Page 343 - American Stories, A History of the United States

Watch the Video Series on MyHistoryLab
14.1

Learn about some key topics related to this chapter with the
14.2 MyHistoryLab Video Series: Key Topics in U.S. History.

1 video reveals the way slavery became the central issue
14.3 slavery at the Watershed: 1848–1860 this introductory
dividing the nation in the decade leading up to the Civil
War. slavery shaped the politics, economy, and society
of both the North and the south, and increasingly violent
confrontations between its opponents and proponents
ultimately led to war.
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states, and greatly expanding the powers of slaveholders to recapture fugitive slaves in the North. the 2
the Compromise of 1850 the Compromise of 1850 represented a critical juncture in the path to civil
war. this video discusses the importance of the Compromise in redrawing the map of slave and free

debates surrounding the compromise also witnessed the eclipse of such great legislators as Henry Clay,
Daniel Webster, and John C. Calhoun, and the rise of stephen Douglas, the political rival of another
newcomer, Abraham Lincoln.
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3 the Dred scott Decision the supreme Court’s Dred Scott v. Sandford decision of 1858 is featured in

this video. Chief Justice roger b. taney’s controversial opinion in the case went beyond any previous
legal position interpreting the rights of slaves and even free persons of color. the case resulted from
scott’s attempt to win freedom for himself and his family; although he ultimately lost, the decision
fueled the resolve of the growing abolitionist movement and may have hastened the coming of the
Civil War.
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republican party. During the course of the campaign, they held a series of debates that crystallized the 4
the Lincoln–Douglas Debates in 1858, senator stephen Douglas of illinois, a popular and established
political figure, was challenged for his seat by a relative newcomer, Abraham Lincoln of the new

national discussion over slaverys. For this reason, they were heavily covered in the nation’s newspapers.
this video explains how Abraham Lincoln dominated the debates and established a national following.
Although he lost his bid for senator from illinois, Lincoln paved the way for his election to the
presidency in 1860, in which he defeated his Democratic opponent, once more stephen Douglas.
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in parts of the North, Sumner was hailed as a martyr to the cause of “free soil,” and Brooks was
denounced as a bully. But his fellow Southerners lionized Brooks. When he resigned from the
House after southern congressmen blocked a vote of censure, his constituents reelected him
unanimously.
These contrasting reactions show how bitter sectional antagonism had become by 1856.
Sumner spoke for the radical wing of the new Republican party, which was making a bid for
national power by mobilizing the North against the alleged aggressions of “the slave power.”
Southerners viewed the very existence of this party as an insult to the South and a threat to
its interests. Sumner came closer to being an abolitionist than any other member of Congress.
Nothing created greater fear and anxiety among Southerners than their belief that antislavery
forces were plotting against their way of life. To many Northerners, “bully Brooks” stood for all the
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