Section #3 - Turning Point Events
1848-1861 Broken Union
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| Broken Union 1848-1861 | |
| 1848 | William Yancey proposes his Alabama Platform alternative to “popsov.” By the mid-1840’s John C. Calhoun has been joined in his call for the South to defend itself from Northern hostility by a band of so-called “fire-eaters.” Prominent among them are Robert Rhett (SC), Edmund Ruffin (Va), Louis Wigfall (TX), James DeBrow (La) and William Yancey (Ala). Yancey is a graduate of Williams College in Massachusetts who moves to Alabama, gains a cotton plantation through marriage, fights a series of deadly duels, and enters the U.S House in 1844. In response to Douglas’ “popsov” plan, Yancey offers the Alabama Platform demanding federal protection of slavery, the right to expand it in all new Territories, and a mandate to withdraw from the national Democrat Party should it fail to agree. Causal Theme: Slavery Expansion, Political Upheaval, Sectional Wealth Learn More: Read Chapter 135 in Prelude |
| 1848 | Mexico cedes 525,000 square miles of land to America in The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The Senate approves the treaty by a 38-14 margin, with the Whigs in opposition. Mexico surrenders 55% of its total land for a mere $15 million, while the acquisition brings 18% of America’s total acreage. Some 9 new states will be formed from the cession, but, as feared by many, the cession again opens the door to the North-South conflict over the expansion of slavery. Causal Theme: Slavery Expansion Learn More: Read Chapter 136 in Prelude |
| 1848 | Abolitionist Salmon Chase founds the Free Soil Party. Chase graduates from Dartmouth College before settling down to practice law in Cincinnati. He joins the Liberty Party and fights alongside Harriet Beecher Stowe to end slavery. But another passion lies in defeating the Democrat Party. He is a keen political strategist and grasps the momentum created by the Wilmot Proviso to found his Free Soil Party in 1848. The party initiates an awkward “political fusion” of northern racists and abolitionists, the former determined to preserve the new western territories for white men, the latter aiming to ban the expansion of slavery. The Party motto becomes “Free Soil for Free Men and Free Labor.” Chase’s creation alters the national political landscape and will go on to form the base of the Republican Party. Causal Theme: Political Upheaval, Slavery Expansion, Abolition Learn More: Read Chapter 142 in Prelude |
| 1848 | Joshua Giddings proposes a ban on slavery in the District of Columbia. After JQ Adams dies on the floor of the House at 80 years old, the torch of abolition is handed off to Giddings and other recent additions to Congress such as Thad Stevens, Salmon Chase, John Hale, Henry Wilson, CF Adams, Ben Wade, William Seward and Charles Sumner. To further goad the South, Giddings offers a bill to end slavery in federally controlled DC. The fact that the House passes the bill by 98-88 before the Senate stalls it becomes one more example of the South’s vulnerability in controlling Congress. Causal Theme: Voting Power, Political Upheaval, Slavery Expansion, Legal Rulings Learn More: Read Chapter 144 in Prelude |
| 1849 | Newly elected Whig President Zachary Taylor surprises the South. Taylor rises to national fame with his victories during the Mexican War at Monterrey and Buena Vista. He is living in Mississippi after the war on his 1823 acre Cypress Grove Plantation along with 80 enslaved laborers, when the Whigs nominate him for President. After defeating Lewis Cass by 47-42%, he concentrates on trying to avoid a sectional conflict. But delaying tactics vanish after the 1849 Gold Rush in California accelerates its wish to join the Union. Its Constitution calls for a Free State designation, despite nearly banning all Blacks from residency. In a moment of public candor, Polk angers the South by agreeing with the Free State label and then declaring that “if the Congress were to pass the Wilmot Amendment, I would not veto it.” Even a Southern moderate like Robert Toombs is outraged by Polk’s decision. In response, he demonstrates the remaining Southern power in the House by boycotting the election of a 31st Congress Speaker for 63 ballots. Causal Theme: Slavery Expansion, Racism, Voting Power, Political Upheaval Learn More: Read Chapter 145 in Prelude |
| 1849 | Calhoun’s Address to the Southern Delegates in Congress offers another dire warning. In one more call to action, Calhoun tells his Southern colleagues that: “The (North) intends to vest the free blacks and slaves with the right to vote on the question of emancipation in this District…and by this political union between them, holding the white race at the South in complete subjection…The first and indispensable step, without which nothing can be done, and with which everything may be, is to be united among yourselves, on this vital question. Until then, the North will not believe that you are in earnest in opposition to their encroachments, and they will continue to follow, one after another, until the work of abolition is finished. Causal Theme: Abolition, Slavery Expansion, Political Upheaval Learn More: Read Chapter 145 in Prelude |
| 1850 | The Biennial Census shows that the Northern states have 60% of the total U.S. population. This means that the allocation of seats in the House now favors the Northern states by an overwhelming 60-40% margin over the South. Causal Theme: Voting Power, Slavery Expansion Learn More: Read Chapter 144 in Prelude |
| 1850 | Henry Clay seeks another North-South Compromise with his 1850 Omnibus Bill. In 1850, issues surrounding the admission of California as a Free State dominate the nation. The “Great Compromiser,” Henry Clay’s proposes an Omnibus Bill that would admit California as a Free State; support “popsov” elections in the New Mexico and Utah Territories; allow slavery to continue in DC; and provide an updated version of the Fugitive Slave Act requiring active northern participation in returning run-aways. But each individual component of the bill faces enough “no” votes that, taken together, the Omnibus cannot pass. Causal Theme: Slavery Expansion, Political Upheaval Learn More: Read Chapter 148 in Prelude |
| 1850 | The sides line up for and against Clay’s Bill. Abolitionist Thad Stevens says that the Omnibus Bill extend the “moral degeneration” evident in Virginia across the nation. Moderate Robert Toombs pleads with the North to “act in good faith” toward the South. One month before Calhoun’s death, his farewell address to the Senate, read by fire-eater James Mason, calls upon the South to “defend its honor and safety” or the Union will be lost. Daniel Webster announces his support for the measure, a move that probably ends his hopes to become president. Causal Theme: Slavery Expansion, Political Upheaval Learn More: Read Chapter 150 in Prelude |
| 1850 | William Henry Seward claims “there is a higher law than the Constitution. ”Seward grows up in New York, graduates from Union College, enters politics and is elected Governor of New York at 38 years of age. He is a freshman Senator when he rises to speak out on Clay’s proposed Compromise. Many in the chamber are aghast when he issues his immortal line “there is a higher law than the Constitution …which regulates our noble purposes, and demands that we end the sin of slavery.” Included here are many conservatives who regard his statement as too radical, and in hindsight, it may have cost him earn a later presidential nomination. Causal Theme: Slavery Expansion, Political Upheaval Learn More: Read Chapter 150 in Prelude |
| 1850 | Southerners hold the Nashville Convention to debate the Omnibus Bill. After a brawl on the Senate floor between southerners Thomas Hart Benton and Henry Foote over the Bill, moderates, led by Georgians Robert Toombs, Howell Cobb and Alexander Stephens, hold a convention in Nashville to arrive at a unified response. While deflecting Fire-eater calls for secession, they insist that slavery is sanctioned in the Constitution and that the Missouri Compromise boundary line at 30’36” be extended across the southwest. Causal Theme: Slavery Expansion, Political Upheaval Learn More: Read Chapter 151, 152 in Prelude |
| 1850 | A racist New York mob breaks up an Abolition Conference in New York City. Racial animus in the North toward Blacks is again evident when the American Anti-Slavery Society tries to hold its annual convention at the Broadway Tabernacle. On the first day of the event, protesters jump on stage, disrupt Lloyd Garrison’s opening remarks, and tell the audience that all Blacks are “brothers to the monkey.” Frederick Douglas is then put down for being half-white, a taunt which finds him joking that the accuser is his half-brother. Egged on by New York Herald owner James Gordon Bennett, a mob accuses Wendell Phillips of being a Traitor before the police rush in to call off the proceedings for fear of physical violence. Causal Theme: Racism, Abolition, Public Violence Learn More: Read Chapter 151 in Prelude |
| 1850 | A filibustering attempt to conquer Cuba fails. Northern threats to prevent slavery in the west prompt a Southern search for new territory beyond the U.S. borders. One among them is John Quitman, who fights under Winfield Scott and becomes Military Governor of Mexico City before entering politics. He is Governor of Mississippi when he sets out to build a new slave empire by unleashing “American Conquistadors.” His immediate target is Cuba which the U.S. has tried to purchase for over three decades. When military adventurer Narciso Lopez approaches Polk to invade Cuba, Quitman supports him and Lopez sets sail with a 600 man force. But after capturing one town, he quickly retreats as opposition arrives. When word of the invasion leaks out, Quitman escapes conviction for violating the 1817 Neutrality Act while losing his office as Governor. Causal Theme: Slavery Expansion, Sectional Wealth Learn More: Read Chapter 154 in Prelude |
