Wilmot then replied, equally defiant. Years later, looking back on the polarized positions of Wilmot, Calhoun, and their supporters, Senator Thomas Hart Benton mused: “Truly the abolitionists and the nullifiers were necessary to each other—the two halves of a pair of shears, neither of which could cut until joined together. Then the map of the Union was in danger for in their conjunction, that map was cloth between the edges of the shears.”

Document 1: John C. Calhoun: Let Us Be Done with Compromises
Sir, there is no mistaking the signs of the times; and it is high time that the Southern States, the slaveholding States, should inquire what is now their relative strength in this Union… already we are in a minority in the other House, in the electoral college, and I may say, in every department of this Government, except at present in the Senate of the United States…[thus we] have at present only one position in the Government, by which we may make any resistance to this aggressive policy which has been declared against the South…[And more free states are likely to be admitted so that in a few years] How will we then stand? There will be but fourteen on the part of the South–we are to be fixed, limited, and forever–and twenty-eight on the part of the non-slaveholding States! Twenty-eight! Double our number! We shall be at the entire mercy of the non-slaveholding States. Can we look to their justice and regard for our interests? I ask, can we rely on that?
Now, sir, I put again the solemn question—Does the Constitution afford any remedy?How, then, do we stand in reference to this territorial question—this public domain of ours? Why, sir, what is it? It is the common property of the States of this Union… Sir, these territories are the property of the States united; held jointly for their common use. And is it consistent with justice–is it consistent with equality, that any portion of the partners, outnumbering another portion, shall oust them of this common property of theirs–shall pass any law which shall proscribe the citizens of other portions of the Union from emigrating with their property to the territories of the United States?
Let us be done with compromises. Let us go back and stand upon the constitution!

1.    According to Calhoun, what made the South a minority?

2.    Why did Calhoun reference the Constitution?

3.    What did Calhoun mean about taking “property” into the new territories that were “publicly” owned by every American?

Document 2: David Wilmot Replies: Defeat Today Will But Arouse the Teeming Millions
I ask not that slavery be abolished. I demand that this Government preserve the integrity of free territory against the aggressions of slavery against its wrongful usurpations. Sir, I was in favor of the annexation of Texas. I supported it with my whole influence and strength. I was willing to take Texas as she was…Slavery existed in Texas…the whole of Texas has been given up to slavery. The Democracy of the North, almost to a man, went for annexation. Yes, sir, here was an empire larger than France given up to slavery. Shall further concessions be made by the North? Shall we give up free territory, the inheritance of free labor? Must we yield this, also? Never, sir, never, until we ourselves are fit to be slaves…Defeat! Sir, there can be no defeat. Defeat today will but arouse the teeming millions of the North, and lead to a more decisive and triumphant victory tomorrow.

1.    What was Wilmot’s position on slavery?

2.    Why did Wilmot think the South should be happy to get Texas as a slave state?

3.    Why did Wilmot see the loss of free territories as a defeat?

Synthetic Questions:
1.    What two main causes of the Civil War were illustrated by these documents?

2.    Why was compromise so difficult between Calhoun and Wilmot? Do their views on slavery and economic freedom surprise you? Did they make you re-think your understanding of the causes behind the civil war?

Summary Question: (Be sure to give a complete answer. I’d suggest 6-9 sentences.)

Why was the decade of the 1850s pivotal in the movement toward Civil War? Do you think that America could become so divided again that civil war is the only option?

Essay

1.    Select an example of politics, economy, or social relations from the reading. Examples might include: Nullification, John C. Calhoun, Wilmot Proviso, Fugitive Slave Act, Bleeding Kansas, Free Soil, Dred Scott, Republican Party, Lincoln-Douglas Debates, John Brown, Lincoln and slavery, southern nationalism, secession, and Fort Sumter.

2.    You should first explain what it is and why you think it is historically significant.

2.    Then explain what this example reveals about how colonial culture shaped the national foundation during the “Origins of a Nation.”
Short and Concise Answers)

Give Me Liberty, Chapter 13; You only need to read the introduction as well as the sections entitled, “A Dose of Arsenic,” “The Rise of the Republican Party,” “The Emergence of Lincoln,” and “The Impending Crisis.”

1.    How did the Wilmot Proviso undermine the Missouri Compromise?

2.    How did ideas about economic freedom facilitate the appeal of the Free Soil position?

3.    Why did the Fugitive Slave Act create more problems than it solved?

4.    What was the Kansas-Nebraska Act?

5.    What defined the Northern economy?

6.    How did the Free Labor Ideology shape the Republican Party?

7.    What was the ultimate result of “Bleeding Kansas” and the 1856 election?

8.    Why did the Dred Scott decision exacerbate sectional tensions?

9.    What was the aftermath of the Dred Scott decision?

10.    How did Lincoln embody the emerging values of the Republican Party?

11.    What was Lincoln’s view of slavery?

12.    What two positions on slavery did Lincoln and Douglass represent in their 1858 debates?

13.    How did John Brown illustrate the growing radicalism in America on the issue of slavery?

14.    How did southern nationalism contribute to the division of America?

15.    What fueled the secessionist movement?

16.    What factors turned the secessionist movement into a crisis?

17.    Was war inevitable in the early weeks of Lincoln’s presidency?

18.    How did Lincoln view the attack on Ft. Sumter?

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