The Civil War: Background Issues (1820-1860) revised 1983

Heat. Heat. [Music] The United States in 1817. For the American people, it is a time of growing national pride and unity. A Boston newspaper has coined a name for the period, the era of good feelings. For a few years, rivalry between political parties will almost disappear, and President James Monroe will be reelected in 1820 without opposition. The United States has become a land of opportunity in the growth of business and industry in the northeastern states and in the rapid expansion of the western frontier where government policy has made it possible for many families to buy land and establish farms and homes. But the westward movement has helped to bring about a crisis that threatens to destroy the growing sense of national unity and divide the nation into opposing sections. There are 22 states in the union evenly balanced between 11 southern states which recognize slavery and 11 northern states where slavery is prohibited. This balance gives the two sections equal representation in the United States Senate. But in 1819, the application of Missouri for admission as a slave state touches off a bitter debate in Congress and throughout the nation over the expansion of slavery into the Western Territories. Former President Thomas Jefferson describes the Missouri controversy as a firebell in the night, a sudden warning of a problem long ignored which could eventually destroy the Union. The roots of the problem go back to colonial times when slavery existed in New England and the middle colonies as well as in the south. But the southern colonies were developing their own distinctive economy. The wide fertile plains and warm climate here were well suited to large-scale farming on plantations where manual labor was performed by slaves. Plantation owners controlled most of the wealth in the south and they had great political power even though they formed only a small minority of the southern population. Most white southerners lived on small family farms working the land themselves without slave labor. During the American Revolution and soon afterward, the northern states began to pass laws prohibiting slavery. The northern slave population was small and this made it easier for northerners to respond to the pressure brought by anti-slavery groups, especially by the Quakers. In 1787, slavery became an issue at the constitutional convention in Philadelphia. Compromises were worked out and the constitution recognized slavery. Yet, many people hoped and believed that it would soon die out in the south as well as in the north. But that hope was soon to fade. In 1793, Eli Whitney built his first working model of the cotton gin. This invention would revolutionize the economy of the South. It provided the first practical method of removing seeds from the type of cotton best suited for growth in most parts of the South. What had been a minor crop on southern plantations would soon become known as king cotton. The cotton belt began to expand into the Gulf Plains and westward across the Mississippi. And now in 1820, with the rapid expansion of the plantation region, slavery has become a vital part of the southern economy. Many southerners believe that if slavery does not continue to expand, the balance between North and South will be upset, and the North will gain control of the United States Senate. Northerners might then act to abolish slavery and destroy the southern economy. This issue forms the basis of the Missouri controversy. The speaker of the House of Representatives is Henry Clay of Kentucky. His view has been that Missouri should make its own decision on slavery, but the angry debate has led him to support a proposal made by Senator Jesse Thomas of Illinois for a compromise. Under the terms of the Missouri Compromise, Missouri is admitted as a slave state balanced by Maine as a new free state. Closed to the expansion of slavery is the portion of the Louisiana Purchase north of the parallel 3630 except for Missouri. The compromise has settled the controversy over the expansion of slavery, at least temporarily. But there are other causes of tension between the two sections. While the South has continued to expand its agriculture, the North is developing an economy based more and more on manufacturing. Many northerners favor a protective tariff, a high tax on imported goods that makes them less able to compete with products made in American factories. Beginning in 1816, a series of protective tariffs passed by Congress has resulted in growing protests from the South because of the higher prices they must pay for manufactured goods. In 1832, acting on the advice of John C. Calhoun. A South Carolina convention adopts an ordinance of nullification, asserting the principle of states rights against federal authority and declaring that the tariff will not be collected in the ports of South Carolina. If the federal government attempts to enforce the law, South Carolina will secede from the Union. President Andrew Jackson replies that both nullification and secession are illegal. The Constitution established a national government, not merely an association of sovereign states. And Jackson intends to enforce federal law. To meet this crisis, Henry Clay proposes a compromise. Tariff rates will gradually be lowered, and South Carolina repeals its ordinance of nullification. But meanwhile, tension over slavery has continued to grow. In 1831 in