Expansion, War, and Sectional Crisis (1844–1860) and the Secession Crisis

Resistance to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

• Abolitionist Defiance: Driven by the sentiment of Frederick Douglass, who famously stated, "The only way to make a Fugitive Slave Law a dead letter is to make half a dozen or more dead kidnappers."
• The Christiana Riot ($1851$):
  • Occurred in Christiana, Pennsylvania, in September $1851$.
  • Conflict involved $20$ African Americans and Maryland slave catchers.
  • Outcome: Two slave catchers were killed.
  • Legal Result: Federal authorities indicted $36$ blacks and $4$ whites for treason. However, a Pennsylvania jury acquitted the first defendant, and the government dropped all remaining charges.
• Uncle Tom’s Cabin ($1852$):
  • Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe.
  • Literary Style: Used the trope of "sentimental domesticity" to humanize the moral principles of abolitionism.
  • Impact: Sold $310,000$ copies in the United States and approximately $620,000$ in Britain (double the U.S. total).
  • Global Influence: Prompted an antislavery petition in Britain signed by $560,000$ English women.
• State Resistance and Personal-Liberty Laws:
  • Northern state legislators argued the Act violated state sovereignty.
  • Passed "personal-liberty laws" ensuring all residents, including alleged fugitives, the right to a jury trial.
• Ableman v. Booth ($1857$):
  • The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled the Fugitive Slave Act unconstitutional as it violated the rights of Wisconsin citizens.
  • The court took a "states’ rights" stance, traditionally used by the South, by denying the federal judiciary's authority to review state decisions.
• Federal Supremacy ($1859$): Chief Justice Roger B. Taney led a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decision affirming the supremacy of federal courts and the constitutionality of the Fugitive Slave Act.

Political Realignment: Disintegration of the Whigs and Rise of New Parties

• The Election of $1852$:
  • Whigs: Nominated war hero General Winfield Scott to attempt party unification.
  • Democrats: Southern members demanded a candidate supporting John C. Calhoun’s view that territories were open to slavery. Northern/Midwestern members supported popular sovereignty advocates Lewis Cass (MI), Stephen Douglas (IL), and James Buchanan (PA).
  • Winner: Franklin Pierce (New Hampshire), a "congenial" man sympathetic to the South.
• Whig Fragmentation: The party split along sectional lines over slavery, leading to its eventual collapse.

Foreign Policy and Expansionism under Franklin Pierce

• Expansionist Initiatives:
  • Japan: Negotiated a trade-opening treaty to assist Northern merchants seeking a commercial empire.
  • Mexico and the Gadsden Purchase ($1853$): Pierce purchased a slice of land (now part of Arizona and New Mexico) to allow James Gadsden to build a transcontinental rail line from New Orleans to Los Angeles.
• The Ostend Manifesto ($1854$):
  • Southern expansionists and American traders wanted Cuba as a plantation empire.
  • Pierce covertly supported "filibustering" (private military) expeditions to Cuba.
  • Secretaries and diplomats composed the manifesto urging Pierce to seize Cuba from Spain.
  • Outcome: Northern Democrats denounced the aggressive move and scuttled the plan.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act of $1854$

• Motivations of Stephen A. Douglas: Desired a transcontinental railroad linking Chicago to California. This required extinguishing Native American rights on the Great Plains and organizing the Nebraska Territory.
• Southern Opposition: Southerners wanted a southern terminus (New Orleans, Memphis, or St. Louis) and to extend slavery into the Louisiana Purchase.
• The Compromise: Douglas amended his bill to explicitly repeal the Missouri Compromise ($36^{\circ} 30'$ line) and organize the region based on popular sovereignty.
• Geographic Split: The bill created two territories: Nebraska and Kansas. Douglas argued Kansas was not suited for plantation agriculture.
• Political Fallout: The bill narrowly passed despite $1,600$ petitions against it in the House. It finished the Whig Party and crippled the Democrats.

