2. Chapter Objectives
Section 3: Challenges to Slavery
• Understand why the Republican Party was
formed. 
• Describe how the Dred Scott decision, the Lincoln-
Douglas debates, and John Brown’s raid affected
Americans.
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3. Why It Matters
Slavery was a major cause of the worsening
division between the North and South in the
period before the Civil War. The struggle
between the North and South turned more
hostile, and talk grew of separation and civil
war.

4. The Impact Today
“If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong,”
Abraham Lincoln wrote in a letter to A.G.
Hodges in 1864. By studying this era of our
history, we can better understand the state of
racial relations today and develop ways for
improving them.

5. Guide to Reading
Main Idea
Social, economic, and political differences divided
the North and South. 
Key Terms
• arsenal 
• martyr
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6. A New Political Party
• In 1854 antislavery Whigs and antislavery
Democrats joined with Free Soilers to create
the Republican Party. 
• The Republican Party’s main issue was the
abolition of slavery, or at least the prevention
of its spread into Western lands.
(pages 445–446)
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7. A New Political Party (cont.)
• Republican candidates began to challenge
proslavery Whigs and Democrats in state and
congressional elections of 1854, with the
message that the government should ban
slavery in the territories. 
• The election showed that the Republican Party
had strength in the North, but almost no
support in the South. 
• The Democratic Party’s strength was almost
totally in the South.
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8. A New Political Party (cont.)
• Democrat James Buchanan won the
presidential election of 1856, with the strong
support of Southerners. 
• The Democrats supported popular
sovereignty–the right of the voters in each new
territory or state to decide for themselves
whether to allow slavery.
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9. The Dred Scott Decision
• Two days after President Buchanan took office,
the Supreme Court announced the Dred Scott
decision. 
• Dred Scott was an enslaved African American
who had been taken by his owner from the
South to live for a time
in Illinois and Wisconsin, areas where slavery
was not allowed. 
• After his owner died, antislavery lawyers
helped Scott sue for his freedom, claiming that
he had for a time lived on free soil.
(pages 446–448)
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10. The Dred Scott Decision (cont.)
• In the Dred Scott decision, Chief Justice Taney
said that Scott was a slave, not a citizen, and
therefore had no right to bring a lawsuit. 
• He added that Scott’s residence on free soil did
not make him free, because he was property. 
• As property, he could not be taken away from
his owner without “due process of law.”
(pages 446–448)
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11. The Dred Scott Decision (cont.)
• Furthermore, Taney maintained that because
the Congress had no power to prohibit slavery
in any territory, the Missouri Compromise,
which had limited slavery north of the 36°30’N
latitude line in many Western territories, was
unconstitutional. 
• Finally Taney added that popular sovereignty
was unconstitutional because not even voters
could prohibit slavery, as it would amount to
taking away someone’s property.
(pages 446–448)
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12. The Dred Scott Decision (cont.)
• The Dred Scott decision outraged antislavery
advocates in the North, but pleased
Southerners, dividing the country more than
ever.
(pages 446–448)

13. The Dred Scott Decision (cont.)
• In 1858 the Senate race in Illinois attracted
national attention. 
• It pitted Democratic Senator Stephen Douglas
against a little-known Republican challenger
named Abraham Lincoln. 
• Douglas was against slavery personally, but
believed that popular sovereignty would
resolve the issue without interfering with
national unity.
(pages 446–448)
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14. The Dred Scott Decision (cont.)
• Lincoln also personally opposed slavery, but
thought there was no easy way to eliminate it
where it already existed. 
• He thought the solution was to prevent its
spread into the territories.
(pages 446–448)
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15. The Dred Scott Decision (cont.)
• Lincoln challenged Douglas to a series of
debates leading up to the election. 
• The seven debates took place between August
and October 1858. 
• Slavery was the main topic.
(pages 446–448)
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16. The Dred Scott Decision (cont.)
• During the debates Douglas put forth his idea
that people in a territory could exclude slavery
by refusing to pass laws protecting
slaveholders’ rights. 
• This became known as the Freeport Doctrine,
after the Illinois town where Douglas made the
statement. 
• This point of view gained Douglas support
among those that were against slavery but lost
Douglas support among the proslavery
population.
(pages 446–448)
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17. The Dred Scott Decision (cont.)
• Douglas claimed that Lincoln wanted African
Americans to be equal to whites. 
• Lincoln denied this. 
• He said that he and the Republican Party
merely felt that slavery was wrong. 
• Douglas narrowly won the election, but during
the debates, Lincoln earned a national
reputation. 
• After the election of 1858, Southerners felt
increasingly threatened by the growing power
of the antislavery Republican Party.
(pages 446–448)
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18. The Dred Scott Decision (cont.)
• A raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia, further fed
Southern fears. 
• On October 16, 1859, abolitionist John Brown
led a small group of whites and free African
Americans in a raid on an arsenal at Harpers
Ferry. 
• The aim was to arm enslaved African
Americans and spark a slave uprising.
(pages 446–448)
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19. The Dred Scott Decision (cont.)
• The plan failed and the United States Marines
under Colonel Robert E. Lee captured Brown
and some of his followers. 
• Brown was tried, found guilty of murder and
treason, and hanged. 
• Several of Brown’s followers met the same
fate.
(pages 446–448)
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20. The Dred Scott Decision (cont.)
• John Brown’s death became a rallying point for
abolitionists in the North. 
• But when Southerners learned of Brown’s
connection to abolitionists–he had been
encouraged and financed by a group of
abolitionists–their fears of a great Northern
conspiracy were confirmed. 
• Distrust and animosity between the North and
South were about to reach the breaking point.
(pages 446–448)
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