AP/IB American History
Mr. Blackmon
The Coming of the Civil War
I
II
III
Stephen A. Douglas
A
Capable of seeing national needs
B
Intensely ambitious
C
Saw the Democratic Party as the only possible inter-sectional force
D
Main issues:
1
Expansion: build railroads
2
Popular Sovereignty: Insensitive to moral aspect of the slavery issue, and
sees popular sovereignty as a means to avoid it; does not care "if slavery is
voted up or voted down"
a.
One of my sources states that Douglas owned 140 slaves; this would
be very interesting if true, but where did he hold them? in free soil
Illinois?; why would my source make a misstatement of such
magnitude? One notes that Jesse Bright, a prominent Indiana
politician, held slaves in Kentucky, but brought them into Indiana for
a substantial portion of the year; this behavior, however, has long
been noted by historians.
Election of 1852
A
Douglas brashly tries to parlay success with the Compromise of 1850 into
presidential nomination, and is crushed
1
Lewis Cass and James Buchanan deadlock
2
Franklin Pierce nominated
B
Whigs nominate Winfield Scott
C
Campaign is over the Compromise of 1850
D
Pierce wins easily
1
Called a "doughface"--Northern man with Southern principles
2
Close ties to Jefferson Davis
E
Whig party disintegrates
1
Anti-slavery Whigs had bolted over the Free Soil Party in 1846
2
Lost "Conscience Whigs" over slavery in 1852
3
Only conservative "Cotton Whigs" left
Kansas-Nebraska Act
A
Shatters the Compromise of 1850
B
Railroad competition
1
Douglas wants transcontinental railroad terminating in Chicago
a
Owned real estate in Chicago
b
Director of Illinois Central railroad
2
Wanted to extinguish Indian title to Kansas territory
3
Wanted to provide for orderly settlement in Kansas to support a railroad
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The Coming of the Civil War
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C
D
E
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Competing routes
a
Jefferson Davis favored route terminating in New Orleans
b
Pierce sends James Gadsden to buy land south of Gila River from
Mexico needed for such a railroad for $10 million (Gadsden
Purchase, 1855)
c
Sen. David Atchison of Missouri favored a route terminating in St.
Louis, but by 1854, was prepared to see Nebraska "sink in hell"
before organizing it as a territory forbidden to slavery
5
Note that the issue of a Transcontinental Railroad is being interpreted from
the standpoint of slavery--an indicator of how slavery is dominating the
nation's politics
Kansas-Nebraska Act
1
Douglas makes major concessions to Atchison to receive his support
a
Atchison was prepared to negotiate because Missourians were settling
in Kansas with or without official sanction, and he wished to control
the conditions of settlement, since settlement could not be prevented.
2
Territory divided in half
a
Nebraska presumably would be free
b
Kansas expected by Southerners to be slave
c
The 36° 30' line of the Missouri Compromise repealed
d
Decision as to slave or free left to Popular Sovereignty
3
Douglas believed both territories unsuitable to slavery and so the question
was moot
a
Believed his Presidential prospects improved by concession to South
b
Convinced Pierce to back the bill
4
Douglas grossly misjudged Northern opinion
a
most severe reaction to legislation since the Intolerable Acts
b
Applied Popular Sovereignty to soil that had been free for 30 years
c
Bill radicalizes moderate opponents of slavery
5
Douglas and Southerners ram the bill through
6
Leads to final destruction of Whig Party and formation of the Republican
Party
End of enforcement of Fugitive Slave Law
1
Anthony Burns returned at a cost of $100,000 from Boston, while church
bells tolled as for a funeral, and Marines guarded the streets
Growth of the American or "Know-Nothing" Party
1
Denounced radical Southerners and abolitionists
2
Nativist: hatred of Irish and German Catholic immigrants
2.
Lincoln on the Know-Nothings: "Of their principles, I think little better
than I do of the slavery extensionists . . . . Our progress in degeneracy
appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a nation, we began by declaring that
'all men are created equal.' We now practically read it 'all men are created
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equal except negroes.' When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read
'all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and catholics.'"
F
Formation of the Republican Party
1
Free Soilers, Conscience Whigs, Anti-Nebraska Democrats
2
NOT Abolitionist!
