chapter 14 storm clouds over the nation. sectional issues that divided the north and south had...

CHAPTER 14STORM CLOUDS OVER THE NATION

Sectional issues that divided the North and South had developed in the

antebellum (before the war) period.

Chapter 14 – Storm Clouds over the Nation pp. 261-264

The way that Americans interpreted our core values divided the North and South.


• Core values• freedom• equality• individualism


• Most of the politicians of the 1850s were NOT willing to compromise.

• Interestingly, most of the south (75% of the white population) did NOT own slaves!

• Economic and Lifestyle Differences• South: agricultural society• North: industrial society

• Northern society was driven by immigration.

• Southern society was driven by the rich upper class (plantation owners)


• The way of life of all Southerners was greatly influenced by the needs and desires of the slaveholders.

• Slavery was viewed as having a stabilizing influence on Southern society.


• The North was heavily industrialized, had mostly free blacks, and was populated with large cities.


• Political Differences• North: supported a strong central

government• South: feared a strong central

government


• differed over which level of government (state or federal) should have more power

• Northern justification: Article VI


“This Constitution, and the laws of the United States…; and all treaties made… under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound

thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary

notwithstanding.”


• Southern justification: Amendment X and the contract theory of government

• The South reasoned that because the states had voluntarily joined the Union, the state should be able to secede from the Union if it chose.


“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited

by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.”

Amendment X


“…that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed;

that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the

right of the people to alter or abolish it.”

Declaration of Independence


• Other Political Differences• South: feared losing power in

Congress• tariff

• North: favored high tariffs• South: opposed high tariffs


• Slavery• It involved only those of African

descent.• It became a permanent condition for

most slaves.• It was the result of buying stolen

Africans and selling them.


• How Slaves Were Acquired• Most slaves came from the west coast

of Africa and were captured in raids or in war.

• The “Middle Passage” was perhaps the slave’s worst experience.


• The United States became the last major western nation to ban the foreign slave trade in 1808.


• Life on a Southern Plantation• overseer: distributed the work among

the slaves• work systems

• gang system: common projects• task system: individual tasks


• diet: similar to those of poor Southerners

• types of slaves• house slaves• field hands


• Black Responses to Plantation Conditions• “Underground Railroad”: helped

blacks escape to the North• Fugitive Slave Act of 1850: forced the

Railroad to extend into Canada

• slave rebellions


• abolition movements: desire to abolish (ban) slavery• Frederick Douglass: leading black

abolitionist• Harriet Tubman: escaped slave who

worked on the Underground Railroad• The “Moses” of her people• Led 300 blacks to freedom


• Northern Responses to Slavery• more concerned about economic

issues than slavery• abolition: objection to slavery for

moral reasons


• abolitionists• William Lloyd Garrison: began the

newspaper called the Liberator• Horace Greeley: antislavery journalist

from the New York Tribune


• Southern Responses to Abolitionism• defense of slavery as an economic

necessity• defense of slavery on constitutional

grounds


• defense of slavery for social reasons• opposition to slavery by small farmers

in Appalachia


Slavery was more than just a political issue; it was also a religious issue.


• The Bible’s Role in the Slavery Debate• Abolitionists used broad Bible

principles rather than specific verses.• The Bible at first glance appears to

support slavery, but biblical slavery and Southern slavery were very different institutions.


Religion played a major role in the slave community.


Most Americans applied the Bible to all areas of society, which made their inability

to reach a consensus on slavery a cultural crisis.


• Uncle Tom’s Cabin• written by Harriet Beecher Stowe• became one of the most influential

novels ever written


• The Kansas-Nebraska Act• Stephen Douglas introduced a bill that

applied the idea of popular sovereignty to these two territories.

• The bill passed, which caused both sides to encourage their supporters to quickly settle in the territories.


• Fierce fighting erupted between the two sides, which caused Kansas to become known as “Bleeding Kansas.”


• The Republican Party• The Whig Party had split into two

factions over slavery.• The Republican Party was formed in

1854 by antislavery groups.


• The Dred Scott Decision• Dred Scott: a slave who had lived

briefly in the free state of Wisconsin• suit: living in a free state made Scott a

free man after the death of his master


• ruling: Scott didn’t have the right to sue because he was a slave


• John Brown’s Attacks on Slavery• John Brown: radical abolitionist who

advocated violence• massacred five men at Pottawatomie,

Kansas


• Harper’s Ferry raid• He seized a federal arsenal in order to

arm slaves and lead a revolt throughout the South.

• He was defeated by federal troops led by Robert E. Lee.


The Democratic Party split in the election of 1860 into Northern and Southern

Democrats.


• The Election of 1860• fire-eaters: a group of radical

southerners who threatened secession if the Republicans won the election


• Northern Democrats: Stephen Douglas• would adhere to Supreme Court

decisions regarding the territories, slavery, and the powers of Congress


• supported government aid for construction of a transcontinental railroad

• favored the acquisition of Cuba


• Southern Democrats: John C. Breckinridge• called for the protection of slavery in the

territories• supported the acquisition of Cuba and

construction of a transcontinental railroad


• Republicans: Abraham Lincoln• opposed the extension of slavery into the

territories• denounced the lawless invasion by

armed force of any state or territory


• supported the building of a transcontinental railroad

• advocated a protective tariff


• Constitutional Unionists: John Bell• desired national unity


Chapter 14 – Storm Clouds over the Nation p. 276

• The Secession of the Southern States• South Carolina was the first state to

secede.• The states of the deep South (MS, FL,

AL, GA, LA, and TX) followed South Carolina’s example.


• The seceding states formed the Confederate States of America.

• leaders• Jefferson Davis: president• Alexander Stephens: vice-president


The South believed that since it had entered the Union voluntarily, it could also

leave the Union voluntarily.

The central issue of the war was over the state’s right to secede from the Union.


The South had seized all federal properties within its borders except Fort Sumter (Charleston) and Fort Pickens

(Pensacola).


• Firing on Fort Sumter• Lincoln chose to re-supply Fort

Sumter.• The Confederates fired on The Star of

the West and Fort Sumter as the ship entered Charleston Harbor.


Following the events at Fort Sumter, the states of the Upper South

(VA, AR, NC, TN) voted to secede.


• The Call for Troops• Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteer

soldiers.


• Intra-state divisions• Virginia

• The western fifty counties became the state of West Virginia.

• Tennessee


• Border states• Kentucky: persuaded by Lincoln to

declare neutrality while remaining in the Union

• Missouri: troops were sent to prevent secession

• Maryland: martial law was declared


• Reasons for Northern Hope• industrial capacity• large, growing population


• Reasons for Southern Hope• were defending their nation (were not

trying to defeat the North)• were defending their homes and way

of life• thought they would get foreign help


• had a long coastline that would be difficult to blockade

• believed they had better troops and officers


chapter 14 storm clouds over the nation. sectional issues that divided the north and south had...

Documents

nation slide

storm clouds

agricultural society

lifestyle differences

level of government

strong central governmentnorth

strong central governmentsouth

united states