CHAPTER
10
The Union in Peril
Overview
Time Lines
SECTION
1 The Divisive Politics of Slavery
SECTION
2 Protest, Resistance, and Violence
SECTION
3 The Birth of the Republican Party
SECTION
4 Slavery and Secession
Chapter Assessment
Transparencies
CHAPTER
10
The Union in Peril
“Can we as a nation continue together
permanently —forever—half slave and half free?”
Abraham Lincoln, 1855
THEMES IN CHAPTER 10
Immigration and Migration
Women in America
Constitutional Concerns
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CHAPTER
10
The Union in Peril
“Can we as a nation continue together permanently–
forever–half slave and half free?”
Abraham Lincoln, 1855
What do you know?
Read the quote above and answer the following:
• In Lincoln’s view, which is more important,
abolishing slavery or having a unified country?
• Do you think American society today would be
better or worse if the Union had peaceably
broken up into two nations?
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CHAPTER
10
Time Line
The United States
1850 Harriet Tubman becomes a conductor on the
Underground Railroad.
Congress passes Compromise of 1850.
California enters the Union.
1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes
Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
1854 The Republican Party forms.
Congress approves the KansasNebraska Act.
1857 Chief Justice Roger Taney announces
decision in case involving Dred Scott.
1859 John Brown attacks the arsenal at
Harpers Ferry, Virginia.
1861 The Confederacy forms.
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CHAPTER
10
Time Line
The World
1851 Taiping rebellion in China begins.
1852 South African Republic is established.
1853 Crimean War begins.
1856 British engineer Henry Bessemer
develops process to produce steel.
1857 Mexico institutes a new constitution.
Sepoy Rebellion in India begins.
1859 Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species
is published.
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SECTION
1
The Divisive Politics of Slavery
Learn About
the controversy over slavery in the territories.
To Understand
why the Compromise of 1850 was adopted.
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SECTION
1
The Divisive Politics of Slavery
Key Idea
The issue of slavery continues to dominate
U.S. politics in the early 1850s, despite the
Compromise of 1850.
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SECTION
1
The Divisive Politics of Slavery
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Section 1 Assessment
SUMMARIZING
What was each region’s position on the following issues or
how was each region affected by the following trends?
TREND OR ISSUE
NORTH
SOUTH
1. INDUSTRY AND RAILROADS
Extensive industry
and railroads.
Little industry and
few railroads.
2. IMMIGRATION
High immigration.
Little immigration.
3. INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS
Supported internal
improvements.
Opposed internal
improvements.
4. WILMOT PROVISO
Supported Wilmot
Proviso.
Opposed Wilmot
Proviso.
5. SLAVERY IN CALIFORNIA
Opposed slavery in
California.
Supported slavery
in California.
SECTION
1
The Divisive Politics of Slavery
Section 1 Assessment
HYPOTHESIZING
After reviewing issues and events in this section that reflect
the growing conflict between the North and the South, do
you think there were any points at which a different action or
leader might have resolved the conflict?
THINK ABOUT
• issues raised by the Wilmot Proviso, California’s statehood,
and the Compromise of 1850
• reasons for Northerners’ anger with the South
• constitutional concerns raised by Southerners
• the political impact of adding new free states
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SECTION
1
The Divisive Politics of Slavery
Section 1 Assessment
EVALUATING
Did the North or the South win more significant concessions
in the Compromise of 1850?
THINK ABOUT
• issues that were most sensitive in 1850
• issues that had the greatest long-range impact
• issues that might have been solved by other compromises
• issues that would have affected the territories
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SECTION
2
Protest, Resistance, and Violence
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Learn About
the Fugitive Slave Act and the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
To Understand
how the controversy over slavery became increasingly
violent.
SECTION
2
Protest, Resistance, and Violence
Key Idea
Proslavery and antislavery factions disagree
over the treatment of fugitive slaves and the
spread of slavery to the territories.
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SECTION
2
Protest, Resistance, and Violence
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Section 2 Assessment
SUMMARIZING
What were the major events in the growing conflict between
the North and the South?
1849
Harriet Tubman
escapes slavery
and reaches
Philadelphia.
1850
Congress passes
Fugitive Slave Act.
1852
Harriet Beecher
Stowe publishes
Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
1855
Two governments
are established in
Kansas.
1854
Congress passes the
Kansas-Nebraska
Act.
1856
The sack of Lawrence
and the Pottawatomie
massacre occur.
