Lecture 12 13 Sectional Conflict and Shattered Union 1850 1861 I New Political Choices A The Politics of Compromise 1 California s application for statehood revived tensions between North and South a California wished to bar slavery b What to do about slavery in the Utah and New Mexico territories divided the two sides 2 The Compromise of 1850 sought to resolve all issues as follows a California to be a free state b Popular sovereignty to determine whether or not the Utah and New Mexico territories would have slavery c Fugitive slave law to placate southerners d Slave trade in Washington D C to end 3 The Whig party fell apart during the election of 1852 a Conscience Whigs antislavery and Cotton Whigs proslavery divided b Animosity between Catholics immigrants and Protestants native born Americans also hurt the party B A Changing Political Economy 1 Industrialization increased during the 1850s a Steam power advanced interchangeable parts assembly lines and mass production contributed to the expansion of factory industry 2 The railroad moved to center place in the economy a Railroad mileage more than tripled b Agriculture mining and manufacturing expanded because of more rail transport c Government at all levels helped finance railroad development 3 The West s economic and political power increased a World grain prices rose during the 1850s b New farming equipment made greater production possible 4 The labor force expanded thanks to immigration a Irish immigration climbed because of the potato blight b German immigration increased because of crop failures and political chaos 5 Regionally different economies contributed to sectional division a Slavery seemed to loom behind every issue and debate C Decline of the Whigs 1 The Whig party weakened because of the foregoing economic changes a Efforts to attract immigrants angered American Indian artisans and evangelical Protestants 2 The American party Know Nothings attracted anti immigrant and anti Catholic support 3 II Differences over slavery further split the Whigs a Publication of Uncle Tom s Cabin gave new impetus to antislavery sentiment b Some Northerners began to assist slaves to escape via the Underground Railroad 4 Temperance reformers also left the Whig party D Increasing Tension Under Pierce 1 Choice of a transcontinental railroad route inflamed sectional opinion a Southerners wanted a southern route to encourage the development of more slave states b Northern Free Soilers evangelicals and manufacturers wanted a northern route 2 The Gadsden Purchase angered antislavery forces a It facilitated development of a southern transcontinental railroad route 3 Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois maneuvered to obtain a northern route a He sought a route based in Chicago b His Kansas Nebraska Act to organize the territories through which a northern route must pass allowed for popular sovereignty on the slavery question Toward a House Divided A A Shattered Compromise 1 The Kansas Nebraska Act infuriated northern opinion a Northern coalitions to defeat it were unsuccessful but gradually coalesced to form the Republican party 2 Northerners found even more evidence of a slave power conspiracy in a Filibustering by southerners in the Caribbean and Central America b The Ostend Manifesto B Bleeding Kansas 1 Both sides began to send armed settlers to Kansas 2 Kansas erupted in violence a Proslavery forces entered Kansas from Missouri and voted illegally in elections to organize the territory b They attacked the antislavery town of Lawrence when antislavery forces organized their own government c John Brown then seized and murdered five proslavery men 3 The Kansas issue also led to violence in Congress a Southerners praised the assault on Senator Sumner by Representative Brooks 4 The Republican party did well in the presidential election of 1856 a Its relatively narrow defeat underscored the new party s appeal in the North b III The American party split apart over the issue of slavery many northern members joined the Republicans C Bringing Slavery Home to the North 1 The Supreme Court s Dred Scott decision further angered the North a It decreed that Congress could not limit slavery in the territories 2 In Kansas the proslavery LeCompton constitution kept tensions high a Congress did not approve it because nonresidents had participated in the ratification vote b In a second vote on it it was defeated because this time Free Soilers in Kansas voted 3 In Illinois Abraham Lincoln ran for the Senate against Douglas a The two engaged in a series of debates about the expansion of slavery b In the Freeport Doctrine Douglas said that despite the Dred Scott decision a territory could exclude slavery by making it uncomfortable for slave owners D Radical Responses to Abolitionism and Slavery 1 Southerners defended slavery s expansion as vital to their economic and political well being 2 They defended slavery itself by a Offering religious reasons and biblical examples b Arguing that it made whites in the South freer and more cultivated than in the North c Suggesting that slave labor was more humane than the wage slavery of northern laborers 3 John Brown attacked the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry Virginia a His goal was a mass slave insurrection b The attack frightened the South pushing many to consider secession 4 Hinton Rowan Helpers s The Impending Crisis of the South pushed more southerners to consider secession a Northerners distributed it widely for though written by a southern racist it assailed slavery The Divided Nation A The Dominance of Regionalism 1 The Democratic party split again over the issue of slavery in the territories in 1860 a Northern Democrats nominated Douglas for president on a platform of popular sovereignty in the territories b Southern Democrats nominated Breckenridge on a platform demanding federal protection of slavery in the territories 2 The Constitutional Union party nominated Bell a IV It hoped to force the election into the House of Representatives 3 The Republicans nominated Lincoln a Their platform opposed the extension of slavery and supported higher tariffs internal improvements and land legislation for the West B The Election of 1860 1 The Republicans emphasized the slavery issue and also played on Democratic party corruption 2 Douglas attempted to save the Union by uniting moderate Democrats and Constitutional Unionists but failed 3 Southerners panicked at the prospect of a Republican victory a Rumors of slave