Slide to War

SLIDE TO WAR
III. Administration of Zachary Taylor (12th) and Millard Fillmore (13th)
A. Domestic Issues

New Congress
a. The House had 112 Democrats, 109 Whigs and 13 Free Soilers who held the balance of power, while in the Senate the Democrats had a 10 vote majority.
b. Bitter factionalism among Whigs over the Wilmot Proviso widened the breach between the Northern and Southern wings of their party and resulted in a 3-week, 63 ballot ordeal to elect a new Speaker of the House, Howell Cobb of GA.

Department of the Interior (Originally the Home Department) Mar 1849 - 6th cabinet position created by combining several government agencies including the Office of the Census, Office of Indian Affairs and General Land Office.

Slave Issue
a. Background
(1) The acquisition of new territory in 1846 (TX) and in 1850 (Mexican Cessation) created a need for a new solution for the issue of slavery in the territories.
(2) Attempts by abolitionists with measures like the Tallmadge Amendment and Wilmot Proviso made Southerners esp. apprehensive of losing their balance in the Senate.
b. Proposed Solutions for Slavery in the Territories
(1) No slavery anywhere - extreme view of radical abolitionists like William Lloyd Garrison who demanded the immediate emancipation of all slaves without compensating the owners
(2) No slavery in the New Territories
(a) In 1840 the Liberty Party ran James G. Birney for President on a platform of no slavery in the new territories and gained twice the support in 1844.
(b) By 1848, this issue gained support, was expressed by Free Soilers and was eventually absorbed by the Republicans (willing to let slavery exist where it already did).
(c) The Wilmot Proviso had tried to keep slavery out of any territory gained from Mexico as the result of negotiation or as prizes of war.
(3) Popular Sovereignty - Let citizens of a given territory decide whether or not to allow slavery, not the US Congress.
(a) The "father" of this idea was Lewis Cass (MI)
(b) Its major national proponent, Stephen A. Douglas (IL), believed that slavery could not prosper in the Southwest and therefore it would not hurt to legalize it.
(4) Extend the Missouri Compromise Line to the Pacific - proposed as least controversial to divide the territories into slave and free sections.
(5) Allow Slavery in All Territories
(a) Because the territories were won by common effort from the North and South any US citizen should be allowed to take his property (including slaves) into the territories.
(b) John C. Calhoun and other extremists even suggested that slaves should be allowed into any state, even those considered free.

Compromise of 1850
a. Background
(1) Address of the Southern Delegates Signed by 46 delegates + 2 Whigs
(a) A congressional caucus of 69 Southerners considered steps to oppose legislation prohibiting the slave trade in the District of Columbia.
Their spokesman, John C. Calhoun, reaffirmed the right of slaveholders to take their property into the territories and listed a series of Northern "acts of aggression" against Southern states' rights including
i) excluding slaves from the territories
ii) blocking the return of fugitive slaves
(2) California and NM
(a) Polk failed to secure territorial organization for CA and NM, because of the issue of the status of slavery in the newly acquired territories, but the influx of settlers into California after the discovery of gold made the issue of territorial organization a pressing need.
(b) Taylor favored territories determining the question of slavery, not Congress, and informed the people of CA and NM not to wait for Congress to act on the issue before forming a government
i) A convention in Monterey CA (Sept - Oct 1849) adopted a constitution banning slavery (ratified by Californians in Nov).
ii) Taylor recommended admitting CA immediately threatening to maintain the Union against recent threats of disunion by Southerners who immediately attacked his plan.
(c) Mar 1850 -- CA applied for statehood as the 31st state, which would upset the balance between free and slave states.
b. Clay's Resolutions
(1) Returning to the Senate after a long absence, Henry Clay introduced several resolutions designed as a general formula for settling differences between North and South
(2) His resolutions:
(a) Admit California as a free state
(b) Organize the rest of the Mexican territory without restriction on slavery
(c) Adjust the New Mexico-Texas boundary
(d) Assume the Texas debt contracted before annexation, if Texas relinquished any claims to any part of Mexico.
(e) No interference with slavery in the District of Columbia
(f) Prohibit the slave trade in the District of Columbia
(g) More effective provisions for the return of fugitive slaves
(h) Declare that Congress had no authority to interfere with interstate slave trade.
c. Great Debate
(1) Senate debates on these resolutions (greatest in Congressional history) marked the last meeting of the Great Triumvirate of Calhoun, Clay and Webster
(a) Clay appealed for mutual concessions and warned that secession was no remedy for Southern grievances
(b) Too ill to speak, Calhoun's speech, read by Sen. James M. Mason (VA), contained ways the Union could be saved:
i) Give the South equal rights in the acquired territory,
ii) Halt agitation over the slavery question
iii) Amend the constitution to restore the substantive power the South enjoyed before the balance of power was destroyed by the government (in essence give each section veto power over congressional laws, his doctrine of concurrent majority ).
(c) Speaking as an American in favor of the Union, not as a sectionalist, Webster supported the resolutions, holding that slavery was excluded in the territories by virtue of soil and climate, and therefore it was not necessary for Congress to ban slavery in the territories.
(2) Others also opposed the Compromise resolutions
(a) William Seward (NY) opposed the compromise and supported the Wilmot Proviso, appealing to "a higher law" justifying the refusal of constitutional protection to slavery.
(b) Jefferson Davis (MS) advocated Congressional noninterference with slavery and upheld equal rights for the South
(c) Salmon P. Chase (OH) asserted a Congressional duty to prohibit slavery in the territories.
(3) These were supported by Henry Foote (MS), Stephen Douglas (IL), Lewis Cass (MI)
d. Omnibus Bill
(1) A special Senate 13-member committee, chaired by Clay, and composed of 7 Whigs and 6 Democrats represented 7 slave and 6 free states.
(2) The committee offered two bills: One which dealt with the organization of the territories and one which prohibited the slave trade in the District of Columbia.
(3) President Taylor resisted the immediate organization of New Mexico and Utah, but his death enabled Clay's compromises to pass with support from Fillmore.
e. Compromise of 1850 (Sept) 5 bills
(1) Admission of California as a free state
(2) Texas and New Mexico Act organized New Mexico without restriction on slavery, adjusted the Texas-New Mexico boundary by compensating Texas with $10 million for abandoning any claims to NM and permitted popular sovereignty to determine slavery in NM
(3) Utah Act established a territorial government along the same lines as New Mexico, using popular sovereignty to determine the status of slavery
(4) Furtive Slave Act amended the original law of 1793 by placing fugitive slave cases under exclusive Federal jurisdiction
(a) It provided for special US commissioners to issue warrants for the arrest of fugitives and certificates for returning them to their masters, accepted an affidavit by the claimant as proof of ownership and provided heavy penalties for evasion or obstruction of the law.
(b) Fugitives who claimed to be freemen were denied a right to trial by jury, and their testimony was not admitted as evidence at any hearing
(c) If a slave escaped, a negligent marshal might be sued for the slave's value.
(5) Act Abolishing the Slave Trade in the District of Columbia eff. 1 Jan 1851
f. Results
(1) Most Northern Whigs and Democrats accepted this measure as a permanent settlement of the slave question.
(2) But Northern radicals condemned the Fugitive Slave Act, promising to obstruct its enforcement
(3) Most Southerners welcomed it as an alternative to disunion and defeated the secessionists in the Southern state elections in 1851.
(4) While radicals gained politically in the North, the Compromise of 1850 really signaled the end of the Whig party.