3
Opposed to the extension of slavery
a
"belief in the dignity of free labor; they held that the spread of slavery
endangered the independent way of life of American farmers and
artisans, and involved the movement of black people into open lands
that were white as well as free" [Blum et. al., p. 329]
Bleeding Kansas
A
Administration of Kansas-Nebraska Territory
1
Land made available for sale before clear titles were possible
2
Speculators made claims where they expected towns and railroads
3
Massive graft, fraud, and confusion
4
Problem of government confused by slavery issue
B
Flaw of Popular Sovereignty
1
Territories are not sovereign political units, but are governed by Congress
2
Discarding the system of the Northwest Ordinance is a serious mistake
C
Influx of Outsiders
1
Emigrant Aid Society
a
founded by Eli Thayer
b
mostly noise, only 1250 settlers sent
2
Missourians stirred to move in and protect Kansas for slavery
3
Election November 1854
a
Census of 2905 voters, but 6307 votes cast (about 5000 "Border
Ruffians" crossed to vote; they were led personally by Atchison)
4
Legislature is pro-slave and passes a very severe slave code
5
Free Soil forces denounce the government and form their own government
at Topeka
a
Free Soil constitution excluded slavery and free blacks
6
TWO governments in Kansas, with two governors, two capitals, and two
legislatures
a
one government the product of fraud
b
one government extra-legal
D
Guerrilla War
1
Pierce denounces the Topeka government, encouraging attack on it
2
Pro-slavery federal marshall assemble a posse to arrest Free Soil leaders in
Lawrence, and then they sack the town (this is a posse???)
3
John Brown murders 5 settlers at Pottawatomie Creek (by splitting their
heads open with a broadsword) in retaliation
a
Thought of himself as God's instrument of revenge
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Continued murder and destruction
a
200 killed by end of 1856
b
lurid coverage of "Bleeding Kansas" in papers
5
By late November, Border Ruffians terrorize Free Soilers, who respond with
"Beecher's Bibles": "Sharps rifles a better force for morality in Kansas than
Bibles." Free Soilers will also respond with Jayhawkers under the leadership
of Jim Lane. The ensuing guerrilla war in Kansas and Missouri lasts through
the Civil War and is the most merciless and cruel of the entire conflict. Lane,
whose personal career is rather shady, is notably brutal and opportunistic
during the war. He is elected Senator from Kansas twice before committing
suicide. The most notable Confederate guerrillas are William Clark Quantrill
and "Bloody Bill" Anderson. Quantrill was bold, charismatic, and cruel, and
he was repudiated by the Confederacy. His raid on Lawrence, Kansas, was
a very daring stroke as well as a terrible atrocity. The town was
systematically looted and burned, and the male inhabitants murdered. The
total was 183 civilians killed in cold blood. By the time of his death (in
Kentucky (he was traveling East to assassinate Lincoln), he was a fugitive
from both Federal and Confederate troops. Quantrill instructed a generation
of outlaws such as Jesse and Frank James and Cole Younger on the finer
points of outlawry. Anderson was probably the most vicious of all (he liked
to hang scalps from his bridle), and that was before his sister died in Union
captivity. Afterwards, he appears to have been psychotic. He was finally
trapped and killed, fighting like a maniac to the end.
E
Pierce's responsibility
1
National government abdicated responsibility to ensure free and orderly
elections
2
Acted as a pro-slave partisan, not as a President
Charles Sumner of Massachusetts
A
Reformer in prison movement, peace movement, and abolition
1
Egotistical, humorless, with no respect for others' principles
B
"Crime Against Kansas" Speech, May 1856
1
Singled out the elderly Sen. Andrew Butler of South Carolina
2
Developed a series of pointed sexual references: "rape of virgin territory"
"taken slavery as his mistress"
C
Preston Brooks
1
Butler's nephew
2
Determines to cane Sumner, (regarding him as not worthy of a duel), which
he does while Sumner was writing at his desk in the Senate chambers.
3
Sumner does not return for 3 years; Massachusetts refuses to fill the seat,
using it as testimony to anti-slavery sentiment
D
Brooks hailed as a hero in the South, Sumner as a martyr in the North.
1
Neither man is admirable; incident shows polarization of the nation.
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James Buchanan
A
Republicans in election of 1856
1
Stood for restricting slavery extension
2
John C. Frémont is candidate
a
played on military experience but no political experience
b
"every qualification of genius except talent"
c
"Free Soil, Free Speech, and Frémont"
B
Democrats
1
Douglas passed over due to unpopularity in North
2
James Buchanan named
a
Out of the country during Kansas-Nebraska Act, and thus avoids guilt
3.
b
One of the authors of the Ostend Manifesto
The Ostend Manifesto is in some ways the culmination of Manifest Destiny.
