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Home , Bleeding Kansas, Caning of Charles Sumner, Compromise of 1850, Missouri Compromise, Preston Brooks

Why the Civil War Happened And What We Can Learn From It

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WHAT WE’LL COVER IN THIS COURSE

▪Day One: Setting the stage: - the late 1790s through the 1830s or so ▪Day Two: 1840 through mid- ▪Day Three: Late 1850s-spring of 1861

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Really Three Questions

▪Why didn’t the US have a civil war before 1861? ▪Why did the 1861 crisis lead to war? ▪Was it a mistake to make preservation of the union the primary goal of the early 19th century in America? Karen McPherson Fall 2018 13 13 GEORGE WASHINGTON’S FAREWELL ADDRESS

1. Importance of unity among states 2. Dangers of sectionalism 3. Major change through Constitutional amendments 4. Dangers of political parties

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GEORGE WASHINGTON’S FAREWELL ADDRESS 5. Importance of religion, morality, and education 6. Avoidance of debt 7. Maintenance of neutrality with other nations 8. Importance of free trade

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GEORGE WASHINGTON’S FAREWELL ADDRESS – SELECTED PORTIONS 1. Importance of unity among states 2. Dangers of sectionalism 3. Dangers of political parties

Karen McPherson Fall 2018 19 19 GEORGE WASHINGTON’S FAREWELL ADDRESS – UNITY “These considerations speak a persuasive language to every reflecting and virtuous mind and exhibit the continuance of the Union as a primary object of patriotic desire.”

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GEORGE WASHINGTON’S FAREWELL ADDRESS – SECTIONALISM “. . . discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned; and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts.”

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GEORGE WASHINGTON’S FAREWELL ADDRESS – POLITICAL PARTIES “[Factions] are likely . . . to become potent engines by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.”

Karen McPherson Fall 2018 22 22 GEORGE WASHINGTON’S FAREWELL ADDRESS – POLITICAL PARTIES “It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and

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Founding Era 1789-1815

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KARL MARX AND HAD IT ABOUT RIGHT C o Limit Eliminate n Freedomχ s Causes (Marx)χ t Equalize i Property is Propertyχ the source t of factions Checks and u Control the t Effects of Balances, i Factions Separation of o Karen McPherson (Madison) Fall 2018 Powers 25 n 25 ECONOMIC CHANGES: INDUSTRIALIZATION YEAR TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT 1793 COTTONGIN 1798 INTERCHANGEABLE PARTS 1800 THE FACTORY SYSTEM 1807 STEAMBOAT 1825 ERIE CANAL Karen McPherson Fall 2018 26 26

INDUSTRIALIZATION (continued) YEAR TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT 1831 McCORMICK REAPER 1837 STEELPLOW 1800-1830 TURNPIKES 1828-1860 RAILROADS 1844-1860 TELEGRAPH Karen McPherson Fall 2018 27 27

SOCIAL AND CULTURAL CHANGES: & COTTON 1790 1830 1860

# SLAVES 698,000 2,000,000 4,000,000

# SLAVE STATES 8 13 15

COTTON 4,000 720,000 5 million PRODUCTION bales bales bales Karen McPherson Fall 2018 28 28 SLAVERY

“There was never any moment in our history when slavery was not a sleeping serpent. It lay coiled up under the table during the deliberations of the Constitutional Convention. “ John Jay Chapman

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THOMAS JEFFERSON ON SLAVERY •“But this momentous question, like a fire bell in the night, awakened and filled me with terror. I considered it at once as the knell of the Union. It is hushed indeed for the moment. But this is a reprieve only, not a final

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THOMAS JEFFERSON ON SLAVERY •“We have the wolf by the ear, and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the other”

Karen McPherson Fall 2018 31 31 • Jefferson never abandoned his belief that the institution was degrading to whites; • His preference was for the deportation of blacks, fearing that to let "the wolf" go (through abolition) would result in interracial war. • In practical terms, this meant that he became enmired in defense of a plantation economy that had to encroach on new land to survive. Karen McPherson Fall 2018 32 32

This examination of Jefferson's political and personal views of slavery finds him an increasing defender of the system's expansion after his efforts in the 1780s to ban it from the western territories.

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As president, he "opened up a new world" for chattel holders by allowing them to move into the new for economic reasons; and as of 1819- 21, Miller writes, he became an "ardent exponent" of the spread of slavery to and elsewhere.