Reactions to the Compromise of 1850
a. Nashville Convention
(1) Southern advocates of separatism early in 1850 met to discuss their position on Clay's Compromise and on the question of Southern rights.
(2) A convention was called in Nashville of all the slave states by extreme advocates of secession, led by Robert Barnwell Rhett
(3) Delegates from 9 slave states were controlled by moderates who wanted to extend the MO Compromise line to the Pacific.
b. "Silver Gray" Whigs Oct 1850
(1) NY State Whig convention in Syracuse in Sept 1850 endorsed Seward's radical position.
(2) Forty conservative delegates of the Fillmore wing, led by Francis Granger with gray hair, left the meeting, met in Utica and condemned Seward's policies in favor of those of Fillmore
(3) The faction seized control of the American (Know-Nothing) Party in New York
c. Georgia Platform Dec 1850
(1) Conservative Southern Unionists, led by Charles J. Jenkins, drew up a platform which was adopted by a state convention at Milledgeville
(2) These resolutions did not wholly approve the Compromise of 1850 but pledged to abide by it as a "permanent adjustment of this sectional controversy."
(3) It called for resisting the disruption of the ties that bound Georgia to the Union.
(4) Robert A. Toombs and Howell Cobb formed a Union Rights Party with this platform

The death of Zachary Taylor (9 July 1850) made Fillmore the 13th US president.

Clayton-Bulwer Treaty Apr 1850
a. British encroachment in Central America
(1) Interest in an interoceanic canal across the isthmian routs in Central American remained high in the US, which began to notice the actions of Britain in the area
(2) Britain at the request of settlers in Belize established a protectorate over the Mosquito Coast claimed by Nicaragua, driving Nicaraguans out of Mosquitia, forcing them to renounce the area in the vicinity of the San Juan River, at the eastern terminus of the canal projected by the US.
(3) Polk's special envoy to Nicaragua, Elijah Hise, (investigating British activities) concluded a treaty with Nicaragua which gave the US exclusive right of way across the isthmus and the right to fortify the route in exchange for protection of Nicaraguan sovereignty, but Polk never sent it to the Senate.
b. Taylor concluded a similar treaty in 1849 through EG Squier, which also obtained Tigre Island for the US in the Gulf of Fonseca, but the island was seized by the British who refused to leave.
c. Secretary of State Clayton, after informing the British Foreign Minister that the US would not recognize the British protectorate over Mosquitia or its hold on the San Juan River, initiated talks with the British minister to the US, Sir Henry Lytton Bulwer .
d. Discussions resulted in a treaty approved by the US Senate and included that both nations:
(1) would not exercise exclusive control over an isthmian ship canal, or to fortify it
(2) guaranteed the neutrality and security of the canal
(3) agreed to keep any future canal open to their nationals on terms of equality; and,
(4) pledged not to colonize, occupy or exercise dominion over any part of Central America.
Hulsemann Letter Dec 1850
Lopez Filibustering Expeditions

C. Other Domestic Trends

Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin
a. An original serialized work in the antislavery newspaper, National Era , was published in book form, Uncle Tom's Cabin , a sentimental novel directed against the brutality and injustice of slavery
b. Inspired by the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law it sold over 1,200,000 copies (mid-1853)
c. It was criticized as not being based on factual evidence, a fact Stowe repudiated.
d. Although her book was influential, especially in the North, it was filled with many contemporary myths about blacks
(1) Blacks were inferior, even free blacks.
(2) The most intelligent blacks were mulattos
e. Her solution to the free black problem -- journey back to Africa.
"Young America" Movement
a. An amorphous movement in the mid-1840s was identified with aggressive nationalism, manifest destiny and sympathy for the European revolutions of 1848.
b. Most adherents were Democrats including Stephen A. Douglas, its chief spokesman was George N. Sanders and its publishing arm was the Democratic Review .
c. Its program peaked in 1852 with a platform advocating southward expansion, aid to republican elements in foreign countries and free trade.

