The Crisis Deepens
Take notes as the lecture is given.
You will need to copy the titles and
what is in red.
The issue of slavery divides the
country
• The North was against slavery and
wanted to stop its spread.
• The South wanted to keep slavery as
a way of life.
Compromise of 1850
• Attempted the solve the problem of
free and slave states. From then on
two states would be admitted to the
Union at a time; one free and one
slave.
• This was done to keep the balance of
free and slave states the same.
Kansas-Nebraska Act
• It said that the people of Kansas and
Nebraska would decide if there should be
slavery in their states. This is called
popular sovereignty.
• Popular sovereignty - when the people
decide what to do
• The people in the North were afraid that
slavery would spread.
Bleeding Kansas
• Many people rushed
into Kansas and
Nebraska so they
could vote for or
against slavery.
• This became known
as “Bleeding
Kansas.”
Harriet Beecher Stowe
• author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin
• Uncle Tom's Cabin – Story about the
cruelty of slavery was published in
1852.
• This book encouraged many people in
the North to become abolitionists.
Fugitive Slave Act
• An 1850 law that helped slaveholders
recapture runaway slaves.
• It was illegal to help a slave escape.
• A person could be put in jail if they
did.
Republican Party
• Political party created in 1854 to stop
the spread of slavery.
• Began as a response to the Fugitive
Slave Act.
Presidential Election of 1856
• Republicans nominate John C. Fremont, a
national hero from his exploration of the
West.
• Democrats nominate James Buchanan.
• The American or Know-Nothing party
nominated Millard Fillmore.
• Buchanan won, but the election showed
that the Republicans were very strong in
the North, and that the issue of slavery
had divided the country.
Dred Scott Case
• Dred Scott - a slave in Missouri.
• Owner took him to the North where slavery was illegal.
• Scott sued for his freedom because he was in a free
state.
• The case reached the Supreme Court.
• The Supreme Court ruled that Scott could not sue in
the U.S. because he was not a citizen. He was the
property of his owner.
• The Court also said the Congress could not ban the
slave trade in the territories.
• This case angered people in the North.
Lincoln and Douglas
Debates
• In 1858, Abraham Lincoln challenged
Stephan Douglas for senator from Illinois.
• Douglas and Lincoln debated over the
issues of slavery.
• Lincoln had called slavery “a moral, a social,
and political wrong.”
• Douglas said that slavery was up to the
people.
• Douglas won the election, but Lincoln
became a well-known figure after the
debates.
John Brown
• 1859, John Brown, who had murdered proslavery Kansans
three year earlier wanted to inspire slaves to fight for their
freedom.
• He planned to capture the weapons in the U.S arsenal at
Harpers Ferry, Virginia.
• He wanted to give the weapons to slaves so they could start a
slave revolt.
• They killed four people.
• No slaves joined the fight and Brown and six others were
captured and hanged.
• On the day that Brown was put to death, abolitionist rang
bells in his honor. Southerners were horrified by the reaction
of the North.
• The issue of slavery was becoming very tense.