The Rise of the Republican and American (Know-Nothing) Parties

• Republican Party ($1854$):
  • Coalition of ex-Whigs, Free-Soilers, abolitionists, and "anti-Nebraska Democrats."
  • Ideology: Opposed slavery because it degraded manual labor and drove down free workers' wages. Celebrated a society of independent farmers, artisans, and proprietors.
  • Values: Middle-class respectability, domesticity, religious commitment, and capitalist enterprise.
• American (Know-Nothing) Party:
  • Origin: Nativist movements of the $1840$s; formally the Order of the Star-Spangled Banner ($1850$).
  • Platform: Nativism, anti-Catholicism (targeting Irish and German immigrants), immigration prohibition, and literacy tests for voting.
  • Success: In $1854$, won control of state governments in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.

"Bleeding Kansas"

• Conflict of Settlers: Missouri Senator David R. Atchison encouraged "border ruffians" to vote proslavery, while the New England Emigrant Aid Society sent free-soilers.
• Lecompton vs. Lawrence: Pierce recognized a proslavery legislature in Lecompton, while most residents favored free soil.
• The Sack of Lawrence ($1856$): A $700$-strong proslavery force burned the free-soil town.
• John Brown’s Retaliation: An abolitionist from New York/Ohio. He led followers to murder five proslavery settlers at Pottawatomie. Brown claimed abolitionists must "strike terror in the hearts of the proslavery people."
• Consequences: A guerrilla war resulted in nearly $200$ deaths.

The Presidential Election of $1856$

• Republican: Colonel John C. Frémont (Free-soiler, famous for California conquest).
• American Party: Millard Fillmore (former Whig President).
• Democrat: James Buchanan (PA). Staunchly prosouthern.
• Results:
  • Buchanan: $1.8 \text{ million}$ popular votes ($45.3\%$); $174$ electoral votes.
  • Frémont: $1.3 \text{ million}$ popular votes ($33.2\%$); $114$ electoral votes.
  • Fillmore: $873,000$ popular votes ($21.5\%$); $8$ electoral votes.
• Analysis: Republicans replaced Whigs as the second major party, but the party was purely sectional; Frémont received zero southern votes.

The Dred Scott v. Sandford Decision ($1857$)

• The Case: Dred Scott, an enslaved man, argued that residing in the free state of Illinois and the free Wisconsin Territory (where the Missouri Compromise applied) made him free.
• Taney’s Opinion:
  1. Citizenship: Declared that African Americans (free or enslaved) could not be U.S. citizens and had no right to sue in federal court.
  2. Property Rights: Invoked the Fifth Amendment’s "due process" clause, stating Congress could not take slave property by prohibiting slavery in territories.
  3. Constitutionality: Declared the Missouri Compromise and Northwest Ordinance prohibitions on slavery unconstitutional.
  4. Territorial Power: Ruled that territorial governments had no authority to prohibit slavery until they reached statehood (Calhoun’s interpretation).
• Reaction: Republicans accused Taney and Buchanan of a "Slave Power conspiracy."

The Political Career and Ideology of Abraham Lincoln

• Background: Born $1809$ in Kentucky; moved to Indiana and Illinois. Rose from a yeoman farm family to the middle class through law and the New Salem Debating Society. Married Mary Todd ($1842$).
• Whig Career: Admired Henry Clay. Served four terms in the Illinois legislature.
• Congress ($1846$): Opposed the Mexican War expansion but voted for military appropriations. Supported the Wilmot Proviso and gradual emancipation in D.C.
• View on Slavery: Believed slavery was unjust but initially doubted the federal government's authority to abolish it where it existed. Favored colonization of freed blacks in Africa or South America.
• Return to Politics: Driven by the Kansas-Nebraska Act ($1854$). He likened slavery to a cancer that must be cut out.

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates ($1858$)

• The "House Divided" Speech: Lincoln predicted that a "house divided against itself cannot stand" and would eventually become all slave or all free.
• Race and Equality: Douglas accused Lincoln of supporting "negro equality." Lincoln responded by advocating for equal economic opportunities for free blacks but not equal political rights.
• The Freeport Doctrine: Lincoln asked how Douglas could support both the Dred Scott decision and popular sovereignty. Douglas replied that residents could exclude slavery by simply not adopting laws to protect it.
• Outcome: Douglas won the Senate seat, but Lincoln gained national fame.

