A Short History of the United States by Channing

by Edward Channing

  They declared their approval of the Kansas-Nebraska Act and favored a strict construction of the Constitution. The Republicans nominated John C. Frémont. 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 reëlection 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.

  [Illustration: HARPER'S FERRY.]

  [Sidenote: Civil war in Kansas. McMaster, 357.]

  [Sidenote: John Brown.]

  [Sidenote: The slave constitution.]

  [Sidenote: Douglas opposes Buchanan.]

  359. "Bleeding Kansas."--Meantime civil war had broken out in Kansas, Slavery men attacked Lawrence, killed a few free-state settlers, and burned several buildings. Led by John Brown, an immigrant from New York, free-state men attacked a party of slave-state men and killed five of them. By 1857 the free-state voters had become so numerous that it was no longer possible to outvote them by bringing men from Missouri, and they chose a free-state legislature. But the fraudulent slave-state legislature had already provided for holding a constitutional convention at Lecompton. This convention was controlled by the slave-state men and adopted a constitution providing for slavery. President Buchanan sent this constitution to Congress and asked to have Kansas admitted as a slave state. But Douglas could not bear to see the wishes of the settlers of Kansas outraged. He opposed the proposition vigorously and it was defeated. It was not until 1861 that Kansas was admitted to the Union as a free state.

  [Sidenote: John Brown's Raid, 1859. Higginson, 286-289; Source-Book, 294-296.]

  [Sidenote: He seizes Harper's Ferry.]

  [Sidenote: His execution, 1859.]

  360. John Brown's Raid, 1859.--While in Kansas John Brown had conceived a bold plan. It was to seize a strong place in the mountains of the South, and there protect any slaves who should run away from their masters. In this way he expected to break slavery in pieces within two years. With only nineteen men he seized Harper's Ferry, in Virginia, and secured the United States arsenal at that place. But he and most of his men were immediately captured. He was executed by the Virginian authorities as a traitor and murderer. The Republican leaders denounced his act as "the gravest of crimes." But the Southern leaders were convinced that now the time had come to secede from the Union and to establish a Southern Confederacy.

  QUESTIONS AND TOPICS

  CHAPTER 31

  § 323.--a. Why were the people of South Carolina so opposed to any limitation of slavery? How did they show their opposition?

  b. Had slavery disappeared in the North because people thought that it was wrong?

  §§ 324, 325.--a. What suggestions were made by some in the North for the ending of slavery? What do you think of these suggestions?

  b. For what did Garrison contend, and how did he make his views known? Why were these views opposed in the North?

  § 326.--a. Why were the Southerners so alarmed by Nat Turner's Rebellion?

  b. What power had Congress over the mails? How would you have voted on this question?

  §§ 327, 328.--a. Why is the right of petition so important? How is this right secured to citizens of the United States?

  b. Why should these petitions be considered as insulting to slaveholders?

  c. Why were the Southerners so afraid of any discussion of slavery?

  CHAPTER 32

  §§ 329, 330.--a. Show by the map the extent of the Mexican Republic.

  b. Why did Texas wish to join the United States? What attitude had Mexico taken on slavery?

  §§ 331, 332.--a. Explain carefully how the Texas question influenced the election of 1844.

  b. What was the Liberty party? How did its formation make the election of Polk possible?

  c. What is a "joint resolution"?

  § 333.--How did the Mexicans regard the admission of Texas? What dispute with Mexico arose? Did Mexico begin the war?

  §§ 334, 335.--a. What was the plan of Taylor's campaign? Of Scott's campaign?

  b. Mention the leading battles of Taylor's campaign. Of Scott's campaign.

  §§ 336, 337.--a. What action did the American settlers in California take? With what result?

  b. Explain by a map the Mexican cessions of 1848 and 1853.

  §§ 338, 339.--a. What was the extent of Oregon in 1845?

  b. How was the dispute finally settled? Explain by a map.

  c. What was the extent of Oregon in 1847? Is it the same to-day?

  d. Of what value was this region to the United States?

  CHAPTER 33

  §§ 340, 341.--a. Why was there little question whether Oregon would be slave or free?

  b. Explain carefully Wilmot's suggestion. What would be the arguments in Congress for and against this "proviso"?

  c. What is meant by "squatter sovereignty"? What do you think of the wisdom and justice of such a plan?

  §§ 342, 343.--a. Describe the discovery of gold in California and the rush thither. What difference did one year make in the population of California?

  b. What attitude did California take on the slavery question? Why?

  §§ 344, 345.--a. How had the question of slavery already divided the country?

  b. What extreme parties were there in the North and the South?

  c. Why was the question about the territories so important?

  d. What action did President Taylor take? Why? What do you think of the wisdom of this policy?

