Preston Brooks was born in Edgefield District, South Carolina on August 5th, 1819. He graduated from South Carolina College (now known as the University of South Carolina), in 1839, and after he graduated he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1845. Brooks also served in the Mexican-American War with the Palmetto Regiment. After he had returned from the war, Brooks fought a duel with future Texas Senator Louis T. Wigfall. In the duel, Brooks was shot in the hip, forcing him to use a walking cane for the rest of his life.
In 1853, Brooks was elected to the 33rd Congress as a member of the Democratic Party. While in office, Brooks had met an anti-slavery campaigning Senator named Charles Sumner. Charles Sumner was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and graduated from Harvard law school in 1830. He edited a law review, the American Jurist, and served as a reporter for the United States Circuit Court. Sumner also lectured on constitutional and international law at Harvard ’s law school for three winter terms. Sumner first became a politician in 1845, while the Mexican-American War was in dispute. In an Independence Day speech before city officials in Boston, Sumner denounced the use of war for settling international disputes and promoted arbitration instead. He also opposed the annexation of Texas and criticized the institution of slavery. From these speeches, Sumner was known as a keen and favored public speaker. In 1848, Sumner abandoned the Whig party in support of Martin Van Buren’s unsuccessful Free-Soil campaign for presidency. In 1851, a Democratic-Free-Soil coalition in the Massachusetts legislature chose Sumner to fill the U.S. Senate seat of Daniel Webster, who had resigned to become Secretary of State.
While Sumner was in the Senate, he became a leader of the anti-slavery-forces. During the debates on slavery in Kansas in May 1856, Sumner delivered a two-day oration called "The Crime against Kansas", that brutally defamed Southern expansion of slavery. When Sumner gave this speech, Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina believed that Sumner had insulted his uncle, Senator Andrew Butler. Brooks backfired and used his cane to beat Sumner, who was seated at his desk on the Senate floor, until he was unconscious. Sumner, bleeding profusely, had to be carried out of the room. Sumner’s injuries from the beating kept him out of office for three years.
The severe beating on the Senate floor helped escalate the tensions that led to the Civil War and became a huge symbol for both the North and South.
This war would impact how the United States saw slavery. It is the deadliest war that the United States has ever seen in its history. It all began with the secession of South Carolina. After this, an understanding was established between the authorities in Washington and the members of Congress from South Carolina. They both agreed that the forts, Fort Moultrie and Fort Sumter, would not be attacked, or seized as an act of war, until proper negotiations for their cession to the state.
His compromises overcame regionalism and balanced state rights and national interests. He actively encouraged United State's participation in the War of 1812. As a result of the Treaty of Ghent, the United States emerged as a nation of importance and influence in the world. Henry Clay changed the role of the Speaker of the House and made it the powerful position it is today. He held that position in office longer than anyone in the history of the House of Representatives other than Sam Rayburn. Henry Clay argued before the US Supreme Court. In doing so, he introduced Amicus Brief to Supreme Court. His cases continue to be cited on a regular basis today. He was also an attorney. He won far more cases than he lost. He became the most respected breeders and farmers in America. He introduced Hereford Cattle to American and one of the most successful providers of mules in the South. Henry Clay played a major role in Lexington becoming "The Horse Capital of the World." He influenced many future political leaders with his ideology and style. Abraham Lincoln adopted much of Henry Clay's political ideology. He gave his country nearly half a century of Service as a Representative, Senator and Secretary of State. He became the most important political figures in his era. In the 1950's Henry Clay was named by a panel of historians and Senate leaders as one of the five greatest senators of all
Thaddeus Stevens was a congressman from Pennsylvania who was a member of the House of Representatives during of the time of the Civil War and Reconstruction. He was the leader of a radical wing of the Republican Party called the Radical Republicans. Stevens was one of the most powerful members of the House of Representatives who focused much of his political life on civil rights. He believed in equality for all men whether they were rich or poor, no matter what color their skin. Stevens was instrumental in drafting the 14th Amendment to the Constitution which was meant to protect the civil right of all Americans regardless of their race or gender. He was nicknamed the “Great Commoner” because he championed the plight of the everyday man. Stevens also advocated very harsh policies toward the southern states during the time of Reconstruction. Even though many of his ideas were controversial, he was regarded as a very important national figure during and immediately following the Civil War.
