SC’s Secession from
the Union
Standard Indicator 8-4.3
Missouri Compromise
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Missouri applies for statehood (1st time a state
had been admitted since the Louisiana
Purchase)
Upset the balance of free & slave state votes
in Senate
Compromise was reached-Missouri was
admitted as a slave state—Maine as free state
What is a protective tariff?
Designed to raise import taxes on goods coming from
foreign countries in order to make them more
expensive than goods produced in the United States
 Benefited new industries in the North
 In SC, it raised the price of manufactured goods SC
brought from the north & Britain
 southerners objected to raising the protective tariff
Nullification Crisis
United States Congress passed a protective tax in 1828
Vice President John C. Calhoun
 claimed under the compact theory that it was a
state’s right to declare such a law unconstitutional
and nullify it through a special state convention
 threatened the unity of the United States and the
exclusive right of the Supreme Court to decide
whether or not an act of Congress was constitutional
 South Carolinians split into a States’ Rights Party
(Nullifiers) and a Union party (Unionists)
Nullification Crisis
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In 1832, the Nullifiers won control of the
General Assembly
United States Congress passed another tariff
in 1832
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SC legislature met to nullify the tariff
John C. Calhoun resigned the vice presidency
and entered the U. S. Senate where he was a
strong voice against the tariff and for
nullification
Nullification Crisis
Andrew Jackson urged congress to pass a force
bill
 would authorize the national government to
send troops to collect the tariff in SC
 The crisis ended with a compromise
 Congress lowered the tariff & SC repealed its
nullification of it (SC then nullified the Force
Bill)
Theory of Secession
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An alternative to the nullification of laws
Allowed states to leave the United States if they
believed that their rights were being infringed upon
Under this compact (between states) theory, the
states were more powerful than the federal union that
was the United States
The states’ rights theories of both nullification and
secession would eventually be tested and disproven
by civil war
Mexican War
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The California Territory became part of the
US through the treaty that ended the Mexican
War
1849 Gold Rush
Californians wanted their state to be “free
soil” they petitioned to enter as a free state
Resulted in the Compromise of 1850
Compromise of 1850
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California is a free state
Outlawed slave trade in
Washington DC
The rest of the Mexican Cession would decide
if they were free/slave by a vote by the
residents (popular sovereignty)
Fugitive Slave Law

“Uncle Tom’s Cabin” by Harriet Beecher Stowe
(5:26)
Kansas-Nebraska Act
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Kansas Territory was in the northern part of
the Louisiana Territory
Missouri Compromise states it could not be a
slave state
Politicians wanted a railroad to go through
Kansas, but needed southern support
Kansas-Nebraska Act Cont….
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Repealed the 36◦ 30’ line of the Missouri
Compromise
Popular Sovereignty for new states
“Bleeding Kansas”
John Brown and bleeding Kansas
Documentary (8:59)
Bleeding Kansas
Northern Whigs and northern Democrats who
were appalled at the violence joined with the
Free Soil Party
 those opposed to the expansion of slavery and
the Liberty Party (abolitionists) to form a new
political party: the Republicans
Dred Scott Decision
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Supreme Court attempt to end the controversy
over the role of free states in determining the
status of the enslaved
“Once free, always free”
Constitution protects the owner of property
from having the government take that
property away
Dred Scott Decision Cont…….
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Also ruled that the Congress could not pass
measures limiting the expansion of slavery in
the territories
(5:47)
Election of 1860
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Republican Abraham Lincoln
campaigned on a platform of
“free soil”
Video (2:29)
Lincoln was not an abolitionist in 1860
After his election, SC called a special convention
and signed the Articles of Secession
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Claimed the rights of South Carolinians had not
been & would not be protected by the federal
government….6 other states seceded soon after