Grade 11
Unit 4
HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY 1104
A NATION DIVIDED
CONTENTS
I. A NATION DIVIDED ......................................................
3
The Emergence of Sectionalism..................................
4
The Division of Land .....................................................
9
The Establishment of New Territory ......................... 11
The Division of the People ........................................... 19
II. SLAVERY .......................................................................... 26
The Emergence of Slavery ........................................... 27
The Politics of Slavery .................................................. 36
Author:
Editor:
Illustrations:
Alpha Omega Staff
Alan Christopherson, M. S.
Alpha Omega Staff
804 N. 2nd Ave. E., Rock Rapids, IA 51246-1759
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HISTORY 1104
A NATION DIVIDED
James 4:1 states that war is the result of “lust,” a word for evil desires or desires not compatible with
God’s will. Throughout history people and nations have reached out for wealth, power, and authority. Their
quest—independent of God’s will—has led to war again and again.
This unit will help you see evidence of the quest for wealth, power, and authority in the United States
prior to the Civil War and become aware of the circumstances in nature and society that led to the development of different lifestyles and sectional discord between the North and the South.
As you explore the role of individuals before the war, your study will help you to understand why God
expects each person to turn to Him in love and obedience regardless of the man-made circumstances that
lead to pestilence, famine, war, and death. You will learn that the individual’s response to God’s will is the
way that the will of the society is changed.
The Civil War has been called the War of the Rebellion, The Lost Cause, The War Between the States,
and Our Greatest National Disaster. At the conclusion of the war, the number of men killed totaled only
slightly less than all the American casualties in World War I and II, the Korean Conflict, and Vietnam.
The magnitude of human suffering, the economic and social devastation in the South, Reconstruction,
and the legacy of slavery have all had a lasting effect on the development of our nation. Social issues preceding a war are never simple. Debate still continues among historians and social scientists about the
causes of the Civil War and the reasons the democratic process deteriorated to the point where disagreements could not be solved by compromise and majority rule.
In this section of the unit, you will study the issues that increased sectional differences, resulting in
the division of both lands and peoples. These divisions were great enough to bring about civil war within
the United States.
OBJECTIVES
Read these objectives. The objectives tell you what you will be able to do when you have successfully
completed this LIFEPAC®.
When you have finished this LIFEPAC, you should be able to:
1.
Demonstrate understanding of the issues which caused the polarization of the nation prior to
the Civil War.
2.
Demonstrate understanding of these issues both from the Northern and Southern perspective.
3.
Describe how regional needs of the country influenced political and social conflict.
4.
Identify the leading personalities of the pre-Civil War era and explain the consequences of their
actions.
5.
Identify leaders of the abolition movement.
6.
Understand the effect literature and writing had in forming opinions about the issue of slavery.
7.
Describe how the needs of each region of the country influenced political and social conflict.
8.
Understand the effect literature and writing had in forming opinions about the issue of slavery.
1
Survey the LIFEPAC. Ask yourself some questions about this study. Write your questions here.
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I. THE EMERGENCE OF SECTIONALISM
In this section of the unit, you will study the issues that increased sectional differences, resulting in
the division of both lands and peoples. These divisions were great enough to bring about civil war within
the United States.
SECTION OBJECTIVES
Review these objectives. When you have completed this section, you should be able to:
1.
Demonstrate understanding of the issues which caused the polarization of the nation prior to
the Civil War.
2.
Demonstrate understanding of these issues both from the Northern and Southern perspective.
3.
Identify the leading personalities of the pre-Civil War era and explain the consequences of their
actions.
2
VOCABULARY
Study these words to enhance your learning success in this section.
abolitionist
A person who wants to do away with some rule or custom
arsenal
A building for making and storing arms and military equipment
boycott
To refrain by concerted action from using or purchasing a product
buttress
To support and strengthen something
cede
To give up, surrender or hand over something to another
compromise
The settlement of a disagreement when each party gives up part of his
demand
confiscate
To take by authority or as if by authority
depression
A reduction in the amount of jobs, money, and goods; a time of economic
slowdown
embargo
An order restricting certain goods and/or ships from entering or leaving a
country
immigrant
One who comes into a country in which one is not a native
Manifest Destiny
The idea that the United States should extend from the Atlantic to the
Pacific
nullification
The action of a state setting aside a national law it considers unconstitutional
polarize
To acquire two opposite views, principles, or tendencies
secede
To leave an organized group
sectionalism
Support for one section without regard for the needs of the other sections
or the nation as a whole
sovereignty
Supreme political power or authority
stereotypes
A fixed form or character; a conventional type
suffrage
The right to vote
tariff
A tax on products being brought into the country
Note: All vocabulary words in this LIFEPAC appear in boldface print the first time they are used. If you are unsure of the meaning when you are
reading, study the definitions given.
