Lesson 46
Do Now:
What is an abolitionist? Who was Frederick Douglass? Who was Harriet Beecher
Stowe? Who was Harriet Tubman?
Motivation:
Abolitionists were mostly northerners, who wanted to end, (Abolish), slavery. They
were blacks and whites that traveled around the country speaking out against it.
Some abolitionists risked their lives by helping slaves escape. Frederick Douglass
was a slave. He knew how to read and was beaten for teaching other slaves how to
read. Eventually, he escaped the South and went to Massachusetts. He became a
leader in the Massachusetts Abolitionist Society. He started his own abolitionist
newspaper, called “The North Star.” Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote a book about the
terrible lives of southern slaves. Uncle Tom’s Cabin made millions of people think
about the evils of slavery. Harriet Tubman was a slave, who escaped to the North,
but returned to help others. She returned 19 times to slave country to lead more
than 300 black people to freedom in the North. She was known for her
“Underground Railroad”, which was not really a railroad and it was not really
underground, it was a secret means of escape for slaves. At least 50,000 slaves
escaped to freedom along the Underground Railroad. Overall, the Northern states
were free states while the Southern states were slave states. But what about those
states that were newly entering the United States?
CQ’s/ Notes:
1. Why did both the North and the South have an interest in states in the West?
a. Everyone realized that some day the western lands would become
states in the Union.
b. Would those new states be slave states or free states?
2. Why did the North and South argue over which side the “new” states should
enter?
a. Where a new state entered the Union was important because every
state had votes in Congress. Those votes could either be for or against
slavery.
b. Arguments raged all over the land!
Watch the Missouri Compromise (2 min)
3. What was the Missouri Compromise?
a. In 1819 both Missouri and Maine asked to become states.
b. Missouri wanted to enter the Union as a slave state.
i. About 10,000 slaves already lived in Missouri
c. Northerners wanted Missouri to be a free state.
d. Congress would decide.
e. At the same time, Maine wanted to join the Union.
f. With the help of Henry Clay, a compromise was reached. Maine would
be a free state and Missouri would be a slave state.
g. Also, an imaginary line was drawn at the southern border of Missouri.
i. The line extended all the way West.
ii. Any new states north of this line would be free states
iii. Any new states south of the line would be slave states.
4. How many slave states and free states were there in the US?
a. At this time 1819, there were 12 free states and 12 slave states.
b. This allowed for a balance of power.
c. The South felt safe with this balance of power because they did not
want any federal laws that would put an end to slavery.
Watch: The Compromise of 1850 (3min)
5. What was the Compromise of 1850?
a. In 1850, California was about to become a state.
b. At that time there were 15 slave states and 15 free states.
c. People in California wanted to enter the union as a free state, but that
would tip the balance of power.
d. Finally, after much fighting, the Compromise of 1850 was reached.
e. Texas would give land to New Mexico for 10 million .
f. It allowed California to enter the Union as a free state.
g. However, in the future, Congress would no longer decide if a new
state would be a free state or a slave state.
h. The people who lived in the state would decided for themselves, by
voting, if the state were to be a free state or slave state.
i. Also, the North had to strictly enforce the runaway slave law (Fugitive
Slave Act).
Watch: Kansas-Nebraska Act (3 min)
6. What was the Kansas-Nebraska Act?
a. Kansas Territory was just west of Missouri
b. Southerners wanted slavery to move westward into Kansas.
c. But…Kansas was north of the line drawn in the Missouri Compromise,
so Northerners thought Kansas was a good place for slavery to be
stopped.
d. The Kansas-Nebraska Act did away with the line drawn in the
Missouri Compromise.
e. It also created two land territories, Kansas and Nebraska
Watch: The Kansas-Nebraska Act (1 min) (Bleeding Kansas)
7. What was “Bleeding Kansas”
a. Northerners were angry over the fact that Kansas might become a
slave state.
b. The people of Kansas were divided on the issue of slavery.
c. Violence broke out.
d. John Brown, an abolitionist led a raid on a small settlement of
southern sympathizers in 1856.
e. The country was now focusing on Kansas and the conflict between
pro- and anti-slavery forces….
Compromising was no longer keeping the peace. The nation was moving towards
WAR!
HW: Answer CQ’s and E-mail.