Bleeding Kansas and the Caning of Charles Sumner

“Bleeding Kansas” is the expression used to describe the violence that occurred in the territory of Kansas in 1854.  It started with the Kansas-Nebraska Act which replaced the Missouri Compromise in determining whether a territory would be pro- or anti-slave territory.  The Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed the people to choose (“popular sovereignty”) and the Missouri Compromise used latitude to set the border between free and slave territory. Because people in Kansas could now choose free or slave territory, pro-slavery and anti-slavery supporters rushed to Kansas to try to sway the result.  Violence broke out between the factions and Kansas was in turmoil.

In May of 1856, Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts was assaulted by congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina because Sumner gave a speech “The Crime Against Kansas,” which denounced slavery. Sumner mainly directed his speech against Senator Andrew Butler of South Carolina.  Preston Brooks, the cousin of Andrew Butler, assaulted Sumner with a cane by hitting him repeatedly, while sitting at his desk in the Senate chamber. Sumner did not return to the Senate for three years. Northerners were outraged and Brooks was considered a hero in the South. This incident is significant because it added to the escalating hostility between the North and South.

South Carolina and Other States Secede

The first seven states to secede from the Union in 1861 before the Civil War broke out were South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. These states believed their way of life was threatened by the North and with Abraham Lincoln as President due to the anti-slavery views. After the firing upon Ft. Sumter began, the Civil War in April of 1861, four more states seceded from the Union.  These states included North Carolina, Arkansas, Tennessee and Virginia. These eleven states formed their own Confederate government with Jefferson Davis as the President.  They created their own flag and operated in a similar manner to the United States.

Ft. Sumter Falls

Ft. Sumter

In 1861, before the Civil War broke out, seven Southern states had seceded from the Union. These states claimed all the forts within their territories except for two. Ft. Sumter was one of the two forts remaining under Federal jurisdiction, and was the site of the first battle in the Civil War in 1861.  Ft. Sumter had no value strategically in that it was unfinished and all its guns pointed out to sea; however, it became the symbol of the national union. The South demanded that Ft. Sumter be evacuated, and Lincoln refused to allow this “disunion.” He sent supplies to fortify the fort that was being starved out.  Before supplies could arrive at the fort, the South called for its immediate evacuation, which was refused.  The fall of St. Sumter came in April 1861, when Confederate troops opened fire, the fort surrendered after 34 hours of being fired upon.   The fall of Ft. Sumter is significant because the Civil War began with the South first firing upon Ft. Sumter.

The Election of 1860

The candidates running for President in the Election of 1860 were Senator Stephen A. Douglas from Illinois (chosen by the Northern Democrats);  Vice President John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky (chosen by the Southern Democrats); Senator John Bell of Tennessee (of the Constitutional Union Party), and Abraham Lincoln of Illinois (Republican candidate).  The Democrats were extremely divided over slavery issues and split into two democratic parties (Northern and Southern), therefore each nominated a presidential candidate.  Lincoln was elected President in 1860 (just one year before the start of the Civil War).  Since Lincoln was anti-slavery, within a few weeks several Southern states seceded from the Union.

John Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry

John Brown

On October 16, 1859, a federal armory located in Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, was raided by abolitionist John Brown in an attempt to start an armed slave revolt against slavery. He was backed by other abolitionists and his group included his three sons, five black men and about 12 other men. His group was discovered and by the next morning, the raiders were surrounded. On October 19th, the U.S. Marines overtook Brown and his cohorts killing ten men. Brown was found guilty of treason and murder and was hanged on December 2, 1859. Brown handed a note to a guard before the execution which read:, "I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood." Although John Brown failed, his revolt raised sectional tensions between the North and South by convincing the south that the Northerners were plotting against them, and thus called to prepare to go to arms. The north, however, saw this as the morally right thing to do and by Brown's insurrection encouraged the abolitionist movement in the north.

Kansas's Lecompton Constitution

Lecompton Costitution Hall

The Lecompton Constitution was written by pro-slavery activists and was the second constitution written for the Kansas Territory in anticipation of statehood. The Lecompton Constitution was rejected by Kansas for its injustices, however, the controversy over this proposed Constitution added to the tensions leading up to the Civil War. It allowed slavery, and did not permit free blacks to live in Kansas. It also only allowed white male citizens of the U.S. to vote. One of the most serious repercussions of the Lecompton Constitution was that controversy and debate over it destroyed the Democratic party. President Buchanan supported the Lecompton Constitution and so lost his political supporters in the North, while Stephen Douglas objected to it because it went against his "Popular Sovereignty" position. The Lecompton Constitution was defeated and Kansas was admitted as a free state in 1861.

Dred Scott Decision

The Dred Scott decision was a huge controversy during the years before the Civil War. Dred Scott was a slave who lived with his owner in a free state and then relocated to a slave state.  Scott petitioned the court for freedom from slavery because according to the Missouri Compromise, he had lived north of the 36°30' latitude line. Scott's petition went all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court which issued its decision in 1857.  Chief Justice Roger B. Taney found that no black, whether free or a slave, could claim citizenship, and so could not petition the court for freedom.  This infuriated the anti-slave supporters and Chief Justice Taney was viewed as a satanic figure.  

This decision was a major factor that led to the Civil War. The Northerners were outraged by this dictate, the Southerers, smug.