| 1850 | Douglas passes the 1850 Compromise after Clay exits DC for good. The crafty Douglas separates Clay’s bill into its parts and gets each approved individually. The North gains a solitary victory in the admission of California as a Free State. In exchange, the South enjoys several wins. The Territories of New Mexico and Utah are established with “popsov” elections, rather than outright slavery bans. The proposal to end slavery in D.C. is rejected and a new Fugitive Slave Act requires northerners to actively participate in capturing runaways. Causal Theme: Slavery Expansion, Legal Rulings Learn More: Read Chapter 157 in Prelude |
| 1851 | Northerners resist the new Fugitive Slave Act. The Boston Vigilance Committee calls the new law the “Kidnapping Act” and sets up a defense to defy the bounty hunters and protect actual Freedmen from false accusations. The Committee saves William and Ellen Craft in December 1850. Two months later, a runaway named Shadrach Minkins is in court after being arrested when a Boston mob of some 200 break in to rescue him. Abolitionist Lewis Hayden hides him until he moves along the Underground Railroad to freedom in Montreal, living there for the next 25 years. Seven members of the mob are tried and acquitted in court prompting President Millard Fillmore to order a crackdown. This comes in April 1851 with the case of Thomas Sims who is captured, tried in court and sentenced to return to slavery in Savannah. To ensure compliance, Sims is escorted to a ship by 300 saber-carrying policemen. Once in Georgia he receives 39 lashes in public square before being sold to a New Orleans slaver. Causal Theme: Abolition, Public Violence, Legal Rulings, Black Experience Learn More: Read Chapter 164 in Prelude |
| 1851 | “General” Harriet Tubman comes to symbolize the Underground Railroad. Born into slavery in Delaware as Araminta Ross, she is passed around from farm to farm, suffering lashings and a blow to her head which results in lifelong seizures. In 1844 she marries a freedman, John Tubman, and changes her first name to Harriet. She remains enslaved and living on a Maryland plantation when she escapes to Philadelphia. Three months after the new Fugitive Slave Act passes, she makes the first of her thirteen daring returns to Maryland to bring out her family members and many others. Her nickname becomes “Moses,” and fame brings her into contact with leading abolitionists including John Brown. During the war she serves as a hospital nurse and a scout in South Carolina. In return she receives a pension and a 1913 burial with military honors. Causal Theme: Abolition, Racism Learn More: Read Chapter 162 in Prelude |
| 1851 | Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, builds Northern empathy for the enslaved. Harriet is the daughter of prominent Calvinist minister, Lyman Beecher, and wife of educator Calvin Stowe. Their home in Cincinnati is a station on the Underground RR, and her passion for abolition peaks after the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act. She uses the power of her pen to advocate for freedom in her 1851 novel on the lives of Uncle Tom and the run-away Eliza. Book sales reach 300,000 in the first year, and Lincoln later calls Stowe “the little lady who started the war.” Causal Theme: Abolition, Black Experience Learn More: Read Chapter 165 in Prelude |
| 1851 | The Christiana Treason Trial is another blow to the Fugitive Slave Act. Another test of the Fugitive Slave Act occurs in Christiana, Pennsylvania in September 1851 when an owner named William Gorsuch is shot dead by a band of Freedmen while trying to reclaim four run-aways. While the leader, William Parker, flees to Canada before a trial can begin, President Fillmore decides to make an example of others accused by charging them with treason. The case is tried before Supreme Court Justice Robert Grier. A telling point occurs when defense lawyer Theodor Cuyler intones: “Treason shall consist only in levying war against the United States. Do the facts of the case sustain the charge?” After only 15 minutes deliberation, the jury returns with a Not Guilty verdict, a humiliating loss for Fillmore and for the Fugitive Slave Act. Causal Theme: Abolition, Public Violence, Legal Rulings, Black Experience Learn More: Read Chapter 167 in Prelude |
| 1851 | Abolitionist Sojourner Truth asserts her equality. Born as Isabella Baumfree in upstate New York, she escapes slavery with an infant daughter after being auctioned off on four different occasions. She works as a charitable housekeeper in New York City before undergoing a religious epiphany in 1843 sets her on a crusade: “The Spirit calls me and I must go.” She changes her name to Sojourner Truth, meets Fred Douglass and Lloyd Garrison, who published her biography in 1850, and earns her income by lecturing and selling carte d’visite photographs of herself captioned “I sell the shadow to support the substance.” Her fame spreads and she is invited to address a Woman’s Right Convention in Akron, Ohio in 1851. There she delivers her ringing refrain Ain’t I A Woman, coming out of the shadows and asserting her absolute equality as a female and as a Black. Causal Theme: Abolition, Black Experience Learn More: Read Chapter 168 in Prelude |
| 1852 | Douglass castigates white complacency in his “What to the Slave is the 4th of July” speech. By 1852 Fred Douglass is famous internationally and exhibiting a more aggressive stance around the needs to end slavery. His frustration and anger boil over in his memorable July 5, 1852 speech to an audience of 500 at the Anti-Slavery Sewing Society in Rochester. He tells them: “The 4th of July is yours, not mine. Above your joy I hear the mournful wail of millions. The conscience of the nation must be aroused…and the crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced. Oh be warned! Fling from you the hideous monster. But I do not despair of this country for there are forces in operation which must inevitably work the downfall of slavery.” History will show that, for Douglass, those forces will include men like John Brown, with whom he meets on multiple occasions to discuss the 1859 raid on Harper’s ferry. Causal Theme: Racism, Abolition, Internal Violence, Black Experience Learn More: Read Chapter 168 in Prelude |
| 1852 | Southerners step up their defense of slavery. In response to Stowe’s novel comes a series of “Anti-Tom” books asserting the tranquility and safety enjoyed by those enslaved. Then leading southern intellectuals weigh in with a 512 page publication titled the Pro-Slavery Argument. This is the work of four men: Virginian Thomas Drew, past President of William & Mary College; and three South Carolina men, Senators William Harper and the notorious James Henry Hammond, along with social observer Dr. William Gilmore Simms. In their compilation they assert that slavery is sanctioned in the Bible; it is a positive good, not an evil; that advances in civilization have always depended on a mudsill class to free up superior men; and those enslaved are much better off than those laboring in Northern factories and sweatshops. Causal Theme: Racism Learn More: Read Chapter 169 in Prelude |
| 1852 | Newly elected President Franklin Pierce owes his victory to the South. Early signs of a regional schism in the Democrat Party surfaces at its 1848 nominating convention in Baltimore when delegates slog through 48 ballots elevating then rejecting Lewis Cass and James Buchanan, then Stephen Douglas and William Marcy, before finally settling on the little known Franklin Pierce, whose wife faints upon hearing the news. But Pierce fits the new party model as a “Doughface,” a northern born man (NH) who willingly favors the South’s policy agendas, especially on the expansion of slavery. A landslide victory follows with Pierce defeating the Whig’s Winfield Scott by 254-42 in the Electoral College. Causal Theme: Political Upheaval, Slavery Expansion Learn More: Read Chapter 172 in Prelude |
| 1852 | The New York Superior Court rules in favor of a “once free, forever free” doctrine. Jonathan Lemon, along with his family and eight enslaved Blacks, travel from Virginia to New York City to catch a steamship headed to their new home in New Orleans. But after staying overnight, they are handed a subpoena by a local Underground Railroad conductor to appear in court. There they encounter lawyer John Jay, Jr., grandson of the Founder Father, who argues that since Lemon brought the slaves voluntarily into the Free state of New York, they could not be considered fugitives. Superior Court Judge Elijah Paine orders release of the eight captives, and they are transported to a settlement in Buxton, Ontario. What follows, however, is a long series of Appeals Court cases before the Lemon ruling is finally being overturned in 1857 in Dred Scott. Causal Theme: Black Experience, Abolition, Slavery Expansion, Legal Rulings Learn More: Read Chapter 173 in Prelude |
| 1853 | The North and South vie over a route for a transcontinental railroad. Once the Mexican Cession of western land is settled, the race is on to select a route linking the eastern railroad lines to the Pacific coast. While funding will be provided by federal and state grants, windfall profits will accrue to towns and cities along the line. It falls to Pierce’s Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis, to oversee exploration of the options, and four probes follow, one along the Canadian border, another adjacent to the Mexican border, and two in between. But by1856, when Davis announces the winner (the Southern route), the regional tensions over slavery make the call temporarily moot. Causal Theme: Sectional Wealth, Slavery Expansion Learn More: Read Chapter 176 in Prelude |
