3/15/2021 networks - Print Lesson

Print

All efforts at compromise failed to end the sectional differences over slavery between the North and the South. The outcome of
the 1860 election triggered a showdown and the first shots of the Civil War.

The Election of 1860

How did the South react to the election of a Republican president?

John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry was a turning point for the South. Southerners were worried by the idea that Northerners would
try to arm enslaved people and encourage them to rebel. Although Republican leaders quickly denounced Brown’s raid, many
Southerners blamed Republicans and Brown because they both opposed slavery. As one Atlanta newspaper noted: “We regard
every man in our midst an enemy to the institutions of the South who does not boldly declare that he believes African slavery to be a
social, moral, and political blessing.”
The Democrats Split
In April 1860, with the South in an uproar, Democrats held their convention in Charleston, South Carolina, to choose their nominee for
president. The debate over slavery in the territories finally tore apart the Democratic Party. Northern delegates wanted to support
popular sovereignty, while Southern delegates wanted the party to uphold the Dred Scott decision. They also wanted to endorse a
federal slave code for the territories. Stephen A. Douglas was not able to get the votes needed to be nominated for president, but
neither was anyone else.
In June 1860, the Democrats met again. Douglas’s supporters in the South had organized delegations to ensure his nomination. The
original Southern delegations objected to this and walked out. The remaining Democrats then chose Douglas to run for president.
The Southern Democrats who had walked out organized their own convention. They nominated the current vice president, John C.
Breckinridge of Kentucky. Breckinridge supported the Dred Scott decision and agreed to endorse a federal slave code for the
territories.
This split improved the Republicans’ chances to win the election. Some Southerners may have intended this, hoping that a
Republican win would convince Southern states to secede. Others, including many former Whigs, feared for the Union. They created
the Constitutional Union Party, and campaigned on a position of upholding both the Constitution and the Union.

Lincoln Is Elected
With no chance of winning electoral votes in the South, the Republican candidate had to win nearly all of the North. To better their
chances, the Republicans passed over Senator William Seward of New York, whom some regarded as an extremist. Instead, they
nominated Abraham Lincoln, whose debates with Douglas had made him very popular in the North.
During the campaign, Republicans tried to convince voters they were more than just an antislavery party. They reaffirmed the right of
Southern states to preserve slavery within their borders. Republicans also supported higher tariffs, a new homestead law, and the
transcontinental railroad.
It was the threat to slavery, however, that angered many Southerners. Yet, with Democratic votes split between Douglas and
Breckinridge, Lincoln won the election anyway. Southerners felt that their society and culture seemed to be at stake. For many
Southerners, there was no choice now but to secede.
Secession Begins
The dissolution of the Union began with South Carolina. By February 1, 1861, six more states in the Lower South—Mississippi,
Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas—had voted to secede. Meanwhile, Congress tried to find a compromise to save the
Union. Ignoring those efforts, the secessionists seized all federal property in their states, including arsenals and forts. Only Fort
Sumter in Charleston Harbor, Fort Pickens in Pensacola Harbor, and a few islands off the coast of Florida remained out of their
control.
In an attempt to reach a compromise, Senator John J. Crittenden of Kentucky proposed several constitutional amendments. One
would guarantee slavery where it already existed. Another would reinstate the Missouri Compromise line, extending it to the border of
California. This would prohibit slavery north of the line and would protect slavery south of it. Lincoln asked congressional
Republicans to stand firm, and Crittenden’s Compromise did not pass. Virginia then held a peace conference. None of the
secessionist states attended. The plan they developed was defeated in Congress.

Founding the Confederacy

In February 1861, the seceding states met in Montgomery, Alabama. They declared themselves to be a new nation—the Confederate
States of America, or the Confederacy, as it became known. They drafted a constitution based largely on the U.S. Constitution, but
with some important changes. It declared that each state was independent and guaranteed slavery in Confederate territory. It banned
protective tariffs and the international importation of enslaved Africans. It also limited the presidency to a single six-year term. The
delegates chose Jefferson Davis, a former senator from Mississippi, as president.
https://connected.mcgraw-hill.com/ssh/book.printNarrative.do?bookId=K1JJN57PDG93F13MTONCMX2TD4&bookEdition=STUDENT&narrativeContai… 1/3
3/15/2021 networks - Print Lesson

Identifying How did the split of the Democratic Party affect the outcome of the election of 1860?

The Civil War Begins

Do you think it is ever appropriate for the government to declare martial law?