  §§ 346, 347.--a. State the provisions of Clay's compromise plan. Which of these favored the North? The South?

  b. What law had been made as to fugitive slaves? Why had it not been enforced? Why was the change made in 1850 so important?

  c. How would you have acted had you been a United States officer called to carry out the Fugitive Slave Law?

  § 348.--a. Who was Mrs. Stowe? What view did she take of slavery?

  b. Were there any good points in the slave system?

  c. Why is this book so important?

  CHAPTER 34

  §§ 349-351.--a. Who were the candidates in 1852? Who was chosen? Why?

  b. What doctrine did Douglas apply to Kansas and Nebraska?

  c. Why did Chase call this bill "a violation of faith"?

  d. Was Douglas a patriot? Chase? Sumner? Pierce?

  § 352.--a. Give an account of the early life and training of Abraham Lincoln.

  b. What d
id he think of the Kansas-Nebraska Act?

  §§ 353, 354.--a. What effect did the Kansas-Nebraska Act have on the settlement of Kansas?

  b. Describe the election. Do you think that laws made by a legislature so elected were binding?

  d. Explain the difference in the attitude of the Senate and House on the Kansas question.

  §§ 355, 356.--a. How was the Republican party formed? b. Were its principles like or unlike those of the Republican party of Jefferson's time? Give your reasons.

  § 357.--a. What rights did the Supreme Court declare a slave could not possess? Was a slave a person or a thing?

  b. What power does the Constitution give Congress over a territory? (Art. IV, Sec. 3.)

  § 358.--a. Explain carefully the quotations from Lincoln's speeches.

  b. Was the doctrine of popular sovereignty necessarily favorable to slavery? Give illustrations to support your reasons.

  c. Was Douglas's declaration in harmony with the decision of the Supreme Court?

  §§ 359, 360.--a. Compare the attitude of Douglas and Buchanan upon the admission of Kansas.

  b. Describe John Brown's raid. Was he a traitor?

  GENERAL QUESTIONS

  a. Give, with dates, the important laws as to slavery since 1783.

  b. What were the arguments in favor of the extension of slavery? Against it?

  c. Find and learn a poem against slavery by Whittier, Lowell, or Longfellow.

  d. Make a table of elections since 1788, with the leading parties, candidates, and principal issues. Underline the name of the candidate elected.

  TOPICS FOR SPECIAL WORK

  a. John Brown in Kansas or at Harper's Ferry.

  b. The career, to this time, of any man mentioned in Chapters 33 and 34.

  c. Any one fugitive slave case: Jerry McHenry in Syracuse (A.J. May's Antislavery Conflicts), Shadrach, Anthony Burns.

  SUGGESTIONS

  Preparation is especially important in teaching this period. The teacher will find references to larger books in Channing's Students' History.

  Show how the question of slavery was really at the basis of the Mexican War. Geographical conditions and the settlement of the Western country should be carefully noted. A limited use of the writings and speeches of prominent men and writers is especially valuable at this point.

  Have a large map of the United States in the class room, cut out and fasten upon this map pieces of white and black paper to illustrate the effects of legislation under discussion, and also to illustrate the various elections.

  The horrors of slavery should be but lightly touched. Emphasize especially the fact that slavery prevented rather than aided the development of the South, and was an evil economically as well as socially.

  [Illustration: THE UNITED STATES IN 1860.]

  XII

  SECESSION, 1860-1861

  Books for Study and Reading

  References.--Scribner's Popular History, IV, 432-445; McMaster's School History, chap. xxvi (industrial progress, 1840-60).

  Home Readings.--Page's The Old South.

  CHAPTER 35

  THE UNITED STATES IN 1860

  [Sidenote: Area of the United States, 1860.]

  [Sidenote: Population, 1860.]

  361. Growth of the Country.--The United States was now three times as large as it was at Jefferson's election. It contained over three million square miles of land. About one-third of this great area was settled. In the sixty years of the century the population had increased even faster than the area had increased. In 1800 there were five and a half million people living in the United States. In 1860 there were over thirty-one million people within its borders. Of these nearly five millions were white immigrants. More than half of these immigrants had come in the last ten years, and they had practically all of them settled in the free states of the North. Of the whole population of thirty-one millions only twelve millions lived in the slave states, and of these more than four millions were negro slaves.

  [Sidenote: New states. McMaster, 365-368.]

  362. Change of Political Power.--The control of Congress had now passed into the hands of the free states of the North. The majority of the Representatives had long been from the free states. Now more Senators came from the North than from the South. This was due to the admission of new states. Texas (1845) was the last slave state to be admitted to the Union. Two years later the admission of Wisconsin gave the free states as many votes in the Senate as the slave states had. In 1850 the admission of California gave the free states a majority of two votes in the Senate. This majority was increased to four by the admission of Minnesota in 1858, and to six by the admission of Oregon in 1859. The control of Congress had slipped forever from the grasp of the slave states.