3
THE EMERGENCE OF SECTIONALISM
Differences of opinion exist among the members of any group. If differing opinions
harden and are treated as rights, a group will become polarized and could split apart.
Among the rights at issue prior to the Civil War were expansion rights, economic rights,
and states’ rights. Related to each of these rights was the larger issue of slavery.
Expansion rights. Throughout the years after the War of 1812, the population of the
United States increased rapidly. Industry expanded, agricultural production boomed, settlers began to move into new territories, roads and canals were carved over mountains and
through dense forests, and the cry of “Manifest Destiny” could be heard across the nation.
Manifest Destiny is the idea that it was a God-given right for Americans to extend their
way of life from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and that no physical barrier or human force
could stop the settlement of these lands. The expansion into new territories across the continent is a direct link in the chain of events leading to the Civil War.
Manifest
Destiny
Each time new territory was acquired by the nation, the troublesome question of slavery
was raised. Many people in the antislavery faction persisted in thinking that slavery in the
territories would result in the South gaining economic superiority, and that the demise of free
enterprise would follow. The proslavery faction, in contrast, feared the destruction of the
Southern lifestyle unless the balance between free and slave states could be maintained.
Another factor that helped create the sectionalism that paved the way for the war was
the increase in universal white male suffrage. After the Declaration of Independence, state
laws in the former colonies stipulated that only white men with considerable property or
those paying high taxes were allowed to vote. These laws were still in effect after the War
of 1812. Between 1816 and 1821, six new states were admitted to the Union that allowed
all white men to vote without regard for property qualifications. After 1821 the eastern and
southern states began to relax their voting restrictions, and many men who had never shown
an interest in politics began to participate in the elective process. Now, for the first time, the
common man had the opportunity of electing people to office who would encourage the federal government to adopt policies primarily beneficial to their sectional needs.
4
Economic rights. During the Napoleonic Wars, the people of the United States had
difficulty getting manufactured goods from Europe because American ships were stopped
on the open sea, and their cargoes were confiscated by the French and English navies. The
British compounded this act by taking American seamen into custody as deserters from the
British navy. Finally, President Thomas Jefferson proposed an economic boycott. Congress
passed the Embargo Act, and American ships were forced to stop transporting all goods to
and from Europe.
The embargo meant Americans had to find some way to get manufactured goods, and
ship owners had to find a new way of making a living. The resources available to New
England manufacturers were labor, power from waterfalls, and cotton waiting for transport. These manufacturers started cotton-spinning mills and factories fashioned after the
first American mill built by Samuel Slater, an English immigrant, in Rhode Island. By
1815 factories throughout New England were producing iron, leather, textiles, lumber, pottery, and glassware.
After the war, the British manufacturers were determined to stop the growth of the new
factories in America in order to resume their lucrative American trade. Some manufacturers began to export their goods at prices so low the American factories could not compete.
Finally, the New England manufacturers approached the government for relief, and in 1816
Congress passed a protective tariff.
People thought the protective tariff would help America become free from the need for
foreign products and, therefore, safe from foreign blackmail during war or peace. The West
had a second reason for supporting the tariff. The West wanted the government to build
roads and canals with the duties raised from the tariff in order to transport their products
to markets in the industrial East. An economic boom followed the war and the initiation of
the nation’s first protective tariff. Settlers moved west and acquired land under the Land
Act of 1800. The second Bank of the United States was chartered, and the states took on
the projects of building roads and canals.
Then in 1819 an economic panic occurred resulting in the first “modern” depression in
the history of the United States. People across the entire United States were affected.
Factories in New England closed, unemployment increased, and cotton prices in the South
dropped. For example, the average price of cotton in New Orleans dropped from more than
30 cents a pound to less than 15 cents a pound in 1822. However, the section of the country most severely affected was the West. Food prices dropped and settlers lost their homes
and farms as bankers foreclosed on mortgaged lands. The bankers then sold the lands to
speculators with ready cash.