| 1853 | Filibusterer William Walker fails in his attempt to set up an empire in Mexico with slavery. Walker, aka “the grey-eyed man of destiny,” is among the most daring adventurers in a daring era. After finishing a medical degree at nineteen from U. Penn, he passes the bar and becomes editor of the New Orleans Daily Crescent and then The San Francisco Herald. Though appearing frail, he is naturally combative and fights three duels, one with gunslinger William Graham which results in a severe thigh wound. Happenstance finds Walker meeting with American returning from Sonoma province who report that the territory is there for the taking. His offer to buy the province is rejected by Mexico, but that doesn’t stop him. He recruits a 45 man band and heads down to the tip of Baja before opposition forces him to retreat north. Nevertheless he insists on naming himself ruler of the Baja and Sonora provinces despite failing to gain a toehold in either. Back on U.S. soil he is arrested for violating the 1794 Neutrality Act but amazingly wins an acquittal while acting as his own attorney. Causal Theme: Slavery Expansion, Manifest Destiny Learn More: Read Chapter 178 in Prelude |
| 1854 | Stephen Douglas’ Kansas-Nebraska Act upsets the delicate status quo on slavery. As Chairman of the Territorial Committee, Douglas makes multiple attempts to open up the Mississippi Valley west of Illinois for commerce and to run the transcontinental railroad through property he owns in Chicago. But four powerful southern Senators must first be won over: Robert Hunter and James Mason of Virginia, Andrew Butler of South Carolina and Missouri’s David Atchison. Douglass boards with them at the “F-Street Mess” and hears their demands. After several false starts, he finally passes his 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act on May 30 by 113-93 with help from southern Whigs. Since both territories lay north of the 30’36” boundary line in the 1820 Missouri Compromise the assumption is that slavery will be banned. But Douglas discards this precedent saying that State Constitutions approved by “popular sovereignty elections” should determine the Free State-Slave State outcomes. When this sinks in, small bands of local citizens in Ripon, Wisconsin, Bangor, Maine, and Friendship, New York, gather together to form the grass roots of what eventually becomes the Republican Party. Causal Theme: Slavery Expansion, Political Upheaval, Territorial Constitutions Learn More: Read Chapter 179 in Prelude |
| 1854 | Boston vigilantes free another runaway. One week after the Kansas-Nebraska Act passes in Congress, Boston residents again rebel against the Fugitive Slave Act. The case involves nineteen year old Anthony Burns who escapes from Virginia before being arrested. Burns gets legal support from the Boston Vigilance Committee and lawyers Richard Dana, Jr. and Robert Morris, both of whom defended Shadrach Minkins in 1851. But before the trial, a mob led by Black abolitionist Lewis Hayden and white Unitarian minister Thomas Higginson assault the city jail. In the pitched battle that follows, U.S. Marshall James Batchelder is fatally stabbed, many others are wounded and thirteen attackers including Wendell Phillips are arrested, albeit later acquitted. Trial Judge Edward Loring orders the return of Burns to Virginia, and President Pierce sends 1,000 U.S. Troops to Boston to march him to the ship, an act which only further infuriates the locals. Ironically Burns eventually buy his freedom and enrolls at Oberlin College to pursue his studies, before becoming a Baptist minister in Canada. Causal Theme: Public Violence, Legal Verdicts, Abolition, Black Experience Learn More: Read Chapter 172 in Prelude |
| 1854 | The Kansas-Nebraska controversy brings Abraham Lincoln back into national politics. Lincoln serves one term in the House as the only Whig elected in Illinois. He departs in 1849, disappointed with his impact and convinced that his political career is over. Back in Springfield he throws himself into his legal practice with William Herndon as his partner. The business flourishes and Lincoln expands the house on 8th Street he bought in 1844. But the Kansas-Nebraska Act convinces him to step back in to challenge long term adversary Stephen Douglas in the upcoming defense of his Senate seat. His October 1854 speech in Peoria decries Douglas’ “popsov” option which might allow the “monstrous injustice of slavery” into Kansas and Nebraska. Not only would this renege on the 1820 Missouri Compromise, but also on the nation’s highest aspiration. As he says in closing, “Let us readopt the Declaration of Independence. Let north and south, let all Americans, let all lovers of liberty everywhere join in the great and good work.” Causal Theme: Slavery Expansion, Lincoln Learn More: Read Chapter 181 in Prelude |
| 1854 | The first test of “PopSov” elections in Kansas turns into a fiasco. In the six months following passage of Douglas’ 1850 Act, early settlers, both for and against slavery, arrive in Kansas, along with Pierce’s choice of Andrew Reeder as Territorial Governor. On November 29, the first election is held to select a representative to the U.S. House. But before the polls open, “ruffians” from the Slave State of Missouri appear to rig the outcome. They are led by sitting Missouri Senator David Atchison who founds his Platte County Self-Defense Association and promises to “kill every god-damned abolitionist coming into the district.” After the stuffed ballot boxes are emptied, the victory goes to J.W. Whitfield, Mexican War vet and later a Confederate General. While Governor Reeder is aware of the fraud, he chooses to overlook it in the interest of setting a government in motion. Causal Theme: Slavery Expansion, Public Violence, Territorial Constitutions Learn More: Read Chapter 183 -4 in Prelude |
| 1854 | President Pierce is embarrassed by another attempt to acquire Cuba. The drive to acquire more territory for slavery outside of the U.S. borders continues after Narciso Lopez’s failed filibustering assault in 1850. The leaders this time around are three diplomats: Pierre Soule (Spain), James Buchanan (UK) and James Mason (France). They meet in Ostend, Belgium, and draft a message to President Pierce outlining options for taking over Cuba. It asks, “Does Cuba, in the possession of Spain, seriously endanger our internal peace and the existence of our cherished Union? Should this question be answered in the affirmative, then, by every law, human and divine, we shall be justified in wresting it from Spain, if we possess the power.” Pierce hopes to keep the Ostend Manifesto secret, but Soule evidently leaks it to the New York Herald. When anti-slavery protests follow, an embarrassed President sacks Soule. Causal Theme: Slavery Expansion Learn More: Read Chapter 187 in Prelude |
| 1854 | Filibusterer William Walker conquers Nicaragua and re-introduces slavery. Undeterred by his failed attempt to vanquish the Mexican provinces, Walker mounts an expedition beginning in October 1855 to create his own “Americanized empire” in the nation of Nicaragua. He departs from San Francisco with a mere 60 troops and travels 3500 miles by sea to the port of Realajo. Adding 110 local fighters, he wins a major victory at the capital of Grenada, executes his rivals, and sets up a puppet government with himself as dictator. He reinstates the practice of slavery, declares English the official language, introduces a new currency, and aggressively seeks US immigrants. His reign lasts for 18 months until brought down by tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt for infringing on his transport line carrying commerce back and forth between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. The Commodore rallies troops from Honduras, Salvador and Guatemala and captures Walker and 463 troops before returning them to U.S. soil. Still he persists, sailing against Honduras until being captured and executed by a barefoot firing squad at age thirty-six. Causal Theme: Slavery Expansion Learn More: Read Chapter 188 in Prelude |
| 1855 | Political turmoil continues in Kansas and President Pierce sacks Governor Reeder. A second election in Kansas on March 30, 1855 is stolen by the Pro-Slavery faction, leading to the “Bogus Legislature” meeting at the de-jure capital of Lecompton. This time Governor Reeder rejects stuffed ballots from six counties before heading to Washington to explain the situation to Pierce. The President, however, is committed to backing the pro-slavery cause in order to protect his southern base, and he sacks Reeder on conflict of interest allegations, replacing him with Wilson Shannon, the second of what will become six Kansas Governors. Reeder refuses to go quietly and joins the growing Free State movement headquartered at Topeka. Causal Theme: Slavery Expansion, Political Turmoil Learn More: Read Chapter 191 in Prelude |
| 1855 | The Free State forces in Kansas draft the first of their Topeka Constitutions. After Governor Reeder is fired, the Free State forces gather at Big Springs and commit to writing their own Constitution. The members comprise an unlikely fusion who oppose slavery in Kansas for very different reasons. One faction, led by military man James Lane, consists of white supremacists who are virulent racists. The other, led by Dr. Charles Robinson, are abolitionists eager to block the expansion of slavery to the west. After 60 days of often contentious meetings, the thirty-seven delegates agree on October 23, 1855 to their Topeka Constitution. The final document lists 27 Articles, including: “there shall be no slavery in this state, nor involuntary servitude, unless for the punishment of crime.” However, the delegates also propose an outright ban on future residency for all Blacks, and on December 15, Kansans approve the Constitution by 1731-46 and the residency ban by 1287-453. Causal Theme: Slavery Expansion, Territorial Constitutions, Racism, Black Experience Learn More: Read Chapter 192 in Prelude |
