Conference smurf::civil_war

    
    	English settlers in Jamestown, Virginia, purchase 20 black Africans
    from a Dutch frigate. Although these particular Africans are treated as
    indentured servants, it is not long before European colonists in North
    America are treating black Africans as slaves: they are imported,
    bought, and sold as though material property, and their children are
    condemned to a life of slavery.
    	Most of these black Africans are held in the Southern colonies, but
    many thousands are also held by Northerners - and many Northerners
    profit directly and indirectly from the slave trade.
    	In the ensuing decades, as the number of slaves increases to 
    hundreds of thousands, slavery itself evolves into a legally sanctioned
    system.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	The DECLARATION of INDEPENDENCE - with its resounding
    'self-evident' truth 'that all men are created equal' - is adopted
    4 July. It is largely the work of Thomas Jefferson, himself a slave-
    owner, and it will be signed by many men who are also slaveowners.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	In the Northern states, various laws are passed and court decisions
    handed down that effectively abolish slavery. In the South, however,
    where slavery has become inextricably involved in the economy and total
    way of life, slavery remains legally sanctioned and sustained.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    RE .2:
    
    It is worth noting that Jefferson's declaration originally included a
    passage condemning slavery in the list of "offenses" by the British
    Crown.  To get the southern colonies to go along with the declaration,
    this passage was eliminated - the first of many compromises related to
    the issue of slavery.
    
    MikeR
    

    
    	In Philadelphia, 55 delegates from 12 states (Rhode Island refuses
    to participate) meet to draw up a federal constitution for a United
    States. The resultant document is in many ways a compromise among
    various conflicting views - sectional, economic, social, philosophical,
    and otherwise. One of the major splits is between the Southern states
    and the Northern states over the issue of allowing slavery to continue.
    	But several Southern states refuse to join in any union if slavery
    is not allowed, so despite the warning of George Mason, a delegate from
    Virginia, that slaves 'bring the judgement of Heaven on a country', the
    Constitution includes three clauses that effectively sanction the
    continuation of slavery: (1) Fugitive slaves are to be returned to
    their owners; (2) Slave trade (that is, new Africans from abroad) is to
    be permitted until 1808 and (3) For the purpose of apportioning
    Congressional representatives on the basis of population, a slave is to
    be counted as 3/5 of a white person.
    	In the debate that ensues in the states, most of the Northerners as
    well as Southerners who are opposed to ratifying the Constitution are
    simply against placing so much power in a national government and
    denying powers to the states.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	Meeting in New York City as the fading government under the
    Articles of Confederation, the Congress passes its last major act, the
    Territorial, or Northwest, Ordinance.
    	One of the clauses states that 'there shall be neither slavery nor
    involuntary servitude in said territory'.
    	Although immediately applicable only to the territory that will 
    eventually be subdivided into the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
    Michigan and Wisconsin, the ordinance comes to suggest a national
    policy of designating all new territories and states as 'free soil'-
    that is, as off limits to slavery.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	The first ten amendments to the constitution - known as the Bill of
    Rights - are put into effect. They guarantee many individual rights but
    say nothing about slavery or the rights of black Americans.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	Eli Whitney applies for a patent on a cotton gin, a device that
    greatly increases the speed and ease with which cotton fibers are
    separated from the seeds.
    	This machine will soon increase the need for labor to produce more
    cotton, and since most of the cotton is grown in the Southern states,
    this will lead to the need for more slaves.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	The Legislatures of Kentucky and Virginia adopt resolutions
    contending that the Alien and Sedition Acts are unconstitutional and
    that individual states retain the right to determine this.
    	These Acts are passed in June and July by a Congress controlled by
    the Federalist Party desirous of restricting the growth and freedoms
    of the Jeffersonian Republicans.
    	What is particularly significant is that these resolutions, 
    defiant expressions of states' rights, were written by Thomas Jefferson
    and James Madison, both of whom would become President of the United
    States.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer
    

    
    	Gabriel Prosser, a black slave coachman, plans a revolt to liberate
    thousands of slaves in the Richmond, Virginia, area. On the day when
    the uprising is scheduled, a heavy thunderstorm washes away the bridge
    over which about a thousand armed slaves were to pass.
    	Meanwhile, the state authorities have been following events thanks
    to an informer and they move in and arrest Prosser and many of his
    followers. Prosser and at least 37 others are executed.
    	Although this is but one of more than 250 rebellions by slaves
    during some two centuries up to 1861, it is one of the more ambitious
    ones and convinces many Southerners that only strict measures can 
    maintain the institution of slavery.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	From the first day of the new year, the importation of slaves from
    abroad into the United States is legally ended, as called for by the
    Constitution. But the buying and selling of slaves within the United
    States continues, and in practice many new slaves continue to be
    smuggled into the states.
    	The enabling legislation itself provides that these smuggled
    slaves, when apprehended, are to be turned over to the state
    authorities and that the states may then sell the slaves.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	A number of prominent New Englanders, strongly opposed to the war
    that the United States has been fighting against England since 1812,
    gather for secret meetings in Hartford, Connecticut. Various proposi-
    tions are considered, including seceding from the union, but by the
    end the only course those attending can agree on is to propose certain
    amendments to the Constitution.
    	Meanwhile, on 14 December, the Treaty of Ghent is signed, ending
    the war, so the Hartford Convention's recommendations become moot.
    What is not moot, however, is the notion that representatives from a
    section of the United States might see their states' rights taking
    precedence over the union and its constitution.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer 