Karen McPherson Fall 2018 34 34 ECONOMIC CHALLENGES: SLAVERY OR “STATES’ RIGHTS?” ▪ Alexander Stephens (CSA VP) March 1861 “Cornerstone” Speech: ▪ Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its . . . cornerstone rests upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. This . . . government is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great . . . truth. ▪ Any other historical interpretation is “revisionist” history,

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SOCIAL AND CULTURAL CHANGES

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SOCIAL AND CULTURAL CHANGES

Karen McPherson Fall 2018 38 38 SOCIAL AND CULTURAL CHANGES Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman Transcendentalism

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“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms...” Walden, 1854 (about his experiences in 1845) Karen McPherson Fall 2018 40 40

“Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of everyone of its members. Society is a joint-stock company, in which the members agree, for the better securing of his bread to each shareholder, to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater. The virtue in most request is conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion. It loves not realities and creators, but names and customs.” Self-Reliance, 1844 Karen McPherson Fall 2018 41 41 Karen McPherson Fall 2018 42 42

Karen McPherson Fall 2018 Source: marketwatch.com 43 43

Social and Cultural Changes

▪Westward Expansion

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LAND ORDINANCE OF 1785

▪Set the basis for a land survey system that would endure until the 1862 Homestead Act. ▪ Townships, 36 square miles. ▪ Land sold by section, half section, quarter section ▪ Section 16 reserved for public education

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Logan County

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Land granted to my Great- grandfather Thomas Calvin Workman, Sr., in 1899.

I took this picture In January of 2018

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Karen McPherson Fall 2018 53 53 OF 1787 ▪Established the process for the creation of new states from the region. ▪Limited form of government after the population of a territory reached 5,000 ▪When the population reaches 60,000 the territory could apply for statehood and would be admitted to the union on an equal

Karen McPherson Fall footing2018 with the original thirteen states. 54 54

NORTHWEST ORDINANCE OF 1787

▪And oh yeah – No slavery

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Interactive Map

Karen McPherson Fall 2018 56 56 WESTWARD EXPANSION

1790 1830

1840

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KEY EVENTS IN WESTWARD EXPANSION 1800-1850 ▪1803 – Louisiana Purchase ▪1820 – ▪1836 – Revolution & Independence

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KEY EVENTS IN WESTWARD EXPANSION 1800-1850 ▪1803 – Louisiana Purchase ▪1820 – Missouri Compromise ▪1836 – & Independence ▪1845-1848 – Mexican War ▪1850 – Karen McPherson Fall 2018 62 62 Significant Political Challenges Faced by the

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branches

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Constitution Article I, Section 8

Karen McPherson Fall 2018 72 72 Events Connected with these Challenges ▪Balance of Power and Federalism – ▪Alien and Sedition Acts, 1797 ▪Nullification (emerges again in 1828) ▪ ▪Slavery

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Events Connected with these Challenges

▪Financing the Government ▪Hamilton’s Economic Plan 1790s ▪Clay’s “American System” 1815 and beyond ▪Tariff problems – 1828 ▪ – 1832-33– again ▪Panic of 1837 – rechartering National Bank Karen McPherson Fall 2018 75 75 Karen McPherson Fall 2018 76 76

Events Connected with these Challenges

▪Balance between Slave and Free States ▪Missouri Compromise – 1820 ▪Texas – 1821-1844 ▪Compromise of 1850 ▪-Nebraska Act (1854)

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Foreign Great Britain Policy France Spain

United States

Vacant

Russia

Karen McPherson Fall 2018 78 78 Events Connected with these Challenges

▪International Affairs – Britain, Spain, France, Mexico ▪ XYZ Affair – 1795 (France) ▪ Louisiana Purchase – 1803 (Spain and France) ▪ Embargo – 1807 (Britain) ▪ War of 1812 (Britain) ▪ Westward Expansion (Spain, Britain) ▪ Tensions and ultimate war with Mexico Karen McPherson Fall 2018 79 79

POLITICAL RESPONSES

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1854-present Democrats vs. Republicans

1824-1852 Democrats vs. Whigs

1796-1824 Federalists vs. Democratic-Republicans

Karen McPherson Fall 2018 81 81 Election of 1824 – “The Corrupt Bargain”

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TRIANGLE OF CONFLICT: 1800-1850

INDUSTRIALIZATION

WESTWARD SLAVERY EXPANSION Karen McPherson Fall 2018 83 83

THE “GREAT (/) TRIUMVIRATE” (Industrialization)

John C. Calhoun (S. Carolina) (/) (Slavery) (Expansion)

Karen McPherson Fall 2018 84 84 “Enormously powerful, intensely ambitious, the very personifications of their respective regions--Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, and John C. Calhoun represented the foremost statemen of their age. In the decades preceding the Civil War, they dominated American congressional politics as no other figures have.”

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FROM 1850—1861 1.Compromise of 1850 5. 1857 – 2. 1852 – “Uncle Tom’s 6. 1858 – Lincoln-Douglas Cabin” Debates 3. 1854 – Kansas-Nebraska 7. 1859 – Raid on Act and “” Harper’s Ferry 4. 1856 – Caning of Charles 8. 1861 – Ft. Sumter Sumner Karen McPherson Fall 2018 90 90 Karen McPherson Fall 2018 91 91

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COMPROMISE OF 1850

1. admitted as a free state. 2. and organized under 3. Texas ceded its claim to parts of the ; the US government would cover Texas’s $10 million war debt.