| 1855 | A skirmish known as the Wakarusa War foretells violence to come in Kansas. As tensions mount, both sides in Kansas prepare for open warfare. The Free State men organize their Kansas Legion, and are supplied with 117 Sharps repeating rifles sent their way from the east in boxes marked “Beecher’s Bibles” after the abolitionist preacher. They are countered by the Platte County Self-Defense Association under David Atchison who by now resigns as Missouri’s U.S. Senator in order to focus on Kansas. Actual violence breaks out not over slavery per se, but a land dispute between Free Stater Charles Dow and a Missouri native, Franklin Coleman. After Dow is shot and killed, a posse led by Dow’s friend Jacob Branson burns down his house after learning he has escaped. Branson retreats to Lawrence which is surrounded by a Pro-Slavery militia. But after one more death, cooler heads prevail and Governor Shannon avoids a larger crisis. Causal Theme: Public Violence, Political Turmoil Learn More: Read Chapter 193 in Prelude |
| 1855 | Former Democrat icon, Francis Blair Sr. of Missouri, helps form the Republican Party. A former member of Andrew Jackson’s “kitchen cabinet” and a Democrat king-maker, the 64 year old Blair turns on his old party after the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act calling it “a rotten organization composed and managed altogether by rotten men.” In turn he organizes a Christmas dinner gathering which includes Samuel Chase, Charles Sumner, Nathaniel Banks, and Preston King among others. It is Chase who lays out the “fusion strategy” uniting those opposed to slavery on racist or moral grounds. The dinner ends with agreement on three things: a mass organizational meeting to be held in Pittsburg on Washington’s birthday (February 22); trying to enlist William Seward and Thurlow Weed in future plans; and backing Nathaniel Banks for House Speaker for the 34th Congress. After a record 133 ballots, Banks is in fact chosen on February 2, 1856. Causal Theme: Political Upheaval Learn More: Read Chapter 195 in Prelude |
| 1856 | Moderate Georgia Democrat Robert Toombs tells a Boston audience why he supports slavery. Toombs accepts an invitation to address a Boston audience at the Tremont Temple. He has become a key weathervane in the South’s conflict over secession. By nature and history he is a Union man in the image of Andrew Jackson. But he also believes that “the subordination of the Africans is a normal, necessary and proper condition” and that those enslaved are better off than day laborers in the North. He says that the Constitution prohibits any federal intervention in slavery and that, if the North insists on its unfair treatment of the South, he will favor disunion. Causal Theme: Slavery Expansion Learn More: Read Chapter 197 in Prelude |
| 1856 | President Pierce delivers his State of the Union address about the “disturbances in Kansas.” The speech makes it clear that he supports the Pro-Slavery legislative body in place while critical of agitators intent on promoting their own social theories. His overview goes as follows: “Circumstances have occurred to disturb the course of governmental organization in the Territory of Kansas…This interference…was one of …pernicious agitation on the subject of the condition of the colored persons held to service in some of the States…(by) excited individuals…in the attempt to propagate their social theories… (and) to prevent the free and natural action of its inhabitants in (Kansas’s) internal organization. Whatever irregularities may have occurred in the elections, it seems too late now to raise that question…. For all present purposes the legislative body (at Pawnee) thus constituted…the legitimate…assembly of the Territory. It will be my imperative duty to exert the whole power of the Federal Executive to support public order in the Territory.” Causal Theme: Slavery Expansion, Territorial Constitutions Learn More: Read Chapter 198 in Prelude |
| 1856 | The Free State Topeka Constitution arrives at the Senate’s Committee on Territories. The document leads to a highly charged confrontation between Stephen Douglas and William Henry Seward. While admitting that the initial Kansas elections were flawed, Douglas rejects the Topeka application and demands that the Pro-Slavery Legislature stay in charge until Kansas has over 90,000 residents and can hold a “proper popsov” vote. The normally restrained Seward shocks his colleagues by likening Pierce to King George III and calling for his impeachment. Causal Theme: Slavery Expansion, Territorial Constitutions Learn More: Read Chapter 201 in Prelude |
| 1856 | Charles Sumner is nearly beaten to death on the floor of the Senate. After demanding that Pierce accept the Topeka Constitution, Sumner calls out Senators Douglas and Butler by name – comparing them to “Don Quixote and Sancho Panza — in pursuit of “the harlot, slavery.” Butler repeatedly interrupts his tirade and Sumner responds by mocking his “incoherent phrases,” the result of a recent stroke. With his usual air of moral superiority, Sumner rails for 3 hours against the Slavocracy. Two days later, on May 22, a second cousin of Senator Butler, Congressman Preston Brooks assaults a seated Sumner and administers “30 first-rate stripes” with his stout walking cane. The victim, bleeding profusely, is finally carried off with injuries that keep him out of Congress for almost three years. Brooks is expelled by a 121-95 vote in the House. But his southern constituents send him “replacement canes” and re-elect him. Causal Theme: Public Violence, Abolition, Political Turmoil Learn More: Read Chapter 202 in Prelude |
| 1856 | Violence in Kansas escalates as the Free State capital at Lawrence is sacked. One day after the Sumner attack in the Senate, Sheriff Samuel Jones arrives at Lawrence with a warrant to arrest several Free state men. He is accompanied by a mix of federal militia and Missouri men, 700 in total, and also armed with four cannons. After entering the town, he dismisses the federal troops and turns control over to David Atchison and his Pro-Slavery forces. They destroy the presses of the town’s two newspapers before burning the hotel housing the Free State headquarters and the home of Dr. Charles Robinson to the ground. Upon exiting, Sheriff Jones declares, “This is the happiest day of my life.” Causal Theme: Public Violence, Slavery Expansion Learn More: Read Chapter 203 in Prelude |
| 1856 | John Brown responds with his Pottawatomie Massacre. One day after the Lawrence attack, abolitionist John Brown begins his eye for an eye revenge. Along with four of his sons who have previously immigrated to Kansas, Brown embarks on two nights of terror which leave five supposedly pro-slavery men shot or hacked to death with longswords. Brown dismisses the violence saying, “It is better that a whole generation of men, women, and children should pass away by a violent death than that slavery should live on.” The savagery of the murders, and their feeling of randomness, signal an end to any prior restraints on violence which may have remained in Kansas. Causal Theme: Public Violence, Abolition Learn More: Read Chapter 203 in Prelude |
| 1856 | Historian refer to The Battle of Black Jack as “the first engagement in the Civil War.” John Brown next turns his sights on Deputy Marshal H.C. Pate who participated in the Lawrence attack and then arrests two of Brown’s sons for murder. Accompanied by his Potawatomie Rifles Brigade, Brown swoops down on Pate and his two dozen men who are encamped at Black Jack. A pitched battle ensues, lasting three hours, before Pate shows a white flag. Brown drafts “Articles of Agreement” whereby Brown’s son are exchanged for Pate and his Lieutenant W.B. brocket. Causal Theme: Public Violence Learn More: Read Chapter 203 in Prelude |
| 1856 | The Toombs Bill calls for a fair do-over election in Kansas. With the Topeka Constitution on hold, a Bill is offered by Georgians Robert Toombs and Alexander Stephens in June 1856 to hold another “popsov” election in Kansas – which they both believe will result in a Slave State victory. But critics like Horace Greeley see this as a “political trap,” aimed at stalling the Republican’s urgent call for the Kansas admission as a Free State. Stephen Douglas twice passes the Toombs Bill in the Senate, but the House continues to reject it. Causal Theme: Territorial Constitutions, Slavery Expansion, Voting Power Learn More: Read Chapter 205 in Prelude |
| 1856 | The two sides in “Bloody Kansas” exchange more blows. A Free State offensive from August 12-16, 1856 finds “General” James Lane and “Captain” John Brown capturing Forts Franklin, Saunders and Titus and threatening the Pro-Slavery capital at Lecompton. Governor Shannon rushes to Lawrence seeking a truce before a frustrated President Pierce fires him. On his way out, he offers these parting words: “Govern Kansas in 1855 and ’56! You might as well attempt to govern the devil in hell.” Instead of a truce, some 300 Pro-Slavery marauders under David Atchison and John Reid strike the town of Osawatomie, originally founded by the New England Emigrant Society. John Brown’s twenty-nine year old son is shot dead, and his father races back to set up a 30 man defense. But they are forced to flee when John Reid appears with six cannon and fires canister their way. What follows mirrors the sack of Lawrence back in May, with buildings burned to the ground, a Theron Parker beaten to death, and Charles Keisler summarily executed as a traitor. But Osawatomie becomes the last stand-up battle in Kansas. Causal Theme: Public Violence Learn More: Read Chapter 207 in Prelude |
