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5. CIVIL WAR ... AND RECOVERY

GATHERING STORM CLOUDS

CONTENTS

The deep North-South cultural split

Events deepening further the North-South split

Abraham Lincoln

The textual material on this webpage is drawn directly from my work
        America's Story – A Spiritual Journey © 2021, pages 136-142.
THE DEEP NORTH-SOUTH CULTURAL SPLIT

The Second Great Awakening served to deepen tensions over the matter of slavery – spurring the growth in number of Abolitionists.  They sought to have slavery outlawed everywhere within the country, fearing that not to do so would sooner or later bring God's wrath upon the nation.  But the Abolitionists of the 1830s and 1840s were way ahead of the rest of the country (not to mention the South) in their thinking about slavery.  The country's leaders even passed a gag rule in 1836 preventing anyone from bringing the matter up for discussion in Congress.

Cultural variations.  But the deep split dividing the North and the South merely continued to deepen as the years progressed.  The two societies headed even further away from each other in terms of everything from economics to social and cultural dynamics, not to mention politics.  The South seemed unable to get away from its dependency on cotton farming – that being such a central part of the image of highly idealized life on the Southern plantation.  But actually, for most of the poor Whites – not to mention enslaved Blacks – their lives were tough and with virtually no possibility of improving things in any way.  Passivity was thus the key to survival in much of the South.  But the North was robust, even a bit on the wild side as it attacked life.  And it was made even more vibrant with the rapid expansion of the population of the North, both in numbers and in outreach.  Thus it was that the South was feeling highly defensive as it found itself being left behind in the country's growth.

Bitter debate over the admission of new states.   With Texas knocking at the door for admission to the Union as a new (slave) state, whatever compromise had been achieved in the 1820 Missouri Compromise now became ineffectual ... for Texas was a huge addition to the geographical picture of the Union.  But then also California wanted admission as a new state.  But much of it too lay below the Mason-Dixon Line, yet would be clearly admitted to the Union as a Free State. Thus tempers flared in Congress as debate dragged on over the westward expansion of the American Union.

Another "compromise" in the face of bitter identity politics.   Naturally there developed considerable ire among Southerners when in 1849 California (with key sections well south of Clay's original North-South dividing line) applied for statehood as a free state.  But once again Clay stepped forward to offer a compromise, admitting California into the Union.  But also, in defining new Western territories as future states – such as Nebraska and New Mexico – he proposed the idea that these states should be allowed to decide for themselves whether they would be slave or free.  That seemed fair enough at the time – but in fact merely shifted the controversy to the states themselves, producing in some cases terrible in-fighting (a prelude to the Civil War).  To appease the Abolitionists, Clay called on Congress to regulate interstate trade in slaves.  But to appease the South, he also directed the North to send back to the South any slaves attempting to escape to the free-state North.  So supposedly Clay was offering a balanced program of partial support for both the pro-slavery South and the increasingly Abolitionist North.

Actually, the willingness of moderates to accept this compromise only deepened the bitterness of the growing wings of extremism in both the North and the South.  Abolitionists were outraged at the idea of having to send fugitive slaves back to their Southern masters – and Southern radicals began to talk more frequently about simply pulling out of the Union.

Ultimately the Whig Party would pay dearly for its efforts to follow this path of compromise, one which merely deepened the sectional divide within the country.  In the 1850 elections the Democratic Party, claiming to bridge this sectional gap, completely routed the Whig position in Congress and in 1852 did the same with the presidency.  Democratic Party candidate Franklin Pierce was elected President as a "Northerner of Southern principles."  And thus at this point the nation hoped that with a moderate Democrat in the White House, the country could now move on quietly past the slavery issue.

EVENTS DEEPENING FURTHER THE NORTH-SOUTH SPLIT

Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin.  However, the publication of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin (1851-1852) would keep the issue in front of the nation, where it would burn American passions deeply.  It depicted the suffering and bravery of American slaves so touchingly that the idea of ever sending Blacks that escaped Southern slavery back to the South became virtually unthinkable to a Northerner, thus outraging the South because of the North's unwillingness to obey the law (the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850).

The "Underground Railroad."   Then to infuriate the South even more, rumors began to grow about a secret program that was designed to help Blacks escape to the North, or even to Canada.  Actually, it was neither underground nor a railroad but instead a series of safe houses along a trail of escape which provided support and guidance for those fortunate enough to break from their bondage.  How extensive it was remained a great mystery, the numbers possibly expanded greatly – by the South to stress how terrible this violation of their "property rights" happened to be, and by the North, eager to show how widespread was the support in the North in the freeing of Southern slaves.

Thus it was that the spirit of Abolitionism finally took hold widely of hearts across the North, at the same time that it spurred a growing resolve throughout the South to simply depart from the Union.

Nebraska – and "Bleeding Kansas."   Things finally came to full violence with the question of what to do about the fast-developing Western territory of Nebraska – and how it might join the Union, whether slave or free. This matter was so divisive that it split the huge Democratic Party into two contending wings (the Whigs had all but disappeared at this point).

