Many attempts were made to resolve the major conflict such as, the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 and The Compromise of 1850. While running for the presidential election of 1860, the Republicans and Democrats shared both their sides on slavery in the territories. The Republicans, who were dominantly Northerners, proclaimed no form of government authority could legalize slavery in the United States territories. (Document 1) Meanwhile, the Democrats who were mainly from the South voiced their opinion that all American citizens had the right to own slaves in the territories. Democrats also exclaimed that outlawing slavery in those areas was obstructing the rights of the people. (Document 1) Not only the political parties were split on the issue but the two regions of America were as well. Southerners stated that the Northerners believed they had the jurisdiction to control and prohibit slavery in the territories. This infuriated the Southern region of America and gave them reason to feel threatened that if Lincoln is elected, slavery will be gone. (Document
Some Southerners believed that they needed to secede from the nation because they believed Abraham Lincoln, and his Republican majority were a major threat to the institution of slavery. The new Republican Party showed up in the 1850s and they were against the institution of slavery. When the election of 1860 came about, one of the candidates was Abraham Lincoln who just so happened to be a republican. When he won the election alongside his commanding majorities in both houses of Congress, the Southern states panicked, and got afraid that the federal government would stop the continuation of the practice of slavery. In other words, they were afraid that they were going to abolish slavery in the South, which they believed was going to be a problem
Douglas running president. Douglas wanted each state to decide on the issue of slavery for themselves. The Democrats in the South Disagreed with this idea so they the current vice president John C Breckinridge running for president. Lincoln was the candidate for the Republicans. Unlike commonly thought. Lincoln did not campaign on abolishing slavery, instead he campaigned on only keeping slavery from growing and spreading. Lastly, a fourth candidate, John Bell, was running for the Constitutional Union party. “The whole purpose of this was that they wanted to preserve the Constitution and preserve the Union.” (Norris) I should be noted that many states in the South threatened to leave the
In the 1800s, there was problems in the United States that could have changed the way our country is today. There was a time where the United States was separated into two different parts. The country was divided into two different parts because the Southern states started to secede from the Union. The country was divided into the North and the South, and there were many reasons that led to the Southern states seceding from the Union. The north and the south had different opinions on things, and they went about things in different ways. For example, the Southern states were slave states and believed in slavery while the Northern states were against slavery and were non-slave states. African Americans were considered free in the North, but in
The election of 1860 was a pivotal year in our history. Seven southern states seceded from the Union immediately after the election of Abraham Lincoln.
It was a problem that has spread so far that everybody had an opinion. First, the Gag Rule was issued, which stated that a house could not consider any antislavery petitions. “Petitions, memorials, resolutions, propositions, or papers relating in any way or to any extent whatsoever, to the subject of slavery or the abolition of slavery, shall without being either printed or referred, be laid on the table and that no further action whatever shall be had thereon”(Document C). This left little to no room for the government's involvement in the issue of slavery. However, the government never really had a say on the issue. The ideas that were presented in politics resided in the minds of the people. In every avenue of society, Abraham Lincoln questioned the motivation of people's actions. “In politics, in religion, and literature, and morals, and all manifold relations in life... Is this the work of politicians?”(Document G)” He claims that it is the “ same mighty, deep-seated power that somehow operates on the minds of men, exciting and stirring them up”(Document G). Slavery was an issue for everyone not only the government and when everyone is involved, the issue cannot merely be resolved through politics. It is also shown in Document H the results of the election of 1860. Although Lincoln got the majority of the votes in favor of the North's decision, the South continued to disobey. This just enhanced the fact that
Not long before 1876, slavery had been abolished and the black Americans slow rise to prestige positions in congress began. The south had been flooded with former slaves; now free men, who were presumed to be equal American citizen. Entering the year of 1876, Americans were gearing up for a presidential election that would majorly impact the socioeconomic role in the coming generations of black America. Rutherford Hayes, running as the republican electorate won the candidacy for President. Unfortunately, the positions on president came at the cost of an agreement that is now called the Compromise of 1877.
