A Brief History of the United States

by Joel Dorman Steele

Decision.—The Supreme Court of the United States (1857), through Chief-Justice Taney, declared that slave-owners might take their slaves into any State in the Union without forfeiting authority over them. At the North, this was considered as removing the last barrier to the extension of slavery, and as changing it from a local to a national institution; at the South, only as a right guaranteed them by the Constitution, whereby they should be protected in the possession of their property in every State.

The Fugitive Slave Law had intensified the already heated controversy, and the subject of slavery now absorbed all others. The provision which commanded every good citizen to aid in the arrest of fugitives was especially obnoxious to the North. Disturbances arose whenever attempts were made to restore runaways to their masters. Several of the northern States passed "Personal Liberty" bills, securing to fugitive slaves, when arrested, the right of trial by jury.

John Brown, a man who had brooded over the exciting scenes through which he had passed in Kansas until he thought himself called upon to take the law into his own hands, seized upon the United States Arsenal at Harper's Ferry (1859), and proclaimed freedom to the slaves in the vicinity. His feeble band was soon overpowered by United States troops, and Brown himself hanged as a traitor. Though it was soon known that in his wild design he had asked counsel of no one, yet at the time the Southern feeling was aroused to frenzy, his act being looked upon as significant of the sentiments of the North.

POLITICAL PARTIES.—The fall elections again turned on the question of slavery. The democratic party divided, and made two nominations for President: Stephen A. Douglas, who favored squatter sovereignty, and John C. Breckinridge, who claimed that slavery could be carried into any territory. The republican party nominated Abraham Lincoln, who held that while slavery must be protected where it was, it ought not to be carried into free territory. Lincoln was elected.

[Footnote: The "Union" party put up John Bell, of Tennessee. Their motto was, "The Union, the Constitution, and the Enforcement of the Laws.">[

[Illustration: ABRAHAM LINCOLN.]

THE SOUTH SECEDES.—Throughout the fall campaign the Southern leaders had threatened to secede if Mr. Lincoln were elected.

[Footnote: This was not a sudden movement on their part. The sectional difference between the North and the South had its source in the difference of climate, which greatly modified the character and habits of the people; also, while the agricultural pursuits and staple products of the South made slave labor profitable, the mechanical pursuits and the more varied products of the North made it unprofitable. These antagonisms, settled first by the Missouri Compromise of 1820, reopened by the tariff of 1828, bursting forth in the nullification of 1832, pacified by Clay's compromise tariff, increased through the annexation of Texas and the consequent war with Mexico, irritated by the Wilmot Proviso, lulled for a time by the compromise of 1850, awakened anew by the "squatter sovereignty" policy of 1853, roused to fury by the agitation in Kansas, spread broadcast by the Dred Scott decision, the attempted execution of the Fugitive Slave Law and the John Brown raid, had now reached a point where war was the only remedy. The election of Lincoln was the pivot on which the result turned. The cause ran back through thirty years of controversy to the difference in climate, in occupation, and in the habit of life and thought. Strange to say, each section misunderstood the other. The Southern people believed the North to be so engrossed in money-making and so enfeebled by luxury that it could send to the field only mercenary soldiers, who would easily be beaten by the patriotic Southerners. They said, "Cotton is King;" and believed that England and France were so dependent upon them for that staple, that their republic would be recognized and defended by those European powers. On the other hand, the Northern people did not believe that the South would dare to fight for slavery when it had 4,000,000 slaves exposed to the chances of war. They thought it to be all bluster, and hence paid little heed to the threat of secession or of war. Both sides sadly learned their mistake, only too late.]

They now declared that it was time to leave a government which had fallen into the hands of their avowed enemies. Since the time of Calhoun they had been firm believers in the doctrine of State rights, which taught that a State could leave the Union whenever it pleased. In December (1860) South Carolina led off, and soon after Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas passed ordinances of secession. In February (1861) delegates from these States met at Montgomery, Ala, and formed a government called the "Confederate States of America". Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, was chosen President, and Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, Vice-President. United States forts, arsenals, customhouses, and ships were seized by the States in which they were situated. Buchanan did nothing to prevent the catastrophe. General Scott urged action, but the regular army was small, and the troops were widely scattered. The navy had been sent to distant ports. The Cabinet largely sympathized with the secessionists. Numerous unsuccessful efforts were made to effect a compromise.

[Illustration: JEFFERSON DAVIS]