D. Presidential Election of 1852

Candidates
a. Democrats in Baltimore
(1) Leading candidates were Stephen A. Douglas, Lewis Cass, William L. Marcy, and James Buchanan but the 2/3 rule kept any of them from being nominated.
(2) For the 2d time, a darkhorse candidate was chosen (after 48 ballots), a lawyer, Senator Franklin Pierce (NH), veteran of the Mexican War and alcoholic who favored slavery.
(3) Nominated for Vice-President was William R. King (AL)
(4) Democratic platform strongly supported the finality of the Compromise of 1850, including its man-stealing Fugitive Slave Law, affirmed opposition to attempts to renew agitation in Congress over the slavery issue, and endorsed the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions
b. Whigs in Baltimore
(1) No statesmanlike candidate of national recognition was chosen because men like Daniel Webster were tainted with Northern Whigs for strongly supporting the Fugitive Slave law.
(2) Although President Fillmore had signed the Compromise of 1850 the Whigs failed to capitalize on their role in the compromise
(3) The Whigs turned for a third time to a military hero (53d ballots), Winfield Scott , "hero of Vera Cruz, Old Fuss and Feathers and for vice-President, William A Graham (NC).
(4) The Whig platform was less enthusiastic about the Compromise, hoping to soft pedal the issue of slavery nationally, condemned further agitation of the slavery issue, affirmed states' rights and supported river and harbor improvements.
c. Free Soil Party in Pittsburgh -- John P. Hale (NH) and George W. Julian (IN) were nominated on a platform that condemned slavery and the Compromise of 1850 and supported free homesteads for "landless settlers" and unimpeded entry for immigrants
Campaign
a. The two major parties, hoping to keep the slavery issue out of the campaign, centered on personalities instead
(1) Democrats' slogan - We Polked them in 44, we'll Pierce them in 52 .
(2) Critics of Pierce called him the Hero of many a bottle .
b. Whigs were so badly split between a northern wing, that supported the candidate but not the platform that endorsed the Fugitive Slave law and a southern wing that supported the platform but were not enthusiastic about Scott.
Results
a. Thousands of Southern Whigs voted Democrat.
b. 5,000 Democrats in GA voted for Webster although he died two weeks before the election
c. Pierce received 254 electoral votes (27 states) with 1,601,474 votes to Scott's 42 electoral votes (four states), and 1,386,578 popular votes
d. The election effectively signaled the end of Whigs as a national party and indicated the decline of the Free Soilers whose candidate received less votes in 1852 (156,149) than in 1848 (291,263).

IV. Administration of Franklin Pierce (14th President)
A. In his Inaugural Address, Pierce pledged full support to the Compromise of 1850 and also supported the acquisition of new territory by peaceful means.
B. Domestic Issues

Kansas-Nebraska Act May 1854
a. Background
(1) Railroad promoters desired a westward completed railroad line to the Pacific
(2) The Gadsden Purchase was negotiated to enhance a more southern route for a transcontinental railroad (supported by Pierce and Jefferson Davis), but Senator Stephen A. Douglas (IL) introduced a bill to increase settlement in the Louisiana Purchase territory and enhance a more northern route through his state.
b. Terms of the act
(1) Territories west of MO could be divided at the 40th parallel into two territoriess: KS, NE.
(2) The question of slavery would be left to the settlers in each territory (legalizing squatter or popular sovereignty ).
(3) Such a measure effectively repealed the MO Compromise allowing slavery above the Missouri Compromise line in the Louisiana Purchase.
(4) This established the doctrine of Congressional nonintervention in the territories.
c. Appeal of the Independent Democrats Jan 1855
(1) Several Democrats condemned the bill as a violation of a pledge and the work of a slave holders plot and believed that the Compromise of 1850 had upheld the MO Compromise.
(2) Douglas was criticized and motives were attributed to him for his support inclu-ding a suggestion that he courted Southern Democrats for a run for President.
(3) Their appeal, widely circulated, was partly responsible for the organization of Republicans.

Establishment of the Republican Party
a. With the demise of Free Soilers and Whigs, political forces realigned in the West and North.
b. A coalition of Whigs, Free-Soilers and antislave Democrats met in Ripon WS in Feb 1854 to discuss the organization of a new party on the single principle of opposition to extending slavery into the territories.
c. The name Republican was officially adopted in July at Jackson MI with a platform that called for a repeal of the KS-NE Act and Fugitive Slave Law and demanded the removal of slavery from the District of Columbia
d. Early leaders -- Charles Sumner , George Julian , former Free-Soilers Salmon P. Chase and Lyman Trumbull and conservative Whigs Edward Bates and Orville H. Browning .
e. Lincoln's "Peoria Speech" -- His first public denunciation of slavery
(1) He condemned the KS-NE Act but did not believe it resulted from a slaveholder conspiracy
(2) Lincoln acknowledged the constitutional rights of Southerners, a preference for gradual emancipation and a fair, practical Fugitive Slave law, but opposed slavery in the territories.

