Slavery and the West and A
Nation Dividing
The Missouri Compromise helped
resolve the issue of whether new states
would be slave states or free states
When Missouri joined the union in 1819, Thomas
Jefferson called the dispute “A firebell in the
night” that “awakened and filled me with terror.”
John Adams said the debate was “a title-page to a
great tragic volume.”…
Many northerners wanted to stop
slavery from spreading into the new
western lands
• Harriet Beecher Stowe –Uncle Tom’s Cabin-describes
slavery as a cruel and inhumane system. Top seller in
1800’s
• The North and South were competing for
new lands for economic reasons and
because of the slavery issue. The differences between
the regions grew into sectionalism—an exaggerated
loyalty
to a particular region of the country.
• Enter Henry Clay-From Kentucky
Clay’s Proposal
• Allowing Missouri into the Union would
upset
the balance between slave states and free
states. The Senate would not have equal
numbers of representatives for each side if
Missouri entered the Union
• The Senate proposed to admit Missouri
as a slave state and Maine as a free state. Henry
Clay divided the Senate bill, known as the
Missouri Compromise, into three proposals and
got it passed in 1820.
The Map
Tariff Debate
• Protective Tariffs 1828 and 1832-Taxes on
imports to help northern industries
• The south forced to pay higher prices on
imported goods.
• John Calhoun of South Carolina raises the
question of nullification-Andrew Jackson has
Congress pass a force bill.
• Compromise is made and both sides claim
victory-but questions remain-Can states secede
(leave) the union if they don’t agree? Can States
nullify a law?
New Western Lands
• Texas comes in as a slave state
• What about California and New Mexico?
• Wilmot Proviso-a proposal in Congress that
would prohibit slavery in any new lands
acquired with Mexico. It does not pass.
• In the election of 1848, The Whigs and
Democrats are neutral with slavery issue
• As a result, the Free Soil Party starts up-”Free
Soil, Free Speech, Free Labor, and Free Men”
they endorsed the Wilmot Proviso
Zachary Taylor wins the election of
1848
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California wants to join the union as a free state
Balance is 15 free to 15 slave states
The Compromise of 1850 –Had to pass 5 parts
1) California would be admitted as a free state.
2) The remainder of the Mexican cession would be divided into two
separate territories, New Mexico and Utah, and these territories would
decide by popular sovereignty whether to be slave-holding or free.
• 3) Texas would cede its claim to parts of the New Mexico territory, and,
in exchange, the government would cover Texas’s $10 million war debt.
• 4) The slave trade would be abolished in the District of Columbia, but
slavery itself would continue.
• 5) Congress would strengthen the Fugitive Slave Act by requiring citizens
of any state, slave or free, to assist in the capture and return of runaway
slaves.
A Nation Dividing
• The Kansas Nebraska Act resulted from
another dispute over slavery in Congress
Conflict in Kansas
• Stephen Douglas proposed abandoning
the Missouri Compromise and let the
settlers in the area vote on slavery issue
• Popular Sovereignty-Allowing the people
to decide
• Northern Democrats are split on the bill
• Sam Houston from Texas says, “The bill
will convulse the country from Maine to
the Rio Grande.”
Violence erupted as proslavery
and antislavery forces came to
arms when the new proslavery
Kansas legislature was elected
• Only 1500 voters lived in Kansas more than
6,000 votes were cast.
• Thousands of proslavery supporters from
Missouri crossed into Kansas to vote
• They travelled in armed groups and became
known as border ruffians
Each group
elected a
legislature
• The Antislavery people
refused to accept these
laws and formed their
own government
• President Pierce backs
the proslavery group
and congress backs the
antislavery forces
• May 1856, 800 Slavery
supporters attacked the
antislavery forces in
Lawrence Kansasburned the town down
Bleeding Kansas
• John Brown-believed God had chosen him to
end slavery
• Brown and four sons went to Pottawatomie
Creek and killed 5 slavery supporters
• Civil War in Kansas
• Governor ordered 1500 troops to stop
the violence.
Violence in Congress
• Charles Sumner, ‘the Crime against Kansas”
• He lashed out against proslavery forces in Kansas
• He attacked proslavery senator Andrew P. Butler of
South Carolina
• Preston Brooks a relative of Butlers’ went in to cane
Sumner.
• Sumner would not return for years.
• Revealed the rising level of hostility in North vs. South