Chapter 11
SECTION 2
Effects of Missouri Compromise
•The newly acquired western land forced the question of whether or not slavery would be
allowed in the new territories
•The Missouri Compromise helped maintain a balance between slave and free states in the
Senate and also limited slavery below 36 degree 30’ N latitude
•This did not limit the number of states that could be created from the newly acquired Texas,
New Mexico and California territories- in theory the South could create many states and take a
majority in the Senate and even the Electoral College
•Northerners wanted to keep slavery out of the new territories while they were not states- the
south wanted the gov’t to stay out of these matters because they had no right to tell people
what to do with their property
Effects of Missouri Compromise
During the Presidential election of 1848 both parties ( Democrats and Whigs) hoped to get
voters from both sides- opposed and supported slavery- so they did not discuss the topic
This angered some members who created a new political party called the Free Soil party which
opposed slavery in the new territories.
This party did not win any states during the election, but did take enough votes away from the
Democrats (Cass) to give the Whigs (Taylor) the victory
Compromise of 1850
In 1849 the thousands of Americans who went to CA for the Gold Rush requested CA’s admission
to the US as a free state- this would shift the delicate balance toward the north
In order to help solve the problem, Henry Clay, a KY Senator created the Compromise of 1850
which had two parts for the North and two parts for the South:
1. CA would be admitted as a free state
2. NM and UT would decide for themselves if slavery was legal
3. No sale of slaves in D.C.
4. Slavery was legal in D.C.
5. The Fugitive Slave Act would require all citizens of the US to assist in returning all slaves who
had escaped their owners
Compromise of 1850
Senator John Calhoun of SC opposed the Compromise. He believed the North had gained too
much power in the House due to its larger population and was controlling the government
Calhoun, like many southerners, liked the theory of states’ rights- where states have the right to
nullify acts of the federal gov’t and leave the Union if they wanted to
Calhoun and other southerners believed ending slavery interfered with their liberty to own
slaves as property and a gov’t that would do that was not a gov’t worth respecting
Senator Daniel Webster of MA favored the Compromise on the position that it would help save
the union. He thought slavery in NM was not practical and that it was a constitutional right to
return fugitive slaves- this upset northern abolitionists but was supported by business owners
who wanted to trade with the South
Tyler died while in office bringing in Millard Fillmore as President. Fillmore and Stephan Douglas
of Illinois pushed through the Compromise. It did nothing besides admitting CA as a free state
and infuriated the north as they were apart of slavery now with the Fugitive Slave Act
Political Parties
The Whig party began to decline after the acceptance of the Compromise of 1850. They were
beat by a landslide in the 1852 election and never really heard from again
Nativism, or a movement to ensure that native-born Americans received better treatment than
immigrants, arose in response to the surge of immigration
This idea created a secret society called the Order of the Star-Spangled Banner. The order
required complete secrecy- they used passwords, special handshakes and always replied to
questions with “I know nothing”
They created a political party called the American party which pledged to work against Irish
Catholic candidates and for laws requiring immigrants to wait longer before becoming citizens
The American party started to be called the Know-Nothings. They did very well in local elections
in the northern states- voters who were worried about crime, vice and losing their jobs voted for
their candidates
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Senator Stephan Douglas of Illinois raised the issue of slavery in the territories again due personal
interest
1. He wanted Chicago to benefit from the development of the West. The sooner KA and NE were
states the sooner the railroad could be built across them to link Chicago to the west
2. He wanted to run for President- to do that he needed support from southern Democrats- but
pushing for statehood was not a positive for them as under the MO Compromise they would be free
To make both happy he introduced the Kansas-Nebraska Act which would support the practice of
popular sovereignty, or letting the people in the territory vote to decide if slavery would be allowed.
The South would be happy because it gave KA and NE a chance to be slave states and northerners
happy because they thought slavery would not work in the west due to cotton not growing there
This would repeal the MO Compromise
Congress passed the act but it did not work as Douglas had planned. Northern Democrats called
Douglas a sell out.
Creation of the Republican Party
During 1854 people throughout the North held meetings to protest the KA-NE Act
During a meeting in Michigan they created a new political party- the Republican party- a direct
ancestor of the same party today
The members of this party were dedicated to stopping the “Slave Power” or the South, fight the
extension into new territories and to repeal the KA-NE Act and Fugitive Slave Act
They got their support from antislavery Democrats, Whigs, Free Soilers in the North. Farmers,
professionals, small business owners and craftworkers were also Republicans