Resurgence of the Know-Nothing or American Party
a. In the demise of the two major parties, the anti-Catholic, anti-Immigrant movement of the 1840s was revived nationally after the elections of 1852
b. The password I don't know for many secret lodges in every state was the basis for its name.
c. Its program called for the exclusion of Catholics and foreigners from public office and for a 21-year citizenship residency requirement.
d. Being divided on the slavery issue weakened the party, which after 1856 led to its demise, with many being absorbed into the Republican Party.

Bleeding Kansas

Popular sovereignty was severely tested when Kansas was opened to settlement.
Because nonintervention was now Congress's policy, whoever controlled the territorial government was a vital necessity which provoked armed conflict between proslavery and antislavery forces
a. Northerners financed immigration to Kansas by many who favored no slavery.
b. Southerners also sent proslavery supporters, esp. from neighboring Missouri, a slave state.
The first territorial governor, Andrew H. Reeder (PA), was appointed in June 1854 but the election of a legislature provoked violence and fraud
a. About 1,700 armed men from western Missouri elected pro-slavery John W. Whitfield.
b. Some 5,000 Missouri "Border Ruffians" also participated in the election of a territorial legislature, many voting more than once.
Armed intimidators kept Reeder from declaring the election fraudulent.
KS therefore was organized as a proslavery legislature which convened in July and passed many proslavery statutes including severe penalties for antislavery agitation and a test oath for office holders.
Topeka Constitution
a. Antislavery colonists repudiated the territorial legislature as illegal and asked to be admitted to the US as a free state.
b. James H. Lane was appointed military commander of the Free State forces
c. A Free State convention, meeting in Oct-Nov, drew up a constitution prohibiting slavery but also allowing its citizens a resolution whether any Negroes should be allowed to enter Kansas.
d. Both measures passed and a Free State governor and legislature were elected (Jan 1856), giving Kansas in effect dual governments.
e. Pierce in a special message to Congress in Jan 1856 condemned the Topeka convention, which indicated his endorsement of the proslavery legislature.
Reeder was replaced by Wilson Shannon (OH), who favored slavery, but was him-self elected as a Congressional delegate by the Free State men, while Whitfield was elected by slavery men.
Civil War in Kansas
a. In the late spring of 1856, actual civil war broke out, by which time Free State men had received from the East fresh shipments of arms, Sharps rifles popularly known as Beechers Bibles .
b. Lawrence was ransacked by "Border Ruffians" and proslavery men burning down Free State buildings and newspaper presses and offices (May).
c. Reports of the affair were exaggerated, inflaming Northern antislavery sentiment
d. John Brown and the Pottawatomie Massacre (Night of 24-25 May)
(1) The fanatic John Brown with 6 companions including 4 sons retaliated for proslavery depredations by executing at midnight 5 proslavery colonists at Pottawatomie Creek, an act disavowed by Free State men but which raised tensions between the factions to new heights
(2) The Free State Party seized a proslavery stronghold at Franklin in August, but 300 proslavery men attacked Osawatomie which was defended by John Brown and 40 other Free Staters, who were driven off before the town was pillaged.
e. 200 were killed between Nov 1855 - Dec 1856 and property damages estimated at $2 million.
f. Shannon resigned and eventually was replaced by presidential-appointee John W. Geary (PA), whose use of Federal troops turned back 2,500 "Border Ruffians" who were moving on Lawrence and brought a temporary peace in KS
g. Application for Statehood
(1) Free Staters requested statehood and elected Lane and Reeder as Senators.
(2) Douglas introduced an enabling act for KS to elect a constitutional convention and to form a state government, although he denounced the Topeka government.
(3) The Senate supported KS entry after a new constitution was written, but the House favored admitting KS under the Topeka constitution, quashing the issue while Pierce was president
h. Caning of Sumner
(1) In the Congressional debates over KS, Sen Charles Sumner bitterly denounced the "Slave Oligarchy" and its "rape" of KS (May 1856).
(2) Sumner used coarse and insulting aspersions upon the character of several senators, including Andrew P. Butler (SC) who was absent.
(3) In retaliation, Butler's nephew, Rep. Preston S. Brooks (SC) assaulted Sumner as he sat at his desk in the Senate chamber.
(a) Sumner collapsed under the heavy blows and did not again attend Congressional sessions, except for a single day, until Dec 1859.
(b) Attempts to expel or censure Brooks in the House failed, although his action was generally approved in the South.
(c) Brooks resigned in July but was unanimously reelected by his district.
(4) In the North, the Brooks-Sumner affair was condemned as a gross violation of free speech.

