DECADE OF
CRISIS
1850’s
Abolitionist Movement

William Lloyd Garrisonmost radical white
abolitionist-newspaper
“The Liberator”- 1831
Frederick Douglassescaped slave- became
an abolitionist author
and speaker
Reformers and abolitionists:

Harriett Tubmanleader of the
Underground Railroad

Sojourner Truthabolitionist and
women’s rights
The Grimke Sisters 1830s
Abolitionist sisters from S.C.
Sarah and Angelina
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
and Susan B. Anthony
First women’s right
convention-1848
Seneca Falls, NY
 Fought for
women’s rights

Compromise of 1850
California is admitted as a free state
 Utah and New Mexico will have popular
sovereignty (people decide issue of
slavery)
 Buying and selling slaves (slave trade) in
Washington, D.C. is illegal, but owning
slaves is not.
 Fugitive Slave Law (next slide)


1.
2.
3.
4.
Fugitive Slave Law
Federal law to help slaveholders
recapture slaves.
Slaveholders could demand help from
authorities.
Blacks (free or slaves) could not defend
themselves.
Anyone who helped a slave or refused
to help the slaveholder could be fined
and/or jailed.
Reaction to the Compromise of
1850:
Results:
1. Made Northerners accomplices in slavery against
their will.
2. Made slavery personal to those who had not been
touched by it.
3. Ordinary people began to join abolitionist groups.
4. Northern states passed Personal Liberty Laws
which conflicted with the Fugitive Slave Act.
(State vs. Federal Law)
Reaction to Compromise of 1850:

1.
2.
3.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin – written by
Harriet Beecher Stowe- 1852
Written in protest to the Fugitive
Slave Act.
She talked to escaped slaves
Showed slavery at its best and
worst
Uncle Tom’s Cabin (cont’d)
4. Excellent propaganda; sold more than
any book except the Bible
5. Northerners – agitated and wanted to
order an end to slavery
6. Southerners – angry; defended slavery
7. Uncle Tom’s Cabin and reaction to it
helped cause the Civil War.
Kansas-Nebraska Act & Its Results

1.
2.
Terms of the Compromise: – proposed
by Stephen Douglas- 1854
Popular Sovereignty for Kansas and
Nebraska territories. Repealed Missouri
Compromise (trying to increase Southern
support to run for President).
Proposal would get Southerners to agree
with a northern route for the railroad.
Kansas- Nebraska Territory
Kansas-Nebraska Act & Its Results:


Results – Douglas misjudged
Northern dislike of slavery in
territories
Kansas – fraudulent election
produced pro-slavery territory
government. Elected 2 governments
– 2 capitals (Topeka and Lawrence)
Kansas-Nebraska Act & Its Results:
“Bleeding Kansas” – 200 deaths
• Pro Slavery men murdered anti slavery
men in Lawrence
• John Brown and sons murdered 5 slavery
supporters
• (called the Pottawatomie Massacre)
• Abolitionists helped “free soil” settlers
move to Kansas so they could vote
• “Beecher’s Bibles” - guns
John Brown
Kansas-Nebraska Act & Its Results:
Violence Spreads
1. Senator Charles Sumner (Mass.) –
violent anti slavery speaker.
2. Preston Brooks – (S.C.) Republican who
beat Sumner unconscious on the Senate
Floor.
3. S.C. cheered Brooks for defending the
honor of the South.
*This proved to the North that the South had
a violent Society.

Sumner/Brooks Incident
Slavery
Immigration and New Parties

1.
2.
3.
Immigration Flood
1845-1860 – mostly from Ireland, most
go to New York
Settled in free states – jobs, land, no
slave labor for compromise
Germans, Scandinavians went to midwest; Irish stayed in cities.
Immigration 1840 - 1860
Immigration and New Parties

1.
2.
3.
4.
Opposition To Immigrants
Nativism – native born people favored
over immigrants
Job Competition – immigrants worked for
less
Religion – many immigrants were Roman
Catholic
Language differences - accents
Immigration and New Parties


New Political Alliances- Whig
party had split over slavery,
Dem. Party was weak- this
opened the door for new parties
Parties began to split into
Northern and Southern branches
-One new party was the American
Party-also called the “know
nothings”
-Strong b/c nativist attitudes against
immigrants was so strong
-created from a secret organization
called the “Order of the Star
Spangled Banner” and answered
ques. w/ “I know nothing”
Republican Party -1854-based entirely
in North
 Favored:
1. Higher wages
2. Transcontinental Railroad
3. Protective Tariff
4. No Slavery in Territories
Election of 1856 – Buchanan won the
Presidency
 Free-Soil
Party- opposed the
extension of slavery into new
territories
Crisis - Secession

1.
2.
Dred Scott Case- 1856
Background – Scott was a slave, taken to a free
state and back to a slave state.
 He sued for freedom but lost because:
 1. He was not a citizen therefore he can’t sue.
 2. He was considered property and property
does not change with geography.
Ruled Missouri Compromise Unconstitutional
Dred Scott
P. 332 Red Book





1. On what basis did Dred Scott sue for his
freedom?
2. What state Supreme Court did the case end up
in? Did this help or hurt Scott’s case?
3. What year did the case make it to the Supreme
Court and how many of the nine justices voted
against Scott?
4. List two reasons why Chief Justice Taney ruled
against Scott.
5. Why was the Supreme Court’s ruling so
shocking and controversial? Even though it was a
victory for the south, how did it help the
Republican Party?

Lincoln-Douglas
Debates
1.
Part of Illinois Senate
race
Focus was on slavery
in territory
Great Contrast:
2.
3.
Douglas – (Dem.) Fashionable, flowery language,
confident politician. Popular Sovereignty
Lincoln – (Rep.) plain-spoken, self-educated, very
honest. No slavery in territories.
* Douglas won but Lincoln was now famous
(South saw that both national parties were
against slavery).
John Brown’s Raid -1859
1.
2.
3.
4.
Wanted to spark slave rebellion
Captured Federal arsenal in
Harper’s Ferry, Va.
Brown and his raiders surrendered
to Robert E. Lee.
Brown was tried and executed for
treason
John Brown’s Raid- Harper’s Ferry, Va.
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib
/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.10001
0565/default.html

John
Brown
headed to
his
execution
Event aroused strong feelings:
North: “Courageous martyr”
 South: “reckless disregard for human life” to
urge slave rebellions

Moved US closer to war
Election of Lincoln – Nov.1860
 4 Parties and candidates- divided votes
 Lincoln won with only Northern support
 S.C. and 6 others seceded- Dec. 1860