CHALLENGES TO SLAVERY
CHAPTER 15, SECTION 3
OTHER EVENTS...
drove the North and South farther apart.
The Democratic Party began to divide, with
many Northern Democrats leaving it.
In 1854 antislavery Whigs and Democrats
joined with the Free-Soilers to create the
Republican Party.
POLITICAL PARTIES, CONTINUED...
The Republicans did not agree with the proslavery Democrats and Whigs.
Northerners liked the Republicans’ message,
and the party won seats in Congress.
Most Southerners agreed with the Democratic
candidates.
CANDIDATES
The Republicans chose John C. Frémont as
their candidate for president in 1856.
The Democrats chose James Buchanan.
Another party, the Know-Nothings, also chose
a candidate—former president Millard
Fillmore.
ELECTION OF 1856
Buchanan won the election with 174 electoral votes.
Frémont had 114 electoral votes;
Fillmore received only 8 votes.
DRED SCOTT CASE
In the 1830s, a doctor from Missouri moved his
household to Illinois, a free state.
Dred Scott, an enslaved person, was part of this
household.
The doctor moved again to the Northwest
Territory, taking Scott with him.
Later, after moving his family back to Missouri,
the doctor died.
DRED SCOTT CASE
In 1846 Scott sued for his
freedom.
Scott said he should be free
because he had lived in
places where slavery was
illegal.
This case gained a lot of
attention when it reached the
U.S. Supreme Court in 1857.
DRED SCOTT CASE
The Court ruled that Scott was not free, even
though he had lived on free soil.
The Court went even further and said that
slaves were property.
The Court also said that popular sovereignty
and the Missouri Compromise were
unconstitutional.
Neither voters nor Congress could ban slavery.
That would be like taking away a person’s
property.
The Court’s decision divided the nation even
further.
Northerners were outraged.
Southerners, on the other hand, were happy.
They believed that nothing could now stop the
spread of slavery.
LINCOLN VS. DOUGLAS
In 1858 the Senate election in Illinois drew
national attention.
Senator Stephen A. Douglas, a Democrat, was
running against Abraham Lincoln, a
Republican.
Douglas was popular.
Lincoln, on the other hand, was almost an
unknown.
DEBATE!
Lincoln challenged Douglas to several debates.
The main topic of each debate was slavery.
Douglas believed in popular sovereignty.
He said that slavery could be limited if people
voted against slaveholders’ rights.
LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATES
Douglas accused Lincoln
of wanting African
Americans to have the
same rights as whites.
Lincoln denied this.
However, he did say that
African Americans had
some rights and that
slavery was wrong.
WE HAVE A WINNER!
Douglas won the
election.
But people liked
Lincoln’s clear thinking
and the way he made his
points in the debates.
Lincoln became popular.
Southerners began to feel
threatened by
Republicans.
RAID ON HARPERS FERRY
The abolitionist John Brown led a group on a
raid of Harpers Ferry, Virginia.
Their target was an arsenal, a site where
weapons are stored.
Brown planned to give the weapons to
enslaved African Americans for a revolt against
slaveholders.
Local citizens and troops stopped the raid.
Convicted of treason and murder, Brown was
sentenced to death.
His execution shook the North.
Some antislavery groups did not approve of
Brown’s violent actions.
Others saw Brown as a martyr—a person who
dies for a great cause.