SECTION
2
Protest, Resistance, and Violence
Section 2 Assessment
RECOGNIZING EFFECTS
Explain how Uncle Tom’s Cabin affected the abolitionist
cause.
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SECTION
2
Protest, Resistance, and Violence
Section 2 Assessment
SYNTHESIZING
Explain the concept of popular sovereignty and describe
Northern and Southern reactions to it as a way of making
decisions about slavery in the territories.
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SECTION
3
The Birth of the Republican Party
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Learn About
the impact of slavery, immigration, and sectionalism
on U.S. politics.
To Understand
why new political parties emerged in the mid-19th
century.
SECTION
3
The Birth of the Republican Party
Key Idea
Many factors—including an increase in
immigration and the collapse of the Whig
Party—lead to a political split over the issue
of slavery.
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SECTION
3
The Birth of the Republican Party
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Section 3 Assessment
SUMMARIZING
Which events led to the growth of the Republican Party in
the 1850s?
Whig Party divides over slavery.
Know-Nothing Party divides over slavery.
Free-Soil Party opposes slavery in the
territories.
Temperance advocates support
Republicans.
Small farmers want land grants in the West.
Commercial farmers and manufacturers want
internal improvements.
Bleeding Kansas angers opponents of slavery.
Caning of Sumner angers Northerners.
Growth of the
Republican Party
SECTION
3
The Birth of the Republican Party
CONTRASTING
Section 3 Assessment
3
How did the attitudes toward slavery held by abolitionists,
free-soilers, and Know-Nothings differ?
THINK ABOUT
• the ultimate goal of abolitionists
• the reason free-soilers objected to slavery
• what caused the split in the Know-Nothing Party
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SECTION
3
The Birth of the Republican Party
Section 3 Assessment
SYNTHESIZING
Imagine that you are living in a small town in Illinois in
1855. Write a flyer attracting people to a meeting of the new
Republican Party in Illinois.
THINK ABOUT
• issues that concern voters
• reasons that people might want to leave their current
political parties
• signs that the Republican Party will be successful
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SECTION
4
Slavery and Secession
HOME
Learn About
the increasingly divisive effects of slavery on national
politics in the late 1850s.
To Understand
why the South seceded.
SECTION
4
Slavery and Secession
Key Idea
A series of controversial events heighten the
sectional conflict and bring the nation to the
brink of war under President Buchanan’s weak
leadership.
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SECTION
4
Slavery and Secession
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Section 4 Assessment
SUMMARIZING
How did the following six events sharpen the North-South
conflict?
Event
Result
1. Dred Scott decision
Northerners feared that slavery would
expand everywhere.
2. Lecompton constitution
Divided the Democrats over
slavery.
3. Lincoln-Douglas debates
Highlighted the debate over
slavery.
4. Harpers Ferry raid
Southerners feared efforts to
promote slavery rebellions.
5. John Brown’s hanging
Northerners found a martyr for the
antislavery cause.
6. Election of 1860
Led to Southern secession.
SECTION
4
Slavery and Secession
Section 4 Assessment
FORMING OPINIONS
If you had been voting in the presidential election of 1860,
for whom would you have voted?
THINK ABOUT
• each candidate’s views on slavery and other issues
• each candidate’s experience and personality
• each candidate’s ability to keep the country united
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SECTION
4
Slavery and Secession
Section 4 Assessment
ANALYZING ISSUES
Do you think Lincoln made the right decision in choosing
not to free the slaves immediately once the Confederacy had
been formed?
THINK ABOUT
• the number of states that had already seceded
• the importance of the border states
• possible reactions if he had freed the slaves
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Chapter
10
Assessment
1. Describe the economic differences between the North
and the South in the 1850s.
2. Explain why the Wilmot Proviso failed to pass in
the Senate.
3. What were the major terms of the Compromise
of 1850?
4. Compare the impact of Harriet Tubman and Harriet
Beecher Stowe on antislavery attitudes in the North.
5. What were the basic provisions and results of the
Kansas-Nebraska Act?
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Chapter
10
Assessment
6. Why did the Republican Party grow as the Whig and
Know-Nothing parties declined in the 1850s?
7. Summarize the results of the election of 1856.
8. How did the Dred Scott decision affect slavery in
the territories?
9. Compare and contrast Abraham Lincoln’s and
Stephen A. Douglas’s view about slavery in
the territories.
10. Why was the South so upset by Lincoln’s election?
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