Chapter 3 Part 2- American Party problems...

Question 1

Which party was the main anti-Democratic party in the North and South in 1855?

Answer 1

The Know Nothings, (The American Party)

Question 2

What factors led to the decline of the American Party?

Answer 2

• They lost northern support because they dropped their anti Kansas-Nebraska position.
• Decline of nativism in the mid 1850s as there was a decline of immigration
• Failure of Know-nothing dominated legislatures
• The secretive side of the movement was hated
• Attracted ‘old guard politicians’ who the Know Nothings were set up to purge

Question 3

Who became Speaker of the House in 1855?

Answer 3

Nathaniel Banks, an ex-Know Nothing but now a Republican

Question 4

What differing characters attended the Republican national convention of 1856?

Answer 4

Abolitionists, ex-Whigs, ex- Democrats and ex- Know Nothings.

Question 5

How would you describe the Republican platform?

Answer 5

Against the Democrat party and almost all were united in opposition to Slave Power, which was seen as conspiring against northern interests. Although Republicans had different views about the nature of the conspiracy, the idea of Slave Power conspiracy was a Republican article of faith. Many were against slavery expansion but not all supported immediate abolition.

Question 6

Describe the events of Bleeding Sumner

Answer 6

Following a speech in which Senator Sumner attacked southern Senator Butler, Congressman Preston Brooks entered the Senate, found Sumner at his desk and beat him with his cane. This outraged northerners and they saw the event as a clear evidence of Slave Power at work. Sumner became a northern martyr while Brooks became a southern hero. Brooks won easily for re-election.

Question 7

What issue split the American party in 1856?

Answer 7

The call to repeal the Kansas-Nebraska Act was defeated and caused many northerners to leave the convention.

Question 8

Who did the American party select as their presidential candidate and why was he divisive?

Answer 8

Ex-president, Fillmore. Fillmore was more an old fashioned Whig than a Know Nothing and was known to have pro-southern sympathies and thus had limited appeal in the North.

Question 9

Who did the Republicans decide as their candidate in 1856? What was his background?

Answer 9

John C. Fremont. He was born in the South and was a western explorer. He was a young ex-Know Nothing and ex-Democrat. He was rash and egotistical but his career as an explorer made him popular with voters.

Question 10

What was the Republican platform?

Answer 10

Declared that Congress had must stand against slavery and polygamy, (referencing Mormon practices). Also supported the notion of a northern Pacific railroad.

Question 11

Why was Douglas not selected on the Democratic ticket in 1856? Who was chosen and why?

Answer 11

He was tarnished by the his Kansas-Nebraska bill. The Democrats nominated James Buchanan instead. He had spent four decades in public service. He was a northerner and sympathised with the South. Given that his native state of Pennsylvania was a battleground state, he was the Democrats’ strongest candidate.

Question 12

Who was the contest essentially between?

Answer 12

In the North, it was between Buchanan and Fremont. In the South, it was between Buchanan and Fillmore.

Question 13

How did the Democrats attack the Republicans?

Answer 13

They called them rabid abolitionists who aimed to elevate blacks to equality with whites.

Question 14

What were the results of the 1856 election?

Answer 14

Buchanan won. He won Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Indiana, Illinois, California and all but one southern state.

Question 15

Why was it a ‘good’ election for the Republicans?

Answer 15

• Their party had trounced the American part: the election indicated that northerners perceived Slave Power to be a greater threat than the Catholic church.
• Their party came close to capturing presidency.

Question 16

What signs were there at the start that Buchanan would be a good president?

Answer 16

• If the problems of Kansas would be solved, then sectional tension was likely to ease.
• He had served both in the House and the Senate, in the Cabinet and as US minister in Russia and Britain. His position seemed strong.
• Both Houses of Congress and the Supreme Court were dominated by Democrats.

Question 17

Why did Buchanan quickly erode any goodwill?

Answer 17

Many northerners feared Buchanan was a tool for Slave Power as his actions particularly in the Dred Scott Case and Kansas confirmed this. Buchanan had chosen a southern cabinet

Question 18

What were the supposed results of Buchanan’s actions in 1857?

Answer 18

They were decisive in preventing a peaceful resolution to sectional strife.

Question 19

What did the Dredd Scott decision decide?

Answer 19

• Scott could not sue for his freedom as Black Americans did not have the same rights as whites.
• Scott’s stay in Illinois did not make him free.
• Scott’s stay in Wisconsinmade no difference. The 1820 Missouri Compromise ban on slavery in territories north of the 36 30 was illegal. US citizens had the right to take their ‘property’ into territories.

Question 20

Why did this decision outrage the North and raise suspicions about Buchanan?

Answer 20

It was more proof that Buchanan and the Supreme court and Democrat Party were involved in a Slave Power Conspiracy. Republicans claimed that Buchanan knew of the result of the election on inauguration day when he asked Americans to accept it. Many northerners saw the judgement as an attempt to undermine the Republican party and the concept of popular sovereignty.

Question 21

What two governments were there in Kansas and what leanings did they have with regards slavery?

Answer 21

The official pro-slave government at Lecompton and the unofficial free state at Topeka.

Question 22

Who was in the majority in Kansas? What did Buchanan need to do?

Answer 22

The free-staters were in majority in Kansas. Given his declared commitment to popular sovereignty, Buchanan had to ensure that the will of the majority prevailed as this would deprive Republicans of one of their most effective issues.

Question 23

Why did Geary resign in March 1857? Who replaced them?

