THE ROAD TO CIVIL WAR

--Road to War--

I.                    Sectional Differences:

A.     The Breadbasket West:

St. Louis, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Chicago

Chicago:           1833: 150 houses

                                                                        1847: 17,000 people

                                                                        1860: 109,000 people

B.     The Urbanizing North

1820: 6.1%

1860: 20%

1860:  110,274 industrial

establishments

(128,300 in entire country)

1860 Northern City Population

1.            New York City - 813,669

2.            Philadelphia - 565,529

3.            Brooklyn - 266,661

4.            Baltimore - 212,418

5.            Boston - 177,840

6.            Cincinnati - 161,044

7.            St. Louis - 160,773

8.            Chicago - 112,172

9.            Buffalo - 81,129

10.        Newark - 71,941

(The only Southern city to compare was New Orleans with 168,675 citizens)            Source: 1860 U.S. Census

C.     The Oligarchic South

--1860: 5.6 million whites  

--1700 own around 100 slaves

--46,274 own around 20 slaves

--slave population was 3.84 million

--26,000 free blacks in the South

--36% of families in South own

slaves in 1830

--25% of families in South own

slaves in 1860

--Traveling the 1,460 miles from Baltimore to

New Orleans in 1850 meant riding five different railroads, two stage coaches, and two steamboats.

--By 1850, 20 percent of adult white southerners

could not read or write, compared to a national figure of 8 percent.

DO THESE DIFFERENCES MATTER?

                                    Wilmot Proviso (1846)

II.  COMPROMISE OF 1850

            1845: 15-13   (Texas and Florida)

            1846: 15-14 (Iowa)

            1848: 15-15 (Wisconsin)

1.      Fugitive Slave Act

2.      Abolish slave trade in D.C.

3.      Cali in as Free State

4.      Popular Sovereignty in new territories

5.      Resolved boundary dispute btw. Texas

and New Mexico

III. The Trouble Escalates:

A. Transcontinental Railroad

--Stephen Douglas

            B. Kansas-Nebraska Act

C. “Bleeding Kansas” (1854-1858)

                                    --New England Emigrant Aid Company

                                    --“Beecher’s Bibles”

                                    --John Brown

                                    --Pottawatomie Creek (May 24, 1856)

D. The Caning of Sumner (1856)

IV. Party Politics

            A. Decline of the Whigs

            B. Rise and Fall of the "Know-Nothings"

            C. Rise of the Republicans

                        --The Election of 1856--

            Buchanan(Dem.) vs. Fremont(Rep.) in North

Buchanan vs. Fillmore in South

                                                                        (American/Know-Nothing/Whig)

V. On the Verge of War:

            A. Dred Scott

An Excerpt from Booker T. Washington’s Up From Slavery.

Washington recounts a conversation with an elderly black man who said he had been born in Virginia and sold into Alabama in 1845. I asked him how many were sold at the same time. He said, “There were five of us: myself and brother and three mules.”

B. Panic of 1857

C. Lincoln-Douglas Debate for Senate

                        (Rep.)                          (Dem.)

August 21, 1858 (first debate)

I would never consent to confer the right of voting and of citizenship upon a negro.

 I believe that this new doctrine preached by Mr. Lincoln and his party will dissolve the Union if it succeeds. They are trying to array all the Northern States in one body against the South, to excite a sectional war between the Free States and the Slave States, in order that the one or the other may be driven to the wall. (Douglas)

I will say here, while upon this subject, that I have no purpose directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. I have no purpose to introduce political and social equality between the white and the black races.

There is a physical difference between the two, which in my judgment will probably forever forbid their living together upon the footing of perfect equality, and inasmuch as it becomes a necessity that there must be a difference, I, as well as Judge Douglas, am in favor of the race to which I belong, having the superior position. I have never said anything to the contrary, but I hold that notwithstanding all this, there is no reason in the world why the negro is not entitled to all the natural rights enumerated in the Declaration of Independence, the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

A house divided against itself cannot stand…I believe that this country cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. (Lincoln)

            D. John Brown's Raid

            E. The Election of Lincoln

                        Lincoln (Rep.)

