America Under Franklin Pierce and
James Buchanan, 1853-1860
The Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Utopian
Movements, the Dred Scott Decision, and
the Election of Lincoln
From the Series
America’s Era of Expansion and Reform
1817-1860
Produced by
Ancient Lights Educational Media
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Table of Contents
Introduction to the Series
. . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Introduction to the Program . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Links to Curriculum Standards . . . . . . . . . .2
Instructional Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Pre-Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Student Preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Student Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Introducing the Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
View the Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
Discussion Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
Description of Blackline Masters . . . . . . . .6
Extended Learning Activities . . . . . . . . . . .7
Answer Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
Script of Narration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
This video is closed captioned.
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teaching in conjunction with this program, America Under
Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan, 1853-1860: The KansasNebraska Act, the Utopian Movements, the Dred Scott Decision,
and the Election of Lincoln. This right is restricted only for use with
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America under Franklin Pierce and
James Buchanan; 1853-1860:
The Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Utopian Movements, the
Dred Scott Decision, and the Election of Lincoln
Viewing Time: 14 minutes with a one-minute,
five-question Video Quiz
INTRODUCTION TO THE SERIES
This standards-based series of programs for grades 5-9 examines the period of expansion and reform that occurred in the
United States starting with the presidency of James Monroe in
1817 and continued up to the election of Abraham Lincoln in
1860.
The five programs in this series focus on key events that shaped
the history of the United States from 1817 to 1860. Major topics examined are:
• U.S expansion and how it affected American Indians and foreign powers.
• How industrialization, immigration, expansion of slavery, and
westward movement changed the lives of Americans and led
toward regional tensions.
• The extension, restriction, and reorganization of American
political democracy.
• The sources and character of cultural, religious, and social
reform movements in the antebellum period.
INTRODUCTION TO THE PROGRAM
America under Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan, 18531860: The Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Utopian Movements, the
Dred Scott Decision, and the Election of Lincoln presents the
following topics:
· The Presidency of Franklin Pierce, 1853-1857
· The Gadsden Purchase and the Kansas-Nebraska Act, 18531854
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· An Era of Reform and Self Improvement
· James Buchanan and the Dred Scott Decision, 1857
· The Lincoln-Douglas Debates, 1858
· The Election of President Abraham Lincoln and the Establishment of the Confederacy, 1860-1861
LINKS TO CURRICULUM STANDARDS
The series of which this program is a part is correlated to the
U.S. National History Standards, listed below
(www.sscnet.ucla.edu)
U.S. National History Standard 1
United States Territorial Expansion between 1801 and 1861,
and how it affected relations with external powers and Native
Americans.
Standard 1A
The student understands the international background and consequences of the Louisiana Purchase, the War of 1812, and the
Monroe Doctrine.
Standard 1B
The student understands federal and state Indian policy and the
strategies for survival forged by Native Americans.
Standard 1C
The student understands Manifest Destiny, the nation's expansion to the Northwest, and the Mexican-American War
U.S. National History Standard 2
How the Industrial Revolution, increasing immigration, the
rapid expansion of slavery, and westward movement changed
the lives of Americans and led to regional tensions.
Standard 2A
The student understands how the factory system and the transportation and market revolutions shaped regional patterns of
economic development.
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Standard 2B
The student understands the first era of American urbanization.
Standard 2C
The student understands how antebellum immigration changed
American society.
Standard 2D
The student understands the rapid growth of "the peculiar institution" after 1800 and the varied experiences of African
Americans under slavery.
Standard 2E
The student understands the settlement of the West.
U.S. National History Standard 3
The extension, restriction, and reorganization of political
democracy after 1800.
Standard 3A
The student understands the changing character of American
political life in "the age of the common man."
Standard 3B
The student understands how the debates over slavery influenced politics and sectionalism.
U.S. National History Standard 4
The sources and character of cultural, religious, and social
reform movements in the antebellum period.
Standard 4A
The student understands the abolitionist movement.
Standard 4B
The student understands how Americans strived to reform society and create a distinct culture.
