Notes on Chapter 14: Troubled Times - The Tumultuous 1850s

The Violent Escalation of Sectionalism in the 1850s

• The 1850s were characterized by a heated sectional controversy between the North and the South regarding the expansion of slavery in the West. This antagonism eventually led to the unraveling of American democracy and the outbreak of the Civil War.
• A notorious event illustrating this contempt was the may 1856 confrontation between Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina and Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts.
• Two days prior to the attack, Sumner delivered a speech titled "The Crime Against Kansas," in which he condemned slavery. He declared: "Admitting Kansas as a slave state is the rape of a Virgin Territory, compelling it to the hateful Embrace of slavery; and it may be clearly traced to a depraved longing for a new slave state, the Hideous offspring of such a crime, in the hope of adding to the power of slavery in the national government."
• Sumner specifically insulted Senator Andrew Butler of South Carolina, a relative of Preston Brooks, which prompted Brooks to beat Sumner with a cane. Southerners celebrated this response as a "manly defense of gentlemanly honor," while Northerners viewed it with horror.

The Compromise of 1850

• The end of the Mexican-American War resulted in the Mexican Cession, a vast expanse of Western territory. The central question facing the nation was whether these new states would allow slavery or remain "Free Soil."
• The 1846 Wilmot Proviso proposed that slavery would not expand into areas taken from Mexico. Although it never became law, it defined sectional divisions.
• The Free Soil Party, formed in 1848, included members of the failed Liberty Party. Their goal was not to abolish slavery where it already existed but to keep western territories free of slavery for the benefit of white laborers. They sought to protect white workers from competing with slave labor.
• Abolitionists, in contrast, aimed to destroy slavery everywhere in the United States.
• Southern extremists, particularly wealthy slaveholders, argued for the right to bring enslaved property into the West and threatened to leave the Union if this right was restricted.

Brokering the Compromise of 1850

• Multiple controversial issues consumed Congress in 1850:
  • The slave trade in the District of Columbia.
  • The need for stronger Fugitive Slave Laws.
  • The contested border between New Mexico and Texas.
  • The admission of California, which was flush with immigrants following the discovery of gold.
• The Presidential Election of 1848:
  • The Democrats nominated Lewis Cass of Michigan, who supported popular sovereignty (letting territorial residents decide on slavery via majority rule).
  • The Whigs nominated General Zachary Taylor, a military hero and slaveholder from Louisiana. Taylor remained silent on key issues during the campaign.
  • The Free Soil Party nominated former president Martin Van Buren, attracting Northern Democrats, Northern Whigs, and abolitionists.
  • Taylor won the election and focused on preserving the Union. He did not push for the expansion of slavery into the Mexican Cession, believing the climate was unsuitable for plantation farming.
• In 1849, Taylor called for California and New Mexico to be admitted as free states, which infuriated Southerners.
• Henry Clay’s Resolutions (The Omnibus Bill):
  • Admission of California as a free state.
  • No restrictions on slavery in the rest of the Mexican Cession (rejecting the Wilmot Proviso).
  • A boundary between New Mexico and Texas that limited Texas's size.
  • Federal assumption of Texas's outstanding debts from its days as the Lone Star Republic.
  • End of the slave trade (but not slavery) in Washington, D.C.
  • A more robust Federal Fugitive Slave Law.

The Debate and Passage of the Compromise

• The debate lasted eight months. John C. Calhoun, too ill to speak himself, had James Mason read his assessment. He blamed the North for the stalemate and proposed a dual presidency (one for the North, one for the South) and a stronger fugitive slave law.
• Daniel Webster delivered his "Seventh of March" speech, calling for national unity and requesting that the North stop its pursuit of the Wilmot Proviso while supporting the fugitive slave law.
• William H. Seward invoked a "higher moral law" than the Constitution, arguing that slavery was incompatible with the Declaration of Independence and would eventually be extinguished.
• Violence erupted in the Senate; in April 1850, Senator Henry S. Foote of Mississippi drew a pistol on Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri.
• President Taylor died on July 9, 1850, five days after falling ill. Vice President Millard Fillmore became president and supported the compromise.
• Senator Stephen Douglas took over for Clay and pushed five separate bills through Congress:
  1. The Fugitive Slave Act: Provided federal money and bounties to slave catchers.
  2. Admission of California as a free state.
  3. Texas/New Mexico border settled in favor of New Mexico; federal government paid Texas debts.
  4. Banning the slave trade in Washington, D.C.
  5. The use of popular sovereignty to decide the status of slavery in the remaining territories.

The Fugitive Slave Act and Its Consequences

• The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 became a major source of conflict. It mandated that Northerners assist in catching freedom seekers or face heavy fines and prison sentences.
• Federal commissioners decided the fate of apprehended individuals with no juries. Commissioners were paid $10$ if they sent an African American to the South and only $5$ if they declared the person free, creating a financial incentive for kidnapping.
• The "Slave Power"—the idea that an elite minority of slaveholders controlled the federal government—became a dominant concern for Northerners.
• The Underground Railroad was a network of free black and white Northern sympathizers (including many Quakers) who provided safe houses and passage to freedom. Between $50,000$ and $100,000$ enslaved people used this network.
• Harriet Tubman, born in Maryland around 1822, escaped in the late 1840s and returned to the South over a dozen times, leading more than $300$ people to freedom.
• Many freedom seekers fled to Southern Ontario, Canada, where slavery was abolished.
• In 1854, the dual arrest of Anthony Burns in Boston led to mass demonstrations and a courthouse confrontation. President Franklin Pierce used federal troops to return Burns to Virginia, intensifying Northern resentment.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Personal Liberty Laws

• Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, was published in 1852. It originated as a series of stories in the Free Soil newspaper, The National Era, in 1851.
• The story follows Eliza, who escapes with her baby, and Uncle Tom, who is sold to the brutal slave dealer Simon Legree. The novel argued that slavery was a sin because it destroyed families and dehumanized both the enslaved and the enslavers.
• The book was a massive bestseller, translated into $60$ languages, and shaped public opinion against slavery.
• Eight Northern states passed personal liberty laws to counteract the Fugitive Slave Act, granting arrested freedom seekers the right to a trial by jury.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act and Political Realignment

• The Election of 1852: Democrat Franklin Pierce (supporter of "Young America") defeated Whig Winfield Scott ("Old Fuss and Feathers").
• The Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854): Introduced by Stephen Douglas to facilitate a Transcontinental Railroad with a Chicago Terminus.
  • Created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska.
  • Applied popular sovereignty, effectively repealing the Missouri Compromise line of $36^\circ 30'$.
  • The bill passed the House by a narrow margin of $113$ to $110$.
• The act led to the collapse of the Whig Party and the birth of the Republican Party, which attracted Northern Whigs, Free Soilers, and anti-act Democrats. The Republican Party focused on stopping the spread of slavery and countering the "Slave Power."

Bleeding Kansas

• Settlers from both North and South flooded Kansas. "Border Ruffians" from Missouri engaged in voter fraud to elect a pro-slavery legislature in Lecompton.
• The New England Emigrant Aid Society funded anti-slavery settlers. In 1856, a pro-slavery posse attacked Lawrence, Kansas, destroying newspapers (Herald of Freedom and Kansas Free State) and burning the Free State Hotel.
• John Brown, a staunch abolitionist, responded to the Lawrence raid by leading an attack on Pottawatomie Creek on May 24, 1856. His group executed five pro-slavery settlers.
• Over $150$ deaths and significant property loss occurred during this period of guerrilla warfare known as "Bleeding Kansas."
• The Lecompton Constitution (1857) was a pro-slavery document supported by President Buchanan but rejected by Kansas voters in 1858 by a margin of $10,226$ to $138$.

The Election of 1856 and Dred Scott

• The American Party (Know-Nothings) emerged as an anti-immigrant force, particularly opposing Irish Catholics and Chinese laborers.
• Republican John C. Fremont campaigned on an anti-slavery platform, while the Democrats ran James Buchanan.
• Buchanan won the election, but the Republicans gained over $33\%$ of the popular vote.
• Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857): The Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Roger Taney, ruled:
  1. Black people (free or enslaved) were not and could never be citizens of the United States.
  2. Congress had no authority to stop or limit the spread of slavery into territories.
  3. The Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional because slaves were recognized as property under the Constitution.

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1858)

• Abraham Lincoln challenged Stephen Douglas for the Illinois Senate seat. They held seven debates centered on slavery.
• Lincoln delivered his "House Divided" speech: "A house divided against itself cannot stand… this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free."
• During the second debate in Freeport, Illinois, Lincoln asked Douglas if the people of a territory could exclude slavery despite the Dred Scott decision.
• Douglas responded with the "Freeport Doctrine," claiming that the people could exclude slavery by refusing to pass local police regulations that protected it.
• This doctrine helped Douglas win the Illinois Senate seat but alienated Southern Democrats, destroying his chances for the presidency.

John Brown’s Raid and the Election of 1860

• In October 1859, John Brown attacked the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, with $18$ men. He hoped to trigger a massive slave uprising.
• The raid failed; federal troops under Robert E. Lee captured Brown. He was executed for treason on December 2, 1859, and became a martyr for many in the North.
• The Election of 1860 featured four candidates:
  1. Abraham Lincoln (Republican).
  2. Stephen Douglas (Northern Democrat).
  3. John Breckinridge (Southern Democrat).
  4. John Bell (Constitutional Union Party).
• The Democratic Party fracture gave Lincoln a clear advantage. He won the Electoral College with only $40\%$ of the popular vote, despite his name being blocked from many Southern ballots.
• In response to Lincoln's election, South Carolina and other fire-eating states began to formally withdraw from the United States in 1860 out of fear of a "black Radical Republican" government.

Questions and Discussion

• According to Sarah H. Bradford in her 1869/1886 biography, how was Harriet Tubman characterized?
  • She was described as a woman of "dark hued skin" who showed heroism rarely possessed by any station in life, comparing her to Joan of Arc, Grace Darling, and Florence Nightingale. She was called "Moses" for acting as a leader and deliverer to hundreds of her people from the "land of bondage to the promised land of liberty."
• How are slaves defined in the 1857 Kansas (Lecompton) Constitution?
  • Article 7 defines the right of property as "before and higher than any constitutional sanction," stating the right of an owner to a slave and its increase is as inviolable as any other property. It prevents the legislature from emancipating slaves without owner consent and full monetary compensation.
• What was Lincoln’s position on equality between black and white people during the Ottawa, Illinois debate (August 21, 1858)?
  • Lincoln stated he did not intend to introduce political and social equality between the races and favored a superior position for the white race. However, he maintained that African Americans are entitled to all "natural rights" in the Declaration of Independence—life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness—and are equal to any man in the right to eat the bread earned by their own hand.