                        Douglas (Dem.)   {border and North}

                        Breckinridge (Dem.)  {South}

            

Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address: March 4, 1861

In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to "preserve, protect, and defend it."

I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

Fort Sumter, the first official “battle” of the Civil War, would occur a month later  (April 12, 1861)

FINAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE

FINAL EXAM DATE: FINAL EXAM: Tuesday, Nov. 22, 11-1:30pm
FINAL EXAM FORMAT:

HISTORY 231 FINAL EXAM FORMAT:

I.                 Multiple Choice: 15 of 17 (30%)

These will be taken from the information since the midterm.

II.           Essay (70%) You will have two essay questions. The two questions will come from the following areas. You will write on one of the two questions:

  1.    Sectionalism: from the foundation of the nation to the Civil War.
2. War and History: the French and Indian War, the Revolution, the War of 1812, the War with Mexico, and the Civil War. (causes and outcomes)
3. Course Readings: Consider the key themes from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Common Sense and Celia, A Slave. Link each of these to its time….Benjamin… to the mid-century challenges, Common Sense to the discussion of the Revolution, and Celia… to slavery and sectionalism.

FOR ALL OF THESE ESSAYS, REMEMBER, PLAN TO WRITE FOR AT LEAST AN HOUR. THIS IS A COMPLETE AND THOROUGH ESSAY AND SHOULD HAVE NUMEROUS REFERENCES TO SPECIFIC DETAIL.
TO STUDY, MAKE OUTLINES FOR EACH THEME, ADDING TONS OF INFORMATION.

War with Mexico and Its Sectional Outcomes

War with Mexico

Causes of War

      Economic Expansion:

      Playing Politics:

            British Interests in Texas

            Slave State Power Grab

      Ideas:

            Manifest Destiny

                  John L. O’Sullivan

Two Wars:

      California

      Mexico

Outcome:

A. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848)

1. Mexican cession of 525,000 square miles

2. U.S. pays $15 million

3. U.S. assumes $3.25 million in debt to Mexico

B. Gadsen Purchase: $10 million

C. Trouble: (imbalance)

COMPROMISE OF 1850

     1845: 15-13   (Texas and Florida)

     1846: 15-14 (Iowa)

     1848: 15-15 (Wisconsin)

1.                       Fugitive Slave Act

2.                       Popular Sovereignty in new territories

3.                       Cali in as Free State

4.                       resolved boundary dispute btw. Texas

and New Mexico

5.                       abolish slave trade in D.C.

Two Articles from Treaty of G-H

ARTICLE VIII

Mexicans now established in territories previously belonging to Mexico, and which remain for the future within the limits of the United States, as defined by the present treaty, shall be free to continue where they now reside, or to remove at any time to the Mexican Republic, retaining the property which they possess in the said territories, or disposing thereof, and removing the proceeds wherever they please, without their being subjected, on this account, to any contribution, tax, or charge whatever.

Those who shall prefer to remain in the said territories may either retain the title and rights of Mexican citizens, or acquire those of citizens of the United States. But they shall be under the obligation to make their election within one year from the date of the exchange of ratifications of this treaty; and those who shall remain in the said territories after the expiration of that year, without having declared their intention to retain the character of Mexicans, shall be considered to have elected to become citizens of the United States.

In the said territories, property of every kind, now belonging to Mexicans not established there, shall be inviolably respected. The present owners, the heirs of these, and all Mexicans who may hereafter acquire said property by contract, shall enjoy with respect to it guarantees equally ample as if the same belonged to citizens of the United States.

ARTICLE IX

The Mexicans who, in the territories aforesaid, shall not preserve the character of citizens of the Mexican Republic, conformably with what is stipulated in the preceding article, shall be incorporated into the Union of the United States. and be admitted at the proper time (to be judged of by the Congress of the United States) to the enjoyment of all the rights of citizens of the United States, according to the principles of the Constitution; and in the mean time, shall be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of their liberty and property, and secured in the free exercise of their religion without; restriction.

HOMEWORK DUE ON THURSDAY, 11/10

By Thursday, you must submit an electronic copy of your paper to Turnitin.com.
You do not need to print anything out; just submit the paper.