Standard 4C
The student understands changing gender roles and the ideas
and activities of woman reformers.
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INSTRUCTIONAL NOTES
Before presenting this lesson to your students, we suggest that
you preview the program, review the guide, and the accompanying Blackline Master activities in order to familiarize yourself with their content.
As you review the materials presented in this guide, you may
find it necessary to make some changes, additions, or deletions
to meet the specific needs of your class. We encourage you to
do so; for only by tailoring this program to your class will they
obtain the maximum instructional benefits afforded by the
materials.
PRE-TEST
Pre-Test is an assessment tool intended to gauge student comprehension of the objectives prior to viewing the program.
Explain that they are not expected to get all the answers correct.
You can remind your students that these are key concepts that
they should focus on while watching the program.
STUDENT PREPARATION
Set up a Learning Center with images relevant to the topics presented in this program, such as:
DA map of the Gadsden Purchase, maps depicting changes in
U.S. territories and states 1853-1861, a map of the Butterfield
stage route, a map of the first transcontinental railroad, and a
map of the Oregon Trail.
DPictures of Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Stephen
Douglas, Fredrick Douglass, John Brown, Harriet Beecher
Stowe, Harriet Tubman, William Lloyd Garrison, Ralph Waldo
Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Abraham Lincoln.
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STUDENT OBJECTIVES
After viewing the program and completing the follow-up activities, students should be able to:
• Discribe the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
• Explain the Missouri Compromise.
• Explain the Dred Scott Decision.
• Describe the events the led up to the breakup of the Union of
States and the outbreak of the Civil War.
• Describe 19th century movements of reform and selfimprovement.
• Explain the Gadsden Purchase.
INTRODUCING THE PROGRAM
This program could be introduced with a review of the Missouri
Compromise, as its demise with the passage of the KansasNebraska Act had significant consequences in terms of further
dividing the nation. The Missouri Compromise also played a
key role in the Dred Scott Decision, in that Scott had based his
plea for freedom on that law, but the Supreme Court declared
that it had been unconstitutional.
The period from 1853-1861 was a time when old territories
gave rise to new states (Minnesota, Oregon, and Kansas) and
many new territories. For example, the territories of Washington, Dakota, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, and Nevada were all
created during this period. A brief review of the "rapid fire" territorial changes of this period would be useful.
Discuss some of the many 19th century movements that were
dedicated to reform and self-improvement.
Duplicate and administer Blackline Master #1, Pre-Test.
Remind your students that they are not expected to know all the
answers. Suggest that they use these questions as a guide for
taking notes on the key concepts while viewing the program.
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VIEW THE PROGRAM
Running Time: 14 minutes plus a one-minute, five-question
Video Quiz.
Hand out Blackline Master #3, Video Quiz.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
After viewing the program, you may find it helpful to discuss
key concepts as a class. The following questions/statements
may prove to be useful. You may also choose to use these topics to begin a discussion prior to viewing the program.
· What did the Supreme Court say in its decision on the Dred
Scott case?
· Why did South Carolina decide to leave the Union of States?
· Why were Northerners more opposed to slavery than Southerners?
· What was the purpose of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and how
did it affect the expansion of slavery?
DESCRIPTION OF BLACKLINE MASTERS
Blackline Master #1, Pre-Test, is an assessment tool intended
to gauge student comprehension of the objectives prior to viewing the program.
Blackline Master #2, Post-Test, is an assessment tool to be
administered after viewing the program and completing additional activities. The results of this assessment can be compared
to the results of the Pre-Test to determine the change in student
comprehension before and after participation in this lesson.
Blackline Master #3, Video Quiz, is intended to reinforce the
key concepts of the program following the presentation of the
program. Student awareness that a Video Quiz will be given
also helps promote attention to the program presentation.
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Blackline Master #4, Crossword Puzzle, is a puzzle game
based on information presented in the Vocabulary List.
Blackline Master #5, Timeline and Activity, presents important chronological events from 1849 to 1861.
