A New Political Party
Main Idea: Opponents of slavery from different political parties came together to form the new Republican Party.
Views of John Brown
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In which region was Frémont most successful? Which states in that area did he not win?
Democrats stressed tat Buchanan was the candidate of conciliation and stability and believed that a Frémont victory would lead to civil war
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The Republican ticket of John C. Frémont and William L. Dayton opposed slavery's expansion into the territories.
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Third-party candidate Fillmore appealed to voters concerned about immigration and Catholicism.
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The Dred Scott Case
Main Idea: The Supreme Court's decision in the Dred Scott case dealt a severe blow to antislavery forces and further divided the country.
- Dred Scott sued for his freedom claiming he should be free because he once lived in free states
- The case went to the Supreme Court where they also ruled on the question of slavery in the territories
- The Court ruled that Scott was an enslaved person therefore he was not a citizen and had no right to bring a lawsuit
- The Missouri Compromise and popular sovereignty were ruled unconstitutional
- The decision meant that the Constitution protected slavery
- Dred Scott sued for his freedom claiming he should be free because he once lived in free states
- The case went to the Supreme Court where they also ruled on the question of slavery in the territories
- The Court ruled that Scott was an enslaved person therefore he was not a citizen and had no right to bring a lawsuit
- The Missouri Compromise and popular sovereignty were ruled unconstitutional
- The decision meant that the Constitution protected slavery
A Controversial Ruling: In his ruling in the Dred Scott case, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney declared the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional because it deprived slaveholders of their property without due process or compensation. Southerners praised the decision, which opened all U.S. territory to slavery.
"They [African Americans] had for more than a centery before been regarded of an inferior order and altogether unfit to associate with the white race... and so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect... No one... should induce the Court to give to the words of the Constitution a more liberal constitution in their favor than they were intended to bear when the instrument was framed and adopted." |
How do you think the Dred Scott decision affected sectional tensions in the country?
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Lincoln and Douglas
Main Idea: The Lincoln-Douglas debates placed the little-known Lincoln into the national spotlight.
Lincoln
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Douglas
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Douglas won a narrow victory in the election.
Lincoln gained a national reputation.
Lincoln gained a national reputation.
"Now if...I should foreit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice and MINGLE MY BLOOD...with the blood of millions in this slave country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments- I submit; so LET IT BE DONE." |
A Raid to Fight Slavery
John Brown gained notoriety fighting against pro-slavery forces in Kansas in the mid-1850's. Financed by wealthy abolitionists, Brown led a raid in 1859 to capture the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Brown hoped to use the weapons at the arsenal to spark an uprising by enslaved people in Virginia. Was the raid on Harpers Ferry a success for abolitionists? Why or why not? |