Chapter 19

Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin intended to show the cruelty oI slavery.
Uncle Tom's Cabin may be described as a powerIul political Iorce.
As a result oI reading Uncle Tom's Cabin, many northerners swore that they would have nothing to do with the
enIorcement oI the Fugitive Slave Law.
When the people oI Britain and France read Uncle Tom's Cabin, their governments realized that intervention in
the Civil War on behalI oI the South would not be popular.
Hinton R. Helper's book The Impending Crisis oI the South argued that those who suIIered most Irom slave
labor were nonslaveholding southern whites.
In 1855, proslavery southerners regarded Kansas as slave territory.
In "Bleeding Kansas" in the mid-1850s, the Lecompton Constitution was identiIied with the proslavery
element, and the New England Immigrant Aid Society was associated with the antislavery Iree-soilers.
In 1856, the breaking point over slavery in Kansas came with an attack on Lawrence by a gang oI proslavery
raiders.
President James Buchanan's decision on Kansas's Lecompton Constitution hopelessly divided the Democratic
Party.
The Lecompton Constitution proposed that the state oI Kansas have black bondage regardless oI whether the
document was approved or not.
Kansas Territory's Lecompton Constitution was supported by President James Buchanan and proslavery
settlers in Kansas.
The situation in Kansas in the mid-1850s indicated the impracticality oI popular sovereignty in the territories.
The clash between Preston S. Brooks and Charles Sumner revealed the Iact that passions over slavery were
becoming dangerously inIlamed in both North and South.
James Buchanan won the Democratic nomination Ior the presidency in 1856 because he was not associated
with the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
The central plank oI the Know-Nothing party in the 1856 election was nativism.
Nativists in the 1850s were known Ior their anti-Catholic and anti-Ioreign attitudes.
The Republicans lost the 1856 election in part because oI southern threats that a Republican victory would be a
declaration oI war. As late as 1856, many northerners were still willing to vote Democratic instead oI
Republican because many did not want to lose their proIitable business connections with the South.
In ruling on the Dred Scott case, the United States Supreme Court expected to lay to rest the issue oI slavery in
the territories.
In the Dred Scott case, the Supreme Court ruled that Dred Scott was not a citizen oI the United States; Dred
Scott could not legally sue in a Iederal court; the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional; and Congress
had no power to ban slavery Irom a territory.
The decision rendered in the Dred Scott case was applauded by proslavery southerners.
For a majority oI northerners, the most outrageous part oI the Supreme Court's ruling in the Dred Scott case
was that Congress had never had the power to prohibit slavery in any territory.
As a result oI the panic oI 1857, the South believed that "cotton was king."
The panic oI 1857 resulted in clamor Ior a higher tariII.
The panic oI 1857 hit hardest among grain growers oI the Northwest.
The political career oI Abraham Lincoln could best be described as slow to get oII the ground.
As a result oI the Lincoln-Douglas debates, Douglas deIeated Lincoln Ior the Senate.
Stephen A. Douglas argued in his Freeport Doctrine during the Lincoln-Douglas debates that action by
territorial legislatures could keep slavery out oI the territories.
In his raid on Harpers Ferry, John Brown intended to Ioment a slave rebellion.
AIter John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, the South concluded that the North was dominated by "Brown-
loving" Republicans.
Abraham Lincoln won the 1860 Republican Party presidential nomination in part because he had made Iewer
enemies than Iront-runner William Seward.
BeIore his nomination in 1860, Abraham Lincoln had been a state legislator in Illinois, a United States
congressman Irom Illinois, and a Iailed candidate Ior the United States Senate.
The 1860 Republican Party platIorm Iavored protective tariIIs, construction oI a transcontinental railroad, Iree
homesteads, and nonextension oI slavery.
The presidential candidate oI the new Constitutional Union party in 1860 was John Bell.
In the election oI 1860, Abraham Lincoln won a majority in the Electoral College and won less than a majority
oI the popular vote.
When Abraham Lincoln won the 1860 presidential election, people in South Carolina rejoiced because it gave
them an excuse to secede.
The government oI the ConIederate States oI America was Iirst organized in Montgomery, Alabama.
'Lame-duck" President James Buchanan believed that the Constitution did not authorize him to Iorce southern
states to stay in the Union.
President James Buchanan declined to use Iorce to keep the South in the Union Ior all oI the Iollowing
reasons: he was surrounded by prosouthern advisers; a slim chance oI reconciliation remained; northern public
opinion would not support it; and the army was needed to control Indians in the West.
The proposed Crittenden Compromise, iI adopted, would have prohibited slavery north oI 36 degrees 30';
guaranteed Iederal protection oI slavery in territories south oI 36 degrees 30'; and permitted the expansion oI
slavery into new territories south oI 36 degrees 30'.
Abraham Lincoln opposed the Crittenden Compromise because the Compromise could allow slavery to
expand into Latin America.
