Transcript Antebellum: Slavery Conflicts in law

Bellringer
What are 3 ways the US
expanded to satisfy
Manifest Destiny?
War, Treaty and Purchases
th compromise
Name
two compromises
3/5
Commerce
Compromise (20 that
years)
in the Constitution
deal with Slavery.
Made
easier
and
Howtrade
did quicker,
the Erie
Canal
cheaper between the West and
andNorth
Transcontinental
RR
East,
and South
help the US?
Bellringer
Why
was
debate
If MS
joined
as athere
slave state,
the
senate
have more
slavethe
overwould
Missouri
joining
senators than USA
free ?
House
Burgesses
Mayflower
Whatofwere
theand
first
forms
Compact
of self government in the
colonies?
The Fugitive Slave act forced
Americans
to escaping
report runaways
Why did
slaves
need to go to Canada?
Antebellum: Slavery Conflicts in
law
Review
Manifest Destiny was fueled since the acquisition of the Louisiana Territory. Soon
treaties, wars, and purchases had expanded the USA all the way to the Pacific
Coast:
-Adams-Onis Treaty= Florida
-Gadsden Purchase= South West California
-Mexican War= Texas, California, New Mexico and Arizona
-Oregon Compromise=
49th Parallel (Oregon)
Problems
As the US expands, the debate over slavery heats up. Some believed new
territories should be admitted as slave states, others believed they should be
free states. These conflicts played out in a series of compromises, deals and
laws to keep the peace.
Representation
The decision over whether or not slavery was allowed in the territories was
especially important because of representation. The North, with a bigger population,
already dominated the House of Representatives. The South, therefore, demanded a
balance of power in the Senate, where each state gets 2 Senators.
Missouri Compromise (1820)
As America gained more lands, the
question of whether or not slavery
should be allowed in the territories
resurfaced. When Missouri asked to
join the USA debate raged over
whether Missouri would be a slave
or free state.
Missouri compromise (cont…)
North:
Missouri as a Slave
state would upset the
balance of power in
Congress
South:
Government can’t tell
states what to do
(reserved powers)
Compromise:
Missouri would join as a Slave state, but Maine
would also join as a free (keeps Congress balanced)
Any states North of the 36◦30’N would be Free
Compromise of 1850
After the Mexican War, the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo granted the United
States a huge tract of land in the Southwest. Many northern abolitionists worried
that the territory would become slave states.
In 1849 the debate heated up when the state of California asked to join the Union
as a Free state.
What event occurred in 1849
that caused thousands of
people to settle in California?
Gold Rush
Compromise (cont…)
Henry Clay proposed 5 laws that would keep the peace:
1) California would be a Free state
2) New Mexico and Utah could decide for
themselves to be a free or slave state
3) Slave trade was abolished in Washington, D.C.
4) Slavery was still legal in D.C.
5) The Fugitive Slave law
Can you tell which laws were meant to
satisfy the Northern States and which
were meant for the Southern States?
Fugitive Slave Law
The fugitive slave law required that ALL citizens must return escaped slaves to
their owners. Additionally, because slaves were still considered property they
could not sue their owners or plead for freedom with a jury trial.
Kansas Nebraska Acts (1854)
Ambitious senator Stephen Douglas wanted Kansas and Nebraska to become
states so the railroad could be extended from Chicago, Illinois into the West.
However, Kansas and Nebraska are North of 36◦30’N , therefore could only be
admitted as Free states. However, this would upset the South. So Douglass
proposed the Kansas Nebraska Act:
-The issue of slavery would be decided by popular sovereignty.
Popular sovereigntypolicy of letting people in
a territory decide
whether slavery would be
allowed
Kansas Nebraska Acts (1854)
The Kansas Nebraska Act turned into a mistake for Douglass. The Southerners
were happy that slavery could be extended north of the Missouri Compromise
line, but the Northerners saw the act as a sell out to the South.
What should have been peaceful movements to determine popular sovereignty
turned into several bloody and chaotic events.
Popular sovereigntypolicy of letting people in
a territory decide
whether slavery would be
allowed
Fighting for Kansas
In 1854-55 anti-slavery groups sent some
1,200 New Englanders to Kansas to fight
against Slavery. These people were known
as the Free Soilers. Proslavery settlers from
Missouri crossed into Kansas to illegally vote
in territorial elections.