The Rising Tide of Radicalism ($1859$–$1860$)

• Moderate vs. Fire-eater: Southern Democrats split between moderates (Jefferson Davis) and "fire-eaters" (Robert Barnwell Rhett, William Lowndes Yancey) who promoted secession.
• John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry (October $1859$): Brown led $18$ men to seize the federal arsenal to arm a slave rebellion. He was captured and hanged.
• Martyrdom: Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau called Brown a "saint awaiting his martyrdom."

The Pivotal Election of $1860$

• Democratic Splintering:
  • Northern Democrats: Nominated Stephen Douglas.
  • Southern Democrats: Nominated John C. Breckinridge (KY).
  • Constitutional Union Party: Nominated John Bell.
• Republican Platform: Chose Lincoln as a moderate; opposed slavery expansion but also racial equality.
• Election Statistics:
  • Abraham Lincoln (R): $1,865,593$ ($39.8\%$) popular; $180$ electoral.
  • Stephen A. Douglas (N.D.): $1,382,713$ ($29.5\%$) popular; $12$ electoral.
  • John C. Breckinridge (S.D.): $848,356$ ($18.1\%$) popular; $72$ electoral.
  • John Bell (C.U.): $592,906$ ($12.6\%$) popular; $39$ electoral.
• Significance: Lincoln won without a single Southern electoral vote.

The Secession Crisis and Formation of the Confederacy

• First Secessions: South Carolina voted unanimously to dissolve the union on December $20$, $1860$.
  • Timeline of the Lower South: Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana (each in January $1861$), and Texas.
• The Confederate States of America (CSA): Formed in February $1861$ in Montgomery, Alabama.
  • President: Jefferson Davis (MS).
  • Vice President: Alexander Stephens (GA).
  • Constitution: Expressly protected negro slavery; Stephens called slavery the "cornerstone" of the nation.
• Buchanan’s Response: Declared secession illegal but claimed the federal government had no authority to stop it by force.

Efforts at Compromise and the Final Collapse

• Crittenden Compromise:
  1. Constitutional amendment to protect slavery where it existed (passed).
  2. Extend the Missouri Compromise line ($36^{\circ} 30'$) to the California border (rejected by Lincoln).
• Lincoln’s First Inaugural (March $1861$): Promised to protect slavery where it existed but vowed to prevent expansion. Declared the Union "perpetual" and secession illegal.

The Outbreak of War: Fort Sumter and the Border States

• Fort Sumter (April $12$, $1861$): Confederate forces led by P. G. T. Beauregard fired the first shots. The fort surrendered after two days.
• Call to Arms: Lincoln called for $75,000$ militiamen for $90$ days.
• The Upper South Decides: Following Sumter, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina seceded.
• Border States Retention:
  • Maryland: Lincoln occupied the state and arrested secessionists to secure D.C.
  • West Virginia: Northwestern Virginia yeomen broke away and joined the Union in $1863$.
  • Kentucky: Remained in the Union after Confederates invaded in September $1861$.
  • Missouri: Retained by the Union after mobilizing the German American militia.

War Strategies ($1861$–$1862$)

• Confederate Strategy: Defensive war for "the sacred right of self-government."
• Union Strategy: Initially suggested economic sanctions/blockades (Winfield Scott’s idea), but Lincoln insisted on an aggressive military campaign (restore the Union).
• First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas): July $1861$. McDowell (Union) vs Beauregard (CSA). Confederate victory proved the rebellion's strength.
• Peninsular Campaign ($1862$): General George McClellan ferried $100,000$ troops to the Virginia peninsula but advanced too slowly.
• Confederate Counterstrike: Robert E. Lee and "Stonewall" Jackson forced a Union withdrawal after the Seven Days Battles.