the missouri compromise there were 11 free states and 11 slave states in 1819. missouri wanted to...

Chapter 16: Slavery Divides the Nation

Section 1: Slavery in the Territories

The Missouri Compromise There were 11 free states and 11 slave states in

1819. Missouri wanted to join as a slave state (this would

off balance the Senate and give the South more votes)

Northerners opposed letting Missouri in as a slave state.

After much debate, Senator Henry Clay suggested admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine (which also applied to be a state) as a free state.

This was called The Missouri Compromise.


Slavery in the West Wilmot Proviso▪ David Wilmot , a member of Congress from Pennsylvania,

called for a law to ban slavery in any territories won from Mexico.

▪ Southern leaders opposed this Wilmot Proviso because Congress has no right to ban slavery in the West.

▪ Eventually, the House passed the Wilmot Proviso in 1846, but it didn’t pass the Senate.

Opposing Views▪ People had different points of views when it came to slavery.

The idea of popular sovereignty (the right of people to create their government) started to arise and now new territories were able to decide this issue on their own.


The Free-Soil Party The debate over slavery led to the birth of a new political party. In 1848, antislavery members met in Buffalo, NY. There, they

f0unded the Free-Soil party. The main goal was to keep slavery out of the western territories.

In the 1848 presidential campaign, Free-Soilers named former President Martin Van Buren as their candidate, Democrats chose Lewis Cass and the Whigs selected Zachary Taylor.

For the first time, slavery was an important election issue- Van Buren called for a ban on slavery in the Mexican Cession, Cass believed in popular sovereignty. Taylor had no opinion on slavery.

Taylor won the election yet the success of the Free Soil party showed that slavery had become a national issue.

Section 2: The Compromise of 1850

The Slavery Debate Erupts Again California’s Impact▪ In 1850, California wanted to join the U.S.,

this would cause-again- a problem because they wanted to join as a slave free state.▪ Southerners felt that the South would be

greatly outnumbered in the Senate (there was talk that Oregon, Utah, and New Mexico would join as free states as well)▪ Some Southerners suggested that the South

secede, or remove themselves, from the U.S.


Clay vs. Calhoun Clay was known as the “Great Compromiser” for

working out the Missouri Compromise. Clay, now 73, urged the North and South to come

to an agreement. Senator John. C. Calhoun of South Carolina refused

to compromise. He insisted that slavery be allowed in the Western Territories. He even stated that fugitive, runaway slaves, be returned to their owners.

If an agreement could not be reached, the South would use force to leave the Union.


Webster Calls for Unity Daniel Webster of Massachusetts

supported Clay’s plea to save the Union. Webster feared that the states could not

separate without starting a bloody civil war.

However, Webster was willing to compromise and support both sides.


Compromise of 1850 In 1850, Calhoun died and President

Zachary Taylor died as well. The new President was Millard Filmore. Unlike Taylor, he supported Clay’s compromise plan.


Compromise of 1850 Henry Clay eventually became very ill and the man

who spoke on his behalf was Stephen Douglas of Illinois.

The Compromise of 1850 had five parts:▪ 1- allowed California to enter as a free state▪ 2- divided the rest of the Mexican Cession into the

territories of New Mexico and Utah and they would decide on slavery based on popular sovereignty

▪ 3- it ended the slave trade in Washington, D.C. but not ban it in other states

▪ 4- included a strict fugitive slave law▪ 5- it settled a border dispute between Texas and New

Mexico


Fugitive Slave Act The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 required

all citizens to help catch runaway slaves


Reaction The Fugitive Slave Act enraged

antislavery northerners. By forcing them to catch runaways, the

law made northerners feel as if they were part of the slave system.


Uncle Tom’s Cabin: An Antislavery Bestseller Harriet Beecher Stowe, a New England

woman, published a novel called Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

Stowe wrote the novel to show the evils of slavery and the injustice of the Fugitive Slave Act.