The background for it lies in expansionism and the Young America
movement. Since we could not expand west, some, especially radical
Southerners, wished to expand south--specifically to Cuba and Central
America, where slavery was or could be established.
a.
William Walker is one example of an American filibuster. Convinced
that he could "regenerate" and rule in Latin America, Walker in 1854
"annexes" Sonora and Baja California. In 1855, he leads 60 followers
to Nicaragua, where he takes control of the country. Pierce
recognized his government. Driven out, he wrote a book appealing
to Southerners to re-plant slavery in Central America and returned to
Central America in 1860, where he was captured by the Hondurans
and executed. Walker enjoyed vocal and influential support among
Southerners. His antics offend Central Americans and fill them with
suspicion about American intentions, and also reaffirm the worst
fears of Northerners about the "Slave Power Conspiracy."
b.
John A. Quitman of Miss. plotted with Creole Cuban expatriates to
invade the island and secure its independence. This triggered an
extraordinary response in 1853 from the Marques de Pezuela, who
suppressed the Cuban slave trade, declared all slaves who entered
since 1835 free, and organized a Negro militia: clearly, he was
preparing to use Negro troops against the filibusters and planters.
c.
Quitman eventually backs off but the Pierce administration continues
to hope for an internal Cuban revolution as a prelude to annexation.
In 1854, the American minister to Spain, Pierre Soulé, convinced
Buchanan and John Y. Mason (ambassadors to England and France)
to issue the Ostend Manifesto, which declared that if Spain refused to
sell, and if Spain's possession "threatened our internal peace" (such
as by Pezuela's Africanization program), we would be justified in
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seizing Cuba by force.
C
Know-Nothing Party nominated Millard Fillmore
D
Buchanan wins
1
Would not have won without the South
2
Southern influence in his administration is very strong
3
Republicans almost win Pennsylvania and Illinois
Panic and 1857
A
Struck soon after inauguration
B
South affected less due to continued high cotton prices
1
Used as proof of superior Southern way of life
C
Republicans strengthened in North
1
Farmers and manufacturers demand
a
high tariffs
b
homestead act
c
internal improvements (railroads)
d
All three opposed by South
2
Frustrated economic elements in North being drawn into the anti-slavery
elements; this broadening of the Republican power base is very significant
Dred Scott Decision
A
Background
1
Dr. John Emerson of St. Louis joins army in 1834
2
Stationed in Illinois, and Wisconsin Territory (now Minnesota)
3
Accompanied by his servant, Dred Scott
4
Returns to Missouri and dies, 1843
5
Scott sues Mrs. Emerson for his freedom in 1846. He won, and Mrs.
Emerson appealed. The Missouri Supreme Court upheld Mrs. Emerson. She
then remarried Calvin Chaffee of Massachusetts, who was antislavery. Scott
was left under the control of her brother, J.F.A. Sanford, who lived in New
York with business interests in St. Louis. In 1854, Scott's lawyers filed suit
again under the diverse citizenship clause. The Circuit Court ruled against
him, and Scott appealed to the Supreme Court.
7
Argument is that Scott became free when he moved from slave territory to
free territory, residing 2 years each in Illinois and Wisconsin Territory
8
At question: does Congress or state legislatures have the power to outlaw
slavery in the territories
B
The Court
1
Decision has to be among the worst decisions ever handed down
2
Each justice wrote a separate opinion
3
Court developed a majority but for varying reasons
C
The Decision
1
Negroes are not citizens, therefore they cannot sue
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Chief Justice Roger B. Taney writes that Negroes had been regarded under
the Constitution as "beings of an inferior order" with "no rights which
any white man was bound to respect"
Justice Benjamin Curtis, in a dissent, points out that Taney's history was
poor, since 5 of 13 original states allowed free blacks to vote
2
As a resident of Missouri, the laws of Illinois no longer had any effect on his
status
3
Residence in Wisconsin Territory did not free Scott since the Missouri
Compromise was unconstitutional
under the Fifth Amendment due process clause since slaves were property
and Congress could not deprive a person of his slaves or property
IX
D
Only second time a federal law had been declared unconstitutional
E
Never had the "due process" clause been applied to substantive rights to property,
only to questions of procedure
F
Ironically, the Court was acting responsibly in attempting to address the issue of
slavery, which Congress had been hoping it would do. Also, in applying Fifth
Amendment substantively rather than procedurally, Taney broke judicial ground--this
is the interpretation of the twentieth century. Taney should be criticized not for
ruling, but for ruling incorrectly. In fairness to Taney as well, it should be noted that,
as a young man, he had emancipated his own slaves.