5
People in the West and South called for the tariff to be dropped. They began to see the tariff as a ploy to help the New England states keep factories open and New England workers
employed. Southerners believed they were penalized by being forced to pay abnormally high
prices for American goods or smuggled European goods without being able to regain their
losses in sales.
In an attempt to tie the agricultural and industrial regions of the country together,
Henry Clay, the senator from Kentucky, proposed the “American System.” Clay’s proposal
was based on the belief that a protective tariff that helped industry would eventually help
every section of the country. The factories protected by the tariff would run at a profit and
employ the urban population. The city dwellers would constitute an increased market for
agricultural products and would manufacture goods for use in farming regions. The farms
would supply raw materials to the factories and food to a growing urban population.
Clay’s American plan was rejected, but Congress was able to pass protective tariffs in
1824 and 1828 against strong southern opposition. By 1828 the South was so angry that the
congressmen called the new tariff the Tariff of Abomination and talked of nullification.
States’ rights. The doctrine of nullification had been introduced into national politics
in 1798 by Jefferson and Madison in the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions. Jefferson stated that the states had the right to decide which congressional actions were “unauthoritative, void, and of no force.” He contended that the legislature of each individual state had
the right to limit the unauthorized power of the federal government. For the next sixty-two
years, several states, including northern ones, threatened nullification.
After the Tariff of Abomination (1828) was passed, two South Carolinians, John C.
Calhoun, vice president of the United States, and Senator Robert Hayne, reintroduced the
nullification concept. Hayne spoke up in the Senate in 1829 when the subject came up in a
sectional debate over the sale of western lands. Hayne told the Senate that tyranny from
the majority could be opposed by the constitutional right of the states to nullify an unconstitutional act of Congress.
6
Senator Daniel Webster responded with the nationalist viewpoint. Webster stated that
the Constitution and federal government were not created by the states but by the people,
and that the only agency that could decide the constitutionality of laws was the Supreme
Court. Therefore, states have no right to nullify a federal law or to secede from the Union.
Webster ended his speech more than four hours later with the words: “Liberty and Union,
now and forever, one and inseparable....” This forceful exchange of views became known as
the Webster-Hayne Debate.
Webster’s speech fired the patriotism of northerners and westerners who agreed that
the federal government was the supreme authority. Webster’s fiery defense of the Union
became famous. Southerners, however, stuck to the concept of states’ rights. The tariff continued to be a divisive issue between the two sides until the Civil War.
The contrasting views of the North and South on states’ rights were expressed by
President Jackson and John C. Calhoun across the dinner table in 1830. Jackson raised his
glass in a toast: “Our federal Union–it must be preserved.” Vice President Calhoun replied,
“The Union–next to our liberty, most dear.”
Calhoun resigned as Jackson’s vice president because of various disagreements. He
returned to the Senate and led the attempt of South Carolina to nullify the tariff in 1832.
Jackson’s threat of force encouraged Calhoun to accept Henry Clay’s compromise tariff of
1832. It gradually reduced the tariff rates over ten years. Thus, the issue was silenced, for
the moment.
THE DIVISION OF LAND
As new territory was explored and settled and new states sought admission to the
Union, the issue of slavery was continually in view. The land was being polarized into
proslavery and antislavery sections. Establishing the “color” of the land often required
lengthy political struggles.
7
Missouri Compromise. The first large scale argument over slavery erupted in 1819
when Missouri petitioned for admittance into the Union. Many of the settlers in Missouri
were slave owners who had migrated from the South with their slaves. These people
wanted slavery to be an accepted part of the new state constitution. Other residents of
the territory did not want slavery approved. More significantly, however, the politicians
of the North and the South feared the admission of the new state because it would upset
the balance of power in the Senate. Until this point the struggle for power in the Senate
had been tempered by the orderly admission of free and slave states to the Union. When
Alabama had been admitted in 1819, the Union was comprised of eleven free states and
eleven slave states.
The controversy over Missouri gained momentum when Representative James
Tallmadge of New York proposed that “the further introduction of slavery” into the new
state be forbidden and that the children of slaves presently living in the state be free when
they reach twenty-five years of age. Because membership in the House of Representatives
is based on population, and the North was the most populated region, the Tallmadge
Amendment was passed and sent to the Senate. The amendment was finally defeated in
the Senate after a long and forceful debate. The passage of the Tallmadge Amendment in
the House crystallized in the minds of southern senators the necessity of preserving the
balance of power in the Senate. If the South could preserve this balance, it could block legislation passed by the Northern-dominated House that would in any way be detrimental to
the welfare of the southern states.