In his Inaugural Address on March 4, 1861, Lincoln spoke directly to the seceding states. He repeated his commitment not to interfere
with slavery where it existed. Yet he insisted that “the Union of these States is perpetual.” Lincoln did not threaten the seceded states,
but he said he intended to “hold, occupy, and possess” federal property in those states. Lincoln also encouraged reconciliation:

"In your hands, my dissatisfied countrymen, and not in mine is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you.
You can have no conflict, without yourselves being the aggressors. . . . . . .
We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of
affection."
—from Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861

Fort Sumter Falls

In April, Lincoln announced that he would send a ship to resupply Fort Sumter. Confederate president Jefferson Davis faced a difficult
decision. Leaving the federal troops in Charleston Harbor was unacceptable, but firing on the supply ship would surely lead to war.
He decided to capture the fort before the ship’s arrival. Confederate leaders sent a note to Major Robert Anderson, Fort Sumter’s
commander, demanding the surrender of the fort. When they were refused, the Confederates bombarded the fort for 33 hours until
Anderson and his men finally surrendered. The Civil War had begun.
The Upper South Secedes
After the fall of Fort Sumter, President Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to serve in the military for 90 days. The call for troops
created a crisis in the Upper South. Here, many people did not want to secede, but faced with the prospect of civil war, believed they
had no choice. Virginia acted first, passing an Ordinance of Secession on April 17, 1861. The Confederate Congress responded by
moving the capital of the Confederacy to Richmond, Virginia. By early June 1861, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee had also
seceded.

Thinking Like a HISTORIAN

Comparing Points of View
Some historians argue that most secessionists believed in the constitutionality of their actions. They contend that secessionists believed
they represented traditional rights and interpretation of the relationship between the states and the national government. Slavery may have
been the fundamental issue that divided the North and the South, but many Southerners felt that the North had violated the compact
embodied by the Constitution. Secession may have amounted to a defensive counterrevolution against Republican hostilities toward the
South’s interests. Under this way of thinking, when the South lost the war, states’ rights lost with it.

Hanging On to the Border States

With the Upper South states having seceded, Lincoln was determined to keep the slaveholding border states in the Union. Delaware
seemed safe, but Lincoln worried about Kentucky, Missouri, and Maryland. Virginia’s secession had placed a Confederate state
across the Potomac River from the nation’s capital. If Maryland seceded, Washington, D.C., would be surrounded by Confederate
territory. To prevent Maryland from seceding, Lincoln imposed martial law in Baltimore, where angry mobs had already attacked
federal troops. Under martial law, the military takes control of an area and replaces civilian authorities, and it suspends certain civil
rights.
Kentucky stayed neutral until September 1861, when Confederate forces occupied part of the state. The invasion angered many
Kentucky legislators, who now voted to fight the Confederacy. This decision led other Kentuckians who supported the Confederacy to
create a rival government and secede.
Missouri worried Lincoln, too. Although many Missourians sympathized strongly with the Confederacy, its convention voted
overwhelmingly against secession. A struggle then broke out between pro-Unionist forces and a pro-Confederate militia led by
Governor Claiborne F. Jackson. In the end, Missouri stayed with the Union with the support of federal forces.
From the beginning of the Civil War, Lincoln had been willing to take political, even constitutional, risks to preserve the Union. Now
the issue of its preservation shifted to the battlefield.

Identifying What action did Lincoln take to prevent Maryland’s secession?

https://connected.mcgraw-hill.com/ssh/book.printNarrative.do?bookId=K1JJN57PDG93F13MTONCMX2TD4&bookEdition=STUDENT&narrativeContai… 2/3
3/15/2021 networks - Print Lesson

Reviewing Vocabulary
1. Defining How does martial law help control an area?

Using Your Notes

2. Summarizing Use your notes to write a short paragraph about the events that led to the Civil War.

Answering the Guiding Questions

3. Describing How did the South react to the election of a Republican president?

4. Analyzing Do you think it is ever appropriate for the government to declare martial law?

Writing Activity
5. ARGUMENT Suppose that you are an adviser to President Lincoln and you have just heard about the attack on Fort Sumter in
South Carolina. Write a brief report for the president, advising him on what steps to take next.

https://connected.mcgraw-hill.com/ssh/book.printNarrative.do?bookId=K1JJN57PDG93F13MTONCMX2TD4&bookEdition=STUDENT&narrativeContai… 3/3