History 103 *** AMERICAN HISTORY TO 1877 *** Dec. 2, 1996

"A HOUSE DIVIDED"

I. Controversy over the Dred Scott Decision (1857)

II. Controversy over the Lecompton Constitution

• Proslavery convention drafts Lecompton constitution (1857)
• Conflicting referendum results
• Democrats divide over Kansas policy
• Congress rejects Kansas's application for statehood (1858)

III. Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1858)

• Abraham Lincoln's "House Divided" speech
• Douglas and Lincoln on race, slavery
• Lincoln's charge re: Slave Power conspiracy
• Douglas's Freeport Doctrine
• Douglas reelected

IV. John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry (1859)

• Brown's plan
• Raid's failure
• Brown's martyrdom
• Sectional responses

V. Presidential Election of 1860

• Southern Democrats walk out of convention
• Northern Democrats nominate Douglas
• Southern Democrats nominate John C. Breckinridge
• Constitutional Union party nominates John Bell
• Republicans nominate Lincoln
• Campaign
• Lincoln's victory and its implications