Road to Civil War: Slavery, Abolitionism, and Sectional Conflict

The Missouri Compromise (1820)

• Initial Challenge: The question of Missouri's admission into the Union. Tallmadge's proposal suggested Missouri enter as a free state, sparking the first national conversation about slavery since the Constitutional Convention (1787, adopted 1789).
  • Previously, slavery was considered a sectional issue, not a national concern debated in Congress.
• Legislative Stalemate: Tallmadge's proposal passed the House but failed in the Senate, preventing Missouri's entry.
• The Compromise of 1820 (Missouri Compromise): A legislative solution to maintain the balance of power in the Senate.
  • Maine: Admitted as a free state (previously part of Massachusetts).
  • Missouri: Admitted as a slave state.
  • Geographic Division: A line was drawn from the southern border of Missouri, along the 36^{\circ}30' parallel, extending to the Pacific Ocean.
    • All new territories south of this line would permit slavery.
    • All new territories north of this line (excluding Missouri itself) would be free.

Religious Schisms Over Slavery

• Evangelical Christianity and Slavery: Many evangelical sects, initially a radical force, grappled with the issue of slavery, leading to significant divisions.
• Early Divisions: The most evangelical and radical Protestant sects began to split over slavery much earlier.
  • 1827: Quakers divided on the issue.
  • 1836-1838: Lyman Beecher, founder of Lane Theological Seminary in Cincinnati and a leading evangelical minister, along with his son-in-law Calvin Stowe, was expelled from his Presbyterian congregation/ministry for his abolitionist views.
• Major Denominational Splits:
  • 1840s: Methodists split into Northern and Southern groups (e.g., Southern Methodist University).
  • 1848: Baptists split into Northern Baptists and the Southern Baptist Convention (which remains the largest Protestant evangelical organization in the U.S. today).
  • 1850s: Presbyterians split into Northern and Southern wings.
• Remaining Unified: Only the Episcopalians and Roman Catholics did not split, primarily due to their centralized hierarchical structures (e.g., Pope, leading minister).

William Lloyd Garrison and Early Abolitionism

• Background:
  • Son of a sailor, born and raised in Newburyport. His father abandoned the family early.
  • Raised by his mother, a nurse, who converted from Anglicanism to Episcopalianism to Baptism, exposing Garrison to an evangelical household.
  • Garrison's religious upbringing fostered a worldview divided into "black and white, good and evil," and a spirit of combat and exhortation.
  • Apprenticed as a printer at age 13, moved to Boston.
• Leadership Role: Garrison became a leading figure in the anti-slavery movement.
  • He founded the first major anti-slavery abolition organization, the American Antislavery Society, in Philadelphia in the early 1830s.
• Philosophy of the American Antislavery Society:
  • Believed that "bondage is a sin against Jesus Christ."
  • Advocated for moral suasion: the idea that the "power of love" could overthrow prejudice and end slavery, rather than violence or terror.
  • Influenced by the concept of natural rights prevalent in the 19th century.
• Danger Faced: In 1835, Garrison was pulled from his office in Boston and nearly lynched, illustrating the intense opposition abolitionists faced even in the North.

The Slave Narrative and Frederick Douglass

• The Slave Narrative: African Americans uniquely developed their own literary genre, the slave narrative.
  • An estimated 6,000 narratives were written, with almost 300 published.
  • These narratives exposed the "horrors, the tortures, the terror" of American slavery.
  • Influence: This genre profoundly influenced later American literature, including Uncle Tom's Cabin, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Black Boy, Native Son, Autobiography of Malcolm X, and works by Toni Morrison.
• Frederick Douglass: A prominent abolitionist and former slave.
  • Moral Suasion: Initially a proponent of moral suasion, aligning with Garrison.
  • Split with Garrison (after 1850): Douglass purchased his freedom to ensure his safety against re-enslavement.
    • Garrison criticized this, viewing it as complicity with slavery.
    • This put Garrison, a white leader, in a contentious position with an African American who faced the very real threat of kidnapping.

Alternative Abolitionist Views

• Calls for Violence: Not all abolitionists, especially within the African American community, supported moral suasion.
  • Christopher Rush: In 1842, at a convention in Lower Manhattan, called for violent slave insurrection in the South.
  • Henry Highland Garnett: Also advocated for slave rebellion.
  • Outcome: Rush's proposal was ultimately voted down by African American abolitionists due to fear of isolation, but the sentiment existed.
• Minority Movement: Abolitionists were a marginalized group, not representing the majority. They were despised by many in the South and a significant portion of the North.

The Mexican-American War and The Wilmot Proviso

• Mexican-American War (1846-1848): A controversial conflict, largely fomented by the U.S.
• New Territory, Renewed Debate: The acquisition of vast new territories from Mexico reignited the national debate over slavery.
• The Wilmot Proviso (1846): Introduced by David Wilmot from Pennsylvania.
  • Central Tenet: Proposed that "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any part of said territory" acquired from Mexico.
  • Underlying Philosophy: Tapped into the growing "free wage labor" ideology, which viewed wage labor as a more egalitarian economic system than slavery, preserving personal dignity and family well-being.
• The Free Soil Movement: This movement advocated for policies that would allow new territories to evolve with free wage labor, offering entrepreneurial opportunities for new settlers.
  • Its mantra was "free soil, free labor, free men."
  • This movement was a key social force behind anti-slavery sentiment and led to the formation of the Republican Party in the 1840s and 1850s.
• Legislative Outcome: The Wilmot Proviso passed the House but failed in the Senate, much like Tallmadge's earlier proposal.
• Political Impact: The Wilmot Proviso effectively shattered the existing two-party system, leading to the demise of the Whigs and a split within the Democratic Party (especially evident in the 1860 election).