Answer 23

He was against Buchanan supporting the pro-slavers. Buchanan appointed Robert Walker, an experienced southern politician.

Question 24

What did Walker decide should happen in Kansas?

Answer 24

Realizing that most settlers opposed slavery in Kansas, he decided that his aim should be to bring Kansas into the union as a free, Democrat-voting state.

Question 25

Why was the election for the convention of 1857 controversial?

Answer 25

Free staters refused to vote as they believed the election, (organised by pro-slavers), would be rigged. Thus, only 2200 of the registered 9000 people entitled to vote did so and the pro-slavers won all the convention seats. Pro-slaver success raised the expectation of southerners, who realised that the creation of a new slave state was now a distinct possibility. Walker managed to convince the free-staters that they should participate in the electoral process. When the pro-slavers declared victory, Walker investigated charges of fraudulence and these charges were soon confirmed. Walker overturned enough results to give the free-staters a majority in the legislature.

Question 26

What did the Lecompton constitution referendum offer?

Answer 26

- They could accept the pro-slavery constitution as it was - They could accept another constitution which banned the future importation of slaves but guaranteed the rights of slaveholders already Kansas.

Question 27

What rallying call did Southern newspapers gather around?

Answer 27

'Lecompton or disunion'

Question 28

How did Buchanan and Walker react to events?

Answer 28

Buchanan, determined to maintain his southern support and possibly genuinely believing that anti-slavery forces were to blame for all the troubles in Kansas decided to reject Walker's advice. Walker, in consequence, resigned in December.

Question 29

Why were Buchanan’s actions seen as being disastrous?

Answer 29

By the end of 1857 everyone knew that most people in Kansas were opposed to slavery. Even some southerners were embarrassed by the fraud perpetrated by the pro-slavers. Buchanan, by accepting the Lecompton constitution, gave Republicans massive political ammunition and thus lost lots of southern support. Northern Democrats were also enraged by his actions. Douglas attacked both Buchanan and the Lecompton constitution. Southern Democrats saw Douglas as a traitor and now the Democratic party was split between the North and the South.

Question 30

Was the constitution passed? Why?

Answer 30

No because Buchanan had enough northern Democrat opposition. The new vote, conducted as fairly as possible in August 1858, resulted in a free-state victory. Kansas now set about drawing up a free-state constitution. It finally joined the Union in January 1861 as a free state.

Question 31

How did the panic of 1857 help Republicans?

Answer 31

Buchanan did nothing to help the panic while Republican economic proposals were blocked by Democrats in Congress. Thus the Democrats and Buchanan were blamed for their indifference.

Question 32

Who was the 1858 Republican candidate for the Illinois senate?

Answer 32

Abraham Lincoln.

Question 33

What was Lincoln’s political background?

Answer 33

Able and ambitious, he won the first of four terms as an Illinois state legislator in 1834. A loyal Whig, he was elected to the House of Representatives in 1846, where he spoke in opposition to the Mexican war. Defeated in 1848, he returned to Illinois, resumed his successful law practice and for a few years took less interest in politics.

Question 34

What were the topics of the Lincoln-Douglas debates?

Answer 34

Anti-slavery and anti- Slave Power.

Question 35

What political similarities did Lincoln and Douglas have?

Answer 35

Both were moderates and were fighting for the middle ground. Both considered blacks to be inferior to whites and neither man doubted that popular sovereignty would keep slavery out of territories.

Question 36

What political differences did they have?

Answer 36

Douglas never said publicly that slavery was morally wrong. Lincoln may have not believed in racial equality but he did believe that blacks and whites shared a common humanity. He believed the ultimate extinction of slavery should be the goal and that it would eventually die out if it didn't expand.

Question 37

Who won the election? How did both candidates emerge?

Answer 37

Douglas's supporters kept control of the Illinois legislature and it was the legislature which appointed the state's senators. Thus Douglas was re-elected as senator. Although Lincoln had lost, he emerged from the Illinois election as a Republican spokesman of national stature.

Question 38

What were the events of John Brown’s raid?

Answer 38

On the night of 16 October 1859, Brown and eighteen men left their base in Maryland and rode to the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry. Brown's aim was to seize weapons, retreat to the Appalachians and spark a slave revolt. Brown captured the arsenal with remarkable ease. A few slaves were induced or compelled to join Brown and a number of hostages were taken.Virginia and Maryland state militia units and detachment of troops, led by Colonel Robert E Lee, quickly converged on the town. A 36 hour siege followed, with Brown threatening to kill the hostages and Lee attempting to persuade Brown to give himself up. On 18 October, Lee order the fire engine house to be stormed. Brown was wounded and captured along with six of his men. Ten of his 'army' were killed. Seven other people also died.

Question 39

What were the results of the raid?

Answer 39

Brown was tried for treason. Refusing to plea for insanity, he determined to die a martyr's death, by doing so helping the anti-slavery rather more than his raid had done. It raised sectional tensions to new heights. Some northerners did see Brown as a hero while northern democrats condemned him, as did the Republicans. Southerners still saw Republicans and abolitionists as the same and were not reassured.

Question 40

What occurred over the winter of 1859-60?

Answer 40

There were rumours of slave insurrection in many southern states. Local vigilante committees were set up and slave patrols strengthened. Dozens of slaves, suspected of planning revolt, arson or mass poisoning, were rounded up and some were lynched. Southern state governments purchased additional weapons and southern militia units drilled more than before. Buchanan failed as president.