The Missouri Compromise of 1820

The Missouri Compromise of1820• The debate would be whether Missouri

would be added as a free or slave state.• Missouri was added as a slave state.• Maine was added as a free state.• There remained a balance of free and slave

states in Congress.• The Missouri Compromise line was drawn

to settle future disputes over whether new states would be free or slave.

Underground Railroadand the Fugitive Slave

Underground Railroad

Secret network that helped

guide some 100,000 fugitive

slaves to freedom between

1780-1865

Fugitive Slave Lawprohibited abolitionists from assisting runaway slaves and forced slaves to be returned to their slave masters

Underground Railroadand the Fugitive Slave

• Northerners were upset that they were required by law to be “slave catchers”.

• Southerners were upset that the Northerners were not only doing nothing to help Southerners retrieve their property, but were actually taking part in “stealing” it.

Mexican CessionLand acquired in the War with Mexico

Would slavery be allowed to spread into this new territory?

The Compromise of 1850

The Compromise of 1850• California would be admitted into the

union as a free state.

• Congress would outlaw the slave trade in Washington DC, our countries capital.

• Congress would strengthen the fugitive slave law.

• Land gained from Mexico would be given “POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY” – the right to vote whether to allow slavery or not.

Uncle Tom’s Cabinby Harriet Beecher Stowe

Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a story about a slave named Tom and

his transition through three different plantations. The novel deeply divided the nation into pro- and anti-slavery forces.

Uncle Tom’s Cabinby Harriet Beecher Stowe

• Northerners were outraged to read about the horrible institution of slavery.

• Southerners claimed that the book was an exaggerated and fabricated story.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act“Bleeding Kansas”

The Kansas-Nebraska Act“Bleeding Kansas”

• The Kansas and Nebraska territory was given popular sovereignty.

• Pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces rushed to the area to influence voters.

• A famous, radical abolitionist named John Brown and his crew murdered several pro-slavery protestors.

Dred Scott Case Dred Scott first went to trial to sue for his

freedom in 1847. Ten years later, after a decade of appeals and court reversals, hiscase was finally brought before the United States SupremeCourt. In what is perhaps the most infamous case in itshistory, the court decided that all people of Africanancestry -- slaves as well as those who were free – could never become citizens of the United States and thereforecould not sue in federal court. The court also ruled that theFederal government did not have the power to prohibitslavery in its territories. Scott, needless to say, remained aslave.

Dred Scott Case• The Supreme Court’s

decision demonstrated that the Missouri Compromise and Compromise of 1850 were unconstitutional agreements.

• The ruling justified slavery and confirmed that slaves were nothing but property.

John Brown John Brown was a white

abolitionist who led two famous acts of violence against slavery.

Like Nat Turner, Brown was religiously convicted and believed

that God had called him to free the slaves by eliminating all the pro-slavery people he could find. In

1856, he and four of his sons led a raid on proslavery settlers in

Potawatomie, Kansas, killing five of the settlers.

John Brown In 1859, Brown and seventeen followers raided and captured a

federal arsenal (a place where military weapons are stored) at Harper’s

Ferry, Virginia with the intentions of gaining enough weapons to go on a

rampage killing every pro-slaver that they saw. Brown and his followers

were surrounded by federal troops at the arsenal. Several men were killed, including two of John Brown’s sons. Brown was taken to prison, tried for treason, found guilty, and hanged. Many people thought John Brown

died a hero.

Election of

1860

Election of 1860

• Democrats believed that Lincoln had an agenda to abolish slavery since he had declared that it was “immoral” and the nation would not be able to remain “half free and half slave”.

• Democrats were appalled that Lincoln was able to win despite not even being on the ballot in many southern states.

South Carolina Secedes

In 1860, South Carolina became the first state to secede from the United States. As more states followed suit and the

Confederate States of America took shape, many federal installations in the South were taken over by state governments.

Attack on Fort Sumter

Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, continued to fly the U.S. flag, even as Confederate forces

surrounded it. Lincoln decided to resupply the fort but not reinforce it, unless resistance was met.

Attack on Fort SumterAfter negotiations failed, the first shot

was fired on April 12, 1861, in abombardment that resulted in the fort's surrender. With that shot, the

Civil War began.