To enroll, go to turnitin.com.
If you have an account, sign in and go from there.
If you do not have an account, click on "create an account."
Follow the instructions.

Here is the info that you will need in either case:
CLASS ID: 4535832
Password: (I'll tell you in class)

By Thursday, submit your paper.
If you have trouble, just come by my office anytime by or on Thursday with an electronic version of your paper, and we can submit your paper together.

SLAVERY ESSAY: now due 11/8

3-4 pages...double spaced...typed...any citation format.

The basic idea for the essay is that it is about slavery in the antebellum (pre-Civil War)period. To be more specific, you will be writing about some specific theme, taken from Celia or other readings on American slavery such as the WPA Narratives. You should think about this as an opinion and argument piece more than an essay that traces a bunch of facts.

YOU MAY CHOOSE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING OR THINK ABOUT MAKING YOUR OWN TOPIC BASED ON SOMETHING THAT INTERESTS YOU:

1. What was the significance of gender on the slave plantation?

2. Considering Celia, A Slave, and at least two of the Slave Narratives from the American Memory Project what role did violence play in maintaining order on the plantation?
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/snhome.html

3. Compare and contrast Sally Hemmings and Celia.
Here are some good sources on Hemmings:
http://www.monticello.org/plantation/lives/sallyhemings.html#
http://www.monticello.org/plantation/hemingscontro/hemings-jefferson_contro.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jefferson/

4. Compare and contrast the experience of Celia with someone who lived or died during the HOlocaust. What was the hsitorical nature of these two systems of evil?

5. What was the meaning of music on in the antebellum slave community?
http://www.pbs.org/jazz/time/time_slavery.htm
http://americanabolitionist.liberalarts.iupui.edu/plantation_life.htm

6. According to Frederick Douglass and other sources, what was more important in maintaining the discipline of the plantation, physical or psychological control?

IN CLASS WORK ON CELIA

Describe the area of Calloway County, Missouri. What was the land like? What were the people like? Describe the economic and social life.

What is Newsom’s position in that social and economic structure?

          How much land does he own?

          How many slaves does he own?

(he “had invested in human chattel”)

Describe Celia’s introduction to life as a slave of Robert Newsom.

George said “he would have nothing more to do with her [Celia] if she did not quit the old man.”

Why does he say this?

Who is George?

                             Why does he assume Celia has

a choice?

How does Celia kill Newsom?

Throughout the book, when does Celia express agency, the ability to make decisions and exert some measure of power on her own and over her own body and mind?

Describe the reaction of the press, the courts, and of the Newsom family to the killing.

Interpret the quote on page 107, toward the beginning of Chapter Six:

“At this point the defense’s arguments began to threaten the very foundations of the institution of slavery. Celia, the defense insisted, even though a slave, was entitled by law to use deadly force to protect her honor.”

Interpret the quote on page 119:

“Another generally held expectation within the society was that the slaveholder be responsible for and behave morally toward his human property.”

IN CLASS WORK ON CELIA

Describe the area of Calloway County, Missouri. What was the land like? What were the people like? Describe the economic and social life.

What is Newsom’s position in that social and economic structure?

     How much land does he own?

     How many slaves does he own?

(he “had invested in human chattel”)

Describe Celia’s introduction to life as a slave of Robert Newsom.

George said “he would have nothing more to do with her [Celia] if she did not quit the old man.”

Why does he say this?

Who is George?

                Why does he assume Celia has

a choice?

How does Celia kill Newsom?

Throughout the book, when does Celia express agency, the ability to make decisions and exert some measure of power on her own and over her own body and mind?

Describe the reaction of the press, the courts, and of the Newsom family to the killing.

Interpret the quote on page 107, toward the beginning of Chapter Six:

“At this point the defense’s arguments began to threaten the very foundations of the institution of slavery. Celia, the defense insisted, even though a slave, was entitled by law to use deadly force to protect her honor.”

Interpret the quote on page 119:

“Another generally held expectation within the society was that the slaveholder be responsible for and behave morally toward his human property.”