23.3 Failed Compromises
Main Idea
Disagreements
between the North
and the South,
especially over the
issue of slavery, led
to political conflict.
Why It Matters Now
Regional differences
can make national
problems difficult to
resolve.
CA. Standards
• 8.9.4 Discuss the importance of the
slave issue as raised by the
annexation of Texas and California’s
admission to the union as a free
state under the Compromise of
1850.
• 8.9.5 Analyze the significance of the States’
Rights Doctrine, the Missouri Compromise
(1820), the Wilmot Proviso (1846), the
Compromise of 1850, Henry Clay’s role in
the Missouri Compromise and the
Compromise of 1850, the Kansas-Nebraska
Act (1854), the Dred Scott v. Sandford
decision (1857), and the Lincoln-Douglas
debates.
Daily Guided Questions
1. How did the admission of new states
to the Union fuel the debate over
slavery and states’ rights?
2. What was the Compromise of 1850
and its different parts?
3. Why did the Kansas-Nebraska Act
fail?
Missouri Compromise, 1820
• Missouri wanted to become a slave
state.
• Northern states worried that the
south would have too much power in
Congress and spread of slavery west.
-Henry Clay was a senator who
persuaded Congress to approve the
Missouri Compromise.
• Preserved balance between slave
and free states.
-Maine: Free, Missouri: Slave.
-South of 36*30’ line allows slavery
to be legal.
-Allowed slave owners to pursue
escaped fugitive slaves into “Free
regions.”
Slavery Moves West
• Texas settlers bring slaves for cotton
production.
• After the Mexican-American War, southerners
hope to push slavery into gained territories.
• Abolitionist and Northern congressmen want
slavery to halt or stay only where it is at.
Wilmot Proviso
• No slavery in territory gained from Mexico.
• North
-Wants to end the spread of slavery.
-Slave terr. adds slave states.
-No jobs for free workers.
• South
-Slaves are property protected by the Constitution.
-Fears more free states.
Free-Soil Party
• Opposes spread of slavery into territories.
-Not abolitionist.
-Worried about white wage-based labor.
• Made up of Democrats and Whigs.
• Ex-president Martin Van Buren was their
candidate for the 1848 election.
• Lost election to Zachary Taylor.
Reflect and Share
• Take a minute to answer the first
DGQ.
• Then share the answer with your
partner.
• Add/Change your answer.
1. How did the admission of new states
to the Union fuel the debate over
slavery and states’ rights?
California Annexation
• Backed by President
Taylor.
• Statehood would upset
balance between free
and slave votes in
congress.
-South threaten to secede.
• Henry Clay of Kentucky
proposes compromise to
save Union.
Henry’s Compromise
• CA. becomes a free State
• Fugitive Slave Law
• Popular Sovereignty- New Mexico and
Utah territories vote for slavery or not.
• Government pays Texas $10 mil. for
eastern New Mexico.
• Slave trade banned in Washington D.C.
-Allows slavery
Debate over Compromise
• North
• Daniel Webster
• Asked for
compromise to
preserve Union.
• South
• John C. Calhoun
• Annexation of CA.
would threaten
Southern way of life.
• Demanded
constitutional
amendment to protect
states’ rights.
• Or would Secede.
Webster
Calhoun
Compromise of 1850
• To please the North
• Statehood of CA.
• Banned slave trade in
D.C.
• Popular sovereignty
• To please the South
• Popular sovereignty will
decide slavery issue in
territories.
• Allowed slavery in D.C.
• Congress could not
regulate slave trade
between slave states
• Fugitive slave law.
Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
• Effective throughout the country.
-Slave catchers roamed throughout the North.
• Government officials ordered to arrest accused
runaway slaves.
• No warrants, accused denied jury trials.
• Federal commissioners paid more for returning
than freeing accused.
• Northerners required to assist in capture.
-Fined and imprisonment if assisted fugitives.
Reflect and Share
• Take a minute to answer the second
DGQ.
• Then share the answer with your
partner.
• Add/Change your answer.
2. What was the Compromise of 1850
and its different parts?
Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854
• Senator Stephen Douglas pushed the bill.
-Repeals Missouri Compromise.
• Created Kansas and Nebraska Territories.
-Lay north of Missouri Compromise line.
-Would be free states, angered South.
• Popular Sovereignty- residents would decide
the issue.
• Passed, but angered many.
Bleeding Kansas
• Thousands pour into territory.
-Antislavery and proslavery.
• 1855, elections held.
-pro-slavery “border ruffians” vote illegally.
-Two governments.
• Lawrence, KS.
-800 pro-slavery posse burn and loot town.
• Pottawatomie Massacre.
-John Brown and followers kill 5.
• Incidents kill over 200.
Reflect and Share
• Take a minute to answer the third
DGQ.
• Then share the answer with your
partner.
• Add/Change your answer.
3. Why did the Kansas-Nebraska Act
fail?
Violence in Senate
• Senator Charles Sumner verbally
attacks slavery.
• Congressman Preston S. Brooks
beats Sumner for insults to uncle.
• Southerners applaud Brooks;
Northerners condemn him.
Study Guide pg. 162
• Copy and complete the study
guide on the failed compromises
of the 1850’s.
• Study guide pg. 162 & textbook
pg. 362-367.