    
    	The American Colonization Society is founded in Washington, DC to
    aid in settling freed slaves in Africa. Although it will eventually
    obtain indirect aid from the United States government and will aid in
    moving 11,000 blacks to the new African country of Liberia, the Society
    is by no means endorsed by either black Americans or white
    abolitionists.
    	Many from both these groups see the goals of this Society as merely
    avoiding the issue of slavery and the rights of blacks in America.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	The House of Representatives passes a bill calling for the
    admission of Maine to the United States. Since there are 11 free
    (that is, non-slave) states and 11 slave states, the admission of
    Maine as a free state would upset the balance that is jealousy guarded
    by all parties in the union.
    	Therefore, the Senate adopts a bill that combines the admission of
    Maine with the admission of Missouri as a slave state. In addition, the
    Senate adopts a further compromise, an ammendment that would bar
    slavery in the rest of the Louisiana Purchase north of 36' 30'
    latitude.
    	The House of Representatives then votes to accept the Senate bill
    with its amendment, and this becomes known as the Missouri Compromise.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer 

    
    	Denmark Vesey, a former slave who had purchased his own freedom in
    1800, is arrested, convicted and executed for planning an uprising of
    slaves in the area around Charleston, South Carolina.
    	Vesey's original plan called for an attack on Charleston on a
    Sunday in July, a time when many white people would be out of the city.
    But Vesey is betrayed by a black slave and is apprehended before he and
    his followers can do much more than make a few weapons.
    	Vesey is hanged along with 34 other blacks. As word of the planned
    revolt spreads, various slave states and border states pass 'black
    codes', laws greatly restricting the freedom of movement and general
    conduct of slaves.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	Congress passes another Protective Tariff Law, but it still leaves
    the South feeling discriminated against even while Northern
    manufacturers are unsatisfied with it.
    	By 1827, this law will have prompted such protests as the anti-
    tariff meeting in Columbia, South Carolina, where Thomas Cooper,
    president of the South Carolina College, will ask: 'Is it worth while
    to continue this Union of States, where the North demands to be our
    masters and we are required to be their tributaries?'
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    RE .12:
    
    President Madison, in listing the lessions from the War of 1812 (and
    with specific thought to the Hartford Convention and New England's
    attitude generally), said there was a need to develop greater loyalty
    to the Union and obedience to the laws.
    
    (Not everyone felt the Hartford Convention was proposing legitimate
    actions.)
    
    MikeR

    
    	Congress passes another Tariff Law, one calling for relatively
    high duties on a variety of goods but affecting raw materials more
    than manufactured goods.
    	The promoters of the bill are motivated at least in part by a
    desire to embarrass President John Quincy Adams, but he ends up 
    signing it.
    	Very soon it becomes known to Southerners as the 'tariff of
    abominations' and leads to widespread protests and demands by some
    that the Southern states seperate from the union.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer
    

    
    	THE SOUTH CAROLINA legislature adopts a series of resolutions
    condemning the Tariff Act of 1828 and questioning its constitutionality
    Appended to the formal resolutions is an unsigned essay, 'South
    Carolina Exposition and Protest', which argues that any federal laws
    considered unconstitutional may be 'nullified' by a state convention.
    	What makes this Exposition of 1828 so significant, aside from its
    support for the absolute sovereignty of the individual states, is the 
    fact that its author is John C. Calhoun, previously a strong 
    nationalist, and now the Vice-President of the United States. The
    Georgia legislature also adopts resolutions against the Tariff Act of
    1828.
    
    					The Alabama Slammer

    
    	THE SENATE is debating the issue of the sale of the vast lands of
    the American West, but it soon becomes apparent that the real subject
    under discussion is that of states' rights versus federal power.
    	This sets Southern Senators against Northern Senators, and in his
    ringing climax to his defense of the latter, Daniel Webster concludes,
    'Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable!'
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON, among the more radical of the
    abolitionists, begins publishing in Boston "THE LIBERATOR", a newspaper
    dedicated to the abolition of slavery.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	NAT TURNER, a pious but radical slave preacher, leads a uprising
    of slaves in Southampton County, Virginia. At least 60 whites are
    killed before soldiers put down the rebellion. Turner and 12 of his
    followers are executed, while about 100 blacks are killed during the
    search for the rebels.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	Another TARIFF ACT is adopted by Congress. Although more moderate
    than that of 1828, it still leaves the South dissatisfied.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	A special state convention meets in South Carolina, one of the most
    outspoken of the Southern states, and adopts an ordinance that
    nullifies the Tariff Acts of 1828 and 1832.
    	The South Carolina legislature then adopts measures to enforce this
    ordinance - even allowing for military preparations and secession if 
    the Federal government resorts to force.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	President Jackson issues a proclamation - after reinforcing the
    Federal forts off Charleston - warning the people of South Carolina
    that no state can secede from the union 'because each secession....
    destroys the unity of a nation'.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	In the uproar that follows President Jackson's proclamation,
    the South Carolina legislature defies 'King Jackson' and even
    raises a volunteer unit to repel any 'invasion'.
    	Jackson then asks Congress to adopt a 'force bill' to enable him
    to enforce the provisions of the Tariff Acts of 1828 and 1832. But
    Henry Clay, always anxious to work out a compromise that will save the
    union, draws up a new tariff bill that is presented to the House of
    Representatives.
    	The bill includes a gradual cutback in tariffs, and when word of
    its probable acceptance is passed to South Carolina, the legislature
    suspends its nullification ordinance.
    	Congress then adopts both the tariff compromise and the force bill,
    and President Jackson signs them within 24 hours. The confrontation
    is averted.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	The American Anti-Slavery Society is organized due primarily to the
    efforts of Arthur and Lewis Tappan, wealthy New York City merchants,
    and Theodore Weld, a prominent abolitionist minister.
    	Weld, through his writings and speeches, will continue to play a
    major role in convincing many Americans of the necessity and justice
    of abolishing slavery.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	In Boston, a mob parades William Lloyd Garrison through the streets
    with a rope around his neck to express their disgust with his extreme
    views on slavery.
    	And in Utica, New York, people meeting to organize an anti-slavery
    society are attacked by a mob (said to be led by a judge and a
    congressman).
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	Santa Anna, President of Mexico, proclaims a unified constitution
    for all territories of Mexico.
    	The North American settlers in Texas announce that they intend to
    secede from Mexico rather than give up their 'right' to slavery, which
    Mexico had abolished.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	Santa Anna leads the seige of the Alamo, where 182 Texans are
    finally killed when the Mexicans overwhelm the fort.
    	The heroic defense, however, inspires the North American settlers
    to meet in a convention, declare their independence, and draft a
    constitution.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	Under General Sam Houston, Texans defeat the Mexicans and capture
    Santa Anna at the battle of San Jacinto.
    	The Texans ratify their own constitution, elect Sam Houston as
    President, and send an envoy to Washington to demand annexation to the
    United States or recognition of the independent Republic of Texas.
    	Since they intend to legalize slavery in any case, the debate that
    follows in Congress once again pits pro-slavery Southerners against
    anti-slavery Northerners.
    
