Tracing the economic, social, political events from 1846 to the outbreak of the U.S. Civil War

Michael Quiñones, NBCTwww.socialstudiesguy.com

Northern Mind Southern Mind

For each of the following terms described in the lesson write the name of the law, incident or event in the column you believe would make the Northern or Southern mind most angry. Include 1-2 sentences explaining why that person would be angry beneath each term.

Wilmot ProvisoReason-Southerners believed slave abolition movement would expand

For example…

Northern Congressman David Wilmot did not want the potential territories acquired from the Mexican War to become slave states.

Wilmot attempted to add to a bill [hopeful law] to ban slavery in any new territory.

Wilmot’s Proviso riled up Southern states and caused sectionalist arguments throughout the United States.

Wilmot’s Proviso was passed in the U.S. House of Representatives but later declared unconstitutional by the Dred Scott case ruling.

Popular=people or citizens Sovereignty=self rule/self control Popular Sovereignty=Citizens rule/control

themselves democratically.

Disagreements over the slavery issue were created by Wilmot’s Proviso.

The decision was made to allow citizens of each Western territory to vote on and decide the slave or non-slave status of the territory.

The Free Soil Party was an abolitionist leaning political party with its origins in New York .

Although most so-called Free Soilers were against slavery, most wanted the new territories to be free from having blacks to provide exclusive farm opportunities for white farmers.

The slogan of the Free Soil Party was “Free soil, free speech, free labor and free men.” The party was too controversial and was never able to win the presidency.

As a way of trying to heal divisions over slavery in the Western Territories between supporters and opponents two old war hawks Henry Clay and John Calhoun essentially led the way to a 3-pronged compromise:

[A] California was admitted as a free state in 1850.[B] Utah and New Mexico would decide slave status by popular sovereignty.[C] Strict Fugitive Slave Law was passed to return slaves who escaped to

free states.

The federal Fugitive Slave Act included as part of the Compromise of 1850 was very harsh.

Northerners were required to participate as witnesses or to help in seizures.

Any “colored” person free or escaped had only to be “pointed out” to be arrested.

After a capture a federal commissioner decided if the person would be sent South.

Fees of $10 were paid to commissioners for each judgment against captured persons [incentive to deport].

The tension and pressure created by the law was incredible. Secret Freeman Societies were formed to protect and hide colored people from seizures

A former slave born in Maryland who gained her freedom by escaping as a 29 year old woman. In 1849 she became a conductor [escape leader] on the Underground Railroad.

Tubman secretly traveled South more than a dozen times to lead escaped slaves to freedom.

The “railroad” was actually a series of clandestine [secret] routes that led to Northern states and Canada.

Most of the supporters were white abolitionists who risked jail and heavy fines for harboring runaway slaves.

Harriet Stowe was raised by one of the most well known New England ministerial families [most of the men were preachers] who were also abolitionists.

Stowe, after hearing about the horrors connected to the Fugitive Slave Act, authored one of the most tragic American novels ever written [sold over 300,000 copies in 1852] called Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

Her story about the murder of a slave at the hands of his master was one of the leading events toward ending slavery.

Southerners were outraged at how they were portrayed and Northerners were outraged at the horrors of the slave system.

If you remember from Goal 1 in order to create a better route for railroads to the Southern city New Orleans…

Territory in Arizona and New Mexico was bought from Mexico.

The territory was given free status [no slave holding allowed].

An example of popular sovereignty in the Western territories was the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

This law gave settlers the power to decide if they wanted to allow slavery or prohibit slavery

Kansas-Nebraska Act=Popular sovereignty

During the 1850s many riots, fights and skirmishes took place in the Kansas territory.

Because the area was not regulated by the U.S. government lawlessness was able to take place frequently [armed robberies, murders, etc.].

Anti-slavery “free-staters” fought against slave supporters . Even in Congress lawmakers fought over whether to allow slavery

including the Brooks-Sumner Incident [Abolitionist Senator was severely beaten with a cane by a South Carolina House Representative over an anti-slave speech].

A political party that participated in violence against immigrants was the Know-Nothing Party.

The group was considered to be nativist because it wanted to preserve American language and culture from foreign influence.

Slave Dred Scott sued in court for his freedom from his slave master.

He believed he should be freed because he and his wife had been held illegally as slaves in Missouri and Illinois where slavery was unlawful.