G
The Reaction:
1
Even mildly anti-slavery Northerners were outraged
2
Southerners elated--Freedom is Sectional, Slavery is National
3
Popular Sovereignty is seriously undermined
4
Many Northerners convinced the South was aggressively trying to extend
their "peculiar institution"
The Lecompton Constitution
A
Buchanan appoints Robert J. Walker of Mississippi governor of Kansas
1
Walker tried to get both sides together and tried to produce a genuinely
representative government
B
Lecompton Constitution
1
Free Soilers refuse to participate in convention
2
Strong pro-slavery constitution written
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3
X
Walker urges Free Soilers to vote in legislative elections, and they win a
crushing majority.
d.
more electoral irregularities: two districts with 130 voters returned
2,900 ballots
4
On a referendum sponsored by Lecompton, Free Soilers refuse to vote, and
the constitution is ratified 6,226 to 569
5
On a Free Soil referendum on the constitution, the pro-slavery forces refuse
to vote, and the constitution is crushed, 10,226 to 138.
C
Walker's efforts
1
Travels to Washington to get Buchanan's support for a constitution supported
by all Kansans
2
Buchanan, dominated by Southern cabinet, asks for admission of Kansas
under the Lecompton Constitution
3
Walker resigns in protest
4
Douglas refuses to submit to Buchanan
a
would not abandon Popular Sovereignty
b
support for Buchanan=political suicide
c
Buchanan strips Douglas of all political patronage
d
Douglas assists Republicans and bill is defeated
e
Compromise resubmits Lecompton Constitution to Kansas
referendum in 1858; it is crushed again
The Emergence of Lincoln
A
Senate elections as Panic of 1857 hits, and with Kansas issue
B
Douglas viewed as the best hope to preserve the Union
C
Republicans nominate Lincoln to oppose Douglas for Senate
1
Spotless reputation for integrity: "Honest Abe"
2
Developed greatly when he had both power and responsibility
D
Lincoln's views:
1
Opposed slavery without rancor toward slaveowners
"When it is said that the institution exists and that it is very difficult to
get rid of it in any satisfactory way, I can understand and appreciate the
saying. I will not blame them for not doing what I should not know how
to do myself. If all earthly power were given me, I should not know what
to do as to the existing institution [slavery]. My first impulse would be
to free all the slaves and send them to Liberia. . . . But a moment's
reflection would convince me that . . . its sudden execution is impossible.
. . . What then? Free them all and keep them among us as underlings?
Is it quite certain that this betters their condition?. . . . What next? Free
them and make them politically and socially our equals? My own feelings
will not admit of this, and if mine would, we well know that those of the
great mass of white peoples will not. Whether this feeling accords with
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justice and sound judgement is not the sole question, if indeed, it has any
part of it. A universal feeling, whether well- or ill-founded, cannot be
safely disregarded. We cannot then make them equals. . . .
When they [Southern slaveholders] remind us of their constitutional
rights [to be secure in their property], I acknowledge them, not
grudgingly, but fully and fairly; and I would give them any legislation for
the reclaiming of their fugitives which should not, in its stringency, be mor
likely to carry a free man into slavery than our ordinary criminal laws are
to hang an innocent one . . . .
"But all of this, to my judgment, furnishes no more excuse for permitting
slavery into our own free territory, than it would for reviving the African
slave trade by law.
"The doctrine of self-government is right--absolutely and eternally right-but it has no just application as here attempted. Or perhaps I should
rather say that whether it has such application depends upon whether a
Negro is not or is a man. If he is not a man, in that case he who is a
man may, as a matter of self-government, do just what he pleases with
him. But if the Negro is a man, is it not to that extent a total destruction
of self-government to say that he too shall not govern himself? When the
white man governs himself, that is self government; but when he governs
himself and also governs another man, that is more than self-government-that is despotism. If the Negro is a man, why then my ancient faith
teaches me that 'all men are created equal'; and that there can be no moral
right in connection with one man's making a slave of another. . . .
