Slavery
Compromises
How should the issue of slavery
be addressed within the new
territories?
Do Now:
1. Color in your map to
identify the “free soil” and
“slave” states.
2. Draw a line to identify the
split in the country between
North and South.
The Missouri Compromise 1820
The territory of Missouri’s request for admission
to the Union as a slave state, threatened to upset
the balance between 11 slave states and 11 free
states.
To keep the peace and balance between free and
slave, Congress created a 2-part compromise;
• Allowing Missouri to be slave state
• Admitting Maine as a free state
• It also drew an imaginary line establishing a
boundary between free and slave regions.
Henry Clay
• Senator Henry Clay
suggested drawing a
line at the 36º-30' N.
latitude.
• Slavery would be
banned everywhere
north of this line.
The Missouri Compromise
1820
Even before the Mexican-American War was over,
Congress began to think about what would
happen with the new territories…
• David Wilmot, a representative from
Pennsylvania proposed that slavery be
abolished in the new territories added.
This became known as the “Wilmot
Proviso” and many in Congress refused to
accept it.
To Abolish means….
To end, eliminate
The Wilmot Proviso sparked a debate
in Congress....
1. Some believed Congress should
prohibit slavery in the new
territories.
2. Some believed that the people in
each territory should decide for
themselves whether the territories
would be free or slave states.
Other issues dividing the nation…
a. Adding territories including California,
New Mexico, and Utah as free or slave
b. Adding a new amendment to the US
Constitution regarding slavery (to
abolish or protect it)
c. Whether to keep or repeal the Fugitive
Slave Act
d. Whether to keep or repeal slavery in the
nation’s capital, Washington DC
Task:
 Get into groups of 3
 Read your assigned text
 Complete the organizer
Then, determine... How should the
issue of slavery be addressed within
the new territories?
•
Keep in mind that you must ensure you keep
all the United States happy
HW #20
The Compromise of 1850
• California admitted as a free state
• New Mexico and Utah territory
organized on basis of popular
sovereignty (the people in the states will vote to
decide.)
• Fugitive Slave Act made federal
government responsible for catching &
returning escaped slaves
• Slave trade (but not slavery) abolished
in Washington DC
Map: Compromise of 1850
The End of the Missouri
Compromise
Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)
• The remaining Louisiana territory
was split into 2 territories (Kansas
and Nebraska) and organized on
basis of popular sovereignty
The Kansas-Nebraska Act
Fight, fight, fight! in Congress
• Charles Sumner, a Senator from Massachusetts
attacked the authors of the Kansas-Nebraska
Act, Senators Stephen Douglas and Andrew
Butler in a speech he delivered in the Senate.
• Sumner also made fun of Butler's speaking
ability, which had been impeded by a recent
stroke…
• Representative Preston Brooks, Butler’s cousin
was infuriated and decided to defend his cousin
by beating Summer with his walking cane.
Summer almost died from the beating.
Summer is almost killed!
Brooks Beats Sumner
Kansas-Nebraska Act 1850
Sounds like a good idea, BUT…
• Anti-slavery (poor farmers who couldn’t
compete with plantation slave-owners)
and pro-slavery were not able to come to
an agreement…
• “Bleeding Kansas”: the disagreement
turned into a bloody conflict with riots
and murder
John Brown
• Abolitionist
• Involved in the
Underground Railroad
• Moves to Kansas to
support the anti-slavery
cause
• Turns to violence by
organizing the murder of 5
proslavery settlers.
John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s
Ferry
• Planned a raid on a Federal
arsenal
• Wanted togive weapons to
slaves
• Didn’t happen: Brown and
his men were captured and
killed within 36 hours
• Brown was hanged
Was John Brown’s raid
justified?
Do the end justify the
means?