A Short History of the United States for School Use Part 41

[Sidenote: Fugitive Slave Act of 1793.]

[Sidenote: Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. _McMaster_, 341-343.]

[Sidenote: Results of pa.s.sage of this act. _Higginson_, 281; _Source-Book_, 282-284.]

[Sidenote: The "Underground Railway." _Source-Book_, 260-263.]

347. The Fugitive Slave Act.--The Const.i.tution provides that persons held to service in one state escaping into another state shall be delivered up upon claim of the person to whom such service may be due. Congress, in 1793, had pa.s.sed an act to carry out this provision of the Const.i.tution. But this law had seldom been enforced, because its enforcement had been left to the states, and public opinion in the North was opposed to the return of fugitive slaves. The law of 1850 gave the enforcement of the act to United States officials. The agents of slave owners claimed many persons as fugitives. But few were returned to the South. The important result of these attempts to enforce the law was to strengthen Northern public opinion against slavery. It led to redoubled efforts to help runaway slaves through the Northern states to Canada. A regular system was established. This was called the "Underground Railway." In short, instead of bringing about "a union of hearts," the Compromise of 1850 increased the ill feeling between the people of the two sections of the country.

[Sidenote: "Uncle Tom's Cabin."]

[Sidenote: Effects of this book.]

348. "Uncle Tom's Cabin."--It was at this time that Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote "Uncle Tom's Cabin." In this story she set forth the pleasant side of slavery--the light-heartedness and kind-heartedness of the negroes. In it she also set forth the unpleasant side of slavery--the whipping of human beings, the selling of human beings, the hunting of human beings. Of course, there never was such a slave as Uncle Tom. The story is simply a wonderful picture of slavery as it appeared to a brilliant woman of the North. Hundreds of thousands of copies of this book were sold in the South as well as in the North.

Plays founded on the book were acted on the stage. Southern people when reading "Uncle Tom" thought little of the unpleasant things in it: they liked the pleasant things in it. Northern people laughed at the pretty pictures of plantation life: they were moved to tears by the tales of cruelty. "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and the Fugitive Slave Law convinced the people of the North that bounds must be set to the extension of slavery.

CHAPTER 34

THE STRUGGLE FOR KANSAS

[Sidenote: Campaign of 1852.]

[Sidenote: Pierce elected President.]

349. Pierce elected President, 1852.--It was now Campaign time for a new election. The Whigs had been successful with two old soldiers, so they thought they would try again with another soldier and nominated General Winfield Scott, the conqueror of Mexico. The Democrats also nominated a soldier, Franklin Pierce of New Hamps.h.i.+re, who had been in northern Mexico with Taylor. The Democrats and Whigs both said that they would stand by the Compromise of 1850. But many voters thought that there would be less danger of excitement with a Democrat in the White House and voted for Pierce for that reason. They soon found that they were terribly mistaken in their belief.

[Sidenote: The Nebraska bill, 1854. _Source-Book, 284-287._]

[Sidenote: Douglas a.s.serts Compromise of 1820 to be repealed.]

350. Douglas's Nebraska Bill.--President Pierce began his term of office quietly enough. But in 1854 Senator Douglas of Illinois brought in a bill to organize the Territory of Nebraska. It will be remembered that in 1820 Missouri had been admitted to the Union as a slave state.

In 1848 Iowa had been admitted as a free state. North of Iowa was the free Territory of Minnesota. Westward from Missouri, Iowa, and Minnesota was an immense region without any government of any kind. It all lay north of the compromise line of 1820 (p. 222), and had been forever devoted to freedom by that compromise. But Douglas said that the Compromise of 1820 had been repealed by the Compromise of 1850. So he proposed that the settlers of Nebraska should say whether that territory should be free soil or slave soil, precisely as if the Compromise of 1820 had never been pa.s.sed. Instantly there was a tremendous uproar.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FRANKLIN PIERCE.]

[Sidenote: The Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854.]

[Sidenote: Antislavery senators attack the bill.]

[Sidenote: The Independent Democrats.]

351. The Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854.--Douglas now changed his bill so as to provide for the formation of two territories. One of these he named Kansas. It had nearly the same boundaries as the present state of Kansas, except that it extended westward to the Rocky Mountains. The other territory was named Nebraska. It included all the land north of Kansas and between the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains. The antislavery leaders in the North attacked the bill with great fury.

Chase of Ohio said that it was a violation of faith. Sumner of Ma.s.sachusetts rejoiced in the fight, for he said men must now take sides for freedom or for slavery. Some, independent Democrats published "An Appeal." They asked their fellow-citizens to take their maps and see what an immense region Douglas had proposed to open to slavery. They denied that the Missouri Compromise had been repealed. Nevertheless, the bill pa.s.sed Congress and was signed by President Pierce.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Territory opened to slavery.]

[Sidenote: Abraham Lincoln, _Hero Tales_, 325-335.]