D. Foreign Policy Issues

Gadsden Purchase Dec 1853 (previously mentioned) was in line with his policy of acquiring territory peacefully.
Reopening of Japan
a. A special expedition to Japan led by Commodore Matthew C. Perry explored the commercial potentials of Japan, which had been isolated from the Western world since the early 17th century.
b. Perry arrived in July 1853 and successfully completed by Mar 1854 a commercial treaty of peace and friendship with Japan, Treaty of Kanagawa , which opened Japan's ports to trade with the US and laid the foundation for later agreements between the US and Japan.
Ostend Manifesto 1854
a. After the US Black Warrior was seized in Havana, Congressional expansionists called for war with Spain, which ultimately apologized and made reparations.
b. A meeting in Ostend Belgium approved by Pierce for the purpose of shaping a policy for acquiring Cuba was attended by US ministers John Y. Mason (to France), James Buchanan (to Great Britain) and Pierre Soule (to Spain).
c. A confidential diplomatic dispatch declared Cuba indispensable for the security of slavery and recommended that the US make every effort to buy Cuba and if Spain refused, to use every possible legal means to "wrest" it from Spain.
d. Publication of the manifesto in the NY Herald aroused Northern suspicions, intensified Spanish resentment toward the US and increased criticism of Pierce for being dominated by Southerners.
Walker's Filibustering Expeditions

E. Election of 1856

Candidates
a. Democrats in Cincinnati nominated James Buchanan (PA) on the 17th ballot for President, (after rejecting Pierce and Douglas because of their association with KS and John C. Breckinridge (KY) for Vice-President.
b. A Republican Coalition in Philadelphia nominated COL John C. Fremont (CA) for President and William L Dayton (NJ) for Vice-President
c. Know-Nothing or American Party in Philadelphia nominated Millard Fillmore (NY) for President and Andrew J. Donelson for vice-President on a Nativist platform, both of whom were endorsed in Baltimore by Whigs who warned against sectionalization of political parties.
Campaign
a. Democrats affirmed the Compromise of 1850 and supported the KS-NE Act as the only safe solution of the slavery issue.
b. Republicans upheld Congress's authority to control slavery in the territories, condemned the Ostend Manifesto, and favored a transcontinental railroad, the admission of Kansas as a free state and a Homestead Act, using the slogan - Free Soil, Free Speech and Fremont .
c. It was pointed out that Fremont was a Catholic and he was accused of being illegitimate, charges designed to keep Northern Know-Nothings from voting for him.
d. The chief issue was "Bleeding Kansas" as the Republicans called it while Democrats and Fillmore supporters attacked "Black Republicans" as a sectional threat to the Union.
Results
a. Buchanan received 1,838,169 popular votes to Fremont's 1,335,264 to Fillmore's 874,534, making him a minority president
b. Buchanan carried 14 slave and 5 free states (174 electoral votes) to Fremont's 11 free states (114 electoral votes) while Fillmore carried only Maryland (8 votes).
c. The election foreshadowed the hardening of sectional lines as there were no men of national stature like Daniel Webster and Henry Clay, both of whom died in 1852, to produce yet another delaying compromise between the sections.
Buchanan the Man -- only bachelor elected who remained so in the White House, but he had once been engaged to Anne Canelman, a millionaire's daughter, but rumors that he only wanted her money, caused her to break the engagement, after which she died shortly thereafter, probably a suicide.

V. Buchanan Administration (15th President)
A. Domestic Issues

Buchanan's Inaugural Address condemned slavery agitation, supported a policy of noninterference with slavery in the states and popular sovereignty in the territories and predicted that the slave issue would be "speedily and finally settled" by the US Supreme Court.

Dred Scott Decision (Scott vs Sandford Mar 1857)
a. Background
(1) Born in Virginia, Dred Scott, household slave of Dr. John Emerson, an army surgeon, was taken in 1834 from St. Louis MO to Rock Island IL (where slavery had been banned by the Ordinance of 1787) and later to Ft. Snelling in Wisconsin Territory (where slavery had been prohibited by the 1820 Missouri Compromise).
(2) Scott remained on free soil during most of 1834-38.
(3) When Emerson died in 1843, his wife, Eliza Irene Sanford, remarried an abolitionist from Massachusetts and moved to New England, leaving her business affairs in the hands of her brother, John F. A. Sanford
(4) Rather than free his wife's slaves, the abolitionist encouraged Scott to sue for his freedom to provide a Supreme Court test case, which might deal a blow to the institution of slavery.
b. Scott and his wife Harriet sued for their freedom in the Missouri courts in 1846, holding the position that he had become free, after living five years in free territory.
(1) A lower court ruled in favor of Scott, but in 1852, the state supreme court ruled against him Scott vs Emerson (although in a previous ruling, the same court had ruled that a slave became free after having lived in free territory upon his return to Missouri. See Rachael vs Walker 1837, based on the principle once free, always free ).
(2) Sanford had purchased the slave in order to make the case appear better.
c. The case before the Supreme Court
(1) Unfortunately, Scott's lawyers injected other issues into the case, rather than just freedom, like Scott's ability to sue in a federal court and the issue of a black's claim to be a US citizen.
(a) The issue shifted to whether Scott had ever been free, not whether Missouri could keep him in slavery.
(b) It also challenged the constitutionality of the Missouri Compromise and the power of Congress to limit slavery in the territories.
(2) The Supreme Court ruled against Scott 7 to 2 (6 Mar 1857).
(a) Chief Justice Roger B.Taney , speaking for the majority, ruled that Scott was still a slave for several reasons:
i) Blacks were citizens of individual states but not citizens of the US with the right to sue in a federal court, so Scott's case was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.
ii) Scott was still a slave because he had never been free in the first place.
iii) Congress had exceeded its authority when it forbade or abolished slavery in territories because no such power could be inferred from the Constitution, which invalidated the Missouri Compromise
iv) Slaves were property protected by the Constitution.
v) Regardless of a slave's status in another state or territory, if a slave voluntarily returned to a slave state, his or her status depended on the law of that state, as interpreted by that state's courts, which in this case, the MO high court had declared that Scott was still a slave, a ruling which the US Supreme Court would recognize.
(b) Benjamin R. Curtis and John McLean dissented, arguing that free Negroes were US citizens and that Congress could regulate slavery in the territories (Article IV Section 3)
(3) Aftermath
(a) Violent reaction to the ruling was unleashed, creating irreconcilable partisan passions, as antislavery forces feared that next the Court might legalize slavery everywhere.
(b) It further divided the Democrats because Southerners were delighted with the ruling
(c) The press and others instituted a furious assault on the Court, attacking individual justices and undermined the Supreme Court's integrity at a time that the stabilizing influence of a respected national judiciary was so needed.
(d) With the Court intrusion on the slave issue, many felt that a compromise on slavery was now impossible, moving the nation irretrievably toward war.
(e) The Dred Scott Decision was overturned by the Civil War, the 13th amend-ment which abolished slavery and the 14th amendment which made all persons, regardless of color or previous condition of servitude, US citizens.
(f) Scott died in 1858, without receiving those benefits.

