Events and Compromises
Is War inevitable?
Missouri Compromise
• North –wants Maine and Missouri to enter as
free states, wants to stop slavery in LA
territory, and does not want anymore slave
states
• South – supports statehood for Missouri as
slave state and wants slavery in any territory,
and does not want any more free states
added.
What actually happened
Missouri Compromise
• Missouri allowed to enter as a slave state and
Maine entered as a free state. The balance of
power therefore remained the same with 12
states free and 12 states as slave states.
• An imaginary line was drawn at 36°30’ across
the Louisiana Territory. North of this line,
slavery was to be banned (except Missouri),
and south of this line, slavery was legal.
Compromise of 1850 –
Should CA be a free or slave state?
• North – wants CA to be a free state, and wants to
ban slavery in NM and Utah. The north also wants
to ban slavery in DC and opposes any run away
slave law that would endanger slaves who have
run away.
• South opposes letting free states gain a majority
in the senate, and does not want CA to enter
unless there are other slave states let in like Utah
and NM, wants a strong fugitive (runaway) slave
laws.
What actually happened
Compromise of 1850
• Henry Clay came up with the following
compromise. It was debated for over 9
months and was finally approved.
– CA comes in as a free state
– NM and Utah would be slave states
– Slave trade, but not slavery banned in DC
– Strong fugitive slave law
Dred Scott Case
When a slave travels to a free state with his owner, does he become
free as soon as he enters the state?
North – says Constitution does not limit citizenship
to white people, and when the owner of Scott
took him to a free state, he gave up his rights as
an owner, and the north also feels Congress
should make laws banning slavery in the
territories
South – Scott born a slave and has no right to sue,
Scott returned to MS and should be a slave again,
and the Constitutions says people cannot have
their property taken away from them.
Dred Scott Ruling
• The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court at this
time was an abolitionist who had freed his own
slaves, so everyone was shocked with his rulings.
– Dred Scott was not a citizen and did not have a right
to sue and further, no African American could ever
become a citizen.
– Said that according to 5th amendment, property
cannot be taken away without due process and the
government should protect slave owners rights to
their property.
Secession
After Lincoln is elected the south wants to leave the union.
• North – felt slavery is immoral and must not
be allowed to expand, also felt secession was
illegal and and the we should fight to keep it
together
• South felt slavery was moral and should be
allowed to expand, they also feel they joined
the union of their own free will and should be
allowed to “un-join” or secede, especially
since their whole way of life is in jeopardy.
What happened on secession?
• Delegates in Charleston SC decided to secede
from the union and 6 more states followed close
behind.
• Soon after, Lincoln was sworn in as the 16th
president of a not so united United States.
• He asked the South to come back into the US
saying:
– “In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen,
and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war.”
One month later the south fired the first shots at Fort
Sumter in South Carolina, and the Civil War begins.