    					The Alabama Slammer

    
    	Southern members of the House of Representatives get a majority
    to vote for a 'gag' resolution, one that declares that all petitions
    or papers that any way involve the issue of slavery should be 'laid
    on the table' - that is, there should be no discussion.
    	The House of Representatives will continue to vote such a 'gag
    rule' at the outset of every session until 1844, but instead of
    burying the issue of slavery it only sharpens the differences between
    the two sides.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer
    

    
    	On his last day in office, President Jackson recognizes the
    independent Lone Star Republic of Texas. Jackson has been avoiding
    this decision for many months, not wanting to aggravate the problems
    that already seperate the South and the North.
    	This leaves a union of 13 free states and 13 slave states, but
    of the large territories that remain to be converted into states,
    only one - Florida - is controlled by slave-holders, while three
    non-slave territories still exist.
    	A movement to admit Texas as a 'slave territory' to balance out
    these free territories is defeated.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	The Spanish slave-ship AMISTAD, carrying 53 African slaves
    between two Cuban ports, is taken over in a mutiny led by Cinque,
    one of the slaves.
    	They kill the Captain and the crew except for two who are forced
    to navigate the ship to North American waters, where a United States
    warship bring the AMISTAD into a Connecticut port.
    	Spain immediately demands that the slaves be turned back to the
    Spaniards, but Americans force the case into the courts. Eventually
    it will be taken all the way to the Supreme Court, where John Quincy
    Adams argues for their right to be freed.
    	In March 1841 the Supreme Court rules this way, and Cinque and the
    others are returned to Africa.
    
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	William Henry Harrison, ninth President of the United States,
    dies after one month in office and is succeeded by his 
    Vice-President, John Tyler. When Tyler declares a Sunday as a
    'day of national prayer', various speakers use the occasion to
    speak out on the issue of slavery.
    	One minister in the South is reported as taking the occasion
    to preach on 'current wild notions of equality'.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer 

    
    	The United States Supreme Court rules, in PRIGG V. COMMONWEALTH OF
    PENNSYLVANIA, that a Pennsylvania law forbidding the seizure of
    fugitive slaves in that state is unconstitutional.
    	But the opinion goes on to state that the enforcement of
    fugitive slave laws is entirely a Federal responsibility, so various
    Northern states use this as a loophole and adopt personal liberty
    laws.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	A treaty agreeing to the annexation of Texas to the United
    States, negotiated by John C. Calhoun, now Secretary of State, is
    signed and President Tyler submits it to the Senate.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	The Texas Annexation Treaty is rejected by the Senate, where
    antislavery forces convince a majority that admitting a slave state
    will simply lead to another confrontation between the South and the
    North.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	James K. Polk defeats Henry Clay for the Presidency. Polk is
    virtually an unknown politician, but his somewhat aggressive -
    expansionist views on acquiring Texas, Oregon and California strike
    a receptive chord among Americans.
    	He owes his very nomination in part, to the fact that the more
    obvious Democratic candidate, Martin Van Buren, had earlier in the
    year published a letter opposing the annexation of Texas.
    	Clay had published a similar letter, and it is agreed that this
    contributed to his defeat.
    
    					The Alabama Slammer

    
    	The House of Representatives and the Senate, acting on the 
    proposal of President-elect Polk, adopt a joint resolution for the
    annexation of Texas.
    	This is essentially a procedure to bypass the requirement of a
    2/3 vote of the Senate alone, traditionally used to ratify a treaty.
    The resolution also authorizes the President to negotiate a new
    treaty with Texas that could be approved by either procedure, but the
    President does not immediately exercise this choice.
    	Mexico, however, severs diplomatic relations with the United States
    as soon as the resolution is adopted.
    
    					The Alabama Slammer 

    
    	Texas formally agrees to annexation, so President Polk simply
    decides to treat it as a state, even though it remains Mexican
    territory under international law.
    	Polk sends a detachment of the United States army, led by General
    Zachary Taylor, to the south-western border of Texas to guard the
    state against an 'invasion' from Mexico.
    