[Sidenote: Aroused by the Kansas-Nebraska Act.]

352. Abraham Lincoln.--Born in Kentucky, Abraham Lincoln went with his parents to Indiana and then to Illinois. As a boy he was very poor and had to work hard. But he lost no opportunity to read and to study.

At the plow or in the long evenings at home by the firelight he was ever thinking and studying. Growing to manhood he became a lawyer and served one term in Congress. The pa.s.sage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act aroused his indignation as nothing had ever aroused it before. He denied that any man had the right to govern another man, be he white or be he black, without that man's consent. He thought that blood would surely be shed before the slavery question would be settled in Kansas, and the first shedding of blood would be the beginning of the end of the Union.

[Sidenote: Seward's challenge to the Southerners. _McMaster_, 347-351.]

[Sidenote: The Sons of the South.]

[Sidenote: Fraudulent election. _Source-Book_, 287-289.]

353. Settlement of Kansas.--In the debate on the Kansas-Nebraska bill Senator Seward of New York said to the Southerners: "Come on, then.... We will engage in compet.i.tion for the soil of Kansas, and G.o.d give the victory to the side that is strong in numbers as it is in right." Seward spoke truly. The victory came to those opposed to the extension of slavery. But it was a long time in coming. As soon as the act was pa.s.sed, armed "Sons of the South" crossed the frontier of Missouri and founded the town of Atchison. Then came large bands of armed settlers from the North and the East. They founded the towns of Lawrence and Topeka. An election was held. Hundreds of men poured over the boundary of Missouri, outvoted the free-soil settlers in Kansas, and then went home. The territorial legislature, chosen in this way, adopted the laws of Missouri, slave code and all, as the laws of Kansas. It seemed as if Kansas were lost to freedom.

[Sidenote: Free-state const.i.tution.]

[Sidenote: The Senate refuses to admit Kansas.]

354. The Topeka Convention.--The free-state voters now held a convention at Topeka. They drew up a const.i.tution and applied to Congress for admission to the Union as the free state of Kansas. The free-state men and the slave-state men each elected a Delegate to Congress. The House of Representatives now took the matter up and appointed a committee of investigation. The committee reported in favor of the free-state men, and the House voted to admit Kansas as a free state. But the Senate would not consent to anything of the kind. The contest in Kansas went on and became more bitter every month.

[Sidenote: Origin of the Republican party. _McMaster_, 352-355.]

[Sidenote: Anti-Nebraska men.]

355. The Republican Party.--The most important result of the Kansas-Nebraska fight was the formation of the Republican party. It was made up of men from all the other parties who agreed in opposing Douglas's Kansas-Nebraska policy. Slowly they began to think of themselves as a party and to adopt the name of the old party of Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe--Republican.

[Sidenote: Presidential candidates, 1856.]

[Sidenote: Buchanan.]

[Sidenote: Fremont.]

356. Buchanan elected President, 1856.--The Whigs and the Know-Nothings nominated Millard Fillmore for President and said nothing about slavery. The Democrats nominated James Buchanan of Pennsylvania for President and John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky for Vice-President.

They declared their approval of the Kansas-Nebraska Act and favored a strict construction of the Const.i.tution. The Republicans nominated John C. Fremont. They protested against the extension of slavery and declared for a policy of internal improvements at the expense of the nation. The Democrats won; but the Republicans carried all the Northern states save four.

[Sidenote: Dred Scott decision, 1857. _McMaster_, 355-357; _Source-Book_, 290-291]

[Sidenote: Opinions of the judges.]

357. The Dred Scott Decision, 1857.--The Supreme Court of the United States now gave a decision in the Dred Scott case that put an end to all hope of compromise on the slavery question. Dred Scott had been born a slave. The majority of the judges declared that a person once a slave could never become a citizen of the United States and bring suit in the United States courts. They also declared that the Missouri Compromise was unlawful. Slave owners had a clear right to carry their property, including slaves, into the territories, and Congress could not stop them.

[Sidenote: Lincoln's policy.]

[Sidenote: His debates with Douglas. _McMaster_, 388-389; _Source-Book_, 290-294.]

358. The Lincoln and Douglas Debates, 1858.--The question of the reelection of Douglas to the Senate now came before the people of Illinois. Abraham Lincoln stepped forward to contest the election with him. "A house divided against itself cannot stand," said Lincoln. "This government cannot endure half slave and half free.... It will become all one thing or all the other." He challenged Douglas to debate the issues with him before the people, and Douglas accepted the challenge. Seven joint debates were held in the presence of immense crowds. Lincoln forced Douglas to defend the doctrine of "popular sovereignty." This Douglas did by declaring that the legislatures of the territories could make laws hostile to slavery. This idea, of course, was opposed to the Dred Scott decision. Douglas won the election and was returned to the Senate. But Lincoln had made a national reputation.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HARPER'S FERRY.]