The Missouri Compromise (1820)
• In 1818 Missouri petitioned for statehood as a slave state. This event would upset
the balance between free and slave states in Congress; there were 11 free and 11
slave states in 1820.
• New York Congressman James Tallmadge introduced an amendment attached to
the statehood bill. The Tallmadge amendment would prohibit the further
importation of slaves into Missouri and free all the children of slaves once they
reach the age of 25. While the amendment failed to pass, it stirred the first
national debate on slavery.
• The potential problem of tipping the scale of power for slave or free states by
adding Missouri to the United States was solved by the Henry Clay’s Missouri
Compromise of 1820. Elements of the compromise were:
• 1. Missouri would enter the Union as a slave state
• 2. Slavery would be prohibited in the rest of the Louisiana Purchase north of the
36 degrees 30 parallel line (excluding Missouri). This line would be called the
Missouri Compromise Line which formed the border between Missouri and
Arkansas.
• 3. Maine would enter the Union as a free state
• With Missouri a slave state and Maine a free state, the balance between free and
slave states was maintained in the U.S. until 1850.
History of Tariffs in U.S.
• Tariffs- tax on imported goods that became a major
source of income for the federal government
• South- want low tariffs
• North- want high tariffs
• Tariff of 1789- first tariff passed in the United States
was set at 8% of foreign goods’ price
• Price of foreign good + tariff (percentage of price of
foreign good) = Total price of good for American
buyer.
The Escalation of Tariff Policies
• Tariff of 1816- the first high protective tariff
was passed with moderate Southern
opposition and supported by John C. Calhoun,
it was set at 25%.
• Tariff of 1824- raised the tariff to 35% despite
heavy southern opposition.
• Tariff of 1828- called the Tariff of
Abominations where the rate was raised to
50% the cost of the foreign import.
Reflection Questions
• Why did the North want high tariffs?
• Why did the South want low tariffs?
Reflection Questions Answers
• The North wanted high tariffs because it would
incentivize Americans to buy American
manufactured products that were based in the
North by increasing the cost of imported foreign
products.
• The South wanted low tariffs to keep healthy,
mutually beneficial trading relations with foreign
countries. They also did not want to be pressured to
buy the American manufactured product which was
usually of lower quality and more expensive than the
foreign imports minus the tariffs.
Nullification Crisis
• Tariff of 1832- reduced the rate to 1824 level of 35% but that did not pacify South
Carolina.
• Vice-President and former S. Carolina Congressman, John C. Calhoun, drafted and
passed a document called South Carolina Exposition and Protest
• This document protested the Tariff of Abominations on the basis of states’ rights
claiming that a state has a right to judge whether a law passed by the federal
Congress is constitutional.
• The S. Carolina legislature nullified (ignored) the Tariffs of 1828 and 1832 claiming
that the doctrine of states’ rights in the 10th amendment gave them the right to
declare federal laws unconstitutional and therefore illegal to implement or enforce.
• South Carolina threatened to secede (withdraw) from the United States if the
federal government tried to collect tariffs in their state.
• In response, President Jackson had Congress pass the Force Bill which authorized
the President to use military action to enforce the tariff. Jackson then threatened
to lead the federal army against the civilian population of S. Carolina and hang John
C. Calhoun for treason.
• Before Jackson could march on S. Carolina the proponents of nullification including
John C. Calhoun gave in and accepted the 1833 Compromise Tariff imposed by
Henry Clay.
• The Compromise Tariff of 1833 would decrease the tariff rate by one-tenth every
year until it reached 20% by 1842. (20% is the rate for 1816 tariff)
Nullification Crisis
When S. Carolina refused to obey federal laws.
They nullified (ignored)the new tariff laws arguing
the tariffs were unconstitutional because they
favored the north and hurt the south.
On which basis did John C. Calhoun
base his argument that Southerners
should not have to collect tariffs?
Individual Rights
States’ Rights
Popular Sovereignty
Republicanism
Legal Justifications of Nullification
• The South- believed that states’ rights were
supreme over the federal government. They
believed that federal authority was limited and
(based on the 10th amendment) that the United
States was a union of sovereign states who had the
right to judge whether a law passed by Congress
was constitutional.
