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Cotton Gin
Eli Whitney
Cotton gin - 1793 - cleaned the seeds out of cotton
Sped up the cleaning of seeds
Revolutionized the cotton crop
Demand for cotton from Great Britain for textile manufacturing
South becomes “Cotton Kingdom” & financially dependent on cash crops and slavery
Increased the need for slavery -
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Sectionalism
Sectionalism emerges in the United States, replacing the idea of nationalism
Regions develop differing opinions
Each region believed that their own section, or region, of the country is more important than the whole nation -
Era of Good Feelings
Following the War of 1812 , the United States entered into a period of national pride and political unity - No divisions among political parties - No problems with foreign nations -
Missouri Compromise
The extension of slavery into new territories divides the North and South - conflict over state’s rights
Northern economy based on manufacturing
Southern economy based on slavery
Needed a balance of slave and free states to maintain balance
Maine admitted as a free state
Missouri admitted as a slave state
Remaining Louisiana Territory split into - one for slaveholders, one part for free - 36°30’ line
North of the line (except Missouri), slavery was banned
South of the line, slavery was legal -
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Expansion and Reform
No equality in United States society
Your status was different based on race and citizenship
Slavery an issue between North and South - sectionalism
The expansion of slavery into newly acquired territories becomes an issue
Many Americans called for reform in many areas of society including religion, prisons, education, slavery, and women’s rights. -
Tarriff of Abominations
Protective tariff designed to protect northern manufacturing from competition from cheaper British imports
Upset the South - detrimental to the southern cotton economy
British threatened to seek cotton in other markets due to the high cost of the tariff -
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Abolitionist Movement
Slavery considered a “necessary evil”
Abolitionist advocated the abolishment of slavery - freedom for slaves
Emancipation
Abolitionists
Grimke Sisters
Frederick Douglas
David Walker -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
-Virginia
-Led by a slave - Nat Turner - rebellion was a failure
1831 - Caused the South to strengthen slave codes (laws restricting activities and conduct of slaves -
Wlliam Lloyd Garrison - The Liberator
Founded The Liberator, an anti-slavery newspaper - 1831
Used the freedom of press to get his message out -
SC Nullification Crisis
-South Carolina began protesting the Tariff of Abominations - high tariffs on British imports
-SC Senator John C. Calhoun - wrote a pamphlet called SC Exposition and Protest
Called for state’s rights - states can nullify laws they feel are unconstitutional (Remember Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions?)
1832 - SC threatened to secede if the tariffs were not repealed -
Wlimot Proviso
-Pennsylvania Congressman David Wilmot came up with a proviso, or condition
1846 - Proposed banning slavery from any land purchased from Mexico
Upset the Southern states
Not approved -
Compromise of 1850
-With the acquisition of the Mexican territory, the extension of slavery once again becomes an issue
-Henry Clay offers a compromise to maintain balance between the free and slave states
*California admitted as a free state
*Unorganized territories declared free
*Utah and New Mexico territories were to decide *the issue of slavery through popular sovereignty
-People in these areas could decide on the issue of slavery for themselves -
Fugitive Slave Act
-Required that Northern states return escaped slaves to their slave-owners in the South
Many in the North refused the follow it -
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Underground Railroad
- Network of people who helped slaves escape to the northern US and Canada -Led by escaped slave Harriett Tubman -Hero of the abolitionist movement Secretly returned to the South 19 times in order to leave other slaves to freedom
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Uncle Tom's Cabin
-Harriett Beecher Stowe
Fictional book that showed the horrors and evil side of slavery to the public
Motivated abolitionists -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
-Allowed free and previously unorganized territories of Kansas and Nebraska to vote on the issue of slavery - popular sovereignty
-Repealed the Missouri Compromise
-Settlers began to move into the area at a rapid pace
-Became known as “Bleeding Kansas”
*Conflict between pro slavery settlers and abolitionist settlers
*A lot of blood shed -
Birth of the Republican Party
Group of Democrats, Whigs, and Free Soilers formed the Republican Party
Opposed the extension of slavery into new territories -
Brooks-Sumner Affair
-Preston Brooks v. Charles Sumner
-Charles Sumner opposed the Kansas Nebraska Act – gave a 2 day speech attacking senators who wrote the act
-SC Senator Preston Brooks attacked Sumner with a heavy cane, almost killing him
-Sumner was absent from the Senate for three years while he recovered
Example of slavery issue and how tensions were getting stronger -
Dredd Scott Case
-Dred Scott taken into free territory for 4 years
-His owner died and Scott sued for his freedom
-Supreme Court ruled he could not sue because he was a slave and not a citizen
-Struck down the Missouri Compromise
-Can not declare slaves free from their owners without due process of law
Violation of the 5th amendment -
Lincoln Douglas Debates
-Abraham Lincoln (R) v. Stephen Douglas (D) for US Senate in Illinois
Public debates
Lincoln opposed slavery
Douglas believed slavery could not be implemented without laws to govern it -
Freeport Doctrine
Stephen Douglas
-During the debates with Lincoln, Lincoln asked Douglas to choose between the Kansas-Nebraska Act (popular sovereignty) OR the Dred Scott case
Douglas issued the Freeport Doctrine:
If a territory does not pass slave laws, no slavery can exist -
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John Brown's Raid
-John Brown was an abolitionist – hated slavery
-Attacked federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry
-Attempted to seize weapons to arm slaves for an uprising
-Attempt failed
-Brown was hanged
Southern resentment of the abolitionist movement intensified -
Election of 1860
Douglas, Lincoln, Breckinridge run
-Lincoln
-Lincoln wins election with no southern electoral votes
Pledges to stop the spread of slavery but to not interfere in the south -
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Succession
-As a result of Lincoln’s victory in the Election of 1860, southern states begin to succeed from the union.
-Succeed = withdrawal
-South Carolina was the first state to succeed on December 20, 1860
By February 1861, six other states joined them: Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Texas