Lecompton Constitution
a. Background
(1) Although Gov Geary pushed for new elections to establish genuine self-gov-ernment, the proslavery legislature at Lecompton called for an election to a constitutional convention.
(2) Robert J. Walker (MS) replaced the governor and pledged that any constitution which was adopted would be submitted to the people for a fair vote.
(3) Walker persuaded a Free State convention in Topeka to elect a new legislature.
(4) Walker and the territorial secretary threw out thousands of fraudulent proslavery votes, giving the new legislature a Free State majority in both houses.
b. Lecompton Convention
(1) Recognizing that a proslavery constitution would be rejected if submitted to a fair vote, the convention drafted a special article on slavery which alone was submitted to a popular vote, not the constitution as a whole.
(2) The article guaranteed the right of property in slaves (i.e., those already in the state would not be abolished)
(3) Walker was against this arrangement and sought help from Buchanan, who was under the influence of a pro-Southern cabinet.
(4) Buchanan, desiring party unity, upheld the Lecompton convention and Walker resigned
c. Vote
(1) Free Staters boycotted the vote on the constitution resulting in a vote for the constitution with slavery 6,226 and without slavery 569.
(2) 2,720 of the pro votes were later shown to be fraudulent.
(3) Another vote was held which resulted in 10,226 votes against the constitution as a whole and less that 200 for it in any form.
d. Buchanan submitted the Lecompton constitution to Congress (Feb 1858), recommending that KS be admitted as a slave state, which ruptured the Democrats because Douglas had come out against the Lecompton constitution, as a violation of popular sovereignty and a mockery of justice.
(1) Douglas and his supporters were punished by the Democratic hierarchy in Con-gress and the Senate voted to admit Kansas under the Lecompton constitution
(2) The House, however, resubmitted the constitution to the people of KS for a popular vote
e. English Bill - A compromise measure supported by Buchanan providing for a popular vote on the Lecompton constitution as a whole, passed both houses of Congress -- if the constitution was rejected, a census of KS would be taken to insure that an adequate population of 90,000 existed.
f. Results
(1) The Constitution was rejected (August 1858) [11,218 votes against - 1,926 for]
(2) Kansas statehood was delayed until Jan 1861 when it was admitted as a free state under the Wyandotte Constitution .
(3) This gave Republicans a powerful campaign issue, encouraged the rise of Southern extremists over moderates, cost Buchanan Northern Democrat support and disrupted the Democratic Party.
(4) Abraham Lincoln, nominated by Republicans for Senator in Illinois, made his House Divided speech, in which he predicted that the nation could not exist half slave and half free, but he did not expect disunion, only that it would become either all of one or the other.

Panic of 1857
a. Causes
(1) Failure of the NY City branch of the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust.
(2) Influx of California gold plus grain grown for the increased demands of the Crimean War
(3) Land and railroad speculation
b. The economic collapse caused 5,000 businesses to fail and unemployment to rise.
c. Because of its cotton crop, the South was somewhat preserved in the Panic, which gave them a false sense that its economy was stronger than the North's, that Cotton was King and that the European markets needed Southern Cotton.
d. Old issues were raised because of this economic depression
(1) Tariff of 1857 was lowered by 20% as the result of a treasury surplus, but the panic wiped out the surplus quickly
(2) Homestead Issue
(a) Supporters of giving settlers 160 acres if improved over a 5-year period again voiced it.
i) The East opposed it because it would cause the loss of cheaper labor
ii) The South opposed it because more that 160 acres was required to maintain gang-labor slavery as used on large plantations and because it would create new free states, further reducing Southern political clout.
(b) Congress passed an act, providing acres at 25 cents but Buchanan vetoed it
e. Both issues were raised by Republicans in 1860

Impending Crisis
a. Hinton Rowan Helper 's (NC) book Impending Crisis of the South: How to Meet It , published in mid-1857 used statistics from the Census of 1850 to prove that slavery had degraded and impoverished broad sections of Southern whites.
b. Although the work was endorsed by 68 House Republicans in 1859 and 100,000 copies of a condensed version was distributed, the South banned the book as insurrectionary and produced counter publications such as Helper's Impending Crisis Dissected by Samuel M. Wolfe.
c. John Sherman (OH) was denied the House Speakership (Dec 1859) after endorsing the book