• The North- believed in the supremacy of the
federal government over states’ rights. Based on
the Supremacy clause of the 6th amendment, it was
the federal government who held ultimate
authority over the states and could decide which
laws were constitutional.
6th Amendment Supremacy Clause
• This Constitution, and the Laws of the United
States which shall be made in pursuance
thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall
be made, under the authority of the United
States, shall be the supreme law of the land;
and the judges in every state shall be bound
thereby, anything in the constitution or laws
of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.
10th Amendment
The powers not delegated to the United States by the
Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to
the States respectively, or to the people.
Background to Compromise of 1850
• With the new territories added to the United States from their victory
in the U.S.-Mexican War came the reinvigorated controversy over
balance in Congress between free and slave states.
• In 1846 Pennsylvania Congressmen David Wilmot who represented
the antislavery, northeastern segment of the Democratic party,
introduced the Wilmot Proviso.
• The Wilmot Proviso proposed banning slavery in territory acquired
from Mexico (excluding Texas, who already had a heavy reliance on
slave labor)
• This caused a bitter four year debate on how the new territories
would be settled.
• Tensions rose even higher when California, which was already fairly
populated after the discovery of gold in 1848, applied for admission
to the Union as a free state. This would subsequently upset the
current balance of 15 slave and 15 free states.
• Henry Clay, who already engineered the Missouri Compromise of
1820 and the 1833 Tariff Compromise, masterminded the
Compromise of 1850.
• The compromise successfully delayed the Civil War for 10 years.
• Wilmot Proviso- a proposal that said that all
of the Mexican Cession would be free
territory. Southerners said slaves were
property. It led to the creation of the Free Soil
Party.
Compromise of 1850
• 1. California would be admitted as a free state instead of dividing
California into 2 states(1 free and 1 slave) like the South wanted.
• 2. The New Mexico territory would have no slavery restrictions. In the
rest of the Mexican Cession territory (New Mexico, Utah, etc) the people
in these areas would be allowed to vote on whether to allow or ban
slavery, until this point Congress made this decision. The people would
decide the issue of slavery (this is called popular sovereignty).
• 3. The slave trade was abolished in Washington, D.C. People could no
longer openly buy and sell slaves in the nation’s capital. Slavery was still
legal there, but slave auctions were now illegal.
• 4. Texas gave up the western boundary claim of the Rio Grande River in
return for the U.S. to assume Texas’ 10 million dollar debt from the days
of the Texas Republic. This ceded land became part of New Mexico
territory.
• 5. A stronger, federal, fugitive slave law was passed. The law would
ensure the return of runaway slaves even if they were discovered in the
North. People in free, northern states were suppose to help capture
and return fugitive slaves or face prison and large fines. When a
suspected runaway was caught and take to court to determine their
identity, the judge received a double fee for finding in favor of the slave
master.
Consequences of the Compromise of 1850.
• 1. California tipped the scale of free and slave states giving
Free States a majority in the Senate. Also the more
populated North (free states) held a majority of votes in
the House of Representatives. So the free states could now
successfully control and manipulate the legislation of the
United States Congress at the expense of the slave states’
agenda.
• 2. America improved her surface appearance in the eyes of
foreign ambassadors and diplomats who visited
Washington, D.C. with the absence of the dehumanizing
and brutal slave auctions.
• 3. The fugitive slave law enraged abolitionists and led to
the publication of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s, Uncle Tom’s
Cabin.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
• In 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe, a Northern abolitionist,
published Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
• It was a novel that dramatized the cruelties and evils of
slavery, spoke to readers emotionally, and created
widespread antislavery support among northerners.
• It was the most influential piece of propaganda for the
abolitionist movement by selling over 300,000 copies the
first year.
• It persuaded many northerners to join the abolitionists and
oppose the Fugitive Slave Act.
• It was banned in the South and refuted as a book of lies
and falsehoods to sway public opinion against the
institution of slavery in America.
Kansas-Nebraska Act
• In 1854 the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed which
allowed the people of the Kansas and Nebraska territories
to decide for themselves whether they wanted slavery in
their territories. The majority of the people’s will would
decide the issue of slavery, called popular sovereignty.