    					The Alabama Slammer

    
    	General Taylor takes his troops onto the left bank of the Rio
    Grande, always recognized as Mexican territory, on the orders of 
    President Polk.
    	Despite Mexico's evident desire to find some face-saving way of
    negotiating its way out of an armed conflict, President Polk persists
    in seeking an excuse for war.
    	It comes late in April when a small Mexican cavarly unit inflicts
    a few casualties on United States troops blockading a Mexican town.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	At the request of President Polk, Congress approves a declaration
    stating that 'By the act of the Republic of Mexico, a state of war
    exists between that Government and the United States'.
    	But in the debate leading up to this declaration, and in the months
    to follow, it is clear that this war with Mexico is yet another
    divisive issue between the North and the South: Southerners tend to
    support the war as they see it leading to more territory to be worked
    by slaves, while Northerners oppose the war for that very reason.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	North American settlers in California, long seeking to break
    away from the rule of Mexico, proclaim the existence of the Republic
    of California.
    	Meanwhile, there has been long simmering a dispute between the
    United States and Great Britain over the border between the Oregon
    Territory and Canada.
    	President Polk, anxious to gain support for the widening war with
    Mexico, submits to the Senate a treaty that extends the international
    boundary along latitude 49' to Puget Sound and then to the ocean
    through the Juan de Fuca Strait.
    	In return for Southern support for the treaty, President Polk
    agrees to reduce certain tariffs. The Senate ratifies the treaty.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	President Polk asks Congress to appropriate $2 million to help
    purchase territory from Mexico in negotiations that he assumes will
    follow any fighting.
    	The appropriation bill comes to the House where it is amended to
    include what is known as the Wilmot Proviso, so named after an other-
    wise obscure Pennsylvania Representative, David Wilmot, who introduces
    the amendment.
    	Using words taken verbatim from the Northwest Ordinance of 1787,
    the Wilmot Proviso states that 'neither slavery nor involuntary
    servitude shall ever exist in any part of' the territories that might
    be acquired from Mexico.
    	The House passes the appropriation with this ammendment, but the 
    lines between Northerners and Southerners are once more sharply drawn.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	The Senate takes up the appropriation bill with the Wilmot
    Proviso, and ends up passing the former without the latter. The
    House then approves the Senate version of the appropriation bill,
    so that the question of slavery within the territories remains open.
    	But during the Senate's debate on the Wilmot Proviso, John Calhoun
    introduces four resolutions that attempt to provide justification for
    the Southern position.
    	Essentially Calhoun argues that Congress has no right to limit
    existence or prospective states in matter of laws pertaining to
    slavery. Furthermore, since slaves are like any property that might
    be taken into a territory, Congress has the obligation to protect
    slavery.
    	Calhoun's doctrine effectively sets aside the Missouri Compromise
    of 1820, and although the Senate in no way endorses it, the doctrine
    is in the air.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	General Winfield Scott marches victorious into Mexico City after
    a whirlwind campaign since landing at Vera Cruz in May.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	Senator Lewis Cass of Michigan, in a letter to A.P. Nicholson,
    a Tennessee politician, sets forth the doctrine that slavery should be
    left to the decision of the territorial government.
    	Because Cass is an influential politician - he will run for
    President in 1848 - his proposal is given serious consideration. It
    will become known as the doctrine of 'popular sovereignty' and will
    atract many supporters anxious to sidestep either the constitutional
    or the moral issues of slavery.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	The United States signs the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending
    the war with Mexico.
    	The United States gets over 500,000 square miles that include what
    will become the states of California, Nevada, Utah, most of New Mexico
    and Arizona, and parts of Wyoming and Colorado.
    	Texas is also conceded to the United States, with the boundary at 
    the Rio Grande. This makes the United States a transcontinental
    republic, but it also opens up new land to be disputed by pro- and
    anti-slavery forces.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	The Senate ratifies the treaty, and President Polk gets an
    appropriation bill to pay Mexico - but without the Wilmot Proviso.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	President Polk signs the bill organizing the Oregon Territory
    without slavery. The bill has passed with the support of Southern
    Senators, who clearly are willing to concede Oregon to the 
    'free-soilers' with the understanding that other territory belongs
    to the slaveholders.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	Zachary Taylor, hero of the Mexican War, is elected President.
    Taylor is a slave-holder but is not especially committed to the
    principle of slavery.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	Californians gather at a convention in Monterey and adopt a
    constitution that establishes a state forbidding slavery. They then
    ask for admission into the Union.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	President Taylor asks Congress to admit California as a state.
    Southerners object because as another free state, this will leave
    the slave states in a minority.
    	There is talk again among some, such as Calhoun, of secession,
    but Taylor says he will crush secession even if he himself has to 
    take the field again.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	The aging Senator Henry Clay, who has dedicated his career to
    preserving the Union, is annoyed at the extremists from both the South
    and North who threaten to resort to force. He offers to the Senate a
    series of resolutions that he hopes all sides can agree to.
    	The resolutions involve admitting California as a free state on the
    grounds that this is its people's own wish; meanwhile, no decision will
    be made at this time in regard to slavery in the other territory gained
    from Mexico - but the clear implication is that it will later be made
    according to the settlers' wishes.
    	Other topics in Clay's resolutions include a strict new fugitive
    slave law and the barring of trade in slaves - but not slavery itself -
    from Washington, D.C.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	In opening the Senate debate on his resolutions, Clay pleads for
    a compromise by both sides. But the strongest advocates of both sides
    oppose compromise - Senator William Seward of New York arguing that
    'there is a higher law than the Constitution which regulates our
    authority' while Senator John Calhoun of South Carolina argues that not
    only must the North concede the right of extending slavery but must
    also 'cease the agitation of the slave question'. (Calhoun is so ill
    that his speech is read for him by Senator James Mason of Virginia.)
    	But the decisive speech is made by the Senator from Massachusetts
    Daniel Webster, long a political opponent of Clay and a moral opponent
    of slavery. 'I speak today for the preservation of the union', he
    begins, and he proceeds to argue that the North must be ready to accept
    slavery for this cause. Webster does not convert everyone immediately,
    but the spirit of compromise is now abroad.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer
    