  [Sidenote: The cities.]

  [Sidenote: New York.]

  [Sidenote: Chicago.]

  363. The Cities.--The tremendous increase in manufacturing, in farming, and in trading brought about a great increase in foreign commerce. This in turn led to the building up of great cities in the North and the West. These were New York and Chicago; and they grew rapidly because they formed the two ends of the line of communication between the East and the West by the Mohawk Valley (p. 239). New York now contained over eight hundred thousand inhabitants. It had more people within its limits than lived in the whole state of South Carolina. The most rapid growth was seen in the case of Chicago. In 1840 there were only five thousand people in that city; it now contained one hundred and nine thousand inhabitants. Cincinnati and St. Louis, each with one hundred and sixty thousand, were still the largest cities of the West, and St. Louis was the largest city in any slave state. New Orleans, with nearly as many people as St. Louis, was the only large city in the South.

  [Sidenote: The North and the South.]

  [Sidenote: Growth of the Northwest.]

  [Sidenote: Density of population, 1860.]

  364. The States.--As it was with the cities so it was with the states--the North had grown beyond the South. In 1790 Virginia had as many inhabitants as the states of New York and Pennsylvania put together. In 1860 Virginia had only about one-quarter as many inhabitants as these two states. Indeed, in 1860 New York had nearly four million inhabitants, or nearly as many inhabitants as the whole United States in 1791 (p. 156). But the growth of the states of the Northwest had been even more remarkable. Ohio now had a million more people than Virginia and stood third in population among the states of the Union. Illinois was the fourth state and Indiana the sixth. Even more interesting are the facts brought out by a study of the map showing the density of population or the number of people to the square mile in the several states. It appears that in 1860 Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts each had over forty-five inhabitants to the square mile, while not a single Southern state had as many as forty-five inhabitants to the square mile. This shows us at once that although the Southern states were larger in extent than the Northern states, they were much less powerful.

  [Illustration: DENSITY OF POPULATION IN 1860.]

  [Sidenote: Improvements in living.]

  365. City Life.--In the old days the large towns were just like the small towns except that they were larger. Life in them was just about the same as in the smaller places. Now, however, there was a great difference. In the first place the city could afford to have a great many things the smaller town could not pay for. In the second place it must have certain things or its people would die of disease or be killed as they walked the streets. For these reasons the streets of the Northern cities were paved and lighted and were guarded by policemen.

  Then, too, great sewers carried away the refuse of the city, and enormous iron pipes brought fresh water to every one within its limits.

  Horse-cars and omnibuses carried its inhabitants from one part of the city to another, and the railroads brought them food from the surrounding country.

  [Illustration: AN OMNIBUS]

  [Sidenote:
Growth of the railroad systems.]

  366. Transportation.--Between 1849 and 1858 twenty-one thousand miles of railroad were built in the United States, In 1860 there were more than thirty thousand miles of railroad in actual operation. In 1850 one could not go from New York to Albany without leaving the railroad and going on board a steamboat. In 1860 one continuous line of rails ran from New York City to the Mississippi River. Traveling was still uncomfortable according to our ideas. The cars were rudely made and jolted horribly. One train ran only a comparatively short distance. Then the traveler had to alight, get something to eat, and see his baggage placed on another train. Still, with all its discomforts, traveling in the worst of cars was better than traveling in the old stagecoaches.

  Many more steamboats were used, especially on the Great Lakes and the Western rivers.

  [Illustration: HORACE GREELEY]

  [Sidenote: Schools.]

  [Sidenote: Newspapers.]

  [Sidenote: Horace Greeley.]

  367. Education.--The last thirty years had also been years of progress in learning. Many colleges were founded, especially in the Northwest. There was still no institution which deserved the name of university. But more attention was being paid to the sciences and to the education of men for the professions of law and medicine. The newspapers also took on their modern form. The New York Herald, founded in 1835, was the first real newspaper. But the New York Tribune, edited by Horace Greeley, had more influence than any other paper in the country.

  Greeley was odd in many ways, but he was one of the ablest men of the time. He called for a liberal policy in the distribution of the public lands and was forever saying, "Go West, young man, go West." The magazines were now very much better than in former years, and America's foremost writers were doing some of their best work.

  [Illustration: THE FIRST SEWING MACHINE.]

  [Sidenote: The telegraph.]

  [Sidenote: The Howe sewing machine.]

  [Sidenote: Agriculture machinery.]

  [Sidenote: Stagnation in the South.]

  368. Progress of Invention.--The electric telegraph was now in common use. It enabled the newspapers to tell the people what was going on as they never had done before. Perhaps the invention that did as much as any one thing to make life easier was the sewing machine. Elias Howe was the first man to make a really practicable sewing machine. Other inventors improved upon it, and also made machines to sew other things than cloth, as leather. Agricultural machinery was now in common use.