Section 3: The Crises Deepens Kansas-Nebraska Act

The Compromise of 1850 dealt mainly with lands that were part of the Mexican Cession.

In January 1854, Senator Stephen Douglas introduced a bill to set up a government for the Nebraska Territory. This territory stretched from Texas north to Canada and from Missouri west to the Rockies.

He proposed that the Nebraska Territory be divided into two territories, Kansas and Nebraska. The settlers living in each territory would then be able to decide the issue of slavery by popular sovereignty.

It was known as the Kansas-Nebraska Act

Section 3: The Crises Deepens


Support for the Act Southern leaders supported the act

because they would hope that eventually slave owners would move to Kansas with their slaves.

President Franklin Pierce, a Democrat elected in 1852, also supported the bill.

With the President’s help, Douglas pushed the Kansas-Nebraska Act through Congress.


Northern Outrage Northerners were unhappy with the law

because this Act would repeal the Missouri Compromise (which already banned slavery in Kansas and Nebraska)


The Crises Turns Violent Instead of the act being peaceful, this

caused proslavery and antislavery forces to go to Kansas to fight for control of the territory

Antislavery went to gain land, proslavery went to make sure that antislavery forces did not overrun the territory

▪ Border Ruffians ->


Two Governments▪ In 1855, Kansas held elections to choose law

makers. Hundreds of Border Ruffians crossed into Kansas and voted illegally. They helped elect a proslavery legislature.

▪ The new legislature quickly passed laws to support slavery

▪ Antislavery settlers refused to accept these laws. They elected their own governor and legislature.

▪ With two rival governments, Kansas was in chaos!


“Bleeding Kansas”▪ A band of proslavery men raided the town of

Lawrence, an antislavery town, in 1856. The attackers destroyed homes, and smashed the Free-Soil newspaper.

▪ John Brown, an abolitionist, strike back. Brown rode with his 4 sons and 2 other men to the town Pottawatomie Creek. In the middle of the night, they dragged 5 proslavery settlers from their beds and murdered them.

▪ Both sides fought in bloody guerilla warfare.▪ Newspapers started calling the territory “Bleeding

Kansas”.

Section 3: The Crises Deepens Violence in the Senate

Charles Sumner (abolitionist senator) spoke about how bad slavery was and did a direct remark to Andrew Butler (proslavery senator).

Butler’s nephew, Congressman Preston Brooks marched into the Senate chamber and using a cane beat Sumner to the point of unconsciousness!!

Northerners felt this act was more evidence that slavery would eventually lead to violence.

Section 3: The Crises Deepens The Dred Scott Case

Dred Scott has been enslaved for many years in Missouri. He moved with his owner to Illinois and then to the Wisconsin Territory, where slavery was not allowed. After they returned to Missouri, Scott’s owner died.

Antislavery lawyers helped Scott to file a lawsuit.

Scott’s lawyers argued that, because Scott had lived in a free territory, he had become a free man.


The Supreme Court’s Decision▪ This case reached the Supreme Court as Dred

Scott v. Sandford.▪ The Court ruled that Scott could not file a

lawsuit because, as an enslaved person, he was not a citizen.▪ The Court also ruled that Congress did not

have the power to outlaw slavery in any territory, which indirectly meant that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional.


The Nation Reacts The South was very happy with the

outcome of the case because it meant that slavery was legal in all territories.

The North was outraged and started protest the court case publicly.

Section 4: The Republican Party Emerges

The Republican Party A group of Free-Soilers, northern Democrats, and

antislavery Whigs gathered in Michigan in 1854. There they formed the Republican party. It’s main goal was to keep slavery out of the western territories.

Republicans selected John C. Fremont to run for President.

Freemont’s main opponent was Democrat James Buchanan.

Buchanan won the election, yet the Republican party did not die down.