    
    	Leaders from nine Southern states convene in Nashville, Tennessee
    to discuss the issues of slavery and states' rights. Although some
    delegates openly advocate secession, the moderates prevail.
    	The convention ends when they adopt several modest resolutions,
    but one calls for extending the Missouri Compromise line of 36' 30' all
    the way across the new territories to the Pacific coast.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	President Taylor, who has opposed the compromise measures of
    Clay, dies and Vice-President Millard Fillmore assumes the office.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	Congress adopts five bills based on the original resolutions of
    Henry Clay, and they come to be known as the Compromise of 1850.
    	The one that continues to give Northerners the most trouble is the
    strict Fugitive Slave Act.
    	President Fillmore signs all the acts.
    
    					The Alabama Slammer

    
    	Southern leaders reconvene in Nashville, and since the more
    extreme delegates hold the majority there is much talk of the South's
    right to secede.
    
    					The Alabama Slammer

    
    	A state convention in Georgia votes its desire to remain in the 
    Union - but declares that the state will secede if the compromise of
    1850 is not observed by the North.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	"Uncle Tom's Cabin", by Harriet Beecher Stowe, begins to appear
    as a serial in the NATIONAL ERA, an anti-slavery paper published in
    Washington, D.C.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	The complete novel, "Uncle Tom's Cabin" or "Life Among The Lowly",
    is published in Boston.
    	Within a year it will sell over one million copies and its
    portrayal of slave life serves to arouse both Northerners and
    Southerners.
    
    					The Alabama Slammer

    
    	Franklin Pierce defeats General Winfield Scott for the Presidency
    on a Democratic Party platform that supports the Compromise of 1850.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	A national competition for the lucrative transcontinental railroad
    route has been underway for some time. Senator Stephen A. Douglas of
    Illinois, hoping to have the route pass through the Great Plains
    region, supports a bill that he hopes will win over proponents of the
    southern route (promoted, among others, by Jefferson Davis, now
    Secretary of War under President Pierce).
    	Douglas agrees to divide the central territory into two, Kansas
    Territory and Nebraska Territory; the assumption is that one will be
    settled by pro-slavery and the other by anti-slavery people; since
    Douglas endorses the concept of 'popular sovereignty', which means
    that the settlers will be able to decide for themselves, the bill
    effectively repeals the Missouri Compromise of 1820, as both Kansas
    and Nebraska lie above the latitude of 36' 30'.
    	The debate that follows once again pits pro-slavery Southerners
    against anti-slavery Northerners.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	At Ripon, Wisconsin, anti-slavery opponents of the Kansas-Nebraska
    bill meet and recommend forming a new political party, the Republican
    Party. In the months that follow, others meeting in various Northern
    states join in the formation of the new party.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	The Emigrant Aid Society is formed in Massachusetts to encourage
    anti-slavery supporters to settle in Kansas and thus 'save' it as a 
    free state. Relatively soon, about 2,000 people go under the auspices
    of this project.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	The Kansas-Nebraska Act, creating the two new territories, is 
    adopted by Congress with a clear majority, and President Pierce signs
    it. But many Northerners, even those who had previously advocated
    moderation, denounce this new development. 
    	In particular, Northerners threaten to stop obeying the Fugitive
    Slave Law of 1850.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	In Michigan, antislavery men meeting to join the new Republican
    Party, demand that both the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Fugitive Slave
    Law be repealed.
    	In the Kansas Territory, the Federal government opens a land office
    to supervise the distribution of land, but pro-slavery and anti-slavery
    settlers are staking claims and fighting each other with little regard
    for any laws.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer 

    
    	Elections for a territorial legislature are held in Kansas. Several
    thousand pro-slavery Missourians cross into Kansas and vote, thus 
    electing a pro-slavery legislature.
    	The election is recognized by the Federal governor of the
    territory.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	The Kansas legislature meets and not only adopts an extremely
    strict series of pro-slavery laws but also expels the anti-slavery
    legislators.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	Free-soil Kansans hold a convention of their own in Topeka and
    adopt a constitution that outlaws slavery. ( But they will also adopt
    a law that bars all blacks from Kansas. )
    	A virtual civil war now exists, with frequent clashes between the
    pro - and anti-slavery elements in Kansas.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	The Free-soil people of Kansas approve the Topeka constitution
    ( and the law banning blacks. )
    
    					The Alabama Slammer

    
    	Charles Sumner, the Senator from Massachusetts and an outspoken
    anti-slavery man, gives a vituperative speech against the pro-slavery
    elements in the Senate.
    	Three days later, as Sumner is sitting at his Senate desk, a South
    Carolina Representative, Preston Brooks, beats Sumner with a stick. It
    will be three years before Sumner fully recovers, but he is regarded as
    a martyr by Northern abolitionists - while many Southerners praise 
    Congressman Brooks.
    	In Kansas, late in May, pro-slavery men attack Lawrence, center of
    the anti-slavery settlers, and kill one man. In retaliation, a band of
    anti-slavery men, led by the fiery abolitionist John Brown, kill five
    pro-slavery men at Pottawotamie Creek.
    