Ultimately the decision was made (1854) to divide the huge territory into two sections, Nebraska to the North and Kansas to the South.  They would also repeal the Missouri Compromise which would have automatically made both states free – and instead, according to the new "compromise," let the two new territories themselves decide how they might enter the Union, slave or free.  Again, at the time, this sounded like a very good idea, letting the locals rather than Washington make this vital decision.  Actually this decision made the situation worse – far, far worse.

For the northern portion or the new Nebraska, this decision presented no particular problem – as it clearly was inhabited by "Free-Soilers" opposed to slavery.  But the southern portion or Kansas was another matter – with the inhabitants in the northern part of that territory also Free-Soilers, but the inhabitants to the south supportive of the slave option.  Thus the new "compromise" immediately split Kansas itself into two warring factions – with two legislatures (one at Lecompton and one at Topeka) and all sorts of militias supporting one side or the other of the slavery issue (as were almost most all of the Kansas newspapers).  And Americans began to rush to Kansas to increase the size (and thus vote) of one side or the other:  pro-slavery "Border Ruffians" and anti-slavery "Jayhawkers."

An example of how savage this Kansas rivalry became was in the action in 1856 involving John Brown and his family.  He and his sons killed five pro-slavery farmers – in revenge for the sacking of Lawrence by pro-slavery forces.  In return, several hundred pro-slavery forces attacked Brown's hometown of Osawatomie, killing two of Brown's sons (and others) and sacking and burning the town.

Thus turning the matter over "democratically" for the citizens of Kansas themselves to decide merely escalated the problem into full-scale guerrilla-style warfare.  Killing, looting, burning and ravaging the homes and farms of "Bleeding Kansas" now became common across the territory.

In short, by 1856, the American Civil War had already begun in Kansas.

The election of 1856.   With the Whig Party gone, a number of parties – plus factions taking a stand on the slavery issue – took the political stage.  The newly formed Republican Party (no connection with Jefferson's earlier Republicans, but forerunners of today's Republicans) basically took up the Whig cause – but could not get together on which candidate should represent the party in the presidential election that year.  Ultimately one group nominated General Frémont and another group nominated Millard Fillmore, former President (1850 1853) when General Taylor, who had been elected President in 1848, died a year into his presidency.  So also the Democrats found themselves deeply divided and ended up dropping Pierce and choosing Pennsylvanian James Buchanan, when Illinois Senator Stephen Douglas finally threw his vote to Buchanan on the 17th ballot.  Buchanan had been away serving as American Ambassador to England and therefore had no record one way or the other about the deep split tearing at the country.   Voted to office as President in the 1856 election, President Buchanan would try to stay above the battle – which meant only that the North-South split would deepen as national leadership tried to look away from the growing problem.

The Dred Scott Decision of 1857.   Instead, the Supreme Court found itself taking the crisis head on with its decision concerning the return to a Southern master of a former slave, Dred Scott.  Scott had accompanied his master to the North, been sold and resold several times – and after a lengthy residence in the North was being forced to return to the South.  Scott ultimately (in his first civil suit in 1846) claimed that he (and his wife and daughter) had earned the right to freedom as longtime Northern residents.  But after a lengthy process of multiple court hearings on the matter, the Supreme Court, led by pro-slavery Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, in 1857 ruled in favor of his latest master John Sanford, claiming that the Constitution was only intended for Whites and, since slaves were actually property, Congress had no authority to take property away from anyone – nor also had any authority to grant citizenship to Blacks ... who were by God's own decree intended to be a race perpetually in service to the Whites.

Southerners were elated by the decision, claiming that under Taney's ruling, slavery could not be forbidden anywhere within the Union, North as well as South.  The North on the other hand was furious at the ruling.  In all, Taney's decision did not resolve the question – but instead only deepened the bitter feelings separating the American North and South.

It was also a preview of how the Supreme Court would, from time to time (but with increasing frequency), take upon itself the task of deciding exactly how the laws of the nation should be read and understood ... in accordance with the various justices' ideological makeup, of course.

The Panic of 1857.   The Dred Scott Decision also made it clear that the Western states were now to be brought into the Union as a decision of the people of those states themselves.  This in turn meant that fierce battles (like the one going on in Kansas) would most likely result – something most people chose to avoid.  Consequently, once again land values in the West collapsed as people backed away from Western land purchases – leaving private investors and banks holding worthless land titles – which in turn caused bank panic and collapse of the world of investment.  But this crisis hit almost solely in the North – the South not being really part of the world of financial speculation.  The very fact that the South escaped this crisis seemed to Southerners to confirm what they already supposed, namely that the Southern life and culture (slaves and all) was vastly superior to the Northern way of life – and that they were ready to defend that life and culture to the death.  And indeed, Southerners would be called on soon to do just that.