• This act pleased southerners at the chance of entrenching
slavery even further into society and new territories.
• However, the act enraged northerners because it repealed
the 1820 Missouri Compromise which had prohibited
slavery in this area by declaring “forever” free the
Louisiana Purchase north of the 36 degree 30’ parallel
(excluding Missouri).
Bleeding Kansas
• Many antislavery settlers, New England immigrants financed by New
England abolitionist Eli Thayer’s Emigrant Aid Society, moved to Kansas in
the hopes of swaying popular sovereignty towards a free state.
• Also many proslavery settlers mostly from Missouri came to Kansas in the
hopes of swaying popular sovereignty towards a slave state.
• Two governments, one free and one slave, were set up in Kansas with their
own capitals and they both applied for statehood.
• The result was in 1856 these rival governments and the desire to sway
popular sovereignty caused a small scale civil war in Kansas which lasted 4
months and caused 200 deaths. The armed conflicts deemed “Bleeding
Kansas” was finally stopped by the United States army.
• It can be argued that the true first shots of the Civil War were fired in
Kansas between antislavery and proslavery settlers.
• Widespread voting fraud, corruption, intimidation, and violence plagued
Kansas’ voting process that would determine the territory as a slave or free
state. (Example: 6,000 ballots were cast, yet there were only 1,500 voters in
Kansas)
• John Brown led the violent, antislavery settlers where in Pottawattamie,
Kansas they killed 5 proslavery settlers and hacked up their bodies.
• Kansas was eventually admitted into the Union as a free state in 1861.
Bleeding Kansas (1854) VIDEO
The Formation of the Republican Party (1854)
• Dissatisfaction with the Kansas-Nebraska Act led to new political
alignments: for the first time, sectional political parties developed as North
and South divided over slavery issue.
• The Republican party was created by a coalition of northerners committed
to stopping expansion of slavery into the territories. The party was
comprised of antislavery supporters from several parties including Whigs,
Democratic, Free Soil, and American Party (a secret, anti-Catholic, antiimmigrant party nicknamed the “Know-Nothing” party)
• Republican party believed in keeping slavery out of new territories, a
protective tariff for northern manufacturing, and free western farmland.
• The Whig Party died as northern Whigs joined the Republican party, and
southern Whigs joined the Democratic party.
• The Democratic Party split into northern and southern factions. Despite the
split they still won the presidency in 1856 with the appointment of
Democratic President James Buchannan.
• The formation of the Republican Party is a direct cause of the Civil War
because Southerners held the misconception that Republicans wanted the
abolishing of all slavery in the United States (including in the South) instead
they in fact simply wanted to stop the spread of slavery into new western
territories.
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Dred
Scott
Decision
In 1857, Dred Scott, a Missouri slave, sued for his freedom after briefly living (12
years) with his owner on free soil in the North (Wisconsin and Illinois). When his
owner dies he and his wife sue for their freedom instead of being inherited by his
owner’s widow.
The Southern dominated Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Roger Taney
ruled:
1. Slaves are not citizens, so they do not have the right to sue.
2. Slaves are property. They are not people or citizens and do not have any civil
rights at all.
3. Free blacks are not citizens of the U.S. They are merely escaped property,
regardless of how long they have been free or where they lived.
4. Using the 5th amendment protection of property clause and they new statute
that slaves are property, the decision said Congress could not ban slavery from the
territories or limit slaveholders from taking their property anywhere in the United
States.
5. The Missouri Compromise, which banned slavery in the Louisiana Purchase
below the 36 degree 30 parallel (excluding Missouri), was unconstitutional.
6. Supreme Court said only states and not the federal government could make laws
concerning slavery.
The Dred Scott Decision pleased Southerners and shocked the Northerners who
had vast multitudes join the Republican Party to stop the spread of slavery.
Side note: The owner’s widow remarries, returns Scott family to their original
owners and those owners set him free.
http://video.pbs.org/video/2298073
069/
Reflection Question
• What power did the Supreme Court exercise
when they declared the Missouri Compromise
of 1820 unconstitutional?
UNCONSTITUTIONAL
Reflection Question Answer
• The power of judicial review
What is the significance of the Dred
Scott V. Sanford case?
