Unit 4: A Nation Divided
Lesson 1: Tensions over Slavery
and popular sovereignty
Bell Ringer
• What are the noticeable differences b/t the North and the
South?
• How might these tangible differences lead to larger issues?
Slavery and the Southern Economy
• The South was mainly agricultural with little manufacturing
• The main crops during the mid 1800s were rice and
cotton, both of which required extensive labor to produce
• Though slavery was prevalent in the South, the majority of
Southerners did not own slaves
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Slavery: The North and South
and Westward Expansion
• North:
-Most states had emancipated their slaves or outlawed slavery by
1800s
-Didn’t want slavery to spread to the West
-Opposed slavery for political, moral, or economic reasons
• South:
-Southern farms dependent upon slave labor
-Wanted to have power in Congress in order to expand Slavery
• Westward expansion continued to bring this issue
forward: what do we do with new territories?
New Western Territory
• In 1819 the U.S. consisted of 11 free and 11 slave states
• Missouri applied for statehood as a slave state in 1819
• To off set the imbalance, Maine applied for statehood as a
free state
• The Missouri Compromise granted statehood to both
• No slavery above Missouri Compromise Line (36*30’
latitude)
• Temporary
solution to
slavery issue
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgELv4aNHjQ&feat
ure=email
The fix worked…for 30 years
• Fast forward to 1849: CA gold rush causes CA to
SOAR in population size. In 1849 CA applied for
statehood as free state, causing a problem of
unequal # of free and slave states again.
• But, the 36*30’ line won’t solve the problem as
it cut CA in half
Compromise of 1850
• The compromise:
• 1. California became free state
• 2. Slave trade ended in D.C. but could keep
slaves they already had.
• 3. New Mexico and Utah territories could decide for
themselves if they would be free or slave states.
(Popular Sovereignty)
• 4. Fugitive Slave Act: Runaway slaves to free
states must be returned to their owners. (Many
Northerners refused to obey)
Bell Ringer
• What was the Missouri Compromise?
• What was the line called?
• What are the components of the Compromise of
1850?
Early 1800s: Strengthening of the
Abolition Movement
• As the political discussion of slavery became more intense, so
did the social movement to end slavery
• Abolitionist: an individual who wants to end slavery
• Grimke Sisters: South Carolina sisters who moved north to
promote the abolitionist movement
• William Lloyd Garrison became one of the country’s leading
abolitionists, publishing the pro-abolitionist newspaper the
Liberator.
• Fredrick Douglass, a former
slave, published the newspaper
the North Star and an
autobiography
Grimke Sisters
Nat Turner’s Revolt
• Slave Codes : restrictions on slaves, preventing them from learning to
read and write
• Nat Turner, a Virginia slave and Preacher, believed God had chosen
him to lead a revolt
• Turner and his followers killed more than 50 people before being caught
• Turner and 19 men hanged!
• Turner’s Revolt led to states
passing even stricter codes
and restrictions on
slaves (no more slave ministers).
Exit Ticket!
1. What two cash crops were grown in the South in the
early 1800s?
2. What state was admitted as a free state in the Missouri
Compromise?
3. What was the line of latitude that was the “Missouri
Compromise Line”.
4. What is the phrase that means that citizens of a state
could vote if they wanted their state to be free or
slave?
5. What was Nat Turner’s occupation?