Revolt at Harpers Ferry (October 1859).   Semi-crazy John Brown (and his remaining sons) decided to spark an event intended to lead to a massive slave uprising in the South – when he and a group of 20 followers raided the U.S. military depot at Harpers Ferry to grab its ammunition and supplies.  But ultimately no slave rebellion took place.  Instead U.S. Colonel Robert E. Lee surrounded the Brown party – killing ten of the group in the process.  Brown and four others were tried and executed for this ill-fated raid.  Overall, the call to the slaves to revolt made Brown the very personification of evil that Southerners saw in the North.  But in the North, he became something of a hero, serving the greatest of all human causes: freeing the slaves.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

Lincoln's election (1860).  The determining event in the move of the South to full withdrawal from the Union was the election of Abraham Lincoln to the U.S. Presidency in November of 1860.  Two years earlier, in public debates for the position of Illinois Senator conducted between the Democratic Party Congressional leader Stephen Douglas and the new Republican Party's candidate, Abraham Lincoln, the subject had focused heavily on the issue of slavery – with Lincoln taking the much stronger position against slavery.  Very impressive was the presentation of this "country boy" Lincoln. However, a Democratic Party majority in the Illinois Assembly ultimately chose Douglas to represent the state in the U.S. Senate.  But so impressive was Lincoln in his speech delivered at the Cooper Union (New York City, February 1860) in his stand on not just slavery but a wide range of issues impacting the country, that the Illinois Republicans got fully behind him as candidate for the U.S. presidency.  And it took only three ballots at the Republican National Convention that May to put Lincoln ahead of William Seward and Salmon Chase in the selection of that party's presidential candidate.  And in November Lincoln was elected as the nation's sixteenth President:  1.87 million votes for Lincoln, 1.38 million for Douglas, 850 thousand for Breckinridge and 589 thousand for a fourth candidate, John Bell – but an absolute majority of the electoral vote, 180 votes for Lincoln to his opponents' combined total of 123 votes.

Abraham Lincoln.   This new president was a man shaped by tragedy.  He lost his mother at an early age, lived under the direction of a disapproving father, grew up in an environment of tough poverty, and would himself lose two of his children to death, one even while serving in the White House as U.S. president.  But he armed himself against depression by a highly developed sense of humor.  He also possessed a most singular perspective on life, one that seemed to show up in the stories and tales that constantly shaped his conversations with those around him.

As already noted, he served briefly as a captain in the Illinois militia during the Black Hawk War (1832) ... gaining some sense of what wars are really all about.  However, his venture into the business world (also 1832) did not bring him success.  He at that point ran for a position in the Illinois General Assembly, but just did not have the background to impress voters outside of his own precinct.  But he was a voracious learner, and decided to teach himself the law, and became an excellent lawyer.

With a second attempt, he was finally elected to serve on the Illinois state legislature (1834-1846).  He then went on to serve as a member of the Whig Party in the House of Representatives in Congress (1847-1849), though he had promised to serve in Washington only one term.  He thus returned to his law practice in the Illinois state capital at Springfield, presuming that his political career was over.

But his Southern-bred aristocrat (Kentucky) and highly strong-willed wife, Mary Todd, had plans for him other than his political retirement!  But he was also touched deeply by the slavery issue – and what it was doing to the country – as the nation fought over the Kansas-Nebraska Act.  And thus in 1854 and then again in 1858 he found himself running for the position of U.S. Senator as an Illinois candidate of the newly formed Republican Party.  Indeed, in the Republican Party's 1856 national convention, he came in a close second for the nomination as the party's vice-presidential candidate.  And thus it was that his national career got up and running.

Now, as newly elected U.S. President, Lincoln had facing him the deepest crisis the country had experienced since its revolt against King George a century earlier.  Many Americans wondered how exactly Lincoln would face this explosive issue of slavery and the probable breakup of the Union, issues that so many before him had done everything possible to avoid.

But Lincoln was a man of incredible talent, a talent needed greatly by the nation at this point.  Lincoln was steady, strong and very wise in personal character.  From the very start, the wisdom of Lincoln was evidenced in the way he shaped his new presidential administration, by bringing onto his cabinet his strongest political rivals[1] – such as William Seward, Salmon Chase and Edward Bates.  He knew the importance of uniting all the major pro-Union leaders, in order to take on successfully the huge challenges ahead.

At first these political dignitaries tended to be contemptuous of him and his "country boy" ways![2]   But gradually they all (except Chase, whom Lincoln finally moved onward in appointing him Chief Justice of the Supreme Court) came to see Lincoln's true political genius, and moved to full support of him as their president.

[1] Doris Kearns Goodwin termed it A Team of Rivals in making it the title of her Simon & Schuster 2005 Pulitzer Prize-winning book.

[2] Seward, supposing  Lincoln to be something of a naïve country boy, at first proposed to Lincoln to have him turn all real powers of the presidency over to Seward himself.   And then Seward proposed a bizarre foreign policy in dealing with the South, all of which Lincoln politely ignored as he moved steadily ahead with his own policies for dealing with the rising crisis.



Go on to the next section:  Secession and War

  Miles H. Hodges