The impasse was resolved when Maine separated from Massachusetts and applied for
statehood. A compromise, created by Henry Clay, was proposed and accepted by both sides
in 1820. This compromise, known as the Missouri Compromise, provided for the admittance
of Missouri as a slave state and the admittance of Maine as a free state, thereby preserving
the balance of power. In addition, the North was able to hold its position that Congress
should determine the expansion of slavery into the territories by including a provision that
forbade slavery forever in the Louisiana Purchase north of the 36° 30’ parallel.
Complete the vocabulary matching.
1.1
_____ boycott
a. The action of a state setting aside a national law it considers
unconstitutional
1.2
_____ confiscate
b. A reduction in the amount of jobs, money, and goods
1.3
_____ depression
c. One who comes into country in which one is not a native
1.4
_____ embargo
d. Support for one section without regard for the needs of the
other sections of the nation as a whole
1.5
_____ immigrant
e. The idea that the United States should extend from the
Atlantic to the Pacific
1.6
_____ Manifest Destiny
f. To acquire two opposite views, principles, or tendencies
1.7
_____ nullification
g. A tax on products being brought into the country
1.8
_____ polarize
h. To leave an organized group
1.9
_____ secede
i. To refrain by concerted action from using or purchasing a product
1.10
_____ sectionalism
j. An order restricting certain goods and/or ships from entering or
leaving a country
1.11
_____ suffrage
k. To take by authority, or as if by authority
1.12
_____ tariff
l. The right to vote
8
True/False.
1.13
________
Daniel Webster was an outspoken advocate of states’ rights.
Fill in the blanks.
1.14
Many of the settlers of Missouri were __________________________________________ from the South.
1.15
Congress passed the __________________________________________ Act forbidding American ships to
transport goods to foreign ports.
1.16
The doctrine first introduced by Jefferson and Madison in 1798 and reintroduced by Calhoun
and Hayne after 1828 was called __________________________________________ .
1.17
The settlement of a disagreement when each party gives up part of its demand is called a
__________________________________________ .
1.18
The vocabulary word _________________________ means to support and strengthen something.
1.19
The compromise Tariff of 1832 _________________________ the rates over ten years.
1.20
The Tallmadge Amendment stated that slavery be forbidden in the new state of Missouri and
that the children of slaves would be free when they reached _________________________ years
of age.
Choose the best answer(s).
1.21
Select the items that correctly describe the Webster-Hayne Debate.
_______
_______
_______
_______
1.22
It was about nullification.
It was over the tariff issue.
Hayne said, “Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable.”
It was about slavery.
The factors that caused New England ship owners to start spinning mills were:
_______
_______
_______
_______
_______
_______
_______
1.23
a.
b.
c.
d.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
power from waterfalls
available cotton
the first modern depression of 1819
the Embargo
Clay’s “American System”
available labor
the first tariff
What were the three components of the Missouri Compromise?
_______
_______
_______
_______
_______
_______
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
admit Missouri as a slave state
admit Missouri as a free state
admit Maine as a free state
admit Maine as a slave state
Congress could not determine the expansion of slavery into territories
forbid slavery north of 36o 30’ in the Louisiana Purchase
9
1.24
The Missouri Compromise was introduced by:
_______
_______
_______
_______
a.
b.
c.
d.
James Tallmadge
Daniel Webster
John C. Calhoun
Henry Clay
Texas. During the years when Texas was a Spanish possession, American settlers had
to declare they would become loyal Spanish subjects before they were admitted to that
Mexican province. After the Mexican Revolution in 1821, large tracts of land were granted
to Americans in the hope that the settlers would increase land improvements, trade in the
area, and provide a buttress against Indian raids and American aggression into the other
Mexican states. Stephen Austin was one who accepted the Mexican offer and led a group
of settlers into the state. Others soon followed, and by 1830 more than twenty thousand
white Americans with more than one thousand slaves had settled on Mexican land.
Soon the American settlers outnumbered the Mexican settlers. Although the Americans
had accepted the land under the stipulation that they would be loyal to the Mexican government, they often ignored Mexican law and authority. They continued to import slaves in
spite of the antislavery provision in the Mexican constitution.