The U.S. Supreme Court did not agree with Scott because he was considered property not a citizen [therefore he had no legal standing to sue].

Abolitionists were furious with the Court’s decision and tension between the North and South increased.

He was later freed by his owner despite the court ruling.

Abraham Lincoln and several other elected officials formed a new Republican Party based on anti-slavery and abolition reforms which was descended from the Whig Party.

Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States in 1860 and a major part of his platform [set of ideas] was abolition of slavery.

In fact the Emancipation Proclamation was issued to free all slaves in 1862.

Political debates between two candidates for U.S. Senate: Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas in 1858.

The main issue discussed was the abolition of slavery and the prohibition of slavery in the Western territories such as Kansas and Nebraska.

Neither candidate favored slavery but Lincoln believed immediate abolition would tear the nation apart.

Douglas supported his Freeport Doctrine which allowed popular sovereignty to decide the slavery issue in the Western Territories.

John Brown was an abolitionist originally from Connecticut [North] .

He absolutely hated slavery and fought several times to abolish it [including in Bleeding Kansas].

In 1859 he decided to attack a militia fort that had weapons with 20 other men [including blacks] at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia.

His force was defeated by nearly 100 U.S. Marines. He was captured and put on trial for treason.

He was found guilty and hanged.

John Wilkes Booth witnessed the execution and was so angry he vowed revenge against the North.

Assignment#1-R.A.F.T. paper Write a narrative [first person account] choosing one of the

following topics:

[A] Supporter/Opponent of Wilmot Proviso[B] Supporter/Opponent of Compromise of 1850[C] Supporter/Opponent of Free Soil Party[D] Supporter/Opponent of Fugitive Slave Act[E] Escaped slave/free colored person “up North” during time of Fugitive Slave Act[F] Conductor/supporter on Underground Railroad[G] Southerner/Northerner who hears about or read Uncle Tom’s Cabin

You must explain in detail why you support or oppose choices A-D, use descriptive examples to explain your actions and opinions. You must completely fill one side of a page [you may write more if you need to]. You may also add drawings/images on a separate sheet of paper for added explanation.

Assignment#2-Poster or Advertisement

Create a poster/advertisement providing information to worry, scare, help or warn people about the benefits or dangers of one of the following:

• Wilmot Proviso• Fugitive Slave Act • Popular Sovereignty• Underground Railroad• Uncle Tom’s Cabin

The poster must look old [as if it was from the 1850s]

Your poster/ad will be judged on the degree of creativity, authenticity, originality and persuasiveness.

Assignment#3-Newspaper page assignment• Create a newspaper page including 3 separate individual stories, addressing 3

separate terms related to sectionalism.

• You must have at least 10 sentences in each story addressing the most important parts of the terms as well as 1 image related to each news story.

• You are also required to include your own analyses/opinions but the essence of the news stories must be based on the historical events themselves.

http://diplomatdc.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/mexicancession.gif http://www.communitywalk.com/map/list/31411?order=0 http://americancivilwar.com/pictures/compromise_1850.html http://thomaslegion.net/fugitivhttp://www.dreadcentral.com/news/31281/cold-spots-t

he-octagon-houseeslaveactof1850.html http://www.nndb.com/people/451/000048307/ http://truckandbarter.com/2006/06/uncle-toms-cabi.html http://www.oldmesilla.org/assets/images/gadsden-purchase-map.jpg http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_J2K8DVmgWWk/R-VmcLolrAI/AAAAAAAAAE8/tw-yK1Pg8nA/

s320/kansas_nebraska_act_2.bmp http://www.civilwaracademy.com/images/bleeding-kansas.jpg http://bentcorner.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/abraham-lincoln-picture.jpg http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_y8ag4VGcCHo/TIidaiqVUWI/AAAAAAAAIIo/Sy8DZyDwzzU/

s1600/2004november_week2b.jpg http://www.africawithin.com/bios/dred_scott.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lincoln_Douglas_Debates_1958_issue-4c.jpg http://www.visualeditors.com/jackson/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/news-page-13-

13-may.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:John_Brown_portrait,_1859.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:John_Brown_-_Treason_broadside,_1859.png http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Immigrants1.jpg http://phobos.ramapo.edu/~theed/MLS%20610%20Multiethnic/images/c%20Feb

%207%20Other%20Europeans/history_nativism2.jpg