SSUSH8 The student will explain the
relationship between growing northsouth divisions and
westward expansion.
• a. Explain how slavery became a significant
issue in American politics; include the slave
rebellion of Nat Turner and the rise of
abolitionism (William Lloyd Garrison,
Frederick Douglass, and the Grimke sisters).
Slavery
• Planters in the South depended on slaves to
work their huge cotton fields.
• Why would Southern politicians fight to keep
slavery for the South?
• However, in the North they had a more
industrialized economy.
• Most Northern states had already freed their
slaves and outlawed slavery by the mid 1800s.
Abolitionist Movement
• Who was the person we talked about that was
the main person behind the abolitionist
movement?
• Grimke Sisters- These sisters were members of
a prominent slaveholding family in South
Carolina who then became abolitionists and
gained respect from their passionate antislavery speeches.
Frederick Douglass
• Escaped slavery in Maryland then taught
himself and became the most prominent
African American speaker for the abolitionist
movement.
Nat Turner
• He was a preacher and thought that he had a
divine mission to deliver his people from
slavery.
• Met secretly with slaves for over 4 months
and then early one morning they went and
killed every white person they could find.
• b. Explain the Missouri Compromise and the
issue of slavery in western states and
territories
Missouri Compromise
• This was the struggle of adding Missouri as a
new state and whether or not it would be a
slave or free state.
• Why would the free states fear it being a slave
state?
• Finally the compromise said that the state
would act as a dividing line and any state
north of the line was free and any south was
slave.
• c. Describe the Nullification Crisis and the
emergence of states’ rights ideology; include
the role of John C. Calhoun and development
of sectionalism.
Nullification Crisis
• Nullification- The state has the right to nullify
or invalidate any federal law.
• Conflict between states’ rights and federal
authority reached a boiling point in the early
1830s.
• South Carolina began protesting high tariffs on
British goods.
John C. Calhoun
• Wrote Exposition and Protest.
• Calhoun’s argument was for states’ rights and his
strong belief in the doctrine of nullification.
• He claimed that any state that felt the laws were
unconstitutional could refuse that law.
• President Jackson was enraged and threatened to
handle Calhoun and said he was prepared to call
federal troops to make sure SC complied.
Sectionalism
• The regional differences between the North
and South.
• North called more on the national
government to limit, or end slavery.
• The South rallied around states’ rights, which
made people like John C. Calhoun heroes.
• d. Describe the war with Mexico and the
Wilmot Proviso.
War with Mexico
• Conflict between the United States and
Mexico(1846-1848) following the annexation
of Texas(1845)
• The War lasted a year and a half and ended
with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo which
forced Mexico to give up modern day
California and New Mexico for $15 million
War with Mexico (cont)
• The US also agreed to pay an additional $3.25
million for debts owed by Mexico to
Americans
• In addition, Mexico now recognized the Rio
Grande as the border between Texas and
Mexico
Wilmot Proviso
• David Wilmot, a Pennsylvania congressman,
had ideas about what to do with any land the
United States was sure to gain with a victory
against Mexico in the Mexican-American War.
• He introduced a proviso(condition) that said
any land gained from Mexico would be free
land
Wilmot Proviso(cont)
• Wilmot tried to tie his proviso in at the end of
the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, but was
unsuccessful as it passed the House of Reps,
but not the Senate
• This contributed greatly to growing tensions in
sectionalism between the North and South
e. Explain how the Compromise of 1850 arose
out of territorial expansion and population
growth.
Compromise of 1850
• The battle between what to do with the
territory gained from Mexico continued for
several years, concluding with the
Compromise of 1850
• The biggest part of this was California was
added to the US as a free state (it was
previously a territory)
Compromise of 1850(comp)
• Other provisions of the Compromise:
• Slave trade abolished in Washington D.C.
• Popular sovereignty used in New Mexico and
Utah territories, meaning the people of those
could vote on the issue of slavery
• Tougher fugitive slave act which said that
escaped slaves must be returned to their
owners