The settlers became concerned about their status when the Mexican government was
taken over by a dictator named Santa Anna in 1835. The alarmed Americans declared their
independence and took up arms to defend themselves. Santa Anna led an army of 6,000
men into Texas to crush the rebellion in 1836. A small band of militant Texans led by Davy
Crockett and Jim Bowie fortified the Alamo, a small mission church in San Antonio. During
the battle with the Mexican army, all 200 people secured in the Alamo were killed. The
Texans were enraged. The words “Remember the Alamo” became the battle cry as Texans
followed Sam Houston in their war for independence. After seven months of fighting, the
Texans captured General Santa Anna and forced him to sign an treaty giving them independence. Texas became an independent republic and asked to join the United States.
People in the South and West tended to sympathize with the Texas rebels. The Texans
were viewed as pioneers who had emigrated to start new lives. However, the people of the
Northeast saw the annexation of Texas as a plot to add more slaveholding states to the
Union. They pointed out that four or five states could be formed from the vast Texas
acreage, destroying the future balance of power. The controversy and the fear of war with
Mexico kept Texas from joining the Union for several years.
Oregon. When the first Americans crossed the Rocky Mountains into the rich, fertile
lands of Oregon, the land supported great forests and a multitude of animal life. Reports
about the Oregon Country written by the missionary Marcus Whitman filtered back to the
East and the western frontier, firing the imagination of pioneer-spirited Americans.
Fur trappers heard the stories about the variety of fur-bearing animals and went to
Oregon to make their fortunes. These trappers explored the region and discovered trails
through the mountains. One of these “mountain men,” as the trappers were called, was
James Beckworth, a black man who came to the West to find freedom and security. Other
legendary figures of western exploration included Kit Carson, Jim Bridger, and Jeb Smith.
Missionaries and traders followed the trappers to the rich, fertile land. They were followed by settlers who arrived by the hundreds in wagon trains across the Oregon Trail. By
1845 about five thousand Americans lived in Oregon. At that time, Oregon was claimed by
both England and the United States.
The United States wanted to purchase England’s share of this land, but was unable to
persuade England to relinquish her rights. Many Americans expressed their feelings and
intentions by voicing the slogan “54° 40’ or Fight,” since 54° 40’ was the northern border of
what was then called Oregon. Eventually, the United States negotiated a compromise with
England in 1846, and Oregon Country was divided into two parcels at the 49th parallel.
The upper portion was retained by England in British Canada, and the lower portion
became American soil.
10
THE DIVISION OF THE PEOPLE
The forces of good and evil present during the years preceding the Civil War tugged at
people of good will across the country. In an effort to conquer evil as they saw it and to secure
for themselves the opportunities leading to success, people lost sight of the goal of forming
a nation of common purpose. They denied the respect for each other that is necessary for
cooperation between groups of people. Their opinions became divisive. The self-destructive
forces of evil that are often shown through divisiveness moved amidst the people and pulled
them apart. God manifested His patience and His support in renewing hope, courage, and
strength as the hearts and minds of the people were opened to His will.
Opinions in law. The provision of the 1850 Compromise that was most distasteful to
northerners was the adoption of a strict fugitive slave law. People in the North resented the
intrusion of the federal commissioners into a state responsibility. Southerners responded
that northern states often ignored federal laws about fugitive slaves, and they insisted that
the law be strengthened to guarantee the return of valuable slave property. Under the new
law, United States commissioners were authorized to hold hearings and to issue warrants
for the arrest of fugitive slaves. The suspected runaways were not allowed to testify in their
own defense, and no jury was allowed during the hearing and decision. The commissioners
were paid a bonus or double fee for each suspect that was found to be a runaway instead of
a freedman. Commissioners also were pressured by threat of a fine for the full price of the
service of the slave, should one escape from their custody. Civilian bystanders could be
called into service if a commissioner needed help capturing or restraining a suspect. The
reluctant citizen could be fined $1,000 and imprisoned for six months if convicted of helping a fugitive slave.
One effect of the fugitive slave law in the North was to unite the people in resistance to
that law and to the continuation of slavery. Some states passed “personal liberty laws.”
These laws gave suspected runaways the right to legal counsel and jury trials. In some
cities the streets were posted with warnings to blacks to avoid being captured.
