Sectionalism - Politics
ESSENTIAL QUESTION
- How did increased division over the expansion of slavery and state’s rights lead to open rebellion
Sectionalism: 1850-1856
- Northerners were outraged by the Kansas-Nebraska Act:
- Congress allowed slavery to spread into an area of the United States which slavery was already outlawed in
- Northerners formed the Republican Party in 1854 & became committed to the “free soil” movement
- Popular Sovereignty failed to settle the slavery question in the West * When a vote was held in Kansas in 1855 to decide on slavery, thousands of Missouri residents illegally voted * The illegal vote gave Kansas slavery when its residents voted against it * In 1856, a war began between Kansas & Missouri (Bleeding Kansas)
Sectionalism: 1856-1860
- In 1857 a slave named Dred Scott sued for his freedom after traveling with his master from Missouri to Wisconsin
- The Dred Scott case presented the Supreme Court with 2 major questions:
- Does Congress have the power to decide on slavery in the territories?
- Is the Missouri Compromise constitutional?
In Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857), the Supreme Court ruled: * Dred Scott had no right to sue because “blacks are not citizens” * Congress did not have the power to stop slavery in western territories so the Missouri Compromise was ruled unconstitutional * Northern abolitionists are furious
John Brown
- Abolitionist
- Involved in the Underground Railroad
- Moved to Kansas to support the anti-slavery cause
- Responded to violency by pro-slavery men by organizing the murder of 5 proslavery settlers: Pottowatomie Creek Massacre
John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry
- Brown planned a raid on a federal arsenal
- Wanted to distribute the weapons to the slaves
- Action failed. Brown and his men were mostly captured or killed within 36 hours
- Brown was ultimately hanged