"But Nebraska is urged as a great Union-saving measure. Well, I, too,
go for saving the Union. Much as I hate slavery, I would consent to the
extension of it rather than see the Union dissolved, just as I would
consent to any great evil to avoid a greater one. . . .
"Slavery is founded on the selfishness of man's nature--opposition to it in
his love of justice. These principles are in eternal antagonism."
Peoria Speech, 1854
"We are now in the fifth year since a policy was initiated with the avowed
object and confident promise of putting an end to slavery agitation [the
Kansas-Nebraska Act]
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"Under the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only not
ceased, but has constantly augmented. In my opinion it will not cease
until a crisis shall have been reached and passed.
" 'A house divided against itself cannot stand.'
"I believe this government cannot endure permanently half-slave and
half-free.
"I do not expect the Union to be dissolved--I do not expect the house to
fall--but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing,
or all the other.
"Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and
place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is on the
course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward till it
shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new, North as
well as South."
"House Divided Speech", Springfield, Illinois, 6/16/58
XI
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
A
Points in Common
1
Neither wanted expansion of slavery
2
Neither thought slavery efficient
3
Neither sought to abolish slavery
4
Neither regarded blacks as fully the equal of whites
"This government of ours is founded on a white basis. It was made by
the white man, in such manner as they should determine. It is also true
that a Negro, an Indian, or any other man of inferior race to a white man
should be permitted to enjoy, and humanity requires that he should have,
all the rights, privileges, and immunities which he is capable of exercising
consistent with the safety of society."
Douglas, "Reply to Lincoln"
Chicago, 6/9/58
"I do not question Mr. Lincoln's conscientious belief that the Negro was
made his equal and hence his brother. But for my own part, I do not
regard the Negro as my brother or any kin to me whatever."
Douglas, Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Ottawa, Illinois, 8/21/58
"I will say here . . . that I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to
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interfere with the institution of slavery in the states where it exists. I
believe that I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to
do so. I have no purpose to introduce political and social equality
between the white and black races. There is a physical difference between
the two . . . I . . . am in favor of the race to which I belong having the
superior position. . . .
"I hold that, notwithstanding all this, there is no reason in the world why
the Negro is not entitled to all the natural rights enumerated in the
Declaration of Independence--the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness. I hold that he is as much entitled to these as the white man.
. . . But in the right to eat the bread, without the leave of anybody else,
which his own hand earns, he is my equal, and the equal of Judge
Douglas, and the equal of every living man."
Lincoln, Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Ottawa, Illinois, 8/21/58
B
Positions
1
Douglas accuses Lincoln of fomenting a war of sections, of advocating
federal control over states' rights, and social equality for blacks
2
Lincoln accuses Douglas of wanting to extend slavery into the territories and
even, by means of the Dred Scott decision, into the free states
3
"I have stated upon former occasions what I understand to be the real
issue in this controversy between Judge Douglas and myself. On the
point of my wanting to make war between the Free and Slave States,
there has been no issue between us. So too, when he assumes that I am
in favor of introducing a perfect social and political equality between the
white and black races. These are false issues . . . .
"The real issue in this controversy . . . is the sentiment on the part of one
class that looks upon the institution of slavery as a wrong, and of another
class that does not look upon it as a wrong. The sentiment that
contemplates the institution of slavery in this country as a wrong is the
sentiment of the Republican Party. They look upon it as being a moral,
social, and political wrong; and while they contemplate it as such they
nevertheless have a due regard for . . . the difficulties of getting rid of it
in any satisfactory way and to all the constitutional obligations thrown
about it.
"Yet . . . they insist that it should, as far as may be, be treated as a
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wrong; and one of the methods of treating it as a wrong is to make
provision that it shall grow no larger."
Lincoln, Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Alton, Illinois, 10/15/58
The Freeport Doctrine
1
Lincoln challenges Douglas to reconcile Popular Sovereignty with the Dred
Scott decision
a
If Douglas affirms Popular Sovereignty, he offends the South
b
If Douglas denies Popular Sovereignty, he loses the North and
sacrifices the principle upon which he had built his career
c
In either case, Douglas' presidential aspirations will be dealt a blow
2
Douglas tries to wriggle off the hook by arguing that slavery was by its nature
an institution that could not exist a day or an hour without a slave code and
without local police enforcement. The people could block slavery by denying
these protections, regardless of Dred Scott
3
Douglas wins the Senate election, but the Freeport Doctrine costs him the
South
D
William H. Seward, "Irrepressible Conflict" speech 10/25/58
1
"It is an irrepressible conflict between opposing and enduring forces, and
it means that the United States must and will sooner or later, become
either a slaveholding nation or entirely a free-labor nation."
