Initial hostility between the two governments in Kansas escalated into full-scale violence and Kansas was referred to as ?bleeding Kansas?.
John brown, a northern abolitionist further worsened the situation when he led a band of armed men and killed 5 proslavery inhabitants of Kansas in 1856. In 1859, he captured an arsenal in Virginia and hoped to lead an attack to free the slaves in the south. Though he was caught and executed, he was martyred by the north and vilified by the south further deepening the rift between the two sections.
In 1856, senator Charles Sumner who was a radical anti slavery proponent was talking of violence in Kansas, accused senator butler of South Carolina. Butler?s nephew, Preston brooks beat Sumner unconscious later. This act of violence shows the deep feeling of the two sides.
The north, infuriated by the passing of the Kansas-Nebraska bill and the fugitive slave bill passed many personal liberty laws, which made the capture of fugitive slaves very difficult. ?Uncle Tom?s Cabin? was a book written by Harriet Beecher Stowe and first published in 1852. It greatly increased the resurgence of anti-slavery feeling, with its emotional force and dramatic effectiveness. It was an extremely influential book and fuelled the abolitionists? fervor and broadened their public support.
The formation of the Republican Party by the combination of Whigs and democrats and the free soilers all of whom were anti slavery occured during this time. Their support base was from the western farmers and eastern businessmen. Charles Sumner and William Seward were the main leaders of the party.
In the election of 1856, the democrats nominated James Buchanan who supported popular sovereignty, the republicans nominated john Fremont and the Whigs nominated Fillmore. Though Buchanan won the election, the success of the republican candidate in the north showed that without the northern democrats, the republicans were poised to defeat the democrats in 1860.
The Buchanan showed a decided southern bias in its work especially when the tariffs were lowered in 1857, the veto of the Homestead Act and pro-southern policies. Buchanan?s ineffectiveness in administration was further aggravated by the Dredscott’s decision of the Supreme Court.
Dredscott was a slave who belonged to an army surgeon who was from Missouri, a slave state. He was taken by his master to the free states of Illinois and Wisconsin and then brought back to Missouri. Later he sued that since he had resided in areas where slavery was prohibited by law he was a free man. His case was picked up by abolitionists who helped him. Six judges of the Supreme Court agreed that since he was living in Missouri, he was a slave. Chief justice Taney further went on to say that since Dredscott was not a citizen of the country he did not have the right to bring the case to court. He also said that the congress could not abolish slavery from any sates since that interfered with the right of private property of a citizen, thus making the Missouri compromise unconstitutional and making slavery legal all over the country.
A convention was held in Kansas by the proslavery faction, which drafted a constitution legalizing slavery. Buchanan supported this constitution called the Lecompton constitution. The new governor of Kansas, Walker established free and fair election, which resulted in the freesoilers gaining control of the government, but Buchanan dismissed walker.
Now the Democratic Party split with the northern wings led by Douglas and the southern wing still loyal to the administration.
In the reelection for Douglas for the senate ship he was opposed by Lincoln. There were a series of debates and though Douglas was reelected, Lincoln became a national figure. In the presidential election of 1860, he was elected and his election precipitated the secession of the southern states.
On 20 december1861, South Carolina unanimously voted for secession from the union. Less than a month later, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas joined South Carolina in secession, though minority groups opposed it. The confederacy was formed with Jefferson Davis as the president. The union, under president Buchanan offered a compromise to reverse their secession. When this failed and Lincoln took over on 6 March, 1861he had to deal with this problem. Lincoln sent reinforcements to fort Sumter in South Carolina. When South Carolina attacked this force, war was declared in April 1861.
Four of the remaining slave states joined the confederacy- Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Arkansas. The western counties refused to go into war and formation of a new state of West Virginia occurred in 1863.
Civil war
In 1861, the United States was plunged into a four-year struggle, which proved to be the greatest civil war in history and the first modern war in which victory was decided by industrial strength. The north eventually won the war because she blockaded the confederate ports and imposed economic strangulation. The confederate army was led by general lee while the union had many able generals like grant, mc Dowell etc.
Effects Of The Civil war
The American civil war proved to be the greatest civil war waged in history. It was the war fought between the northern and southern states of the American union. The sectional conflict caused by different reasons resulted in people on both sides getting antagonized with each other. The war raged all over the country, from Volved, New Mexico to St. Alban, Vermont. More than 3 million Americans fought the war and more than 600,000 men died in it. Also it was the first modern war in which victory depended primarily on industrial strength. There was also the newness of the war where plenty of new weapons, new strategies of destruction, new standards of generalship combined with the birth of photography which permanently could remind the people with all that had been photographed. Around 50,00 books have been written on this event. Although Walt Whitman said that the real war will never get in a book, but this did not deter the people from writing.
No one could have predicted the magnitude it brought America following the first shot at fort Sumter in South Carolina by the southern states (called the confederacy) on 12th April 1861. The war turned out to be the most defining and shaping event in American history so much so that we cannot imagine American history without it. In the 50000 books written, there are countless diaries, regimented history, biographies, social analyses, pictorial essays and other works that have treated the subject of the civil war in different ways. This was an event that had such great effects on the country that it conditioned the entire culture of America. It became a focus of myth and the anchor of meaning for the whole society; such was the power of its fascination.
10 billion dollars of property was laid waste in the south while two-fifths of its livestock was destroyed. The south was completely devastated after 4 years of war.
No other single event in the history of America has brought such momentous changes in all spheres of life. Never again was there a problem of secession. The defeat of the south settled forever the question of secession, giving triumph to nationalism over sectionalism.
The emergence of the Negro as a free citizen, created a new dimension in the political and social life of the nation, making vast changes in the arrangement of classes and in the course of industrial development. This is probably why Bearde called it a second American revolution.
The war destroyed the planting aristocracy leading to the triumph of capitalist and free laborers. Also it augmented the power of the federal government at the cost of the rights of the state. It pushed forward the power of the constitution.
Thomas Cochran also pointed out that though there was clear symptom of rising industrialization before 1860, it was during and after the war that the real course of industrialization took place. And the structure of American business began to assume a shape, which became familiar in the later years. This view is supported by Faulkner and Hacker.
The most dramatic effect of the civil war was on the south. It was vanquished, demoralised and had to orient itself to a new economic and social system because the war had destroyed its old basic structure. So remarkable was the impact of the war that the post-bellum south has also been called the new south. Historians differ according to their pro-south and anti-south treatment. For example Thomson, who was pro-south, found that the southern leaders after reconstruction were honest and dedicated men but lacked the qualities of vision. This has been challenged by C. Van Woodward. He suggests the southerners were not honest and characterized their leaders as redeemers, who advocated industrialization and reconciliation with the north and adopted by and large a more liberal attitude towards the Negroes.
Amongst the social classes the Negroes were the most profoundly affected by the civil war. Apthekar?s viewpoint is useful in understanding the condition of the Negro in the civil war. Dr. potter says that the civil war put an end to ?chattel slavery?. It was the biggest act of confiscation in history. The civil war freed the American chattel slaves and now there was an overwhelming shortage of labor. Immigration was encouraged after 1864. The southern economy fell into disarray. The confederate money and lands were valueless and its holders impoverished. The plantations were ruined and cotton production had declined and whatever manufacturing that existed was destroyed. There were wounded war veterans and broken families. In many places, the civil government had disintegrated. The war also saw the triumph of northern capitalism. However the efforts of assessment of the effects of the civil war are still continuing.
AKSHARA PRADHAN