| 1856 | General John Geary’s arrival quells the violence in the Territory. After sending Colonel “Bull” Sumner to break up the Free State legislature back in July, President Pierce turns to another military leader to clamp down on the open warfare. Standing 6’6” and weighing 260 lbs., Major General John Geary arrives on September 9 as the 4th Territorial Governor. He is with General Scott for the conquest of Mexico City and suffers five wounds in battle. After the war he travels to California, enters politics and becomes Mayor of San Francisco. His opening words are conciliatory, but he rules with an iron fist. He disbands the Pro-Slavery Kansas Militia, arrives with U.S. troops to end a six hour skirmish between Atchison’s Kickapoo Rangers and James Lane’s Jayhawkers, and vetoes legislation he deems inflammatory. After being refused for a Sheriff’s job, one William Sherrard fires a shot at Geary in a meeting, before being killed himself. Clearly General Geary emerges as the one successful Territorial Governor, but even he gives up after a little over six months in office. Causal Theme: Public Violence Learn More: Read Chapter 208 in Prelude |
| 1856 | Political Party turmoil is evident in the run-up to the 1856 Presidential election. Franklin Pierce tries for re-nomination, but his early strength slips away to zero over eight ballots, and the race comes down to Stephen Douglas versus James Buchanan. The South, however, remains suspicious of Douglas’ “popsov” policy on slavery, and Buchanan takes the prize on the 17th ballot. Kentucky’s John Breckinridge is his VP. Eleven days later, the first national convention for the Republican Party opens in Philadelphia. New York Governor Edwin Morgan presides along with king-makers including Thurlow Weed, Francis Blair Sr., Horace Greeley and House Speaker, Nathaniel Banks. As the debate over a platform develops it’s evident that the Republicans see their opponents not as the Democrats but the “Slave Power” of the South as a whole. In the spirit of “let right be done” they agree to call for a ban on slavery in the west. Many delegates support Senator William Seward for the nomination, but his trusted advisor, Thurlow Weed, convinces him that the Republicans remain too disorganized to defeat Buchanan. Banks is considered too soft on slavery and abolitionist Chase too radical. So the sun shines in the first ballot on John C. Fremont, popular as The Pathfinder of the West and hero of the Bear Flag triumph in California. The VP vote goes to William Dayton, although Lincoln comes in second. The acerbic Greeley is not amused, calling Banks “The merest baby in politics…not knowing the ABC’s and attributing importance to the most ridiculously insignificant matters and regarding the most vital of no account.” Causal Theme: Slavery Expansion, Political Turmoil Learn More: Read Chapter 204 in Prelude |
| 1856 | Buchanan’s win guarantees ongoing North-South conflicts over slavery. As Weed predicted, Buchanan is able to defeat Fremont in the Electoral College, taking the entire South and barely carrying his home state of Pennsylvania for a 174-114 win. No man is better equipped to become president than James Buchanan and no man will match his record of failure in office. He arrives having served in both chambers of Congress, as ambassador to Russia and Britain and as Secretary of State under Polk. But he is also fully compromised by the debt he owes the South for his victory. As repayment, he will attempt time after time to admit Kansas under the Slave State Lecompton Constitution and to block any efforts to prohibit expansion of slavery in the west. While not a dyed-in-the-wool racist, his actions will leave him morally corrupt in the end. Causal Theme: Slavery Expansion, Territorial Constitutions Learn More: Read Chapter 209 in Prelude |
| 1857 | The Taney Court issues its infamous Dred Scott ruling. 7-2 Buchanan actually believes he has resolved the tension over slavery when, two days after his inauguration, the Taney Court announces its ruling in the Dred Scott trial. The case follows a series of appeals surrounding the 1852 “once free, forever free” ruling in Lemon v New York. Scott is allowed by his owner to live freely in Wisconsin and Illinois, before being “reclaimed” by a subsequent heiress.” For eleven years various courts try to resolve his status, before it ends up before Taney’s high tribunal. Marred by Buchanan’s intrusion into the deliberations, the final ruling not only returns Scott to enslavement, but also appears to resolve all disputes around slavery. Taney writes: “Negroes are property, an inferior order unfit to associate with the white races, and have no rights the white man is bound to respect.” As such Scott has no “standing” to even appear in federal court and cannot be freed except by his owner. But while all five Southern Justices support the decision, two of the northerners – John McLean and Benjamin Curtis – dissent, and Curtis subsequently resigns. None other than lawyer Abraham Lincoln declares that Taney overstepped his judicial bounds with his obiter dicta interpretation, and therefore Dred Scott is not settled law. The 61 year old Scott will be manumitted before dying 18 months later. Causal Theme: Legal Verdicts, Abolition, Lincoln, Slavery Expansion, Black Experience Learn More: Read Chapter 212 in Prelude |
| 1857 | The Free State forces win a pivotal Legislative election in Kansas. After General Geary resigns in September 1857, President Buchanan names Robert Walker as the 4th Territorial Governor in Kansas. Walker is a prominent figure in Washington, having served as Polk’s Treasury Secretary. He understands his orders to get a pro-slavery constitution written in Lecompton and submitted to DC for admission. On October 5, however, the officially approved biannual election for the Kansas Legislature is held with the Free State forces turning out and the Pro-Slavery men asleep at the switch. Once they discover their oversight, a rush occurs to stuff the ballot boxes after the fact. But Walker refuses to go along, throwing out phony votes in two crucial districts and declares that Free Staters have won the Legislature by a margin of 2:1. Causal Theme: Political Turmoil, Slavery Expansion Learn More: Read Chapter 219 in Prelude |
| 1857 | Buchanan sacks Walker while the Pro-Slavery men finally write their Lecompton Constitution. When Governor Walker goes to Washington to explain his actions to Buchanan, the President says that he has “let him down” and asks him to submit his resignation. Walker is outraged by the request and launches into Buchanan for failing to uphold “popular sovereignty” and denying the will of the people in Kansas. Meanwhile the Pro-Slavery forces finish up their long overdue Lecompton Constitution which affirms the right of chattel slavery to be protected under the law. Surprisingly it encourages fair treatment by owners and access to a petit jury if arrested. Finally it sets December 21 as a date for votes on the Constitution itself and also on a ban on allowing Blacks to reside in the state. Causal Theme: Territorial Constitutions, Slavery Expansion, Black Experience Learn More: Read Chapter 220 in Prelude |
| 1858 | Stephen Douglas publicly opposes the Lecompton Constitution and Buchanan. Buchanan is pleased with the Lecompton document and thanks the “chivalrous men of the South” in his January Sate of the Union address. His praise is one day old when Stephen Douglas tells the Senate that the President “has committed a fundamental error.” He goes on to assert that the upcoming election will again be rigged whereby “All men in favor of the constitution may vote for it — all men against it shall not vote at all.” The reason why, he says, is because Buchanan knows that in a fair election it “would (be) voted down by an overwhelming majority.” The breach between the two men becomes permanent and support for Douglas’ in the South plummets. Causal Theme: Territorial Constitutions, Political Upheaval, Slavery Expansion Learn More: Read Chapter 221 in Prelude |
| 1858 | Kansas voters overwhelming reject the Lecompton Constitution. Following another fraudulent election on December 21, the new Territorial Governor, General James Denver, presides over a fair vote on January 4, 1858. The results sound the death knell for Lecompton, with 10,266 nays against 162 ayes. Still a tone deaf Buchanan orders House Speaker James Orr of South Carolina to create a stacked committee to try to ram Lecompton through. Causal Theme: Territorial Constitutions, Slavery Expansion Learn More: Read Chapter 221 in Prelude |
| 1858 | South Carolina Senator John Henry Hammond delivers his Cotton is King speech. Following a thirty man North-South brawl on the floor of the House on February 5, James Henry Hammond tells his fellow Senators that the entire nation depends on the cotton plantations for its economic well-being. He chides the North for using tariffs to plunder southern wealth, for trying to keep the land acquired in the Mexican War with southern blood all to themselves, for violating property rights guaranteed in the Constitution, for “intending to conquer the South.” He closes with a threat, saying a million men stand ready to take up arms to defend their homes and honor. Causal Theme: Pubic Violence, Sectional Wealth, Slavery Expansion Learn More: Read Chapter 223 in Prelude |
| 1858 | Expanding slavery into the west is now crucial to the future growth of the Southern economy. In 1860 the South’s economy remains agrarian in nature with only 10% of America’s manufacturing jobs located in the region. While owning slaves is the path to maximizing wealth only 3 in 10 households qualify. Their personal wealth is roughly 20x greater than the national average. But future windfall profits now depend on “breeding” programs in the east followed by auctions to supply new start-up plantations in the west. In fact, the market value of the enslaved population is about $3 Billion at a time when the total US GDP is only $4.3 Billion. Causal Theme: Sectional Wealth, Slavery Expansion, Black Experience Learn More: Read Chapter 224 in Prelude |