eastern Virginia, Nat Turner gathers a band of about 70 other slaves to plan a rebellion. Turner and his followers are captured within a few days, but the rebellion has brought death to 57 whites and has set off a shock wave throughout the South that will continue long afterward. And southern fears are intensified by the activities of anti-slavery or abolitionist groups in the north. The abolitionist crusade is one of several reform movements that have begun to take shape in the early 1830s. Many northern blacks are active in the abolitionist movement as well as in a struggle for civil rights and education which are often denied to blacks in the northern states. One of the more extreme abolitionists is William Lloyd Garrison, publisher of a newspaper called the liberator. In print and in public meetings, Garrison and others call for the immediate abolition of slavery. In 1837, Sarah and Angelina Grimkey begin a lecture tour of New England. The two sisters give vivid descriptions of the evils of slavery, drawing on their personal experiences as former slave owners in South Carolina. Their lectures are strongly criticized by many people who believe it is improper for women to speak at public meetings or take part in political activity. In spite of this opposition, women's groups are beginning to take political action by flooding Congress with petitions calling for the immediate abolition of slavery in the District of [Music] Colombia. The presence of slave markets in the nation's capital is resented by many northerners. The petition drive continues for several years, but southern congressmen are joined by a few northern representatives in imposing a gag rule that prevents Congress from discussing the petitions. And even when the gag rule is suspended, Congress fails to act. Meanwhile, abolitionists have been taking direct action to win freedom for at least a few slaves. A loosely formed secret network of escape routes called the Underground Railway has been established. Traveling mainly at night, groups of slaves are led northward from one hiding place to another by guides called conductors. One of the conductors is an escaped slave named Harriet Tubman. She will risk her freedom and her life many times to lead a total of more than 300 slaves along the Underground Railway to the northern states or to Canada. In many parts of the North, the anti-slavery movement meets bitter opposition. During the 1830s, the offices of abolitionist newspapers are frequently vandalized by angry mobs. In several northern states, new restrictions are placed on the civil rights of blacks. And the abolitionist movement has provoked a strong reaction in the south as well. In the past, slavery was considered by many southerners to be a necessary evil that would eventually disappear. But now they have begun to defend it as a noble institution in itself. They declare that slaves are happy doing menial labor and that southern life is more refined and humane than life in the north. They believe that this social system is the will of God. The tension between north and south has increased and the controversy will escalate further as the westward movement continues. Pioneers have begun to settle in the far west, in the Oregon country, which is claimed by Great Britain, and in the southwest, which is part of Mexico. These pioneers believe in the principle of manifest destiny. They are sure that the United States will eventually expand to include these regions. In 1845, Texas is admitted to the Union as a slave state. Disagreement about the border between Texas and Mexico is part of a larger controversy that erupts into war between Mexico and the United States in 1846. As the war continues and victory for the United States seems assured, a debate begins in Congress on the future of the vast territory that will likely be acquired for Mexico. A resolution to prohibit slavery in the new southwestern territories is introduced by Congressman David Wilmont. The House of Representatives approves his Wilmont proviso, but it's defeated in the Senate. By 1848, the new territory is under American control and the war is over. But still undecided is the question of the expansion of slavery into this region. Southerners insist that under the terms of the Missouri Compromise, the new territory should be open to slavery. Southern soldiers were among those who fought and died to secure this land. And Senator John C. Calhoun argues that Congress cannot prohibit the expansion of slavery into any territory. But many northerners, including Senator William Seward, insist that slavery must be limited to its present boundaries. In an eloquent speech to the Senate, Daniel Webster of Massachusetts pleads for compromise to save the Union. Specific compromise proposals drafted by Steven A. Douglas of Illinois and Henry Clay of Kentucky are submitted to Congress and passed by early September of 1850. Under the terms of the compromise of 1850, California is admitted as a free state and the Utah and New Mexico territories are organized with no provision for either the introduction or exclusion of slavery. The compromise also includes a strict fugitive slave law requiring that escaped slaves be returned to their owners. The new law is deeply resented by many northerners. Even free blacks are in danger of being captured and sent to the south as slaves. Attempts to enforce the fugitive slave law provoke rioting in many parts of the north. In Wisconsin, both