Political Compromises to Save the Union

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Political Compromises to Save the Union
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Review

• 1. The economy of the North was based on...
• a. cotton farming
• b. factories, trade and farming
• c. social movements like abolitionists
• d. railroads, mining and cattle ranching

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• 2. The greatest American export by 1860 was
• a. cattle
• b. gold
• c. manufactured goods
• d. cotton

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• 3. True or False In the mid-1800s the South saw
  the development of several social movements like
  the abolitionists and women suffrage.
• True
• False

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• 4. In 1848, the United States gained a whole lot
  of new land (southwest and California) after a
  war with...
• a. France
• b. England
• c. Mexico
• d. Texas

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• Missouri Compromise of 1820
• An imbalance of states would give more political
  power to the majority (more senators)
• Congress decides to keep a balance of free and
  slave states.

Slave States
Free States
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How do they do this in 1820?
Maine a free state
In the West North of the 36 30 latitude would be
free, south of this line, slave
Missouri a slave state
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• The 36 30 line was supposed to extend all the way
  to the Pacific Ocean. Any new states below that
  line would be slave, any above would be free. Do
  you think this was a fair line?
• Yes
• No
• Be ready to explain your answer.

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As an express condition to the acquisition of
any territory from the Republic of
Mexico...neither slavery nor involuntary
servitude shall ever exist in any part of the
said territory. Congressman David Wilmot, 1846
The Wilmot Proviso, as it was called, along with
the new lands of the Mexican-American War,
reignited the debate between free and slave
states.
Free States
Slave States
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• Problems in 1850
• Continued growing tension between free and slave
  states
• What to do with all the new land in the West
  (from Mexico)?
• Compromise of 1820 Should California be half
  slave, half free?
• South is angry that northern authorities ignore
  runaway slave laws

Compromise of 1850
What the North Liked What the South Liked
California a free state Popular sovereignty for in territories in the new land
Buying and selling slaves banned in Washington DC Fugitive slave Act to be enforced by local authorities
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Fugitive Slave Act
What it did for the South Northern states had
to cooperate with runaway slave catchers Over
300 runaways returned
How the North Reacted Blacks fled to Canada
white abolitionists were outraged Some states
passed laws challenging the federal governments
authority (almost nullification)
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Many northerners are outraged by seeing slave
catchers hauling off runaway slaves in the North!
Many southerners are outraged by the resistance
of the fugitive slave law in the North
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• Given the fact that slaves at this time were
  considered property, did southerners have the
  right to be angry at northerners for frustrating
  their efforts to recover runaway slaves?
• Yes
• No
• Be ready to explain your answer.

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"I have lost two, one after another,--left 'em
buried there when I came away and I had only
this one left. I never slept a night without him
he was all I had. He was my comfort and pride,
day and night and, ma'am, they were going to
take him away from me,--to sell him,--sell him
down south, ma'am, to go all alone,--a baby that
had never been away from his mother in his life!"
- Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Ch.
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Uncle Toms Cabin, 1852
This book by Harriet Beecher Stowe did what
abolitionists had been trying to do for years
put a human face on slave life. By 1854, more
than 1 million copies had been sold.
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This act allowed for the residents of these
territories to decide the slave/free question for
the state. This led to a bloody mess in Kansas!
Bloody Kansas
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After massive voting fraud on both sides. Kansas
emerges as a SLAVE STATE. Antislavery voters
refuse to accept it. In 1856, a proslavery group
marched into an antislavery town and destroyed
two antislavery printing presses, burned a
hotel, and looted the buildings. Antislavery
forces under John Brown responded by killing five
residents of a small proslavery settlement. In
Congress, Congressman Preston Brooks of South
Carolina attacked abolitionist Senator, Charles
Sumner from Mass., after Sumner had insulted his
family. Sumner was clubbed severely.
Bleeding Kansas, 1855-56
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Dred Scott Decision, 1857

• Dred Scott was a slave that had traveled and
  lived for many years with his master.
• When his master died, he sued his mistress for
  his freedom. The federal court agreed with him,
  since he had lived so long in the North.
• The Supreme Court decided against this ruling.
  The Court said
• Slaves are not citizens therefore, they have no
  right to sue
• Slaves are property (like luggage) they can be
  taken wherever.

are
Slaves
Property
What does this mean to free states?
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John Browns Raid, 1859
The head of the massacre in Kansas, John Brown,
leads a group of 18 black and white men to a
federal arsenalhis intent is to steal weapons
and start a slave revolution. Brown captures the
arsenal but is caught by the Marines on the way
out. He and his men are killed or hung.
In the 1830s, a black pastor named Nat Turner
had led a slave rebellion that was eventually
quashed. Why would this event be even more
terrifying to white southerners?
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Democratic Party splits
Lincoln wins by a landslide! He is antislavery
and hated by the South. The South begins to
secede.
Election of 1860
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Use this map to answer the question about
secession