John Brown's Raid
A
Harper's Ferry 10/59
1
with 18 followers
2
object to seize the federal arsenal, arm slaves, establish a black republic in
mountains of Virginia, and lead a private war
3
no slaves joined him
4
position stormed by U.S. Marines
B
Trial
1
Tried for treason
2
Question of derangement: legal insanity = inability to understand the
consequences of one's actions; inability to tell right from wrong
3
Legally, Brown was clearly sane; he understood the consequences of his
actions
4
tried, convicted, and hanged
5
Brown behaved calmly throughout, using his death to make himself a martyr.
C
Reactions
1
Republican Party repudiated him
2
Ralph Waldo Emerson glorified him: "That new saint, than whom nothing
purer or more brave was ever led by love of men into conflict and death .
. . will make the gallows glorious like the cross"
C
XII
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South sees raid as the fulfillment of their worst nightmares, proof positive of
Northern aggression
a
"Paranoia continued to induce counter-paranoia, each antagonist
infecting the other reciprocally, until the vicious spiral ended in war."
C. Vann Woodward
Election of 1860
A
Increasingly inflammatory acts
1
Republicans flooded country with Hinton Rowan Helper's Impending Crisis
in the South, which was viewed as a call to social revolution.
2
Feb. 1860--Alabama resolves to secede if a Republican is elected President
3
South demanded a reopening of the African slave trade--Southern leaders in
a state of panic by Brown's raid and the threat of insurrection
B
Impasse at the Democratic Convention
1
Douglas probably the last hope of avoiding rupture
2
South refused to accept him at Democratic convention in Charleston without
a guarantee of slavery in the territories
a
William Lowndes Yancey demands a platform that argued that slavery
was right, as opposed to Lincoln's a wrong
3
Northern Democrats refused to go along, the Southerners withdrew, and the
convention ends without a candidate
C
Four Candidates
1
Stephen A. Douglas: Northern Democrats
a
Freeport Doctrine
2
John C. Breckinridge: Southern Democrats
a
slavery in the territories
3
John Bell: Know-Nothing Party and the old Whigs
a
stood on the Constitution, whatever that meant
4
Abraham Lincoln: Republicans
a
selected over William H. Seward
I
honest, "Honest Abe"
ii
moderate
iii
a common man, but not an ordinary man
b
Platform
I
high tariff: appeal to manufacturers
ii
homestead law: appeal to small Western farmers
iii
internal improvements: RR to the Pacific: appeal to farmers
and manufacturers
iv
no restrictions on immigration: appeal to manufacturers
v
no extension of slavery into the territories
vi
did not advocate abolition of slavery
D
Lincoln's Victory
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1
2
XIV
180 electoral votes
even if the popular vote of all other candidates in each state is added together,
Lincoln still wins in the electoral college
The Secession Crisis
A
South Carolina secedes 12/20/60
B
Lower South follows: Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Texas, Louisiana;
the reason given is, unequivocally, the issue of slavery
C
Upper South does not secede but would if the federal government attempts to use
force to restore the Union
1
secession occurs after Lincoln asks for 75,000 volunteers
2
reason here is states' rights
D
Secession is illogical
1
Lincoln a moderate
2
slavery not directly or immediately threatened
3
South loses all leverage in the government
E
Some Southerners argued that secession would force South to develop a more
balanced economy
1
DeBow and Edmund Ruffin are examples
F
Lincoln on the cause: (to a southern leader) "You think slavery is right and ought
to be extended; while we think it is wrong and ought to be restricted. That I
suppose is the rub. It certainly is the only substantial difference between us."
G
G
Evaluation of some historians
1
first historians saw Civil War as an irrepressible moral conflict
2
Charles and Mary Beard saw Civil War as an irrepressible economic conflict
3
Allan Nevins saw Civil War as an irrepressible social and cultural conflict
4
Eric Foner stresses free labor ideology and the North's conviction of moral
superiority
5
Eugene Genovese stresses cultural divergence and Southern belief in cultural
superiority
6
dominant interpretation is that the Civil War was irrepressible
Not all Southerners eager to secede
1
Robert E. Lee to his son, Jan. 23, 1861:
"I can contemplate no greater calamity for the country than dissolution of
the Union. . . . Still, a Union that can only be maintained by swords and
bayonets, and in which strife and civil war are to take the place of
brotherly love and kindness, has no charm for me."
