Section 2 - The Crisis Deepens
Find Out:
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How the Fugitive Slave Act and Uncle Tom’s
Cabin affected Northerners
•
The concept of popular sovereignty
•
The violence in “Bleeding Kansas”
•
The attack on Senator Sumner in the Senate
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1. The Compromise of 1850 contained a new
Fugitive Slave Act to help slaveholders
recapture runaway slaves. People accused of
being fugitives under this law could be held
without an arrest warrant, and they had no
right to a jury trial. Instead, a federal
commissioner ruled on each case and
received $5 for releasing a slave and $10 for
turning the defendant over to a slaveholder.
FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT
2. Why did Northerners resent to Fugitive
Slave Act?
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Effects of the Fugitive Slave
Law – Library of Congress
Prints and Photographs
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It required Northerners to
recapture slaves
It placed fines on people
who would not cooperate
and jail terms on people
who helped fugitives
escape
Slave catchers roamed the
North, which brought home
the issue of slavery to
Northerners
It made them feel they had
to support slavery
The Fugitive Slave Act
•
•
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Federal Commissioner (judge) ruled on each
case
Received $5 for releasing defendant
Received $10 to return to slaveholder
What do
you think happened?
The Fugitive Slave Act cont.
Southerners felt FSA was justified because
slaves were considered property
•
Northerners resented law because it made them part
of the slavery system by requiring them to capture
runaway slaves
•
It placed fines on people who wouldn’t cooperate
and jail terms on those who helped slaves escape
•
Northerners faced a moral choice
a.Obey law and support slavery
b.Disobey law and oppose slavery
Question: How could a northerner break the law under
the Fugitive Slave Act?
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UNCLE TOM’S CABIN
3. What role did Uncle Tom's Cabin play in the
slavery debate?
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In 1852, Harriet
Beecher Stowe
published her influential
novel, Uncle Tom’s
Cabin
The book stressed the
moral evil of slavery
Southerners protestedEliza Pursued by Bloodhounds
that it did not portray from the Library of Congress Prints
and Photographs
slavery accurately
Abolitionist protests
increased
Instant best
seller sold
500,000 by
1857
4. In 1854, Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois
drafted a bill to organize territorial governments for
the Nebraska Territory, proposing that it be divided
into two territories- Nebraska and Kansas.
TENSION BUILDS IN KANSAS
5. How did he (Douglas) suggest the slavery issue
should be settled in the territories? What would this
bill get rid of? What was this bill called?
•
vs.
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After Stephen Douglas worked to pass
the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854,
Kansas would vote to decide on whether
slavery would be legal or outlawed,
which called popular sovereignty
This contradicted the 36° 30” line of the
Missouri Compromise and ended it
The Kansas-Nebraska Act
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Proposed by Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois to
divide up Nebraska Territory into Kansas and
Nebraska
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Let people decide through popular sovereignty
whether or not to allow slavery (Why did he do
this?)
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Would end Missouri Compromise
•
Turned Kansas into a bloody battleground
BLEEDING KANSAS
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The race for Kansas was
on. . .both supporters and
opponents attempted to
populate Kansas to win
the vote over slavery
As the election neared, a
group of pro-slavery
“border ruffians” from
Missouri attempted to
cross into Kansas
Violence erupted –
Bleeding Kansas is the
legacy
Finally, after years of fighting, Kansas
is admitted as a free state in 1861
6. What happened in Kansas after the passage of this
bill?
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Election for government held in 1855 and supporters on both
sides rushed into Kansas to vote
More proslavery than antislavery people voted
5000 proslavery Missourian’s voted illegally to swing vote for
proslavery
Proslavery government won
Antislavery forces elected own government
Both sides armed themselves and violence broke out
between the two sides
“Sack of Lawrence” in May of 1855
7. Who was John Brown?
• An extreme abolitionist
• Avenged the Sack of Lawrence
• With 7 other men he murdered 5 proslavery
neighbors while they slept in their beds
• Known as the Pottawatomie Massacre after
creek where victims bodies were found
• Civil war broke out in Kansas for 3 more years
John Brown believed that God
commanded him to rid slavery
from the United States. After
leading raids in Kansas with 5
of his sons, he moved to
Virginia to plan an attack that
would free all the slaves. Brown
was wounded and captured and
later hanged for treason on
December 2, 1859, for his role
in trying to capture the
American fort at Harpers Ferry
from
Library of Congress Prints and
Photographs.
John Brown, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing slightly right
8. What violent act happened in Congress?
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Charles Sumner from Massachusetts
delivered a speech in the Senate attacking
proslavery forces in Kansas
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Insulted Sen. A.P. Butler of S.C.
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Preston Brooks, Butler’s nephew, attacked
Sumner on the Senate floor with his cane,
hitting him about 30 times and breaking the
cane
Charles Sumner of Massachusetts delivered a
blistering speech in the Senate attacking the spread of
slavery into Kansas. In his speech he attacked fellow
Senators Douglas of Illinois and Butler of South
Carolina. It took Sumner three years to regain his
health enough to return to the Senate.
Hon. Charles Sumner - the great senator and
statesman, the champion of civil and political equality born January 6th 1811, died March 11th 1874 from
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
Preston Brooks was the
nephew of A.P. Butler who was
singled out by Sumner in his
speech. Brooks was never
charged with a crime but
resigned his seat in the House
after surviving a censure vote.
He was soon reelected to fill
his own vacancy.