Abe Lincoln of Illinois From the Backwoods of Kentucky▪ Abraham Lincoln was born on the Kentucky frontier.▪ The family lived in Indiana and later in Illinois.▪ As a child, Lincoln spent only a year in school, still,

he taught himself to read.▪ As an adult, he opened a store in Illinois in which

on his spare time he studied law.▪ He served 8 years in the state legislature and one

term in Congress.▪ He ran for the Senate in 1858 because he opposed

the Kansas-Nebraska Act.


Lincoln-Douglas Debates▪ During the Senate campaign, Lincoln

challenged Douglas to a series of debates- 7 debates!▪ Douglas wanted to settle the slavery question

by popular sovereignty. He personally disliked slavery, but stated that he did not care if it passed or not.▪ Lincoln, like all whites at the time, did not

believe in equality, but did believe slavery was wrong.▪ Lincoln WAS NOT an abolitionist! He had no

wish to interfere with slavery in the states where it already existed.


A Leader Emerges Douglas won the election by a slim

margin. Still, Lincoln was a winner too. He as

now known throughout the country. Two years later, the two rivals would meet face to face-both seeking the Presidential election.


John Brown’s Raid In 1859, the radical abolitionist John Brown carried his

antislavery campaign from Kansas to the East. He led a group of followers, including five African

Americans, to the town of Harpers Ferry, Virginia. There, Brown planned to raid a federal arsenal warehouse. Brown quickly took control of the arsenal, but no other

slaves revolted, instead, General Robert E. Lee (remember that name, he will be important later), and his army captured him.

In his court trial, he was found guilty of treason and murder and hung.

To northerners, he was seen as a hero-a martyr- because he was willing to give up everything for his beliefs.

Section 5: A Nation Divides The Election of 1860

The Democrats held their convention in Charleston, South Carolina.▪ Southerners wanted the party to support slavery in the

territories, the Northerners did not. The party split in two: Northern Democrats chose

Stephen Douglas and Southern Democrats chose John Breckinridge.

To try to ease the split up, some Americans formed another political party called the Constitutional Union party. They chose John Bell to run for President.

When the election was over, Lincoln had won.

Section 5: A Nation Divides

Lincolns Inauguration ceremony

Section 5: A Nation Divides The South Reacts

To many Southerner’s, Lincoln’s election meant that the South no longer had a voice in national government and that slavery will finally get abolished.

Senator John Crittenden of Kentucky made a last effort to save the Union. ▪ In December 1860, he introduced a bill to extend the Missouri

Compromise line to the Pacific. He also wanted to add an amendment that states in the South of the Compromise Line could have slaves.

▪ The bill received little support. The South felt secession was needed.

▪ On December 20, 1860, South Carolina became the first state to secede.

▪ By late February 1861, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas had also seceded.


▪ At a convention in Montgomery, Alabama, the seven states formed The Confederate States of America.▪ Jefferson Davis of Mississippi became

the first president of the Confederacy.

Section 5: A Nation Divides The Civil War begins

When Lincoln took his oath of office on March 4, 1861, in his speech he stated that there would be no war, unless the South started it.

Jefferson Davis, however, had already ordered Confederate forces to begin seizing federal forts in the South.

By April, Confederate troops controlled nearly all forts, post offices, and other federal buildings in the South.

The Union held only three forts off the Florida coast and Ft. Sumter in South Carolina (this was an important fort to the Confederacy because it guarded Charleston Harbor)


President Lincoln learned that food supplies at Ft. Sumter were running low. He notified the governor of South Carolina that he was going to ship food to the fort. Lincoln promised not to send troops or weapons.

On April 11, 1861, the Confederacy demanded that Ft. Sumter surrender. Major Robert Anderson, the Union commander, refused. Confederate guns then opened fire on April 12, 1861. The Union ran out of ammunition and Anderson surrendered the fort.

This marked the start of the Civil War….a war that would last the next four years.


Ft. Sumter (thenand now)

the missouri compromise there were 11 free states and 11 slave states in 1819. missouri wanted to...

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