Friday's Notes 5th Period

We discussed the quiz. Then we took these notes:

The secession crisis
-by 1860 the Democratic party was one of the few left
-Methodist & Baptist churches split into North and South halves over slavery
-the Whig party had broken down because of sectional differences.
-In 1860, Democrats split North and South over slavery, it was clear that the Republican party would win
-Pro-slavery south saw no way to head off the election of a President and Congress opposed to the spread of slavery
-South->there were no guarantees that a Republican Government wouldn't move to eventually end slavery completely
-Some southern moderates were driven to consider succession
-Lincoln won the election of 1860, 7 southern states seceded
-South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas
-said that states' had not given away their fundamental sovereignty in ratifying the constitution
-any state could withdraw from its "compact" with the other states and reassert its sovereignty
-northerners thought secession was un-constitutional
-President Buchanan says he disagrees with the South position but does nothing about it and exerts little or no leadership toward resolving the situation
Compromise proposals
-In December 1860, before Lincoln had taken office the Crittenden Compromise was proposed with constitutional amendments
*to guarantee slavery in states forever and no federal interference
*prohibit Congress from abolishing slavery in DC or any federal property
*deny Congress the power interfere with interstate slave trade
*compensate slave holders who were prevented from recovering fugitive slaves
*to protect slavery so the 30' 60' line in all territories
-Lincoln could not endorse the Crittenden proposals since he had won the election on a platform to stop the spread of slavery to new territory
-with republicans voting against it, the compromise failed
"Peace Convention" in Washington Feb, 1861.
-VA proposed it
-8 slave states not seceded sent representatives
-7 seceded states did not send representatives
-no workable solution found
-7 seceded states est. the Confederate States of America with a constitution that guaranteed and protected slavery
-Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor, was an issue
-South Carolina wanted withdrawal
-Buchanan refused and left it up to Lincoln-Sumter was out of provokes and had to be re-supplied or evacuated
-Lincoln sends unarmed supply ships and advanced warning
-Jefferson Davis (confederate) attacks Sumter before supply ships get there
-Confederacy fired first shots of the Civil War in a bombardment of Fort Sumter which caused the surrender of the Fort
-By 1860 it is unlikely that secession could have been avoided but both sides thought they were constitutionally and theoretically correct and no one expected a long bloody Civil War