    							The Alabama Slammer

    
    	The House of Representatives votes to admit Kansas as a state with
    its anti-slavery Topeka Constitution, but the Senate rejects this, so
    the issue is left open when Congress adjourns.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	James Buchanan, the Democratic candidate, defeats John Fre'mont,
    the Republican candidate, for the Presidency in a contest that is
    fought quite openly along the lines of South versus North, pro-slavery
    versus anti-slavery.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	The Supreme Court hands down its decision in the Dred Scott case,
    and a majority declare that the Missouri Compromise of 1820 is
    unconstitutional.
    	Scott is a black slave whose owner took him from the slave state
    of Missouri into the free state of Illinois and territory north of the
    latitude 36' 30', and then back to Missouri. 
    	Scott sued for his freedom, but the Court rules that he had never
    ceased to be a slave and so could not be considered a citizen with the
    right to sue in a federal court.
    	But the most far-reaching impact of the decision comes from the
    claim that Congress has no right to deprive citizens of their property
    - such as slaves - anywhere within the United States.
    	An outburst of protest from Northerners and Republicans greets the
    decision.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	A pro-slavery constitution for Kansas is approved by the territoral
    legislature meeting at Lecompton, Kansas.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	Kansans reject the pro-slavery Lecompton constitution, but
    President Buchanan proceeds to ask Congress to admit Kansas as a state
    under this constitution.
    	After considerable opposition by individual Congressmen and several
    revisions, a bill is passed by both houses that allows for another
    popular vote by Kansans on their constitution.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	The Republican Party of Illinois nominates a former one-term
    Representative, Abraham Lincoln, to challenge the incumbent Senator,
    Stephen A. Douglas.
    	Although personally opposed to slavery, Douglas has tried to 
    straddle the issue in order to hold the Democratic Party together, but
    his promotion of popular sovereignty - that is, allowing each territory
    or state to decide the issue for itself - has only antagonized many
    staunch pro-slavery Democrats from the South.
    	Lincoln, however, chooses to meet the issue head on, and in his
    acceptance speech at the convention he asserts, 'I believe this
    government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free.'
    
    						The Alabama Slammer
    

    
    	Lincoln and Douglas meet in towns across Illinois in a series of
    seven debates. Although Lincoln is little known outside Illinois and
    Douglas is a national figure desperately trying to placate his own
    party, the debates help to define the most pressing issue confronting
    the nation.
    	Lincoln takes a strong stand against slavery, on moral, social,
    and political grounds, while Douglas defends not slavery as such but
    the right of Americans to vote their preference.
    	Douglas will be elected Senator by the Democratic majority in the
    Illinois legislature, but Lincoln emerges on the national stage as an
    articulate and respected spokesman for the anti-slavery position.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	The Supreme Court reverses a decision of the Wisconsin Supreme
    Court in ABLEMAN vs. BOOTH and rules that the state courts may not free
    ederal prisoners. Booth had been convicted in a federal court for
    having rescued a fugitive slave, and in upholding this conviction, the
    United States Supreme Court confirmed the constitutionality of the
    Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.
    	The Wisconsin legislature declares that 'this assumption of 
    jurisdiction by the federal judiciary....is an act of undelegated
    power, void, and of no force.'
    	Although in this instance it is an anti-slavery state defying the
    federal authority, this is yet another case of a state asserting its
    rights. In any case, the federal government rearrests and imprisons
    Booth.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	The annual Southern Commercial Convention, an organization
    designed to promote economic development, after many years of
    considering the issue of reopening the African slave trade, votes to
    approve the following: 'In the opinion of this Convention, all laws,
    State or Federal, prohibiting the African Slave Trade, ought to be
    repealed.'
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

		Kansans vote to ratify an anti-slavery constitution.
	At Harper's Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia) John Brown, one of
	the most radical of the abolitionists, leads an armed group (five
	black, 13 white men) that seizes the federal arsenal. Although this
	is the first action in his vague plan to establish a 'country' for
	fugitive slaves in the Appalachians, there is no support from outside
	people. Within 24 hours he and four other survivors are captured by
	a force of United States Marines led by Colonel Robert E. Lee.
	Within six weeks he is tried for criminal conspiracy and treason,
	convicted and hanged.
		Although most Northerners condemn the way that Brown went
	about his plan, Southerners note that many Northerners admire Brown
	and his goals. They see Brown's raid as confirming their worst fears
	about the violence and upheaval that would prevail if the blacks are
	not held down firmly.

						The Alabama Slammer

		Jefferson Davis, the Senator from Mississippi, presents
	a set of resolutions to the Senate to affirm that the federal
	government cannot prohibit slavery in the territories but must
	actually protect slaveholders there.
		But Davis is less interested in getting the whole Senate's
	approval than that of the Democratic members, for he is anticipating
	the forthcoming Democratic Party convention and Presidential election.
	Davis wants to commit the Democratic Party against Stephen Douglas
	and his concept of popular sovereignty.

					The Alabama Slammer

		The Democratic Party hold its convention in Charleston,
	South Carolina. When the pro-slavery platform is rejected, delegates
	from eight Southern states depart. 
		But the remaining delegates are unable to agree on a 
	candidate, so the convention adjourns.

					The Alabama Slammer

		In Chicago, the Republican Party, on its third ballot,
	nominates Abraham Lincoln as its Presidential candidate.
		To gain the nomination, Lincoln has had to present himself
	as fairly moderate on the question of slavery, and the party's
	platform declares that it is for prohibiting it in the territories
	only but against interfering with slavery in the states.