the state legislature and supreme court declare the fugitive slave law invalid. A northern state has invoked the doctrine of nullification. Another response to the fugitive slave law is a popular novel called Uncle Tom's Cabin written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. While the book includes descriptions of some slaves who are well treated, it also stirs the emotions of its many readers by presenting slavery as basically cruel and immoral. Mrs. Stowe has drawn on her observations of slavery and also on the writings of others, including Frederick Douglas, a former slave. Douglas has become a leader in the abolitionist movement as publisher of an anti-slavery newspaper and as a public speaker. He advocates peaceful and legal means to bring slavery to an end. But there are growing signs that the issue will not be resolved peacefully. In 1854, the Kansas Nebraska Act proposed by Senator Steven A. Douglas of Illinois is passed by Congress. Under Douglas's concept of popular sovereignty, the residents of Kansas and Nebraska will vote to decide whether their territories will be slave or free. The new law repeals the Missouri Compromise, which had prohibited slavery in this region. Soon after the new law is passed, pro-slavery and anti-slavery groups in Kansas form two rival governments. May 1856, pro-slavery settlers attacked the town of Lawrence, Kansas, headquarters of the anti-slavery government. To avenge the destruction of the town, a small group of anti-slavery settlers is led by a fanatic abolitionist named John Brown in an attack on a pro-slavery settlement. A wave of violence has begun between the opposing groups. 200 lives will be lost before the violence is brought to an end by federal troops. Meanwhile, opponents of the Kansas Nebraska Act have united to resist the expansion of slavery by forming a new political party in the north. In 1856, the Republican party nominates John Fremont for president and William Dayton for vice president. Fremont and Dayton are defeated, but many Republicans are elected to Congress where they will work to end the expansion of slavery. That goal will meet a serious obstacle when the Supreme Court issues its decision in the Dread Scott case in 1857. Scott is a slave who has been encouraged by a group of abolitionists to sue for his freedom on the grounds that he has traveled with his master from St. Louis, Missouri slave territory to Illinois and Minnesota and by living in those free areas he is legally free. Chief Justice Roger Tony in writing the majority opinion of the court holds that Scott is not free because the constitution protects the right of property and slaves are legally property. Therefore, attempts by Congress to limit the expansion of slavery violate the fifth amendment to the constitution. The DreadScott decision angers northerners and becomes a political issue. In 1858, Steven A. Douglas, a Democrat, is a candidate for reelection to the Senate, opposed by Abraham Lincoln, a Republican lawyer. In a series of debates between the two candidates, Douglas reaffirms the principle of popular sovereignty, which allows voters to decide whether their state will be slave or free. Lincoln believes that the opponents of slavery must resist its expansion. In an already famous speech, he has said, "This government cannot endure half slave and half free. It will become all one thing or all the other." But many opponents of slavery are not willing merely to resist its expansion. John Brown, leader of the first anti-slavery raid in Kansas, now plans to incite a slave rebellion throughout the South. To supply the rebellion with arms and ammunition, Brown and 18 followers capture the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. October 17th, 1859, federal troops commanded by Colonel Robert E. Lee recapture the arsenal and arrest John Brown and his followers. Brown is sentenced to death by hanging. Many abolitionists honor him as a martyr, but the South is gripped by a sense of outrage. In this atmosphere of growing tension, the nation prepares for the presidential election campaign of 1860. At the Republican convention in Chicago, the party denounces John Brown, but reaffirms its opposition to the expansion of slavery. On the third ballot, the convention delegates select Abraham Lincoln as their candidate for president and Hannibal Hamlin for vice president. The Republican platform advocates higher tariffs to protect American industry and promises free homesteads to settlers on the frontier while confining slavery to its present limits. Lincoln is one of four candidates running for president. He wins only 39% of the popular vote, but this gives him a wide margin over his closest competitor and a decisive majority in the electoral college. Many southerners are convinced that Lincoln will use his power to abolish slavery and destroy the economy of the South. In December 1860, the state of South Carolina secedes from the Union. Within a few weeks, six more states will follow. In Washington, the federal government faces a major crisis. If secession is illegal, what steps should be taken to enforce federal law? There will be attempts to find a compromise. But in February 1861, the succeeding states will meet to form their own national government. It will soon become clear that the years of compromise have ended and the warning spoken by many voices during those years will be fulfilled. Secession will lead to civil war. [Music]