Free Soiler- people
who worked to end
slavery in the territories
Bleeding Kansas (1856)
Proslavery Southerners looted newspaper offices, businesses and homes in Lawrence,
Kansas, a center of free-soiler activity. This illegal action was supported by a proslavery
Federal Marshal.
In response John Brown, an Ohio raised abolitionist, gathered a group of New
Englanders to a proslavery town. Together they dragged 5 men from their homes,
killing them with swords in front of their families.
Bleeding Sumner
Violence was not only found in Kansas. On May 22, 1856, Senator Charles
Sumner of Massachusetts gave a speech titled “The Crime against Kansas”.
Sumner, a powerful abolitionist, attacked southerners for forcing slavery into
Kansas.
Preston Brooks, enraged at
Sumner’s words, approached
Sumner 2 days later and beat
him with a cane. Sumner
survived but was never
healthy again. Brooks
resigned, but was immediately
reelected.
Dred Scott decision 1857
Scott v Sandford Case brief:
-Dred Scott, an enslaved man in Missouri filed suit against his owner.
-He claimed that since he had lived in free territories, he was free.
-Sandford claimed Scott was a slave, and therefore property. Amendments 4 and
5 protect property
Supreme Court decision:
-Scott is not a citizen and therefore cannot sue in court
-Southerners can take their property with them anywhere, including free
territories
-Slaves are property
The Lincoln Douglas debates 1858
As slavery debates continued to rock government, debates between two up and
coming senate nominees in Illinois.
Douglas
-Believed Whites were
superior to African Americans
-Americans should have
popular Sovereignty
Abraham Lincoln
-believed everyone was due
the rights of Life, Liberty and
the pursuit of happiness.
-Majority rule should not deny
minorities their rights
NEITHER man wanted to forbid slavery
NEITHER man wanted to forbid slavery
NEITHER man wanted to forbid slavery
NEITHER man wanted to forbid slavery
Lincoln Douglas Debates
The debates between Lincoln and Douglas
were covered nationwide. Eventually, Douglas
won the Election. However, Abraham has
made his mark as an eloquent, moral man
known.
He had also foretold a severe issue
approaching:
“A house divided against itself cannot stand. I
believe this government cannot endure,
permanently half slave and half free.”
John Brown’s raid 1858
John Brown, famous for the slaying of 5 pro-slavery men in Kansas, attacked the
Federal Arsenal at Harper’s Ferry. Brown, along with 21 other men, attacked the
arsenal. They were hoping to secure the weapons, give them to enslaved people,
and incite an uprising of the slaves.
The US troops, under the command of Robert E. Lee, surrounded the arsenal,
killing half the men. Brown even lost two of his sons. After being arrested, Brown
was convicted of treason and sentenced to be hanged.
Arsenalplace where
weapons are
made and stored
2mins
5mins
Failure
Despite the many attempts at compromise, Slavery is still a hot button topic. However,
the issue of slavery is not truly the argument. The debate is whether states or the
government have the right to decide the slavery issue.
As the topic is further debated, the US comes closer and closer to the Civil War.
Review
The abolitionist movement, the women’s suffrage
movement, and the current Gay rights movement
are all examples of reform efforts that
1. Succeeded without causing major controversy
2. Developed significant popular support
3. Achieved their goals without government action
4. Failed to affect the nation as a whole
Review
“Compromise Enables Main and Missouri to Enter
Union (1820)”
“California Admitted to Union as Free State (1850)”
“Kansas- Nebraska Act Sets up Popular Sovereignty
(1854)
Which issue is reflected by these headlines?
1. Enactment of protective tariffs
2. Extension of slavery
3. Voting rights for minorities
4. Universal public education
Review
“By the 1850s, the Constitution, originally framed
as an instrument of national unity, had become a
source of national discord.”
This quotation suggests that
1. Vast differences of opinion existed over the
issue of States rights
2. The federal government had become more
interested in foreign affairs than in domestic
problems
3. The constitution had no provisions for
governing new territories
4. The southern states continued to import slaves
Review
The United States Supreme Court decision in Dred
Scott v Sanford (1857) was important because it
1. Strengthened the determination of abolitionists
to achieve their goals
2. Caused the immediate outbreak of the Civil
War
3. Ended the importation of slaves into the United
States
4. Increased the power of Congress to exclude
slavery from the territories
Civil war resources