Lincoln-Douglas Debates
a. Lincoln's opponent in the Illinois Senate Race was the incumbent, Stephen A Douglas, whom he challenged to a series of seven debates.
b. The most memorable debate was at Freeport where Douglas formed his Freeport Doctrine
(1) Lincoln asked Douglas how to reconcile "popular sovereignty" with the Scott decision.
(2) Douglas replied that the people of a territory could exclude slavery by lawful means prior to the formation of a state constitution because "slavery could not exist a day or an hour anywhere," unless supported by local police regulations established by local legislatures.
(3) His answer was not considered strong enough by Northerners and reminded Southerners that certain police powers were required to make slavery work.
(4) Southern Senators deprived Douglas of key Senate posts and cost him support among Southern Democrats as well.
c. These debates indicated the differences between Lincoln and Douglas
(1) Lincoln regarded slavery as "a moral, social and political wrong" but rejected Negro equality
(2) Douglas avoided the moral issue.
d. Lincoln won the popular vote in Illinois but failed to carry the legislature 54-41.

John Brown's Raid Oct 1859
a. Several New England and NY abolitionists financially backed John Brown who formulated a plan, being led by "God," to instigate a slave rebellion in VA, create a free state in the Southern Appalachians and spread a servile rebellion southward.
b. Raid on Harper's Ferry VA Arsenal
(1) Brown collected arms at the Kennedy farm in Maryland before crossing the Potomac, leading eighteen men (including 5 slaves) to Harper's Ferry VA.
(2) Seizing the Federal arsenal and armory, they took some local citizens hostage and issued a call through the countryside for other slaves to join the rebellion.
(3) When no slaves answered the call to rebel, after two days of battle, Brown and his survivors were taken prisoner by US marines under Col Robert E. Lee .
c. Treason Trial 25 Oct - 2 Dec -- Brown was indicted for treason against Virginia and criminal conspiracy to incite a slave insurrection, tried at Charlestown VA, convicted and hanged along with four of his band on the sixteenth and two others on 16 Mar 1860.
d. Southerners blamed abolitionists and "Black Republicans" for Brown's raid.
e. Conservative Northerners deplored the raid, abolitionists mourned Brown as a hero and martyr and Southerners saw it as an example of what the North would do if given a chance.

African Slave Trade
a. The Southern Commercial Convention at Vicksburg called for a repeal of all laws which prohibited the foreign slave trade.
b. Buchanan remained firmly committed to suppressing the illicit traffic and opposed reopening it.

Davis Resolutions
a. Jefferson Davis put forth resolutions, embodying the Southern extremist view:
(1) no state had a right to interfere in the domestic institutions of another state
(2) any attack on slavery within slave states violated the US constitution
(3) the Senate duty was to oppose all discriminatory measures against persons or property in the territories
(4) Because neither congress nor a territorial legislature was empowered to impair the right to hold slaves in the territories, the Federal government should extend all needful protection (i.e., a slave code) to slavery in the territories
(5) The territories might not decide on the slavery issue until admitted to the Union
(6) All state legislation interfering with the recovery of fugitive slaves was contrary to the constitutional compact.
b. Although the Senate endorsed the resolutions, the breach between the Northern and Southern wings of the Democratic party.

Secession Threats
a. Political leaders in the lower South began pushing the idea of Southern solidarity and secession.
b. Radical resolutions were adopted in South Carolina and Mississippi.
c. Many states including AL and FL maintained that if a "Black Republican" were elected president, this would be grounds for dissolving the Union.
d. Lincoln's speech at Cooper Union in NY City refuted "popular sovereignty," condemned Northern extremism and appealed to sectional understanding, while at the same time noting the South's threats of disunion, although he pledged no compromise on the issue of slavery extension.

Candidates
a. Democrats in Charleston SC
(1) Southern Democrats, dominated by radicals, insisted on a platform which supported protection for slavery in the territories while Douglas Democrats reaffirmed the platform of 1856 approving Congressional nonintervention.
(2) It was badly split when delegates from 8 Southern states withdrew to a separate convention
(3) Because they were unable to get a candidate after 57 ballots, the Democrats reassembled in Baltimore where they nominated Stephen A. Douglas (IL) for President and Herschel V. Johnson (GA) for Vice-President.
b. Republicans in Chicago - On the 3d ballot, a single-term Congressman Abraham Lincoln (IL), was nominated for President over Wm Seward, identified with radical abolitionism, and Hannibal Hamlin (ME) was added for Vice-President.
c. Other Candidates
(1) The Charleston seceders also convened at Baltimore to nominate John C. Breckinridge (KY) for President and Joseph Lane (OR) for Vice-President
(2) Constitutional Union Party in Baltimore, composed of remnants of the Whig and American Party nominated John Bell (TN) for President and Edward Everett (MA) for Vice-President and supported the Union.
Campaign
a. In addition to a platform similar to the Democratic platform of 1856, the Democrats favored abiding by Supreme Court decisions and the acquisition of Cuba.
b. Republican platform was designed to win support in the East and West
(1) It reaffirmed the principals of the Declaration of Independence, the Wilmot Proviso, and the right of each state to control its domestic institutions.
(2) It supported internal improvements, a transcontinental railroad, a homestead law a protective tariff and a liberal immigration policy.
(3) It condemned attempts to reopen the African slave trade and denied authority to Congress or a territorial legislature to give slavery legal status in the territories
c. The Charleston Democrats supported slavery in the territories, the admission of states into the union on an equal footing with the rest, and the acquisition of Cuba.
Results
a. Although many hoped that the multiplicity of candidates would force this election into the House of Representatives, Lincoln won a popular vote of 1,866,352 to Douglas's 1,375,157 to Breckinridge's 847,953 to Bell's 589,581, making Lincoln who did not carry a single Southern vote, a minority President.
b. Lincoln carried 180 (of 303) electoral votes (18 free states) to Breckinridge's 72 electoral votes (11 slave states) to Bell's 39 (3 border states) to Douglas's 12 (Missouri and 3 from New Jersey).
c. Had a fusion ticket been formed with Lincoln's opposition, it would have changed the outcome in only three states (NJ, CA and OR), a total of 11 electoral votes and would not have effected the outcome of this election.