| 1858 | Abraham Lincoln delivers his House Divided Speech to launch his Senate campaign. In 1858 (and for 55 more year) U.S. Senators are chosen by state legislatures, not popular voting, which means that Lincoln’s odds of winning in Democrat dominated Illinois are almost zero. Still he intends to challenge his old adversary Douglas, and the Republicans nominate him on June 16. 1858. In accepting, he delivers his famous House Divided speech where he reflects on the violence in Kansas and concludes with a stark message:” I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided.” Critics call the speech alarmist, but Lincoln sees the need to awaken the public to the looming crisis over slavery. Causal Theme: Lincoln, Slavery Expansion Learn More: Read Chapter 230 in Prelude |
| 1858 | Buchanan suffers another humiliating loss in Kansas. Two months after the Lecompton Constitution is rejected in a fair vote, House Speaker Orr’s stacked committee of pro-southern legislators reports back insisting that Kansas be admitted immediately as a Slave State. This leads to a contrived proposal called the “English Bill” after the Indiana congressman, which calls for yet another do-over. But it will go down in August by a 11,300-1,788 vote. Causal Theme: Territorial Constitutions, Slavery Expansion Learn More: Read Chapter 231 in Prelude |
| 1858 | The Lincoln-Douglas Debates capture the nation’s attention. Between August 21 and October 8, Lincoln and Douglas face off in seven debates scattered across Illinois. Lincoln argues that “human bondage is a monstrous injustice” and that Dred Scott not only quashed Douglas’ “popsov” idea but also threatened to “nationalize slavery,” even in Illinois. The “Little Giant,” himself a slave owner, insists that the black race is inferior and that America “belongs to white men.” He says that Lincoln opposed the patriotic war with Mexico, will violate the Constitution, and is an abolitionist who favors miscegenation. This prompts Lincoln, at the 4th debate in Charleston, to equivocate momentarily, admitting to “differences between the white and black races and saying I am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race.” (Future critics of Lincoln will forever cite the prejudices expressed here.) But at Quincy, Lincoln casts the debates as “between the men who think slavery is a wrong and those who do not think it wrong.” Both men continue to trade blows to the end at Alton, site of the 1837 murder of abolitionist Elijah Lovejoy. Douglas in particular is exhausted: “His face…was bloated, and his looks were haggard and his voice almost extinct…his words came like barks, and he frothed at the mouth when he became excited.” Given the Democrat control of the Illinois legislature, Douglas goes on to re-election. But it is Lincoln who moves into the Republican Party spotlight. Causal Theme: Slavery Expansion, Racism, Abolition, Lincoln Learn More: Read Chapter 232 in Prelude |
| 1858 | In the mid-term elections of 1858, the Republicans win a majority of seats in the House. While Republicans win control of the House for the first time, the underlying voting patterns reveal a telling sectional division. Thus the Republicans take only 1 seat in the Slave States, that going to Francis Preston Blair, Jr. in Missouri. In the Free States of the North, they dominate by a 115 to 33 margin. In total the Republican pick up 26 seats for a 116-98 overall lead. The American (Know Nothing) Party which made such a splash in 1856 fades to only 5 seats. Causal Theme: Political Turmoil, Slavery Expansion, Voting Power Learn More: Read Chapter 235 in Prelude |
| 1859 | Oregon is admitted as a Free State while banning all Blacks from residency. Oregon’s entry is another loss for the South and tips the Senate balance to 17-16 in favor of the Free States. But beyond that, Oregon takes the “Black Codes” passed as statues from Ohio (1802) through Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Kansas and California and goes one step further. Article I, Section 35 of their Constitution says, “No free negro, or mulatto, not residing in this State at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall come, reside, or be within this State…and the Legislative Assembly shall provide…for the removal…of all such negroes, and mulattoes (already here).” The vote to exclude blacks passes in a public vote by 89-11% and demonstrates the virulent anti-black racism that exists across the North. Causal Theme: Racism, Territorial Constitutions, Slavery Expansion Learn More: Read Chapter 237 in Prelude |
| 1859 | John Brown arrives in Maryland on his abolitionist mission. For three years, John Brown’s plan to conduct a military raid into the South stops and starts. In January 1857 he secures funding from a “Secret Six” set of supporters led by abolitionist Gerrit Smith. A year later he hides out with Fred Douglass in Rochester and tries to convince him to join his ranks. In June 1858 an angry and unpaid Hugh Forbes, his British military trainer, leaks his plans, scaring the “Secret Six” and halting progress. Another year passes until Brown leaves his North Elba home for the last time, and rents a farm in Maryland to serve as his headquarters. In August, 1859 he meets again with Douglass who refuses to participate and warns Brown that he will be killed. But at this point the die is already cast. Causal Theme: Abolition, Public Violence Learn More: Read Chapter 239 in Prelude |
| 1859 | Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry succeeds before falling apart. Brown’s raid is the South’s worst nightmare: a northern abolitionist leading an armed force to initiate a black uprising. The assault, involving 22 men (17 whites and 5 blacks), begins smoothly, with the town captured, the train stopped and a small band of blacks gathered from nearby plantations expected to act as Brown’s Army. But those just freed shy away from picking up Brown’s 6 foot long pikes as weapons and this changes the old man’s mind. He decides to stay in town and fight it out on his own there. Within 24 hours the battle ends with the Virginia Militia under Robert E. Lee storming the Fire House fort and capturing Brown. Ten of his men die in action including two of his sons who are mortally wounded; only two of the raiders escape. Causal Theme: Public Violence, Abolition Learn More: Read Chapter 241 in Prelude |
| 1859 | Brown’s fate is symbolic of the North-South divide. The wounded Brown is interrogated by his captors, among them Virginia Governor Wise who says, “They are themselves mistaken who take him to be a mad man. He is a man of clear head, of courage, fortitude and simple ingenuousness.” Brown is tried in Charles Town and convicted on October 31. When sentenced to death, he comments, “I believe that to have interfered as I have done…in behalf of His despised poor, I have done no wrong, but right.” The sentence is carried out on December 2, with spectators kept away by some 3,000 armed militia. On his way to the scaffold Brown utters a final prophecy: “I am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away, but with Blood.” But the story doesn’t end there, for while the South vilifies Brown, he becomes viewed as a martyr in the North, thanks to a campaign by the New England Transcendentalists. On the eve of his hanging, Ralph Waldo Emerson declares that his death “will make the gallows glorious like the cross.” After war breaks out, Union soldiers will rally behind a song dedicated to their martyr: “John Brown’s body lies a mouldering in his grave, his truth goes marching on.” Meanwhile The Richmond Enquirer writes, “The Harpers Ferry invasion has advanced the cause of disunion more than any other event that has happened since the formation of the nation.” A special Congressional Committee studies the raid and comes away with no indictments against the “Secret Six,” Frederick Douglas, or others involved in the plot. Causal Theme: Public Violence, Abolition Learn More: Read Chapter 242 -3 in Prelude |
| 1860 | Jefferson Davis announces the Southern demands in Congress. Davis is a West Point graduate, son-in-law of President Zachary Taylor, a hero of the Mexican conflict, Secretary of War under Pierce, and, since 1857, a Senator from Mississippi. Along with his brother Joseph he owns Hurricane Plantation along with 300 enslaved persons. By February 1860 he has had enough of flimsy government promises to protect slavery where it exists, and of the Democrat’s ”popsov” answer to providing a chance to extend it to the west. Instead Davis tells his colleagues: “It is the duty of the Federal Government there to afford the needful protection (of slavery), and if experience should prove that the judiciary does not possess power to insure adequate protection, it will then become the duty of Congress to supply such deficiency.” Causal Theme: Slavery Expansion, Political Upheaval Learn More: Read Chapter 248 in Prelude |
| 1860 | Abraham Lincoln travels east to make his Cooper’s Union Speech Despite his Kentucky twang, the eastern audience is won over by the power of his logic in proving that the Founding Fathers intended for Congress to have control over the future of slavery in America. He makes the case by tracing votes of the 39 signers of the Constitution from the 1789 Northwest Ordinance (ending slavery in the north) through the 1808 ban on importing slaves from outside the U.S., and the 1820 Missouri Compromise outlawing the practice north of the 30’36” boundary line. He ends by calling slavery an evil that the Republicans must oppose: “Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.” Horace Greeley sums up Lincoln’s performance: “No man ever made such an impression on his first appeal to a New York audience.” Causal Theme: Lincoln, Slavery Expansion Learn More: Read Chapter 249 in Prelude |