In conclusion the election of Lincoln as president in 1860 caused a civil war because it was falsely perceived by the south that Lincoln would threaten the state’s constitutional right to slavery. This false idea was due to a rift between the northern and southern states in both an economic and ideological manner. That is the north was based on industry and generally was opposed to slavery. But the South was an agricultural society which ran on slavery and, due to Nat Turner’s Insurrection and John Brown’s stand at Harper’s Ferry, was fearful of the north’s involvement in the governing of states as well as being opposed to this on the basis of state’s rights. The election of Lincoln caused the south to succeed from the union causing civil war.
In the years paving the way to the Civil War, both north and south were disagreeable with one another, creating the three “triggering” reasons for the war: the fanaticism on the slavery issue, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the separation of the Democratic Party. North being against the bondage of individuals and the South being for it, there was no real way to evade the clash. For the south slavery was a form of obtaining a living, without subjugation the economy might drop majorly if not disappear. In the North there were significant ethical issues with the issue of subjugation. Amazing measures to keep and dispose of subjugation were taken and there was never a genuine adjusted center for bargain. Despite the fact that there were a lot of seemingly insignificant issues, the fundamental thing that divided these two states was bondage and the flexibilities for it or against. With these significant extremes, for example, John Brown and Uncle Tom's Cabin, the south felt disdain towards the danger the Northerners were holding against their alleged flexibilities. The more hatred the South advanced, the more combative they were to anything the Northerners did. Northerners were irritated and it parted Democrats over the issue of bondage and made another Republican gathering, which included: Whigs, Free Soilers, Know Nothings and previous Democrats and brought about a split of segments and abbreviated the street to common war. Southerners loathed the insubordination of the north and started to address how they could stay with the Union.
Henry Clay was originally from Virginia but eventually moved to Lexington, Kentucky. In Kentucky, he was elected to the state legislature in 1803 and served in it until 1809. After leaving the state legislature, Clay was elected to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1811. While in the House of Representatives, he became one of the leaders of the “War Hawks.” In 1820, Clay brought about the Missouri Compromise. Clay eventually became the Speaker of the House and had great influenced over the House and he was a slaveholder. Later in his life he became known as “The Great Pacificato...
Aaron Burr was born in Newark New Jersey on February 6, 1756, and Burr was educated at what is now Princeton University. Burr joined the Continental Army in 1775, and rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Burr was appointed attorney general of New York in 1789 and served as a United States senator from 1791 to 1797 (Onager CD-ROM). In the Election of 1800, Aaron Burr was the running mate of Republican candidate Thomas Jefferson. Although Burr was running for vice-president, he received as many votes as Jefferson did, and the House of Representatives chose Jefferson as president. After Burr’s term as vice-president was over and he lost the race for the governorship of New York, Burr fought Alexander Hamilton in a duel in Weekawhen, New Jersey, on July 11,1804. Aaron Burr killed his political rival, Alexander Hamilton, and his credibility as a politician in that duel. Shortly after the duel, Aaron Burr became involved in a plot known as the Burr Conspiracy. After the scheme was discovered by Thomas Jefferson, Aaron Burr was arrested for treason. Burr was acquitted after a six-month trial on September 1, 1807.
Samuel was unhappy with farming and storekeeping, so he ran away from home to live with the Cherokees on Hiwasee Island in the Tennessee River near present-day Dayton, Tennessee. At the age of seventeen, Sam returned to his family for a short period of time and then returned back to the Cherokees where, he was adopted by Chief Oo-Loo-Te-Ka and given the Indian name, "The Raven." Two years later, Sam returned to Maryville, Tennessee, where he opened a successful private school. On his twentieth birthday, Sam Houston enlisted in the regular army as a private. Within the year, he was promoted to Third Lieutenant to the 39th Infantry Regiment where Houston was badly wounded twice at The Battle of Horseshoe Bend during the War of 1812. The battle took place on the Tallapoosa River near present-day Alexander City, Alabama.
middle of paper ... ... Violence also erupted in Congress. The abolitionist senator Charles Sumner delivered a fiery speech called "The Crime Against Kansas," in which he accused proslavery senators, particularly Atchison and Andrew Butler of South Carolina, of [cavorting with the] "harlot, Slavery."
