The Union in Crisis. Slavery, States Rights, and Western Expansion

Transcription

1 The Union in Crisis Slavery, States Rights, and Western Expansion

2 Wilmot Proviso (1846) stated that all lands acquired from Mexico would be free territories It was defeated, but it brought the slavery issue into public debate. Keeping a balance between free and slave states became the focus of Congress.

3 Ideological and Political Divisions Pro-Slavery South Slavery good institution Protected blacks Christian institution Profited whites White male political patriarchy States rights to protect slavery Western expansion of slavery Free Soil North Northern states and territories stronger w/o slavery Slavery morally and economically corrupt Free Soil = land of free white laborers Against western expansion of slavery

4 Slavery and the North Few people had slaves and slavery ended by 1860 Early in the 1800s, some northerners began to work for the abolition of slavery Many northern states limited the rights and migration of free African Americans, so many white northerners had little contact with them Slavery and the South Slavery was an integral part of life with over 4 million enslaved African Americans Many believed God intended blacks to provide labor for whites Southerners claimed that enslaved people were healthier and happier than northern wage earners

5 Issues Threatening Union through Southern Eyes CA UT NM

6 Southern Land Grab Ostend Manifesto "Our past history forbids that we should acquire the island of Cuba without the consent of Spain unless justified by the great law of self-preservation After we shall have offered Spain a price for Cuba, far beyond its present value, it will be time to consider the question; 'Does Cuba in the possession of Spain seriously endanger peace and our cherished Union?' Should this question be answered in the affirmative, then by every law, human and divine, we shall be justified in wresting it from Spain "

7 Southern Land Grab Ostend Manifesto Pierre Soule, John Mason and James Buchanan -- U.S. ambassadors to Spain, France and Great Britain Claim the U.S. right to Cuba (by force if Spain refused to sell) U.S. Southern cotton growers and sugar planters embraced the concept

8 Southern Land Grab Ostend Manifesto Access the following site: Explain the purpose of the cartoon in ridiculing the Ostend Manifesto.

9 Southern Land Grab Ostend Manifesto Pierre Soule, James Mason and James Buchanan -- U.S. ambassadors to France, Spain and Great Britain Claim the U.S. right to Cuba (by force if Spain refused to sell) U.S. Southern cotton growers and sugar planters embraced the concept

10 The Impending Crisis of the South: How to Meet It Access the following site: Skim parts of the document. What is the title of the document? By whom is this document written? Is he proslavery or antislavery? How do you know?

11 The Impending Crisis of the South: How to Meet It Hinton Rowan Helper Possibly a more significant role in starting Civil War than Uncle Tom s Cabin Republican party used book as a campaign document in 1860 election Incorporated message into platform Called for abolition of slavery and modernization of the South

12 The Impending Crisis of the South: How to Meet It Slavery biggest obstacle to Southern economic growth Slavery made the South s population poor, ignorant, and superstitious Encouraged nonslaveholding whites to look out for their interests Slaveowners had duped nonslaveholding whites into believing that the peculiar institution benefited them

13 The Impending Crisis of the South: How to Meet It In a century or two after slavery s abolition, Helper predicted that the South would emerge as one of the greatest, cosmopolitan civilizations that ha[d] ever lived. Whence their ancestors may come, whether from Europe, from Asia, from Africa, from Oceania, from North or South America, or from the islands of the sea, or whatever honorable vocation they may now be engaged in, matters nothing at all.

14 Issues Threatening Union through Southern Eyes CA UT NM

15 The Texas Problem

16 California Brings Slavery Issue to Forefront Free States Slave States

17 Compromise of Admitting California as a free state. 2. Organizing the Mexican Cession Territory without any restriction as to slavery (the Utah and New Mexico territories). 3. Denying the Texas claim to extend its boundary to where the Rio Grande River begins. 4. Compensating Texas for #3 (above) by having the federal government assume the $10 million Texas state debt. 5. Ending the practice of requiring all traded/sold slaves to pass through the District of Columbia but, 6. Keeping slavery legal in D.C. even though it is not a state. 7. Rewriting the Fugitive Slave Act, placing it under the jurisdiction of Federal U.S. Marshals. 8. Denying Congress any future authority to regulate slavery (no more Missouri Compromise-type 36o; 30' provisions).

18 Compromise of 1850 Access the following website: ise1850.htm Identify the final major bills passed that comprise the Compromise of 1850.

19 Compromise of 1850 Pop FACT Popular sovereignty in Mexican Cession: New Mexico and Utah territories More stringent Fugitive Slave Law (than 1793) Abolition of the slave trade in District of Columbia California admitted as a free state Texas received $10 million from federal government for surrendering claim to disputed territory in New Mexico

20 The Compromise of 1850 Legislative Item California admitted to Union as free state Popular sovereignty to determine slavery issue in Utah and New Mexico territories Texas Border dispute resolved Texas receives $10 million Slave trade, not slavery, abolished in DC Strong federal enforcement of new Fugitive Slave Act Victory for? Clear victory for the North Moderate victory for both sides Moderate Southern victories Moderate Northern victory Clear victory for South

21 Fugitive Slave Law 1850 Access the following site: ve.asp Identify provisions of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850

22 Fugitive Slave Law 1850 The World Tuned Upside Down?? South -- strong of Federal Government North -- states rights (personal liberty laws)

23 Fugitive Slave Law 1850 Federal crime to assist runaway slaves Created a force of federal commissioners empowered to pursue fugitive slaves in any state and return them to their owners No statute of limitations applied, so that even those slaves who had been free for many years could be (and were) returned Authorized arrest of slaves even in states where slavery illegal

24 Fugitive Slave Law 1850 Fleeing slaves couldn t testify on their own behalf denied trial by jury Federal commissioner who handled the case got $5 if the slave was released and $10 if not People ordered to help catch slaves had to do so, even if they didn t want to. Citizens who hindered slave catchers were liable to fines up to $1000 and a jail sentence of up to 6 months

25 Reaction in the North Many moderates driven into the ranks of abolitionists Underground railroad stepped up activity Personal liberty laws guaranteed legal assistance to captured runaway slaves denied use of jails Massachusetts penal offense for any state official to enforce law New York and Massachusetts mobs free captured runaway slaves

26 Personal Liberty Laws Laws passed by U.S. states in the North to counter the Fugitive Slave Acts. Such states as Indiana (1824) and Connecticut (1828) enacted laws giving escaped slaves the right to jury trials on appeal Vermont and New York (1840) assured fugitives the right of jury trial and provided them with attorneys Other states forbade state authorities to capture and return fugitives

27 Personal Liberty Laws--Pennsylvania Passed a law in 1847 forbidding state officials from enforcing the 1793 federal fugitive slave law Slaveholders were denied the right to transport their slaves through the state Any slaves brought into the state by their holders would be considered free By 1860, professional slave-catchers could be fined as much as $1,000 and subject to a prison sentence up to three months

28 Uncle Tom s Cabin Harriet Beecher Stowe Changed the Northern perception of Slavery Southerners tried to have it banned Considered one of the causes of the Civil War Harriet Beecher Stowe

29 The Underground Railroad Route to free slaves from the South Included Harriet Tubman, a runaway slave Conductors and slaves had songs with codes.

30 Political Parties Free- Soil Party Mr. Whig The Territories NO SLAVERY ALLOWED I m not watering my garden. I m siphoning Democrats from their party.

31 A Fourth View??? William H. Seward ("Higher Law" Seward) a younger northern radical was opposed to granting concessions to the South Christian legislators must obey God s moral law as well as man s law Slavery shouldn't be allowed in western territories due to a "higher law" than the Constitution