Secession

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A Novel

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An election

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A “Crazy” Person

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A Court Decision

Compromise of 1850

• California joins as a free state (no other way to balance power in congress) – Pro North
• Stronger fugitive slave laws allow bounty parties to cross state lines and search private homes. – Pro South
• Kansas Nebraska Act: vote on slave status (Popular Sovereignty)
• This leads to Bleeding Kansas, a violent manifestation of the political and social hatred

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Dred Scott v Stanford

• Dred Scott – master moved into free states of Wisconsin and Illinois.
• Got $ support from abolitionists and took his master to court
• Went to the SC, who ruled in favor of
• The Master – “A black man has no rights that a white man is bound to respect” – SCCJ Roger Taney
• At issue – Southerners considered this to be outrageous, like the Court Case of the woman who sued McDonalds bc she got fat

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

• Published in 1852 by Harriet Beecher Stowe
• About Southern life – outlined the horrific story of one family group; split up, sold and treated terribly
• 12 Million Copies Sold = lots of attention drawn to the issue of slavery
• Voices raise in the North about the treatment and people join abolition movements
• The South sees this as a smear campaign! They claim that what is in the book is NOT typical and it makes them look like monsters

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John Brown

• Abolitionist willing to die to end slavery
• In Kansas, he and his sons used machetes to “hack” 5 pro-slavery men to death.
• Conspiracy to start a slave uprising 🡪 Harpers’ Ferry Va. failed.
• He was executed for his crime and attempt at the rebellion
• Southerners looked at this like domestic terrorism aimed directly at them – considered him a ________ wing extremist and terrorist.

Election of 1860

• Democratic Nominee – Stephen Douglas
• Southern Democrat Nom – John Breckenridge
• Constitutional Union Party – John Bell
• Republican Party – Abraham Lincoln

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• At that time, the Republican party was seen as the left-wing, liberal extremist party