21.3 Failed Compromises
Main Idea
Disagreements
between the North
and the South,
especially over the
issue of slavery, led
to political conflict.
Why It Matters Now
Regional differences
can make national
problems difficult to
resolve.
CA. Standards
• 8.9.4 Discuss the importance of the
slave issue as raised by the
annexation of Texas and California’s
admission to the union as a free
state under the Compromise of
1850.
• 8.9.5 Analyze the significance of the
States’ Rights Doctrine, the Missouri
Compromise (1820), the Wilmot
Proviso (1846), the Compromise of
1850, Henry Clay’s role in the Missouri
Compromise and the Compromise of
1850, the Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854),
the Dred Scott v. Sandford decision
(1857), and the Lincoln-Douglas
debates.
Daily Guided Questions
1. How did the admission of new states to the
Union fuel the debate over slavery and states’
rights?
2. How did the nation try but failed to deal with
growing sectionalism?
3. Why did Calhoun oppose California’s
admission to the Union?
4. What was the Compromise of 1850, and why
did it fail?
Quick Write
Wilmot Proviso
• No slavery in territory gained from Mexico.
• North
-Wants to end the spread of slavery.
-Slave terr. adds slave states.
-No jobs for free workers.
• South
-Slaves are property protected by the Constitution.
-Fears more free states.
Free-Soil Party
• Opposes spread of slavery into territories.
-Not abolitionist.
-Worried about white wage-based labor.
• Made up of Democrats and Whigs.
• Ex-president Martin Van Buren was their
candidate for the 1848 election.
• Lost election to Zachary Taylor.
California Annexation
• Backed by President
Taylor.
• Statehood would upset
balance between free
and slave votes in
congress.
-South threaten to secede.
• Henry Clay of Kentucky
proposes compromise to
save Union.
Henry’s Compromise
• CA. Free State
• Fugitive Slave Law
• Popular Sovereignty- territory votes for
slavery or not.
• Government pays Texas $10 mil. for
eastern New Mexico.
• Slave trade banned in Washington D.C.
-Allows slavery
Debate over Compromise
• North
• Daniel Webster
• Asked for
compromise to
preserve Union.
• South
• John C. Calhoun
• Annexation of CA.
would threaten
Southern way of life.
• Demanded
constitutional
amendment to
protect states’ rights.
• Or Secession.
Webster
Calhoun
Compromise of 1850
• To please the North
• Statehood of CA.
• Banned slave trade in
D.C.
• Popular sovereignty
• To please the South
• Popular sovereignty will
decide slavery issue in
territories.
• Allowed slavery in D.C.
• Congress could not
regulate slave trade
between slave states
• Fugitive slave law.
Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
• Effective throughout the country.
-Slave catchers roamed throughout the North.
• Government officials ordered to arrest accused
runaway slaves.
• No warrants, accused denied jury trials.
• Federal commissioners paid more for returning
than freeing accused.
• Northerners required to assist in capture.
-Fined and imprisonment if assisted fugitives.
Harriet Beecher Stowe
• Author of Uncle
Tom’s Cabin.
-Portrayed the
moral evils of
slavery.
-Form of
propaganda,
banned in the
South.
Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854
• Senator Stephen Douglas pushed the bill.
-Repeals Missouri Compromise.
• Created Kansas and Nebraska Territories.
-Lay north of Missouri Compromise line.
-Would be free states, angered South.
• Popular Sovereignty- residents would decide
the issue.
• Passed, but angered many.
Bleeding Kansas
• Thousands pour into territory.
-Antislavery and proslavery.
• 1855, elections held.
-pro-slavery “border ruffians” vote illegally.
-Two governments.
• Lawrence, KS.
-800 pro-slavery posse burn and loot town.
• Pottawatomie Massacre.
-John Brown and followers kill 5.
• Incidents kill over 200.
Violence in Senate
• Senator Charles Sumner verbally
attacks slavery.
• Congressman Preston S. Brooks
beats Sumner for insults to uncle.
• Southerners applaud Brooks;
Northerners condemn him.
VOCAB.
• Pick three words to define using a
What/Why Important/As A Result
graphic organizer.
• You may pick any three words
from pg. 356-367.
Study Guide pg. 162
• Copy and complete the study
guide on the failed compromises
of the 1850’s.
• Study guide pg. 162 & textbook
pg. 362-367.
• 8.10.1 Students compare the
conflicting interpretations of state
and federal authority as emphasized
in the speeches and writings of
statesmen such as Daniel Webster
and John C. Calhoun.
Essential Question
1. Who was the congressman that proposed the
Compromise of 1850?
Period 6
• Answer all “Checkpoint” questions pg. 357-359.
• Do the “Reading Primary Sources”, pg. 358.
• Answer all Check your Progress” questions 1-7,
pg. 359.
• Answer all “Checkpoint” questions pg. 362-367.
• Answer all Check your Progress” questions 1-5,
pg. 367.
• Start taking notes (three from each section) pg.
368-372. Label each section.