| 1860 | Southern delegates upset the Democrat Party nominating convention in Charleston. Stephen Douglas arrives at the Democrat’s nominating convention in Charleston confident of victory. Before the opening gavel, however, eight southern states agree to walk out if it appears he will be nominated. The opposition is led by Alabama Fire-eater William Yancey who calls for a platform vote on his demand for a Congressional law sanctioning slavery in the territories. When it loses 138-165, nine southern states in total walk out of the hall. Since the rules require the nominee to carry 2/3rd of all the original seated delegates, the walk-out means that Douglas cannot clear the threshold. After 57 ballots, he surrenders to reality on April 26 and calls a two month-long recess, still hoping for a win when the party reconvenes on June 18 in Baltimore. Causal Theme: Party Turmoil Learn More: Read Chapter 250 in Prelude |
| 1860 | Moderates found the Constitutional Union Party to avoid the sectional divide. Alarmed by the Democrat’s division, Kentucky Whig, John J. Crittenden, organizes a convention of 250 delegates from 35 states in Baltimore on May 8 to found the Unionist Party. It comprises a cross section of elder statesmen who pass a platform saying, “Whereas, experience has demonstrated that Platforms adopted by the partisan Conventions of the country have had the effect to mislead and deceive the people, and to widen the political divisions of the country, by the creation of geographical parties; therefore Resolved, that it is both the part of patriotism and of duty to recognize no political principle other than THE CONSTITUTION OF THE COUNTRY, THE UNION OF THE STATES, AND THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE LAWS.” After Crittenden refuses the presidential nomination, it goes to John Bell of Tennessee, with Harvard’s Edward Everett as VP. Causal Theme: Political Turmoil Learn More: Read Chapter 251 in Prelude |
| 1860 | Lincoln wins the Republican Party nomination. By the time the 466 delegates arrive in Chicago on May 16, Abraham Lincoln’s floor managers have done a marvelous job of tilting the candidacy his way. Broadsides touting “Honest Abe, the Rail-Splitter” are everywhere. Editor Joseph Medill of the Chicago Press and Tribune” adds his endorsement of “The Winning Man, Abraham Lincoln.” And the 12,000 seat Wigwam Convention Center is packed with his shouting supporters. Still the favorite going in is New York Senator William Seward, and he leads Lincoln after the first ballot by 173-102. But his 1858 speech warning of an “Irrepressible Conflict” seems to haunt some delegates as making civil war inevitable, and his margin shrinks to 184-181 on the second round. After Salmon Chase and Edward Bates drop out on the 3rd ballot, Lincoln records a 350 vote win. Predictably the key plank in the party platform comes in Article 8: “we deny the authority of Congress, of a territorial legislature, or of any individuals, to give legal existence to slavery in any territory of the United States.” Hence the Republicans are by no means abolitionists, and they will leave slavery alone where it currently exists. But they will not allow it to be “nationalized.” Causal Theme: Slavery Expansion, Lincoln Learn More: Read Chapter 252 in Prelude |
| 1860 | The Democrat Party fractures into North-South factions at Baltimore. The reopened party convention is hardly underway when a conflict breaks out within the Credential Committee that ends with a refusal to re-seat several southern delegates who were at Charleston. A walk-out follows involving 108 of the 303 attendees and ends with a permanent split and creation of the Southern Democrat party. On June 23, it nominates John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky, currently serving as Buchanan’s Vice-President. That same day, the Northern Democrats finally choose Stephen Douglas as their standard bearer. Causal Theme: Political Turmoil Learn More: Read Chapter 250 in Prelude |
| 1860 | Lincoln carries the northern states to become the 16th President. With four candidates running and Lincoln’s name not even appearing on southern state ballots, the only uncertainty is whether or not Douglas can carry enough northern states to deprive Abe of the 152 votes needed in the Electoral College. In October, The Little Giant is convinced that Lincoln will win, and he heads South to campaign against secession. Lincoln does prevail, with a total of 180, followed by Breckinridge (72), Bell (39) and Douglas (12). But results of the popular vote are ominous, as Lincoln gets only 39.8% of the total, hardly a national mandate to support the Republican call to ban slavery in the western Territories. Causal Theme: Lincoln, Political Turmoil, Slavery Expansion Learn More: Read Chapter 255 in Prelude |
| 1860 | Buchanan’s administration disintegrates around him. In his final address on December 3, 1860, he congratulates himself for the nation’s prosperity, dismisses Lincoln’s election “by a mere plurality”, blames the Kansas turmoil on the “intemperate interference of the Northern people with the question of slavery,” and calls upon Congress to pass a Constitutional Amendment sanctioning slavery. Five days later, Treasury Secretary Howell Cobb’s resignation signals the imminent collapse of the Union. The long-time moderate now tells his fellow Georgians: “The Union formed by our fathers was one of equality, justice and fraternity. On the fourth of March it will be supplanted by a Union of sectionalism and hatred. The one was worthy of the support and devotion of freemen – the other can only continue at the cost of your honor, your safety, and your independence.” Causal Theme: Political Turmoil Learn More: Read Chapter 260 in Prelude |
| 1860 | Two special Congressional Committees search for, but fail to arrive at a compromise. In the House a Committee of Thirty-three is chaired by Ohio’s Tom Corwin and includes one delegate from each state. In the Senate, a Committee of Thirteen includes Jefferson Davis, Robert Toombs and Stephen Douglas for the Democrats, William Seward for the Republicans and nine others. But neither body arrives at a solution, the closest being support for John J. Crittenden’s call to extend the 1820 Missouri Compromise boundary at 30’36” all the way to California. Causal Theme: Political Turmoil, Slavery Expansion Learn More: Read Chapter 261 in Prelude |
| 1860 | South Carolina secedes from the Union. On December 17 a Baptist Church in Columbia welcomes a host of South Carolina state luminaries, among them William Gist, James Chestnut, R.B. Rhett, James Orr, Lawrence Keitt. With Judge David Jamison presiding, the assembly lists a series of “grievances” against the federal government along with an Ordinance of Secession. But before a final roll call, a smallpox scare forces a change in venue to the Institute Hall in Charleston. There on December 18, South Carolina leaves the Union by a 159-0 vote. Public accolades and celebrations follow as word spreads. Causal Theme: Nullification, Political Turmoil Learn More: Read Chapter 266 in Prelude |
| 1860 | An ultimatum to surrender the federal forts at Charleston is sent and retracted. On December 21, Governor Francis Pickens of the “independent commonwealth” of South Carolina sends an ultimatum to Buchanan demanding that the four federal forts in Charleston Harbor (Moultrie, Johnson, Sumter, Castle Pinckney) be surrendered. The note shocks not only the President but also Jefferson Davis who knows that the South is not ready to fight a war without more time for preparation. While he convinces Pickens to withdraw his note, Buchanan has already prepared an unsent reply: “If South Carolina should attack any of these forts, she will then become the assailant in a war against the United States.” Causal Theme: Nullification, Political Turmoil Learn More: Read Chapter 261 in Prelude |
| 1860 | Ft. Sumter becomes a North-South flashpoint. In the absence of direct orders, Lt. Robert Anderson secretly moves his Charleston Harbor command to Ft. Sumter on December 26. After Buchanan’s War Secretary Joseph Holt turns to General Winfield Scott for advice, the merchant side-wheeler Star of the West is dispatched with supplies for Anderson. But on January 9, 1861, cannon fire from South Carolina batteries on Cumming’s Point strike the Star and it heads back home. The Charleston Mercury reports “The first gun of the new struggle for independence has been fired, and federal power has received its first repulse.” Causal Theme: Nullification Learn More: Read Chapter 268 in Prelude |
| 1861 | With the Secession floodgates open, The Confederate States of America are formed. With the first shots fired, by January 11 Mississippi, Alabama and Florida secede, with the latter demanding the surrender of Ft. Pickens in Pensacola Harbor. Ten southern Senators, including Jefferson Davis, resign as of January 28, allowing Kansas to be admitted as a free State on January 29. Georgia, Louisiana and Texas fall in line by February 1, bringing the total to seven states. While the linchpin state of Virginia postpones its decision until April, southern leaders feel they have reached a threshold and, on February 9, thirty-seven delegates meeting in Montgomery, sanction the Confederate States of America. Article 1, Section IX of their Constitution states: “No…law denying or impairing the right of property in negro slaves shall be passed.” Despite favoring a Secretary of War post, Jefferson Davis is elected President with Georgia’s diminutive Alexander Stephens as his VP. Their first job is to prepare for a military conflict. Causal Theme: Nullification Learn More: Read Chapter 273, 275 in Prelude |