C. Buchanan's Last Days

South Carolina Secession Crisis
a. As soon as SC learned of Lincoln's election, their legislature voted unanimously to hold a state convention at Columbia.
b. This convention passed on 20 Dec without a dissenting vote, an ordinance which dissolved the union of states called "the United States of America."
c. Grounds for disunion were stressed which included state sovereignty, the North's long attack on the institution of slavery, the rise of a sectional party and the election of a president whose views were hostile to slavery.
Secessionism Extended
a. Between 9 Jan - 1 Feb, joining SC in seceding on the grounds of Northern aggression against their domestic institutions: Jan - MS 9th, FL 10th, AL 11th, GA 19th, LA 26th and TX 1 Feb.
b. Four other states, VA, NC, TN and AK, warned that they opposed any attempt of the Federal government to coerce a state.
c. TX citizens voted on the actions of its secession convention after voting to leave, 34,794 for, 11,255 against, although secession was opposed by Gov Sam Houston
d. VA (23 May) voted 96,750 for 32,132 against and TN (9 February) voted on a measure to consider secession which they rejected 68,282 to 59,449 although after Ft. Sumter on 8 June, TN voted 104,913 for secession to 47,238 against.
e. Sizable Union minorities existed in NC, VA and TN, and Alexander H. Stephens , as late as Nov 1860 still spoke against secessionism but after the ordinance of secession was adopted in GA, he helped organize the new government and was elected Vice-President of the Confederacy
Buchanan's Annual Message to Congress
a. Buchanan recognized Southern grievances but did not favor disunion
b. Buchanan did not think, however, that the Federal Government had the power to prevent secession by force, and tread softly to prevent other states from seceding.
Organization of the Confederate States of America 4 Feb 1861 in Montgomery AL
a. A convention framed a constitution and set up a provisional government.
b. The Confederate resembled the US constitution but provided for a unicameral congress, a six-year term for its executive officers and a presidential line item veto.
c. Raised partially as justification for seceding were the Virginia and Kentucky Reso-lutions of 1798, written by Jefferson and Madison against the Alien and Sedition Acts under John Adams.
d. Its state seal had a picture of George Washington on it.
e. Jefferson Davis was elected provisional President and Alexander H. Stephens Vice President until regular elections were held in Nov.
f. Federal arsenals were seized throughout the South
Final Efforts at Compromise
a. Crittenden Compromise
(1) Sen John Jay Crittenden (KY) introduced a peace resolution in an effort to find one more compromise, which would:
(a) extend slavery to the Pacific below the Missouri Compromise line, 36 30;
(b) compensate owners of fugitive slaves which were not recovered
(c) introduced a constitutional amendment which would have preserved slavery as inviolate, except by state law.
(2) Lincoln sent word that he opposed extending slavery into the territories
(3) As late as 31 Dec, the Senate committee considering it was still undecided
b. Peace Conventionc called by the Virginia Assembly to meet in Washington DC
(1) Meeting behind closed doors, John Tyler as chairman, 133 delegates from 21 Northern, border and Southern states asked President-elect Lincoln for a frank exchange of views.
(2) Although 7 constitutional amendments were discussed (designed to entice seceding states back into the Union or keep Border states from leaving) no acceptable compromise was found.
(a) Among them was one stating that Congress by law would never interfere with slavery in any state nor could any further amendment be passed which could interfere with slavery.
(b) The House quickly passed this amendment by a 2-to-1 margin and sent it to the states
(c) Ohio quickly passed it.
c. Other Compromise Attempts
(1) Petitions were submitted to Congress from Boston and New York on 12 February, which called for the passage of the Crittenden Compromise.
(2) Charles Francis Adams worked to have NM admitted as a slave state if its citizens so chose.
(3) WI and other Northern states quickly repealed personal liberty laws favoring fugitive slaves
(4) In Boston, a mob prevented a memorial service for John Brown.
d. All efforts failed to bring any state back into the Union.
Ft Sumter
a. MAJ Robert Anderson moved his garrison from Ft. Moultrie to Ft. Sumter.
b. Buchanan ordered Ft Sumter to reinforce and resupply Ft. Sumter on 5 Jan, but the unarmed ship was repulsed by shore batteries in South Carolina and forced to turn back to NY.
c. Buchanan vowed to protect public property as far as existing laws were "practical."