Blackline Masters #6 and #7, Vocabulary List and Activity,
includes important names, people, places, and terms relating to
events that occurred during this era in history.
EXTENDED LEARNING ACTIVITIES
Field trips to historic sites are the best way to savor the flavor
of America's early days. Research papers, oral reports, news
reports, or PowerPoint® presentations could be done on the following subjects:
1. The Kansas-Nebraska Act
2. The U.S. Supreme Court and the Dred Scott Case
3. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates
4. Franklin Pierce
5. James Buchanan
6. Stephen Douglas
7. Establishing a railroad to the Pacific Ocean.
ANSWER KEY
Blackline Master #1, Pre-Test
1. True
2. True
3. False. It was a Supreme Court decision over slavery.
4. False. The Gadsden Purchase added much less land than the
Louisiana Purchase.
5. False. The Shakers were communal religious groups active in
19th century America.
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Blackline Master #2, Post-Test
A. Fill in the blanks:
1. Gadsden Purchase
2. Sail around the tip of South America
3. Republican Party
4. Buchanan
5. Civil War
B. What was the basis of the lawsuit filed by Dred Scott?
1. Dred Scott was a slave from Missouri. Back in the 1830s, his
owner had taken him to live in the Minnesota Territory, a place
where slavery was illegal under the Missouri Compromise.
Scott contended that having lived in a free territory for some
time entitled him to his freedom.
C. Name three main Supreme Court rulings contained in the
Dred Scott Decision.
1. Even though it had been repealed in 1854, the Missouri
Compromise, by limiting a slave owners right to take his property (his slaves) into those regions, had been unconstitutional,
so Scott had no legal basis for his case.
2. Slavery could not made illegal in new territories, such as
Kansas and Nebraska, because restrictive laws represented unconstitutional interference with a slave owner's legal right to
freely take his property (slaves) into the new territories.
3. People of African descent, whether free or slave, were not
allowed to be citizens of the U.S.; thus, Dred Scott did not have
a legal right to file a lawsuit in the first place.
Blackline Master #3, Video Quiz
1. False. The land it added was in the southwest region.
2. False. It permitted slavery under the concept of "popular sovereignty."
3. False. It was a Supreme Court decision.
4. True
5. True
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Blackline Master #4, Crossword Puzzle
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F O R T
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S T
E P H E N D O U G L A S
Blackline Master #5, Timeline Activity
1. 1854
2. 1853
3. 1860
4. 1861
5. 1856
Blackline Master #7, Vocabulary Activity
1. secede
2. popular sovereignty
3. slavery
4. Missouri Compromise
5. Stephen Douglas
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SCRIPT OF NARRATION
America under Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan, 18531860: The Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Utopian Movements, the
Dred Scott Decision, and the Election of Lincoln
During the eight years before the outbreak of America's Civil
War, two men, Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan, were inaugurated as Presidents of the United States.
This was an extremely unsettled time in American history due
to rising anger and frustration over the issue of the expansion of
slavery. The nation was becoming increasingly divided between
South and North; between fee state and slave state. And neither
Pierce nor Buchanan was able to keep the Union from falling
apart.
The Presidency of Franklin Pierce, 1853-1857
Franklin Pierce, America's 14th President, was a lawyer and a
Democrat from the state of New Hampshire. Before becoming
President, Pierce had represented his state here in the nation's
capitol in both the Senate and House of Representatives. And
he had served as an officer in the Mexican War as well.
After being elected President, Franklin Pierce had to confront
two major national problems. One was the growing opposition
to the expansion of slavery. And the other was a rising tide of
prejudice against new immigrants who were arriving in the
country each day by the thousands.
But, in spite of these enormous problems, the era of Franklin
Pierce was a time of great prosperity for the United States, due
in part to the recent discovery of gold in California. It was a
time when huge numbers of pioneers loaded their possessions
into covered wagons and headed down the Oregon Trail to start
new lives in the western wilderness; a time when paddlewheeled steamboats, loaded with bales of cotton and other
goods, chugged majestically up and down America's great
rivers; a time when big factories dominated much of life in the
New England states by providing steady jobs for those willing
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to work long hours at noisy machines. And it was also a time
when some people were starting to plan new railroad routes that
would soon span the entire North American continent.
