User:Atcovi/VA and US History/Sack of Lawrence

Sack of Lawrence

 * Lawrence, KS: anti-slavery settlement funded by New England Emigrant Aid Society (May 21, 1856).

They set the city on fire because of they were not good at artillery and attack the press.
 * 1) Why was Lawrence attacked? What was the motivation behind the attack on Lawrence?
 * 2) *The town is abolitionist and the pro-slavery people wanted to not deal with this. They first target the press.
 * 3) How was the "sack of Lawrence" described by contemporaries?
 * 1) *The contemporaries resisted the sacking of Lawrence and saw it as a disgrace to the American flag
 * 2) Did the people of Lawrence resist?
 * 3) *No.
 * 4) What was the estimated value of property stolen or destroyed during the Sack of Lawrence?
 * 5) *Over 100,000 dollars.
 * 6) Did anyone die?
 * 7) *No.

Bleeding Kansas

 * As a result of the policy of popular sovereignty, violence erupts in Kansas.
 * Border Ruffians = People from Missouri that supported slavery.
 * Jay Hawkers = People from Missouri that did not support slavery.
 * Violence erupts between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers.

March 1855 - Frauds and intimidation, Kansas become a slavery territory.

Pro-slavery capital was set at Lecompton, KS -- but this does not last long. Pierce refuses a second election. The Jay Hawkers organize a second election, which is biased towards the anti-slavery people. The Jay Hawkers win this vote and then set up thier dual government in Topeka.
 * Free-Staters
 * Hold another round of elections and voted in a free-state government.
 * Pierce says that the Topeka gov't is not valid but Congress recognizes the Topeka gov't.

Violence in the Senate
Caning of Charles Sumner


 * May 22, 1856
 * Charles Sumner's speech, "The Crime Against Kansas" - he says what is happening to Kansas is the same as rape. He then calls out the senators who've [sexually] assaulted their slaves. Due to this speech, he gets attacked in the Senate.

Pottawatomie Creek

 * May 23, 1856: John Brown retaliates for sack of Lawrence by leading an attack on pro-slavery settlers living near Pottawatomie Creek.
 * This Massacre triggers other outbreaks of violence.
 * "Bleeding Kansas".

Political Parties (1848-1856)

 * Free Soil Party
 * "Free soil, Free labor, Free men"
 * Prevent Extension of Slavery on economic ground.
 * Advocate free homesteads
 * Internal Improvements
 * American Party
 * "Know-Nothing" Party
 * Did not like immigration
 * Nativist Platform.
 * Republican Party, 1854 (Democrats + Whigs)
 * Called for the repeal of the K-N Act and the Fugitive Slave Law.
 * Some radicals, mostly moderates
 * Opposed expansion of slavery, not slavery itself.

Election of 1856

 * Democrat
 * James Buchanan = Endorsed moderate popular sovereignty, said that radicalism of Republicans would lead to war.
 * Republican
 * No expansion of slavery, free homesteads, protective tariff
 * Know Nothing
 * No clear position on slavery, strongly nativist.

Dred Scott v. Sandford, 1857

 * Questions
 * Did Scott's residency in a free state during the 1830s make him free?
 * Did he have the right to sue in federal courts?
 * Ruling
 * Chief Justice Roger Taney, a Democrat from Maryland, ruled that Scott was not made a free citizen just because he was taken into free territory. He didn't have the right to sue in courts either. This makes the laws of the state weak. It goes against popular sovereignty. This horrifies the Northerners and glees the Southerners.
 * Taney's Rationale: He believes that the founders never intended for black people to have the right of citizens (Founders' Intent). He also believed in the 5th amendment, which says that Congress cannot deny you their property (slaves) without due process. This increased in the popularity of the Republican party in the North (who were anti-slavery people).

Lecompton Constitution

 * In 1857, Kansas applied for statehood and submitted a constitution it had written to Congress and President Buchanan.
 * It is pro-slavery (constitution), but Congress block this constitution based on Bleeding Kansas (botched elections). They recognize that the Border Ruffians invalidated the formation of the Lecompton Constitution.

Lincoln-Douglas Debates

 * 1858
 * Two candidates for IL Senate seat.
 * Incumbent: Stephen Douglas (D)
 * Challenger: Abraham Lincoln (R)
 * Had 7 debates in IL publicly debating issues like slavery.
 * Lincoln
 * Moderate republican.
 * Against expansion of slavery
 * Made slavery a moral issue
 * "This government cannot endure permantenyl half slave and half free"
 * Douglas
 * Believed in popular sovereignty
 * Authored the K-N Act
 * Resisted Lecompton Const.
 * Wanted to encourage white exapsnion and slavery was an aspect of that thus, it may need to expand.

The Freeport Doctrine
Douglas's response to the question. He argues that slavery could not exist in an area unless the local citizens enforced laws maintaining it thus, regardless of the Court's ruling, popular sovereignty was still a viable option. Douglas effectively loses Southern support.
 * What had the Dred Scott ruling done to popular sovereignty?
 * Freeport Doctrine
 * Outcome of Election? Lincoln wins.

John Brown

 * 1800-1859
 * Provoked Bleeding Kansas and killed pro-slavery people.
 * Brown believes that the evil of slavery must be met with violence.
 * He believes Lincoln is a "misguided fanatic".

Harpers Ferry
John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry


 * October 16, 1859
 * Brown tries to start a slave uprising in the east.

The US Marines arrive, including Robert E. Lee, and capture him. John Brown was arrested, found guilty of treason and hanged on December 2, 1859.

Election of 1860
1860 United States presidential election
 * Numerically, if every free state voted Republican, 0 southern votes would be tolled.

Republican Convention

 * Chicago
 * Senator William Seward: NY
 * Experienced
 * Led anti-slavery effort in Congress
 * Desired the job
 * Had money from political and abolitionist organizations.

Some felt that he was too radical and confrontation.

Dark horse candidate Abraham Lincoln pledges to not interfere with slavery where it already exists. He did not want slavery to spread, but he doesn't want to destroy it. He was more moderate than Seward. Lincoln served in the House of Rep for 2 years and lost the Senate race.


 * Northern Democrats: Stephen Douglas (popular sovereignty; enforcement of fugitive slave act)
 * Constitutional Union: John Bell (pledged enforcement of laws, constitution, and preserving the union)
 * Southern Democrats: John C. Breckinridge (unrestricted expansion of slavery in territories and annexation of Cuba as slave territory).

Outcome

 * Lincoln wins 59% of the Electoral College.
 * South realizes that even if they voted as a block, they would only have 41% in the E.C. so they would not be able to take the White House back.
 * Slavery had split the nation.

Succession begins
Similar to the American constitution, but has key differences:
 * SC's Secession: December 20, 1860. Vote to secede from the union.
 * By February, 1861... FL, GA, AL, LA, MS, TX have seceded.
 * The new capital: Montgomery, AL.
 * Leaders
 * President: Jefferson Davis
 * Vice President: Alexander Stephens
 * Constitution
 * 1) Protects slavery and wants slavery to expand.
 * 2) Prohibits a tariff.

Crittenden Compromise

 * John J. Crittenden (KY)
 * Proposed Constitutional Amendments
 * Prohibits federal government from interfering with slavery in the South.
 * Offered compensation for owners of runaway slaves.
 * Outlawed personal-liberty laws.
 * Guaranteed right to hold slaves south of 36 30'N.

These proposals were rejected by Lincoln.

Lincoln's Inauguration

 * March 4, 1861
 * Declared that he would not interfere with slavery where it existed
 * Asserted that states do NOT have the right to secede and that the Union would be maintained.