Nevertheless, some fugitive slaves and some freedmen were captured and transported
to southern owners. Solomon Northrup, a black freedman living in New York, was captured
and sold in the New Orleans slave market. Once a person was sold, his fate as a slave was
usually sealed, as seen in the case of Charles Ball, a freedman who was kidnapped in
Georgia. The case was tried in a Georgia court, and the court declared that any black found
in the custody of a white man was considered a slave unless the slave could prove his free
status.
Dred Scott, the slave of an army surgeon, lived several
years with his owner in the free state of Illinois and in the
Wisconsin territory where slavery was forbidden before
returning with his owner to the doctor’s home state of
Missouri. When Dr. Emerson, Dred Scott’s owner, died and
Scott’s title was transferred to a new owner, friends encouraged the slave to sue for his freedom. Scott’s suit stated that
residence in a free state and in a territory where slavery was
banned by the Missouri Compromise made him a free man.
The case reached the Supreme Court and on March 7,
1857, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney announced the decision
that Dred Scott was not free. Although he had lived in a free
state and territory, no slave or descendants of slaves could become citizens of the United
States. Therefore, Scott was not a citizen and could not bring suit in a federal court.
Furthermore, the court decided that the Missouri Compromise, prohibiting slavery in certain territories, was unconstitutional. The court said slaves were property, and Congress
could pass no law depriving people of their property, as stated by the Fifth Amendment. The
court also ruled any congressional prohibition of slavery in any territory was illegal, and
Congress was obligated to protect slave property in any section of the country.
19
In effect, the court repealed the Missouri Compromise in the Dred Scott case. This action
drew a cry of agony from the North and one of joy from the South. The Taney decision, repudiating the right of Congress to control the extension of slavery in the territories, was a blow to
the antislavery forces and a boost to the people who advocated popular sovereignty in Kansas.
Opinions in debate. Stephen Douglas, an advocate of popular sovereignty, and
Abraham Lincoln were both running for one of the Senate seats from Illinois. The two men
met in a series of debates before the election of 1858. Lincoln delivered his now famous “A
House Divided” speech when he was nominated to run for the Senate by the Republican
convention in Springfield. In part Lincoln said that a nation divided against itself cannot
stand. Lincoln believed that a government cannot endure permanently half slave and half
free. Lincoln did not expect the Union to be dissolved or the nation to fall, but that it would
cease to be divided. He believed the United States would either be free of slavery or every
state would have slaves. Douglas based his debate strategy on the view that Lincoln was
encouraging war over slavery. Lincoln replied that he did not imply interference with the
status of existing slavery or propose equality between the races, but he strongly opposed
the extension of slavery.
During one of the celebrated debates, Lincoln put Douglas on the defensive by asking
him if the people of any territory, before a state constitution was written, could lawfully prohibit slavery from the territory against the wish of any United States citizen. Douglas, a
supporter of popular sovereignty, found the question difficult to answer. If he said the people could not exclude slavery, then “popular sovereignty” was a null and void issue. If he
said yes, then he would be defying the Dred Scott decision. Douglas, astute and creative,
answered yes, the people of a territory could exclude slavery from the territory before the
state constitution is written. Douglas explained that slavery could only exist if the local legislature passed regulations protecting slave property and could, therefore, lawfully curtail
slavery without formally banning it. This answer became known as the Freeport Doctrine
and helped Douglas win the Illinois senate seat. His answer also alienated southerners and
probably cost him the 1860 Presidential nomination.
Opinions in literature. Harriet Beecher Stowe, a
resident of Cincinnati, Ohio, had lived across the river
from slavery for eighteen years. As a young woman she
was influenced by the fervor of the abolitionists and
stories about the horrors of slavery. She decided to visit
a Kentucky plantation and to confirm for herself the
problems inherent in slavery. When the Fugitive Slave
Act was passed in 1850, she began writing a series of stories denouncing slavery. In 1852 the stories were published as a novel under the title, Uncle Tom’s Cabin or
Life Among the Lowly. It became a philosophical and
financial success.
20
The first printing of the book was sold out in two days. By the end of 1852, three hundred
thousand copies had been sold. Translated into European languages, it was a best seller in
England and Russia. People who would not have read the book themselves heard it read at private or public readings or saw the play adapted from the pages of the book.