The Gadsden Purchase and The Kansas-Nebraska Act,
1853-1854
When President Franklin Pierce moved into the White House in
1853, only a few years had passed since the nation had acquired
its lands along the Pacific Ocean. At that time, there was still no
railroad line to the west coast. But people knew that as soon as
one could be built, a cross-country trip could be made in less
than a week. As it stood, most passengers and trade goods from
the Atlantic Coast had to travel by ship around the tip of South
America, so that a voyage of several months was required to
reach the harbor of San Francisco from eastern ports.
Back then, land surveyors believed that one of the most practical routes for a railroad to California would pass through the hot
desert land south of the Gila River in today's state of Arizona.
However, in early 1853, that land still belonged to Mexico. But
later that year, Mexican President Antonio Lopez de Santa
Anna sold America this region, called the Gadsden Purchase,
for $10 million. And, as a result of the Gadsden Purchase, over
29,000 square miles of land, or nearly 77,000 square kilometers, were added to the country.
While new land was being acquired for a southern railroad
route, Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas proposed the creation of a northern railroad route to the Pacific that would run
west from the growing city of Chicago. Douglas knew that a
northern railroad route would be of great financial benefit to his
home state of Illinois. And, a northern railroad route would run
through the unorganized territory in the center of the country,
bringing rapid settlement to that area as well. Back then, this
region was home to several large Native-American tribes and
the huge herds of buffalo upon which they depended for food.
To win the approval of voters from the southern slave states for
a northern railroad route, the creation of two new territories,
Kansas and Nebraska, was proposed. Douglas wanted them to
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be places where popular sovereignty would exist, meaning that
if the settlers in these territories wanted slavery, they could have
it. And so, with the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in
1854, the Missouri Compromise, the law that had kept slavery
out of the North for 34 years, was repealed. In response to its
passage, a group of people in Wisconsin founded the Republican Party. Its main purpose was to support politicians, like
Abraham Lincoln, who sought to end slavery in America.
An Era of Reform and Self-Improvement
People who struggled to bring an end to slavery, such as the
abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, and ex-slaves Harriet
Tubman and Fredrick Douglass, were typical of the countless
reformers that were active in America during the first half of the
nineteenth century. These reformers—both men and women—
worked hard, not only to rid the nation of the evils of slavery,
but also to improve education, improve the lives of the poor,
improve conditions in the factories, improve the treatment of
the mentally ill, improve the rights of women, and so forth.
Some reformers even established ideal communities where people came to improve themselves by living and working together in peace and harmony. For they believed that if the conditions under which people lived were improved, ordinary human
beings could accomplish truly amazing things. For example, a
religious group known as the Shakers founded several ideal
communities that, at one time, were home to as many as 6,000
people. Here at Pleasant Hill in Kentucky, hundreds of Shakers
shared housing and meals, and practiced nonviolence, purity,
and equality.
James Buchanan and the Dred Scott Decision, 1857
In 1857, while the reformers worked to improve American society, James Buchanan, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, took the
oath of office as America's 15th President. Only two days after
President Buchanan was inaugurated, Supreme Court Chief
Justice Roger Taney issued a series of rulings called the Dred
Scott Decision that would come to have a tremendous impact
on the future of the United States.
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Dred Scott was a slave from Missouri. He had filed a lawsuit
asking the Court to grant him his freedom on the grounds that,
many years earlier, his owner had taken him to live for an
extended period in a territory where slavery was illegal under
the Missouri Compromise. This was the 1820 law, repealed in
1854, that had permitted slavery in Missouri as long as it was
outlawed in territories north of what was called the Missouri
Compromise Line.
