Notes on the Tumultuous 1850s

The Tumultuous 1850s

Heated Sectional Controversy

  • Heightened tensions between North and South over slavery's expansion.
  • Illustrative contempt: Preston Brooks' attack on Charles Sumner.

Key Events (1850s)

  • 1850: Compromise of 1850 brokered by Henry Clay.
  • 1852: Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes Uncle Tom's Cabin.
  • 1854: Kansas-Nebraska Act; Republican Party forms.
  • 1856: Preston Brooks canes Charles Sumner.
  • 1857: Dred Scott Supreme Court decision.
  • 1858: Lincoln-Douglas debates in Illinois.
  • 1859: John Brown raids Harpers Ferry.
  • 1860: Abraham Lincoln elected president.

The Compromise of 1850

  • Triggered by the question of slavery in the Mexican Cession.
  • Key Provisions:
    • California admitted as a free state.
    • Popular sovereignty in other territories.
    • Texas boundary adjusted; federal government paid Texas' debts.
    • Slave trade banned in Washington, D.C.
    • Fugitive Slave Act enacted.

The Fugitive Slave Act

  • Imposed penalties on those aiding runaway slaves.
  • Federal commissioners incentivized to rule in favor of slaveholders.
  • Northern backlash: personal liberty laws, Underground Railroad.
  • Harriet Tubman's efforts to help slaves escape to freedom in the North.
  • Publication of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin which increased abolitionist support.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)

  • Proposed by Stephen Douglas; aimed to organize territories and promote party unity.
  • Established Kansas and Nebraska territories with popular sovereignty.
  • Repealed the Missouri Compromise line.
  • Led to the rise of the Republican Party.

Bleeding Kansas

  • Pro- and antislavery factions fought for control of Kansas.
  • Border ruffians influenced territorial elections through fraud.
  • Violence: sacking of Lawrence, Pottawatomie Massacre led by John Brown.

Election of 1856

  • Featured the American (Know-Nothing) Party and the new Republican Party.
  • Democrats nominated James Buchanan, who won the election.

Dred Scott Decision (1857)

  • Supreme Court ruled Dred Scott remained a slave.
  • Blacks could not be citizens; Congress could not limit slavery in territories.
  • Effectively nullified the Missouri Compromise and popular sovereignty.

Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1858)

  • Addressed slavery and its expansion.
  • Douglas promoted popular sovereignty (Freeport Doctrine).
  • Lincoln argued against the expansion of slavery, gaining national prominence.

John Brown's Raid (1859)

  • Attack on Harpers Ferry federal arsenal to incite slave uprising.
  • Failed, and Brown was executed.
  • Increased Southern fears of Northern aggression and slave rebellion.
  • Widened the gap between Northern and Southern Democrats.

Election of 1860

  • Democratic Party split, with Douglas and Breckinridge as candidates.
  • Abraham Lincoln (Republican) won the presidency.
  • Led to Southern states seceding from the Union.