...ate flag flew over Fort Sumter. The Civil War that was tamed since the Missouri Compromise of 1820 finally broke out. After four years of fighting, the war was over and the Union won. There were many events, laws, and people that provoked the Civil War. The main problem in every event leading up to the Civil War involved the issue of slavery, making slavery the main cause of the war. The initial blame of the war can be pointed at America 's founding fathers who knew slavery violated every aspect of America’s liberty, but yet they still did not prohibit slavery. If it was not the election of President Lincoln that caused South Carolina to secede from the Union allowing other states to follow, a different event would have triggered the war, making the Civil War inevitable. All in all, the Civil War was bound to happen and it became the bloodiest war in American history.
The end of the Mexican-American War in 1848, the publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 1852, the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, the Dred Scott Decision of 1857, John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry in 1859, and the outcome of the Presidential Election of 1860 all helped contribute to southern secession and the start of the Civil War. They each caused conditions that either strengthened the abolitionist cause, strengthened the pro-slavery cause, or strengthened both causes respectively; although the conditions made many Southerners want to leave the United After winning the Mexican-American War in 1848, the United States gained the western territories, which included modern-day California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, as well as parts of Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, and Oklahoma. However, controversial topics, that helped cause the Civil War, arose with the addition of these new territories. Primarily, the people of the United States wanted to know whether the new territories would be admitted as free states or slave states. In order to avoid fighting between the slave states of the South and the free states of the North, Henry Clay (Whig) and Stephen Douglas (Democrat) drafted the Compromise of 1850.... ...
By the year of 1860, the North and the South was developed into extremely different sections. There was opposing social, economic, and political points of view, starting back into colonial periods, and it slowly drove the two regions farther in separate directions. The two sections tried to force its point of view on the nation as a whole. Even though negotiations had kept the Union together for many years, in 1860 the condition was unstable. The presidential election of Abraham Lincoln was observed by the South as a risk to slavery and many believe it initiated the war.
This reputation was greatly enhanced when Brown and his sons led a brutal mission against the proslavery population, which resulted in five innocent proslavery settlers being mutilated and murdered. After staying in Kansas for a while longer, Brown returned to the North where he gave many speeches and fund raising meetings based on the abolishment of slavery.
There were many major events that contributed to the Civil War beginning. Such as The Mexican War ending, Fugitive Slave Act of 1950, Uncle Tom’s Cabin was released, Dred Scott decision, and Abraham Lincoln was elected president. Many would argue that Abraham being elected to office was the biggest kickstart of the Civil War but in my opinion the Fugitive Slave Act of 1950 was the biggest push towards the war. The Act caused many abolitionist to increase their efforts fighting slavery. The law insisted that anyone who did not apprehend or arrest a runaway slave would be liable to pay a fine this was the most controversial part of 1950 and caused a lot of tension between abolitionists and southerners. Abraham gave his house divided speech on
Jefferson Davis (1808-89), first and only president of the Confederate States of America (1861-65). Davis was born on June 3, 1808, in Christian (now Todd) County, Kentucky, and educated at Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky, and at the U.S. Military Academy. After his graduation in 1828, he saw frontier service until ill health forced his resignation from the army in 1835. He was a planter in Mississippi from 1835 to 1845, when he was elected to the U.S. Congress. In 1846 he resigned his seat in order to serve in the Mexican War and fought at Monterrey and Buena Vista, where he was wounded. He was U.S. senator from Mississippi from 1847 to 1851, secretary of war in the cabinet of President Franklin Pierce from 1853 to 1857, and again U.S. senator from 1857 to 1861. As a senator he often stated his support of slavery and of states' rights, and as a cabinet member he influenced Pierce to sign the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which favored the South and increased the bitterness of the struggle over slavery. In his second term as senator he became t...