Slaves in Missouri would be freed.
Slavery would be made illegal in all
states.
Scott won his case and it led to
freeing of many other slaves.
Because slaves are considered
property, the gov’t cannot limit its
expansion.
Harper’s Ferry (1859)
http://www.history.com/topics/harpers-ferry
• In 1859, fanatical, violent abolitionist John Brown and his followers
seized a federal arsenal (where guns, ammunition, weapons are held)
at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia.
• They hoped to provide arms to slaves in the surrounding countryside
who would rise up and kill their masters thereby making themselves
free.
• Brown was quickly defeated by the United States Army, headed by
Colonel Robert E. Lee who ended the raid by surrounding, capturing,
and killing most of Brown’s men.
• John Brown was put on trial for treason and the 5 murders of
proslavery settlers during “Bleeding Kansas”. He was found guilty and
hanged.
• He became a martyred hero for many Northerners, but was also seen
as a real threat to the South who now held the view that many
Northerners would come into the South to incite slaves to massacre
their owners (the northern conspiracy).
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Election of 1860
Northern Democrats held a convention in Baltimore, Maryland and nominated Stephen
A. Douglas for president who ran on the promise of not extending slavery into western
territories.
Southern Democrats held another convention in Charleston, S. Carolina where they
nominated John Breckinridge who ran on the promise of extending slavery into the
western territories and annexing Cuba as a slave state.
Another party called the Constitutional Union Party who were made up of old Whigs,
Democrats, and Know-Nothings nominated John Bell. Bell did not take a position on
slavery and his party’s only goal was to preserve the Union and not see it divided.
Lastly, the Republican party nominated Abraham Lincoln who ran mainly on the
promise that he would not extend slavery into the western territories. Lincoln’s other
platforms consisted of a railroad for the Northwest, high protective tariff for
manufacturers in Northeast, would settle new territories and make land cheap for
farmers and western settlers, and they would not raise the requirements for
immigrants to become citizens. The Republican party left out slave owners because
they were a small percentage of the population.
Even if Democratic ticket was not split, Republicans still would have won because they
hold a larger percentage of the population.
South threatens to secede if Lincoln is elected President. They felt that Lincoln was an
abolitionist and he would abolish slavery in the South thereby destroying their way of
life, economy, and livelihood.
In reality, Lincoln on many occasions had voiced that he was not an abolitionist and he
did not want to end slavery in the South, but he did feel slavery was morally wrong and
he would not extend it into the western territories.
Abraham Lincoln is elected President and
Initial Secession
• Lincoln is elected the 16th president of the United States on
November 6, 1860 (the first Republican president) by
winning 59% of electoral votes. (40% of popular vote)
• The south validated their threat of secession when S.
Carolina became the first state to secede on November 20,
1860.
• S. Carolina legislature drafted and passed a Declaration of
Causes which included three reasons for secession: state
sovereignty, rise to power of a sectional party
(Republicans), and the election of a president “whose
opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery.”
The Confederate States of America
• S. Carolina seceded on November 20, 1860.
• By February 1861 six other states had seceded: Texas, Louisiana,
Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and Georgia.
• Delegates from these 7 seceded states met up in Montgomery,
Alabama on February 4, 1861 to form a new nation and government
called the Confederate States of America. (all this took place during
Lincoln’s lame duck period)
• They chose Jefferson Davis as the Confederacy’s President. Jefferson
was a Mississippi senator, former colonel in U.S. army, and former
secretary of war.
• The seceded states also drafted and passed the Confederate
Constitution or Constitution on the Confederate States which was
similar to the U.S. constitution but differed in:
• 1) establishing state sovereignty
• 2) protecting slavery in states and territories
• 3) banned protective tariffs
• 4) limited the president to one six year term
• The Confederacy was based in Montgomery, Alabama until the attack
on Ft. Sumter.
Justification for Secession
• The South believed they had voluntarily entered the
Union and they were free to voluntarily leave it.
• They saw the United States constitution as a
voluntary contract among independent states. So
the refusal of the U.S. government to enforce the
Fugitive Slave Act, its tariff policies, and its denial of
southern states equal rights in the territories, and
had violated this contract.