					The Alabama Slammer
	

		The Democratic Party reconvenes, this time in Baltimore,
	and after another walkout by the anti-Douglas forces, he is 
	nominated for the Presidency.
		Later, the Southern Democrats convene in Baltimore and
	nominate the then Vice-President, John C Breckinridge, to run for
	President on a platform that calls for the protection of the right
	to own slaves.

					The Alabama Slammer

    
    	In the campaign the issues are reduced to slavery and sectionalism.
    Extremists on both sides do little except to fan the fears of people,
    North and South.
    	Only Stephen Douglas of the candidates even bothers to travel to
    all sections in an attempt to broaden his appeal, but even he soon
    realizes that his cause is lost because of the split within his own
    party.
    	Various Southern spokesmen make it clear that secession will follow
    if Lincoln is elected.
    
    					The Alabama Slammer

     
    	Abraham Lincoln is elected President with a clear majority of the
    electoral college votes but only a plurality of the popular votes.
    	Although Lincoln had deliberately muffled his message of attacking
    slavery, there is no mistaking the fact that for the first time in
    history the United States has a President of a party that declares that
    'the normal condition of all the territory of the United States is that
    of freedom'.
    	Within days of Lincoln's election Southern leaders are speaking of
    secession as an inevitable necessity.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	South Carolina, long a leader in threatening secession, holds a
    state convention that votes to secede from the union.
    	Meanwhile, Congress convenes and in an effort to work out some
    compromise each house appoints a special committee. A member of the
    Senate's committee, John J. Crittenden of Kentucky, introduces a series
    of proposals, the chief of which calls for a constitutional amendment
    that restores the Missouri Compromise line across the continent and
    for all time.
    	Although Crittenden's proposals and various others will eventually
    be brought before both houses, they will prove to be ineffectual in the
    face of events. Members of President Buchanan's cabinet are quitting in
    December to protest either his actions or inaction.
    	And Major Robert A. Anderson, in command of the federal forts in
    the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, moves his entire force to the
    larger and more defensible of the two, Fort Sumter.
    	A delegation from South Carolina comes to Washington and demands
    that President Buchanan remove all federal troops from Charleston.
    Buchanan, who has always been sympathetic to the Southern position on
    slavery and states' rights, cannot accede to such a demand. He
    announces that Fort Sumter will be defended 'against hostile attacks,
    from whatever quarter', and authorizes preparation of a relief
    expedition by sea.
    	In Illinois, President-elect Lincoln tries to avoid taking any
    position that will exacerbate the situation, but at the same time he
    has made himself clear: 'Let there be no compromise on the question of
    EXTENDING slavery.'
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	WASHINGTON: After South Carolina's vote to secede and Charleston's
    initiating war preparations, President Buchanan refuses to acknowledge
    officially a letter received from South Carolina commissioners. 
    	This letter, concerning Major Anderson's decision to hold Fort
    Sumter with a garrision of Federal troops, prompts the Cabinet to order
    reinforcement of the fort.
    
    	MILITARY: The USS BROOKLYN is readied at Norfolk, Virginia despite
    General Winfield Scott's preference for a non-naval vessel to aid
    Fort Sumter. That same day, South Carolina seizes the inactive Fort
    Johnston in Charleston Harbor. Defense of the capital is placed in the
    hands of Colonel Charles Stone, who is charged with organizing the
    District of Columbia militia.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	WASHINGTON: The compromise plan authored by Senator John J.
    Crittenden is considered for submission to public referendum, an
    idea receiving only lukewarm support in Congress.
    
    	MILITARY: Former Secretary of War Floyd's orders to remove guns
    from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on down through forts in the South are
    reversed by the War Department. With future defense in mind, Georgia
    state troops take over Fort Pulaski on the Savannah River.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	WASHINGTON: In the nation's capital, senators from seven Southern
    states meet, afterwards advising secession for their states - Alabama,
    Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.
    
    	MILITARY: Alabama further commits herself to the Southern course by
    seizing Forts Morgan and Gaines in order to defend Mobile. Meanwhile,
    250 troops are on their way to Fort Sumter. The use of BROOKLYN having
    been vetoed by General Scott, the merchant ship STAR OF THE WEST is
    called into service and sails from New York with those Federal troops.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	MILITARY: Florida troops seize the Federal arsenal at Apalachicola.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	WASHINGTON: Senator Crittenden speaks for conciliation and
    moderation, although he is against secession. He addresses the Senate,
    saying 'I am for the Union; but, my friends, I must also be for the
    equal rights of my State under the great Constitution and in this
    great Union.'
    	
    	MILITARY: The takeover of Fort Marion at St. Augustine, Florida is
    accomplished by state troops. Like all such actions, this meets with
    little, if any, opposition; most of the arsenals and forts are 
    unmanned, and the Federal government is loath to provoke confrontation
    by making outright defense preparations.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	WASHINGTON: President Buchanan urges adoption of the Crittenden
    Compromise, which would use the Missouri Compromise line to divide
    the proposed slave and non-slave territories.
    	Jacob Thompson of Mississippi, Buchanan's Secretary of the
    Interior, resigns and is replaced by Chief Clerk Moses Kelley as 
    Acting Secretary.
    
    	MILITARY: In Florida, Federal troops at Fort Barrancas open fire
    on a handful of men who advance on the Pensacola site.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	SECESSION: Despite Buchanan's pleas, Southern sentiment runs high
    in favor of secession; Mississippi votes 84-15 to leave the Union, a
    move greeted with public celebration.
    