Mrs. Stowe’s purpose in writing the book was to show the degrading and brutalizing effects of slavery. She developed the plot and
characters to emphasize her point. Many people of the North accepted the stereotypes presented as typical of all people in the South.
Southerners resented what they considered a blind view of slavery.
This view led them to denounce the book and its author and to ban
the book in the South. Stowe’s stories of Little Eva, Uncle Tom, and
Simon Legree crystallized opinions in the minds of Americans in the
North and the South and became another wedge between the two
Harriet Beecher Stowe sections of our nation.
Opinions in raids. John Brown, a fervent abolitionist, had participated in the guerrilla fighting that occurred in Kansas in 1855. He had attacked three proslavery families
in Pottawatomie Crossing and killed five people. The deliberate murders escalated the
fighting between proslavery and antislavery forces.
John Brown fled from Kansas to Canada where he began lecturing in May 1858. He told
his audience of a plan to initiate a slave uprising by securing a post in the Appalachians,
attacking plantations, and liberating slaves. Believing that “there is no remission of sin
without bloodshed,” Brown explained that the liberated slaves led by
him would become soldiers and fight to win freedom for all slaves from
the southern plantation owners.
Twenty-one followers, including three of his sons, his daughter, and
a daughter-in-law, joined Brown and traveled to Harper’s Ferry,
Virginia, a village at the junction of the Potomac and Shenandoah
Rivers. At Harper’s Ferry, Brown and his followers captured the federal
arsenal and seized two planters and some slaves and held them
hostage. During the first day of the raid, five men were killed, including
John Brown
two of Brown’s sons.
When President Buchanan heard of the raid, he ordered the artillery and the marines
under the command of Robert E. Lee and J.E.B. Stuart to Harper’s Ferry. Stuart
approached the arsenal and asked for Brown’s surrender. When
Brown refused, Lee attacked the building, killing ten of Brown’s followers. Brown was tried one week after he was routed from the
arsenal. He was found guilty of treason, murder, and conspiracy.
People in the North and South were afraid that his death would
transform him from a fanatic to a martyred saint. They petitioned
the Virginia governor to commute the death sentence to life imprisonment on the basis that he was insane. Nevertheless, Governor
Henry A. Wise stood firm and Brown was hanged.
In the South the people saw Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry as an
arm of the North stretching out to destroy them. In the North, as
many predicted, John Brown became a martyr and the song “John
Brown’s Body” was sung as men marched to war.
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Match the following.
1.53
_____ arsenal
a. a fixed form or character; a conventional type
1.54
_____ abolitionist
b. sued for his freedom but lost
1.55
_____ stereotypes
c. a building for making and storing arms and
military equipment
1.56
_____ Dred Scott
d. a person who wants to do away with some rule
or custom
1.57
_____ Chief Justice Roger B. Taney
e. black freedman living in New York, captured and
sold in the New Orleans slave market
1.58
_____ Solomon Northrup
f. effectively repealed the Missouri compromise
Fill in the blanks.
1.59
Many northerners became upset over the adoption of a strict ______________________________________
law.
1.60
Some states passed __________________________________________ laws which gave suspected runaways
the right to legal counsel and jury trials.
1.61
When Stephen Douglas explained that slavery could be excluded from a territory if the officials
did not pass laws to protect it, his argument became known as the ________________________________ .
1.62
Three characters mentioned in Uncle Tom’s Cabin were ______________________ ,
______________________ and ______________________ .
1.63
John Brown was an _________________________________ who attacked proslavery families in Kansas.
1.64
John Brown attacked the federal arsenal at __________________________________________ in
_______________________ .
1.65
President Buchanan ordered _________________________ and_________________________ to Harper’s
Ferry.
1.66
John Brown was taken prisoner, tried, and _________________________ .
True/False.
1.67
________
Henry Ward Beecher, a fervent abolitionist from Cincinnati, Ohio, was the author of
Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
1.68
________
Uncle Tom’s Cabin sold three hundred thousand copies by the end of 1852 and was
banned in the South.
22
Answer the following questions.
1.69
What was Stephen Douglas’ position in the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858?
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
1.70
What was Abraham Lincoln’s position in the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858?
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Adult Check
___________________
Initial
Date
Review the material in this section in preparation for the Self Test. The Self Test will check
your mastery of this particular section. The items missed on this Self Test will indicate specific areas where restudy is needed for mastery.
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