The Compromise of 1850

• Authored by Stephen A. Douglas (Senator from Illinois), known as "the little magician."
• Key Provisions: A five-part agreement:
  1. Texas Debt Assumption: The U.S. government assumed the debts of the Republic of Texas (which had been independent for 10 years).
  2. Slave Trade Ban in D.C.: Banned the slave trade (but not slavery itself) in Washington D.C.
  3. Enacted Fugitive Slave Law: This highly controversial law allowed federal marshals to enter free states to arrest alleged fugitive slaves.
     • No Due Process: Accused individuals, even free African Americans who had lived in the North their whole lives, were denied habeas corpus and due process rights.
     • Kidnapping Risk: This effectively sanctioned the kidnapping and re-enslavement of free African Americans.
     • Historical Impact: Douglass purchased his freedom due to this law. The movie 12 Years a Slave (2013) is based on a true story of a free Northern-born man kidnapped and enslaved under this system.
  4. The other two parts related to the organization of new territories, typically involving popular sovereignty (which eventually led to the Kansas-Nebraska Act).
• Northern Outrage: The Fugitive Slave Law particularly outraged many Northerners.
  • Henry Ward Beecher: Son of Lyman Beecher and brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe, a leading evangelical minister, demonstrated his opposition by holding mock slave auctions in his Plymouth Church in Brooklyn.
    • He would challenge his congregation to purchase the freedom of enslaved individuals present, arguing that failure to do so made them complicit with slavery.

Uncle Tom's Cabin and the Kansas-Nebraska Act

• Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852): Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, sister of Henry Ward Beecher.
  • Moral Compass: The novel's moral compass is an enslaved African American individual, inspired by Stowe's interactions with Quakers.
  • Impact: A powerful anti-slavery novel that deeply affected public opinion.
• Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854): Orchestrated by Stephen A. Douglas.
  • Popular Sovereignty: Applied the principle of popular sovereignty (allowing settlers to decide on slavery) to Kansas and Nebraska, effectively repealing the Missouri Compromise's 36^{\circ}30' line.
  • Further Division: This act further split the country, leading to an influx of both pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers into Kansas.
• "Bleeding Kansas" (1856): Violent clashes erupted in Kansas.
  • Lawrence, Kansas: A free-soil town funded by Massachusetts textile magnate Amos Lawrence, was attacked and burned by pro-slavery southerners (derided as "pukes").
• Sumner-Brooks Affair (1856): Charles Sumner, a Senator, delivered a harsh speech denouncing the events in Kansas and personally insulting Southern Senators.
  • Physical Assault: Preston Brooks, a Southern Congressman, violently beat Sumner with a cane on the Senate floor, striking him more than 30 times.
  • Consequences: Sumner suffered severe injuries, including PTSD, and was unable to return to the Senate for three years.
  • Northern Outrage: The North was horrified by the attack.
  • Southern Support for Brooks: Brooks was not expelled (lacking the 2/3 vote), resigned, but was re-elected two weeks later. Many Southerners sent him new canes, often with engraved messages like "use knockdown arguments" or "hit him again," signifying their approval and the growing chasm.
  • New York Evening Post: Questioned if Northerners now had to "speak with bated breath in the presence of our southern masters."

The Dred Scott Decision (1857)

• Case Background: Dred Scott, an enslaved man, sued for his freedom after living with his owner in free territories (Illinois and Wisconsin).
• Supreme Court Ruling: Chief Justice Roger Taney delivered the majority opinion.
  • Racial Inferiority: Declared that African Americans, whether free or enslaved, were not citizens and therefore had no right to sue in federal courts. They were regarded as "beings of an inferior order… so far inferior that they had no rights which a white man was bound to respect."
  • Missouri Compromise Invalidated: Ruled that the Missouri Compromise of 1820 was unconstitutional, asserting that Congress could not control property. Therefore, slaveholders had every right to bring their property (enslaved people) into any territory, regardless of whether it was designated "free."
  • Congressional Power Restricted: Stated that Congress had no right to legislate on slavery.
• Impact: This decision effectively denied any legal basis for anti-slavery measures, solidified slave power, and deeply angered Northerners.

The "Irrepressible Conflict" (1858)

• Growing Sectional Divide: By the 1850s, the U.S. was undergoing deep social and economic division.
  • Economic Disparities: The agricultural labor force in the South remained stagnant at over 90\%, while in the North, it was about 50\%.
  • Urbanization: The North was urbanizing, with 25\% of its population living in cities, compared to very few cities in the South.
  • Immigration: Seven-eighths (7/8) of all immigrants lived in the North, with very few settling in the South.
  • Literacy Rates: Literacy in the South was only 55\%, meaning almost half the population was illiterate. In the North, literacy was about 95\%. These statistics highlight the fundamental divergence in societal development.
• William Henry Seward's Speech (1858): Former governor and senator from New York, recognized the profound changes.
  • "Irrepressible Conflict": Seward declared that the two systems (slavery and free labor) were "incompatible" and could not permanently coexist in one country.
  • Collision Course: He stated that these "antagonistic systems are continually coming into closer contact and collision results."
  • Foresight: Seward prophesied that the U.S. "will and must sooner or later become either entirely a slave-holding nation or entirely a free-labor nation," ending the possibility of both North and South continuing to profit from "the bodies and souls of men."

Anti-Slavery Movement Spectrum

• The anti-slavery movement of the 1850s encompassed different, though sometimes overlapping, groups:
  • Colonization: Advocated for sending freed slaves to Africa, often driven by racist motives.
  • Free Soil: Focused on preventing the expansion of slavery into new territories, often believing in white free labor supremacy.
  • Abolition: Demanded the immediate end of slavery, though even some abolitionists held racist beliefs.
• These different approaches underscore the complex and often contradictory nature of the broader movement against slavery.