| 1861 | President-elect Lincoln badly misreads the Confederate’s intentions. Two days after the CSA begins, Lincoln leaves Springfield on what becomes a twelve day whistle stop train ride to DC. Along with his soon-to-be Secretary of William Seward, he is convinced that the South is simply bluffing, and he leaves an audience in Ohio confused on February 13 saying, “As I traveled in the rain through your crowded streets, I (thought)… the Union can be in no danger…and will be preserved.” Two days later in Cleveland, he adds: “The crisis, as it is called, is altogether artificial…It has no foundation in facts….Let it alone and it will go down of itself.” Whatever the source of this optimism, Lincoln is forced to slip into Washington in disguise aboard a secret train where he is met by thousands of federal troops ordered there by Winfield Scott. Causal Theme: Lincoln, Nullification Learn More: Read Chapter 256 in Prelude |
| 1861 | Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address signals determination along with a plea for reconciliation. Just prior to Lincoln’s March 4 Inaugural Address, Buchanan apparently tells him, “If you are as happy entering the White House as I shall feel returning (home), you are a happy man indeed.” A crowd of 30,000 gathered at the east portico of the Capitol sees Lincoln hand his top hat to Stephen Douglas and mount the podium. He begins by offering the South a series of assurances: not to interfere in slavery where it exists; not to repeal the Fugitive Slave act; not to undermine state sovereignty. The message then turns more somber. The “Union of the States is perpetual,” like a contract that cannot be unilaterally broken. Any act against the federal government will be regarded as “insurrection” and will be opposed, although “in doing this there needs to be no bloodshed or violence, and there shall be none unless it be forced upon the national authority.” After speaking for roughly a half hour, he concludes with his famous call for conciliation: “We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.” Causal Theme: Lincoln, Slavery Expansion, Nullification Learn More: Read Chapter 280 in Prelude |
| 1861 | Lincoln decides to send an expedition to relieve Ft. Sumter and Ft. Pickens. It’s immediately clear that the South regards Lincoln’s speech as a declaration of war, with the Atlanta Confederacy declaring “We are dealing first with men who hate us bitterly.” Within Lincoln’s new Cabinet, discussions swirl around what to do about Ft. Sumter. On March 7, General Scott tells the President that it cannot be reinforced successfully. March 14 finds all in favor of evacuation save for Postmaster Montgomery Blair, who mirrors the advice given three days earlier by his father, Francis Blair Sr. who tells Lincoln that “it would be treason not to defend all federal property.”. Out of the blue on March 23, Seward assures the South that Sumter will be surrendered — before being forcefully brought into line when Lincoln reminds him that he, not Seward, is the President. Still an uncertain Lincoln dispatches two men to Charleston to learn more, lawyer friend Stephen Hurlbut who grew up there, and his bodyguard Ward Lamon. After walking the city streets and even visiting Lt. Anderson at Ft. Sumter, they tell a shocked Lincoln that the situation is hopeless. This finally ends his belief that the South is bluffing and, on March 28, he orders Navy Secretary Welles and War boss Cameron to prepare an expedition to relieve Sumter and Pickens. Causal Theme: Lincoln, Nullification Learn More: Read Chapter 284 in Prelude |
| 1861 | Breakdowns in the chain of command hamper the Union efforts. Confusion reigns immediately after Lincoln’s decision. While placing the Navy, under Lt. Gustavus Fox, in charge of the Sumter expedition, he secretly hands off the Ft. Pickens task force to the Army, under Montgomery Meigs, without even informing Navy Secretary Gideon Welles. Meigs quickly grabs the landing craft ship USS Powhatan for his fleet, and on April 6, Captain (later Admiral) David Porter exits the Brooklyn Naval Yard headed to Pickens. The loss of Powhatan angers Welles and leaves Fox without a craft he will need to deliver infantry troops to Sumter. On April 8, Fox sails toward Ft. Sumter with four ships, 300 soldiers and supplies to last a year. Causal Theme: Lincoln, Nullification Learn More: Read Chapter 285 in Prelude |
| 1861 | The Confederate Cabinet agrees to attack Ft. Sumter. While southerners have argued that the U.S. Constitution gives them the right to depart peacefully from the Union, Lincoln will have none of that knowing that the next move will be to open slavery in the west. On April 9, President Davis polls his Cabinet about taking Ft. Sumter by force. The only dissenter is Secretary of State, Robert Toombs who says: “Mr. President, at this time it is suicide, murder and will lose us every friend at the North. You will wantonly strike a hornet’s nest which extends from mountains to oceans, and legions, now quiet, will swarm out and sting us to death. It is unnecessary; it puts us in the wrong; it is fatal!” But his plea goes unheeded and the order is given to attack. Causal Theme: Nullification, Lincoln Learn More: Read Chapter 289 in Prelude |
| 1861 | War begins with the April 12 bombardment of Ft. Sumter. Gustavus Fox’s rendezvous off Charleston Harbor is chaotic. Harriet Lane loses contact and arrives on April 11. Fox’s flagship Baltic appears at 3:00AM on April 12, later to be joined by Pawnee and Pocahontas. But tugboats assigned to bring supplies never show up. The ship’s captains huddle on that morning to decide what to do next. But at 3:20AM ex-U.S. Senator James Chestnut, Jr. hands Lt. Robert Anderson a note telling him that firing will commence in one hour unless he surrenders. At 4:30AM, General P.G.T. Beauregard gives the order and a 64 lb shell fired by Edmund Ruffin from Cumming’s Point strikes the outer wall of Ft. Sumter. Anderson has only 700 shells at his disposal, and doesn’t return fire until 7:30 AM. The barrages continues for 34 hours, pockmarking the concrete but amazingly killing no one. Toward the end of the day, Fox’s fleet moves toward Sumter and is seen by the defenders, but is then turned back by a storm. Anderson is out of food and nearly all ammunition when he sends a boat out to ask Chestnut for terms of a surrender. It becomes official at noon on April 14, with a final roll call and what becomes a 50 gun salute before his 85 men are transferred the next day by the Confederate to Fox’s Baltic ship to head home. Causal Theme: Nullification Learn More: Read Chapter 291 -2 in Prelude |
| 1861 | Lincoln calls for 75,000 volunteers to put down the “insurrection.” In defining the south’s action as an “insurrection” rather than a war between two independent nations, he hopes to discourage the European powers from formal recognition and support. The call-up does signal the Union’s willingness to fight, but the fact that it involves only 75,000 troops for a three month enlistment reveals Lincoln’s naiveté about the slaughter that lies ahead. Causal Theme: Lincoln, Nullification Learn More: Read the Afterword in Prelude |
| 1861 | Virginia finally votes to secede and Arkansas, North Carolina and Tennessee follow. Virginia’s move on April 17 ends Lincoln’s final hope to avoid a national conflict, along with Winfield Scott’s hope to have Robert E. Lee head the Union Army. The Confederate account ends with eleven states in total. But four crucial “border states” – Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland and Delaware – stay in the Union despite their slavery status. Causal Theme: Lincoln, Nullification Learn More: Read the Afterword in Prelude |
| 1861+ | The North enters the war with a massive edge in resources, both economic and militarily. Including here is the ability to blockade and strangle the Southern ports with its Anaconda Plan. The South benefits from several outstanding field commanders (Lee, Jackson, Longstreet) interior lines of defense, and the high morale of fighting on one’s home turf. But after four years, Lincoln finds generals in Grant and Sherman who grind their way to a final victory at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. Causal Theme: Nullification, Public Violence Learn More: Read the Afterword in Prelude |
| 1861+ | America is devastated by the four year war. Some 750,000 deaths (2.5% of the total U.S. population) are recorded, with roughly 2/3rd associated with disease. Direct monetary costs are estimated at $3.3 Billion for each side. The nation’s debt rises from $65 million in 1860 to $5.2 Billion in 1865. The infrastructure of the South is devastated and while over 4 million enslaved black are freed from their chains, most are left impoverished and acing the harsh realities and prejudices that follow on during Re-construction. Causal Theme: Sectional Wealth, Abolition, Black Experience Learn More: Read the Afterword in Prelude |
| 1861+ | President Lincoln becomes the final victim of the war. Four days after the surrender at Appomattox, Good Friday, April 13, the President is assassinated by Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth while attending a stage play. The poet Walt Whitman eulogizes him in a poem: O Oh Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done, T the ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won, T the port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting, While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring; But O heart! heart! heart! O the bleeding drops of red, Where on the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead. Causal Theme: Lincoln Learn More: Read the Afterword in Prelude |