The election of 1860 was an election to decide between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas as the 16th president. Lincoln was not a fan favorite, but he won the election, due to Electoral College system. Lincoln made his position on slavery very clear. He wanted to end slavery. The people in the south opposed to the idea of abolishing slavery. The southern natives needed slaves for their “plantation based economy.”(P.469)
This election was unique in that there were two elections taking place. The candidates running were Abraham Lincoln, Stephen Douglas, John Breckenridge, and John Bell. Abraham Lincoln was a moderate Republican running against the very same man he lost an Illinois Senate seat against, Democratic Senator Stephen Douglas. These two candidates were running against each other for the ballot in the North. John Breckenridge was the Democratic nominee for the Southern ballot. Tennessee Senator John Bell was the nominee from the Constitutional Union Party, also on the Southern ballot (Week 15 Lecture, page
Lincoln was against slavery, and he “argued against the spread of slavery” (history.org). When he ran for president, the Southerners were afraid that he would attempt to end slavery, and they did not even include him on the ballot. Also, they stated that they would secede from the nation if Lincoln became president. When Lincoln was elected, “...seven states had seceded, and the Confederate States of America had been formally established…” (history.org). Lincoln’s election was the breaking point of tensions between the North and South, and when he was elected the outcome was the secession of the South. One month after the secession, the Civil War was started. President Lincoln’s election tore apart the nation because the South left the Union as a direct result of his election. It was one of the main causes of the Civil War, and also physically split the Nation into two
Have you ever wondered why the United States Presidential Election of 1860 was one of the most monumental presidential elections in the history of this country? The reason why is because it caused so much conflict between in north and the south in the late 1800’s. The south wished for slavery to be legal while the north thought otherwise. In the Election of 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States as he was a Republican candidate and as a result, the south decided to make a dramatic move to make a “step forward” as a unit. The election of Abraham Lincoln caused the north and the south to grow their conflicts and caused the Civil War, but what caused the conflicts?
Northerners recognised the bill as the repeal of the 34 year old Missouri compromises and feared that the bills true intentions was to extend slavery to the entire nation. Congress was able to pass the Kansas Nebraska act but resulted in a severe division between the nation with 91% of the opposition coming from northerners, not only did it make the division bigger between the north and south but also caused the house of representatives to fight due to their different view points. Soon enough the issues revolving around the act and slavery divided the Whigs and democrats, with congressman from both parties acting for and against the act. An Illinoi Whig named Abraham Lincoln spoke out about how monstrous slavey was in an 1854 speech. By this time the Whigs ceased to exist due to them being split between their northern and southern factions. Soon after the republicans party was founded from the anti-slavery element from both the Whigs and democrats. The majority of the party was made up of northern Whigs and democrats; Abraham Lincoln was a key figure in the support of the republicans helping them find new members. The Kansas Nebraska act participated greatly in the lead up to war as it created disputes between parties as well as the ending of the Whigs, before the act Whigs and democrats united around various issues to come up with and outcome but the act forced the
During the mid-nineteenth century, the controversy over the morality of slavery and the rights of African Americans overshadowed America’s efforts of building a united nation. In fact, this controversy tore America apart. Abraham Lincoln was not only one of the leading anti-slavery advocates, but he also eventually became president during this tumultuous era. Many events occurred prior to the start of the Civil War that shaped Lincoln’s thinking and his approach to abolishing slavery. These events include the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, the Dred Scott decision of 1857, and Lincoln’s senate race against Stephen A. Douglas. These events shaped Lincoln’s thoughts by leading him to alter his pre-existing views on slavery and black freedom;
Abraham Lincoln ran for the presidency with the Republican party, against three other candidates, which caused Lincoln’s opposition to be divided three ways. Because of this, Lincoln won the election, but this victory sparked much more conflict between the slave states and free states. This reveals the underlying bitterness between the Southerners and Northerners. The South felt like they were losing power since all of Abraham Lincoln’s votes were cast in the North, yet he won the presidency. Lincoln said he would not interfere with slavery in the South, but didn’t want slavery extending into federal territories, saying, “Let there be no compromise.” One can see from this exchange that there was discrepancy over how the Northern and Southern states saw the outcome of the same event. As a result, on December 20, 1860, delegates from South Carolina decided to secede from the Union, and many other slave states such as Georgia, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas also seceded to form the Confederate States of America. Abraham Lincoln opposed the idea that states could leave the Union because they were not satisfied with the government’s position on slavery. This shows that the Union had finally been broken. It demonstrates the controversy the controversy between the Union and newly formed Confederate States of America, and that neither sides wasere willing to
This really introduced the idea of popular sovereignty. This left California as a free state, but let New Mexico and Utah to have slavery decided by popular sovereignty. Washington DC had eliminated slave trade. This also caused an uprising of people that felt slavery should not be banned.