Karen McPherson Fall 2018 93 93 COMPROMISE OF 1850

4. The slave trade is abolished in the District of Columbia, but slavery itself would continue. 5. Congress strengthened the Fugitive Slave Act by requiring citizens of any state, slave or free, to assist in the capture and return of runaway slaves.

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Impact of Fugitive Slave Act

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Karen McPherson Fall 2018 96 96 Uncle Tom’s Cabin -- 1853

▪ Author – ▪ 1811 – 1896 ▪ Religious family, Cincinnati ▪ Married Calvin Ellis Stowe in 1836 ▪ Supported ▪ Inspired to write Uncle Tom’s Cabin by the grief she felt at the loss of her son, Samuel Charles Stowe, in 1849 at the age of 18

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Impact of Uncle Tom’s Cabin

• Brought home the horrors of slavery to people who lived in the North

• Coupled with Fugitive Slave Act, made slavery a moral problem for everyone

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ELECTION OF 1852

Party Democratic Whig Free Soil Nominee John P. Hale Home State New Hampshire Virginia (W&M) New Jersey Running Mate William R. King William R. Graham George W. Julian Electoral Vote 254 42 0 States Carried 27 4 0 Popular Vote 1,607,510 1,386,942 155,210

Percentage 50.8% 43.9% 4.9%

Karen McPherson Fall 2018 99 99 1852 Election Map

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StephenStephen Foster Foster – “Beautiful Dreamer”

“Beautiful Dreamer”

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Karen McPherson Fall 2018 102 102 1854 KANSAS-NEBRASKA Act • Sponsor – Senator Stephen A. Douglas • Wanted to build a railroad west from Chicago • Hard to attract settlers to Kansas and Nebraska • Proposal: Nebraska would be a free state, Kansas a slave state • Final Act in 1854: popular sovereignty would

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Kansas-Nebraska Act

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CONSEQUENCE – “BLEEDING KANSAS” • Vote conducted by people living in each territory at the time of the vote • Nebraska – a done deal. • Kansas – problem • Borders Missouri, a slave state • Above 30°36” – Missouri Compromise Line

Karen McPherson Fall 2018 105 105 CONSEQUENCE – “BLEEDING KANSAS”

• Began pre-Civil War in Kansas • “Border Ruffians”

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“BLEEDING KANSAS” CONTINUED

Two competing territorial legislatures were established in Kansas • One pro-slavery, one anti- slavery • sends rifles – “Beecher’s Bibles” – to Kansas “Sack of Lawrence” – 1856 – Free Soil Capital Karen McPherson Fall 2018 107 107

IMPACT OF KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT AND “BLEEDING KANSAS” • Split the Whig Party into Northern and Southern factions • Southern Whigs were swept into the Democratic Party • Northern Whigs joined with other anti-slavery groups to form Republican Party • Administration of President Franklin Pierce did not

Karen McPherson stepFall 2018 in to settle this conflict 108 108 IMPACTS OF “BLEEDING KANSAS”

• Brutal guerrilla war in Kansas. • By the end of 1856, over 200 people would be gunned down in cold blood. • Property damage reached millions of dollars.

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IMPACTS OF “BLEEDING KANSAS”

• Federal troops were sent in to put down the fighting, but they were too few to have much effect. • Kansas was a prelude to the bloody catastrophe that engulfed the nation only 5 years later

Karen McPherson Fall 2018 111 111 CANING OF -- 1856

• Sumner’s Senate speech: “The Crime Against Kansas” • personal attack on SC Sen. • Rep. (Butler’s cousin) beat

Karen McPherson Sumner with a gold-headed Fall 2018 cane 112 112

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CANING OF CHARLES SUMNER -- 1856

• Brooks resigned his seat, returned to SC to seek reelection; • He was overwhelmingly re- elected • people throughout the south sent him gold-headed canes • Sumner did not return to the Senate for several years

Karen McPherson Fall 2018 114 114 ELECTION OF 1856

▪ State of Play in 1856 ▪ Whig Party -- GONE ▪ Democratic Party: the South plus pro-slavery elements in the North ▪ New Republican Party: various factions against the expansion of slavery ▪ No one was really against slavery itself ▪ “Know-Nothings”: anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic,

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ELECTION OF 1856

Party Democratic Republican Know-Nothing Nominee John C. Fremont Home State Pennsylvania California Running Mate John C. William L. Dayton Andrew J. Breckenridge Donelson Electoral Vote 174 114 8 States Carried 19 11 1 Popular Vote 1,836,072 1,342,345 873,053

Percentage 45.3% 33.1% 21.5% Karen McPherson Fall 2018 116 116

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