    	MILITARY: The STAR OF THE WEST approaches Charleston Harbor but is
    fired upon prior to reaching Fort Sumter. No damage is done to the ship
    but it quickly retreats, heading back to New York.
    	Although some officers at Fort Sumter are anxious to return the
    fire opened on the relief vessel, Major Anderson forbids this action.
    He complains to Governor Pickens about volleys fired on a ship bearing
    the United States flag. The South Carolina governor replies that a
    United States ship represents a hostile presence that the now
    independent state cannot tolerate.
    	Anderson soon appeals to Washington, but there is little change
    in the situation, although Charleston reacts excitedly to this near
    outbreak of war. Fort Sumter remains under Unites States control.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer 

    
       <<< Note 53.11 by OGOMTS::RICKER "Lest We Forget, 1861 - 1865" >>>
                               -< January 1808 >-

    
>    	From the first day of the new year, the importation of slaves from
>    abroad into the United States is legally ended, as called for by the
>    Constitution. But the buying and selling of slaves within the United
>    States continues, and in practice many new slaves continue to be
>    smuggled into the states.
    
    	The Constitution only prevented the importing of slaves from
    	being banned before 1808, it did not "call for" a ban then.
    

    
    	WASHINGTON: Jefferson Davis addresses the Senate, calling for a
    decisive response to Southern demands. He decries the use of 
    'physical force' to settle those demands, asking instead that United
    States authority be maintained 'by constitutional agreement between
    the states'.
    
    	MILITARY: Lieutenant A.G. Slemmer transfer Federal troops from
    Fort Barrancas to Fort Pickens on Santa Rosa Island after Florida
    votes 62-7 to secede.
    	Orders to Major Anderson at Fort Sumter emphasize defensive
    preparations, despite the continual seizure, elsewhere, of Federal
    properties. Forts Jackson and St Philip in Louisiana are taken over
    by state troops, as is the arsenal at Baton Rouge.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer 

    
    	SECESSION: Furthering the Southern cause, Alabama's State
    Convention votes 61-39 to secede. Conversely, the New York 
    legislature votes for pro-Union resolutions.
    
    	MILITARY: Louisiana's troops occupy the United States Marine
    Hospital near New Orleans. President-elect Lincoln writes to 
    James T. Hale of Pennsylvania that 'if we surrender, it is the end
    of us, and of the government'.
    
    
    					The Alabama Slammer

    
    	WASHINGTON: Mississippi representatives leave the House. In an
    appeal to the Senate, New York's Senator Seward states, 'I do not know
    what the Union would be worth if saved by the use of the sword'.
    	
    	MILITARY: In Florida, state troops demand the surrender of Fort
    Pickens after having seized Fort Barrancas and its barracks, Fort
    McRee and the naval yard at Pensacola. Fort Pickens remains in Federal
    hands, however.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	WASHINGTON: Buchanan receives envoys from both Major Anderson
    and Governor Pickens concerning the disposition of Fort Sumter. The
    President emphasizes that the fort will not be turned over to South
    Carolina authorities.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	MILITARY: Fort Taylor at Key West, Florida, is garrisoned by 
    United States troops. This effectively prevents its future takeover
    by the South. Fort Taylor represents a major Gulf Coast base of Union
    operation and will become an important coaling station for blockaders
    during the war. Fort Pike, near New Orleans, Louisiana falls into
    state hands.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	SECESSION: Georgia secedes on a vote of 208-89 despite indications
    of Union support. Moderate leaders in that state include Alexander
    Stpehens, later to be Vice-President of the Southern Confederacy.
    	This type of moderate not withstanding, the move to secede is a 
    strong one, prompted by the earlier election of Lincoln to the
    presidency.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	WASHINGTON: The Senate, resolving that the Constitution should
    not be amended, virtually kills the Crittenden Compromise.
    
    					The Alabama Slammer

    
    	MILITARY: Mississippi troops take Fort Massachusetts on Ship Island
    in the Mississippi Gulf after several previously unsuccessful attempts
    at seizure of this military installation.
    
    					The Alabama Slammer

    
    	WASHINGTON: Five senators representing the states of Alabama,
    Florida and Mississippi withdraw from the chamber. All make farewell
    speeches, Jefferson Davis among them, who asserts 'I concur in the
    action of the people of Mississippi believing it to be necessary and
    proper'. Davis is severly downcast by this exigency, that night 
    praying for peace, according to his wife.
    
    	SLAVERY: Boston, Massachusetts is the site of an address by 
    Wendell Phillips, an ardent abolitionist. His message hails the 
    secession of slave states, for which he had little use or respect since
    they seemed to be only disruptive forces in the Federal union.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer
    

    
    	MILITARY: The arsenal at Augusta, Georgia falls into state hands.
    Federal troops from Fort Monroe, Virginia, are sent to reinforce
    Fort Pickens in Florida.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer

    
    	SECESSION: An ordinance of secession passes the Louisianna State
    Convention 114 - 17.
    
    	MILITARY: In Savannah, Georgia, both Fort Jackson and the
    Oglethorpe Barracks are taken over by state troops.
    
    					The Alabama Slammer

    
    	WASHINGTON: Kansas, with a constitution that prohibits slavery,
    receives the necessary congressional approval to become the Union's
    34th state. This action is the outcome of several years of bitter
    fighting between pro- and anti-slavery people in that former territory.
    
    					The Alabama Slammer

    
    	MILITARY: New Orleans, Louisiana is the scene of further takeovers.
    The United States Branch Mint and Customs House and the schooner
    WASHINGTON are seized by the state, ending a month of similiar events
    throughout the South.
    	The defiance of secessionists continues unabated and Washington
    seems unable, or unwilling, to still the confusion and unrest 
    engendered by Southern actions.
    
    						The Alabama Slammer