Secessionists supported leaving the Union because they were tired oI abolitionist attacks; they believed that the
North would not oppose their departure; the political balance seemed to be tipping against them; and they were
dismayed by the success oI the Republican Party.
The immense debt owed to northern creditors by the South was repudiated by the South.
Chapter 20
European powers Iavored a civil war in the United States because war would weaken the United States' power
in the Western Hemisphere.
President Lincoln's decision on what to do about the situation at Fort Sumter in the Iirst weeks oI his
administration can best be characterized as cautious.
ConIederate batteries Iired on Fort Sumter when it was learned that Lincoln had ordered supplies sent to the
Iort.
Many Northerners were willing to allow Southern states to leave the Union until they attacked Fort Sumter.
States that joined the ConIederacy aIter the Iiring on Fort Sumter included Virginia, North Carolina,
Tennessee, and Arkansas.
In order to persuade the Border States to remain in the Union, Lincoln declared martial law where needed.
The Border States oIIered all oI the Iollowing advantages: a large population; a good supply oI horses and
mules; valuable manuIacturing capacity; and large navigable rivers.
Lincoln's declaration that the North sought to preserve the Union with or without slavery revealed the
inIluence oI the Border States on his policies.
Border slave states that remained loyal to the Union included Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, and Delaware.
During the Civil War, most oI the Five Civilized Tribes in the Indian Territory oI presentday Oklahoma
supported the ConIederacy.
In return Ior support Irom the Plains Indians during the Civil War, the Union waged war on them and herded
them onto reservations.
To achieve its independence, the ConIederacy had to Iight the invading Union army to a draw.
As the Civil War began, the South seemed to have the advantage oI more talented military leaders.
The greatest weakness oI the South during the Civil War was its economy.
The North's greatest strength in the Civil War was its economy.
Northern advantages at the outset oI the Civil War included control oI the seas; and more banks, Iactories,
railroads, and people.
Much oI the hunger experienced by ConIederate soldiers in the Civil War was due to the South's rickety
transportation system.
Northern soldiers eventually became known Ior their discipline and determination.
To Iind eIIective high-level commanders, the Union used trial and error.
A supposed asset Ior the South at the beginning oI the Civil War that never materialized to its real advantage
was intervention Irom Britain and France.
One reason that the British did not try to break the Union blockade oI the South during the Civil War was that
they Ieared losing Northern grain shipments.
The South believed that the British would come to its aid because Britain was dependent on Southern cotton.
King Cotton Iailed the South as a tool oI wartime diplomacy because Britain held surpluses oI cotton when the
war began; textile workers in Britain Iavored the North; the North sent captured cotton to Britain; and Britain
developed alternative supplies oI cotton in Egypt and India.
During the Civil War, Britain and the United States were nearly provoked into war by the Trent aIIair,
involving the removal oI Southern diplomats Irom a British ship.
During the Civil War, diplomacy Ior the Union and the ConIederacy was critical Ior both.
ConIederate commerce-raiders such as the Alabama proved eIIective against Union shipping.
ConIederate commerce-raiders dealt a devastating blow to the Union's merchant marine and were almost all
built in Britain.
The ConIederacy's most eIIective commerce-raider was the Alabama.
Napoleon III's attempt to install Maximilian on the Mexican throne was a clear violation oI the Monroe
Doctrine.
France abandoned its attempt to control Mexico because the United States threatened to send soldiers to Iorce
France to leave.
During the Civil War, relations between the Union and Canada were at times very poor.
Southern cause was weakened by the concept oI states' rights that the ConIederacy proIessed.
As leader oI the ConIederacy, JeIIerson Davis deIied rather than led public opinion.
The problems that Abraham Lincoln experienced as president were less prostrating than those experienced by
JeIIerson Davis partly because the North had a long-established and Iully recognized government.
President Lincoln's loose interpretation oI civil liberties during the Civil War resulted in the suspension oI the
privilege oI habeas corpus; led to the arrest oI several critical newspaper editors; and was deIended by him as
necessary to save the Union.
As president oI the ConIederacy, JeIIerson Davis did not exercise the arbitrary power wielded by Abraham
Lincoln because oI the South's emphasis on states' rights.
To Iill the army's demand Ior troops, the North relied mainly on volunteers.
Like the North during the Civil War, the South exempted the wealthy Irom military service; experienced a high
rate oI desertion; relied mainly on volunteer enlistments; and draIted men into military service.
The Union's establishment oI the National Banking System was the Iirst signiIicant step toward a uniIied
banking network since 1836.
During the Civil War, the Union launched a new national banking system.
As a result oI the Civil War, the Northern economy emerged more prosperous than ever beIore.
To help pay Ior the War, both the North and the South raised taxes, printed paper currency, and sold bonds.
The only major Northern industry that suIIered economic reversal during the Civil War was Ioreign shipping.
During the Civil War, women in the North had new opportunities opened to them in industry.