=References=

P.E.  Chadwick, Causes of the Civil War (American Nation Series).

W.E.  Dodd, Statesmen of the Old South.

E. Engle, Southern Sidelights (Sympathetic account of the Old South).

A.B.  Hart, Slavery and Abolition (American Nation Series).

J.F.  Rhodes, History of the United States, Vols.  I and II.

T.C.  Smith, Parties and Slavery (American Nation Series).

=Questions=

1.  Trace the decline of slavery in the North and explain it.

2.  Describe the character of early opposition to slavery.

3.  What was the effect of abolition agitation?

4.  Why did anti-slavery sentiment practically disappear in the South?

5.  On what grounds did Calhoun defend slavery?

6.  Explain how slave owners became powerful in politics.

7.  Why was it impossible to keep the slavery issue out of national politics?

8.  Give the leading steps in the long controversy over slavery in the territories.

9.  State the terms of the Compromise of 1850 and explain its failure.

10.  What were the startling events between 1850 and 1860?

11.  Account for the rise of the Republican party.  What party had used the title before?

12.  How did the Dred Scott decision become a political issue?

13.  What were some of the points brought out in the Lincoln-Douglas debates?

14.  Describe the party division in 1860.

15.  What were the main planks in the Republican platform?

=Research Topics=

=The Extension of Cotton Planting.=—­Callender, Economic History of the United States, pp. 760-768.

=Abolition Agitation.=—­McMaster, History of the People of the United States, Vol.  VI, pp. 271-298.

=Calhoun’s Defense of Slavery.=—­Harding, Select Orations Illustrating American History, pp. 247-257.

=The Compromise of 1850.=—­Clay’s speech in Harding, Select Orations, pp. 267-289.  The compromise laws in Macdonald, Documentary Source Book of American History, pp. 383-394.  Narrative account in McMaster, Vol.  VIII, pp. 1-55; Elson, History of the United States, pp. 540-548.

=The Repeal of the Missouri Compromise.=—­McMaster, Vol.  VIII, pp. 192-231; Elson, pp. 571-582.

=The Dred Scott Case.=—­McMaster, Vol.  VIII, pp. 278-282.  Compare the opinion of Taney and the dissent of Curtis in Macdonald, Documentary Source Book, pp. 405-420; Elson, pp. 595-598.

=The Lincoln-Douglas Debates.=—­Analysis of original speeches in Harding, Select Orations pp. 309-341; Elson, pp. 598-604.

=Biographical Studies.=—­Calhoun, Clay, Webster, A.H.  Stephens, Douglas, W.H.  Seward, William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, and Harriet Beecher Stowe.

CHAPTER XV