When they issued the Dred Scott Decision, the U.S. Supreme
Court ruled that the Missouri Compromise had been unconstitutional because it had illegally deprived slave owners of their
right to own a certain kind of property, that is, their slaves, in
the northern territories. In other words, the Court said that Dred
Scott had based his case on an unconstitutional law and thus, it
had no merit. In addition, the Supreme Court went on to repeal
laws that restricted the rights of American citizens to own
slaves in the new U.S. territories, such as Kansas and Nebraska.
Furthermore, the Court ruled that blacks, even if they weren't
slaves, were not allowed to be U.S. citizens. Therefore, they
said, Dred Scott should never have been allowed to file a lawsuit in the first place.
President Buchanan supported the decision in the Dred Scott
case and it was hailed as a great victory for the pro-slavery
forces of the South. But Northerners reacted to it angrily, calling it a "wicked and false judgment." And the Republican Party
said that the Dred Scott Decision clearly showed that slave
owners were plotting to use the Constitution to achieve their
goal of expanding slavery in the United States.
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates, 1858
In 1858, the year after the Dred Scott Decision was issued,
Minnesota entered the Union as a free state; gold was discovered in Colorado; and the Butterfield Overland Stage Line
began to operate a regular stagecoach service between Missouri
and California, and the journey took three weeks.
13
Eighteen fifty-eight was also the year of the Lincoln-Douglas
Debates over slavery that took place during the race for the U.S.
Senate in Illinois. On one side was the Democratic candidate
for Senator, Stephen Douglas. On the opposing side was
Abraham Lincoln, the Republican senatorial candidate.
Lincoln was opposed to slavery on the grounds that it was a
great moral evil. Lincoln tried to convince voters that Stephen
Douglas was not to be trusted because he was the man behind
the Kansas-Nebraska Act that had made slavery possible in territories where it had been previously illegal. Douglas believed
that American citizens should be free to decide if they wanted
to have slavery without having government interference. He
warned that Lincoln's ideas on racial equality were dangerous
and misguided. In the end, Lincoln's moral stand against slavery brought him to the attention of the entire nation. But, even
at that, Douglas won the race for Senator.
And the next year, 1859, another free state, Oregon, was admitted to the Union as America's 33rd state.
The Election of President Abraham Lincoln, the Establishment of the Confederacy, 1860-1861
Out of the four candidates that ran for President in the election
of 1860, Abraham Lincoln of Illinois won the most votes.
About a month after the election, fearing that Lincoln would
bring about an end to slavery, South Carolina seceded, that is
broke away, from the United States.
At that time, President Buchanan was still in charge of the
country, due to the fact that Lincoln's inauguration was still 10
weeks away. Buchanan didn't want to send troops to South
Carolina and decided to wait to see what would happen next. In
the meantime, another new state, Kansas, was admitted to the
Union.
Buchanan's decision not to use force in South Carolina proved
to be a big mistake. Because before Lincoln's inauguration in
March of 1861, six other slave states: Texas, Florida, Louisiana,
Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, had seceded from the
Union as well. They called themselves the Confederate States
14
of America. And by the end of the year, the Confederates would
be joined by North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Virginia
as well.
A few days after South Carolina broke away from the Union, a
small garrison of U.S. army troops left Fort Moultrie, just outside of Charleston, and moved to Fort Sumter a short distance
away, across the harbor. When South Carolina officials demanded that the U.S. troops leave Fort Sumter, they refused. In
response, on April 12, 1861, Confederate troops opened fire on
Fort Sumter as the citizens of Charleston watched on in horrified disbelief. And so began a four-year civil war that would
bring about the deaths of 620,000 American soldiers.
Video Quiz
1. True or False? The Gadsden Purchase added land to
America's northwest region.
2. True or False? The Kansas-Nebraska Act outlawed slavery in
the new U.S. territories.
3. True or False? The Dred Scott Decision ended America's
Civil War.
4. True or False? President Buchanan decided not to use military force to keep the Union together.
5. True or False? The Republican Party was founded to help
stop the spread of slavery.
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