Missouri Compromise (1820-1821)
 New
states wanted to be added, so Congress
had to decide if they come in
– Missouri comes in as a slave state
– Maine comes in as a free state
– 36/30 Line of latitude is set as boundary for
future states
• Above the line = No slavery
Gag Rule
 Congress
voted in 1836 to not even
look at any anti-slavery petitions
 1848 Gag Rule Ended
– War with Mexico ended
– Received California, New Mexico
& Utah Territories = Free or Slave
States?
Compromise of 1850
1.
2.
3.
4.
California comes in as a free state.
People settling in territories would
decide on slavery later.
Slave trade is banned in D.C., but
slavery can still exist
Strict fugitive slave law is passed
Fugitive Slave Law
 Any
person arrested as a runaway
slave would be jailed with no bail
or jury trial and
then returned to
their master.
 Slave hunters
would go North
Runaway Slaves



Huge risks involved
Slaves did not have
maps
or compasses
Walked, traveled at
night,
train, boat, disguises,
even shipped in
boxes
Harriet Tubman
“Underground Railroad”
 Helped over
300 slaves escape
 $40,000 Reward:
Dead or Alive
Kansas-Nebraska Act
 It
allowed residents to decide by
popular vote whether their state would
be free or slave.
 Pro Slavery v. Abolitionist
fights with guns and sabers
We want slavery!
Slavery is wrong!
Bleeding Kansas
 In
Kansas, people on both sides came
to the territory to vote.
Charles Sumner
 Gave
a 2 day speech, to the Senate,
about slavery and the Kansas-Nebraska
Act
 Beaten with a cane by
Preston Brooks
(Southerner)
It took me three years to
recover from this beating!
Republican Party

Formed by
abolitionists
because of the
problems with
KansasNebraska Act
QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Uncle Tom's Cabin
 Harriet
Beecher
Stowe
 Turned millions of
people against
slavery
(Northerners)
William Lloyd Garrison
A
strong Abolitionist (someone
who wanted to get rid of slavery)
 Wrote The Liberator
– A Newspaper that showed how bad
slavery was
Nat Turner's Slave Rebellion
 Aug.
13, 1831
 Organizes
rebellion
 60 whites were
killed
 Hundreds of
slaves were killed
in revenge
John Brown

Wanted to seize
weapons at
Harper's Ferry,
Virginia so that
slaves could
revolt
– Caught and
hanged
Harper’s Ferry