • Reconstruction ends and is a failure.