[Leebelievedthatslaverywasmorallywrong,andemancipatedhisinheritedslaves;hedidnotbelievethattherewas
a constitutional right to secession],
to his sister, April 20, 1861:
"Now we are in a state of war, which will yield to nothing. The whole
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Page 15
South is in a state of revolution, into which Virginia, after a long struggle,
has been drawn; and though I recognize no necessity for this state of
things and would have foreborne and pleaded to the end for redress of
grievances, real or supposed, yet in my own person I had to meet the
question whether I should take part against my native state.
"With all my devotion to the Union and the feeling of loyalty and duty of
an American citizen, I have not been able to make up my mind to raise
my hand against my relatives, my children, my home."
To his sister, April 20, 1861:
XV
Northern Actions
A
Buchanan regards secession as illegal but also believed that the federal government
could not use force to coerce a state
1
Contrast this with Jackson's policy in the Nullification Crisis
B
Crittenden Amendment proposed by Sen. John J. Crittenden
of Kentucky
1
His sons were Maj. Gen. T. L. Crittenden, USA
and Maj. Gen. G. B. Crittenden, CSA
2
Recognize slavery south of 36
30' in the
territories; no further tampering with slavery
in the states or territories
3
Lincoln refuses to compromise:
"On the territorial question, I am inflexible"
a
feared
Southern
adventures
in
the
Caribbean to extend slavery
"Entertain no proposition for a compromise in regard to the
extension of slavery. The instant you do, they have us under
again; all our labor is lost . . . Have none of it. The tug has to
come, and better now than later."
C
Lincoln's First Inaugural Address
"In your hands [the South's] and not in mine, is the momentous issue of the civil
war. The Government will not assail you. [But] I hold that, in contemplation
of universal law and the Constitution, the Union of these States is perpetual. .
. . No state upon its own mere action can lawfully get out of the Union. . . . I
shall take care, as the Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon me, that the laws
of the Union be faithfully executed in all the States. . . . The power confided in
me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging
to the Government, and to collect the duties and imposts."
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The Coming of the Civil War
D
Mr. Blackmon
Page 16
Fort Sumter: South Carolina opens fire on Fort Sumter,
in Charleston harbor, on April 12, 1861.
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Page 17
Partial Bibliography
Barney, William L. The Road to Secession; A New Perspective on the Old South. New York:
Praeger, 1972.
Craven, Avery. The Coming of the Civil War. 2nd Ed. Rev. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1957.
Cummins, D. Duane and White, William Gee. The Origins of the Civil War. New York: Benziger,
Inc. 1972.
Davis, David Brion. The Slave Power Conspiracy and the Paranoid Style. Baton Rouge Louisiana:
Louisiana State University Press, 1969.
Freehling, William. The Road to Disunion: Secessionists at Bay 1776-1854. New York: Oxford
University Press, 1990.
Levine, Bruce. Half Slave and Half Free: The Roots of the Civil War. New York: Hill and Wang,
1992.
MacPherson, James M. Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era. New York: Oxford University
Press, 1988.
May, Robert E. The Southern Dream of a Caribbean Empire 1854-1861. Athens Georgia:
University of Georgia Press, 1989.
Nevins, Allan. The Emergence of Lincoln. 2 Vols. New York: Charles Scribners, 1950.
Nevins, Allan. The Ordeal of the Union. 2 Vols. New York: Charles Scribners, 1975.
Oakes, James. Slavery and Freedom: An Interpretation of the Old South. New York: Random
House, 1990.
Paskoff, Paul F. and Wilson, Daniel J. The Cause of the South: Selections from Debow's Review,
1846-1867. Baton Rouge Louisiana: Louisiana State University Press, 1982.
Potter, David M. The Impending Crisis 1848-1861. New York: Harper and Row, 1976.
Rozwenc, Edwin. The Causes of the American Civil War. 2nd Ed. Lexington, Massachusetts:
D.C. Heath, 1972.
Stampp, Kenneth. The Causes of the Civil War. Rev. Ed. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1974.
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Mr. Blackmon
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Walther, Eric H. The Fire-eaters. Baton Rouge Louisiana:
Louisiana State University Pr