Download A Dividing Nation

A Dividing Nation
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Missouri applied for statehood as a slave state.
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Northerners opposed this because it would upset the balance of free and slave
states in the Senate.
Southerners favored Missouri being admitted as a slave state because there
would be more slave states than free states in Senate.
The Tallmadge Amendment proposed that Missouri be admitted as a
free state.
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Northerners favored this because it would stop the spread of slavery into the
Louisiana Territory.
Southerners opposed this because if Missouri were admitted as a free state, the
North would have the votes in Congress to end slavery.
What actually happened?
• Missouri entered the Union as a slave state.
• Maine entered the Union as a free state.
• Congress drew a line at 36°30' across the Louisiana Territory. Slavery
was permitted south of that line and prohibited north of it.
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Abolitionists wanted to stop slavery in Washington,
D.C., but Congress refused to consider anti-slavery
petitions.
Northern abolitionists were angered because they wanted
Congress to outlaw slavery in the capital.
 Southerners were pleased because the South wanted no
limitations placed on slavery.
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Some northerners assisted fugitive slaves.
Northerners tolerated this practice because they felt slavery
was wrong.
 Southerners condemned this practice because they felt a
runaway slave was lost property.
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What actually happened?
• The slave trade was ended in Washington, D.C.
• A strong fugitive slave law was passed.
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The Wilmot Proviso stated slavery would not be allowed in the
Mexican Cession.
Northerners favored this amendment because they wanted to prevent the
expansion of slavery into territories.
 Southerners opposed this amendment because they felt Congress had no
right to tell slaveholders where they could take their property.
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California applied for admission as a free state.
Northerners favored admitting California as a free state because it would
create more free states than slave states in Congress.
 Southerners opposed admitting California as a free state because it would
make the slaves states a minority in Congress.
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What Actually Happened?
 California was admitted as a free state. New Mexico and Utah
were organized as territories open to slavery.
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The Fugitive Slave Law caused bitterness between the North and the
South.
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Northerners were dissatisfied because they were asked to help slave catchers.
Southerners were dissatisfied because northerners refused to obey it.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin (Harriet Beecher Stowe) told the story of a slave and
his master. The book was popular in the North because it aroused powerful
emotions against slavery.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act stated that the issue of slavery in the territories
would be decided by popular sovereignty. Both pro-slavery and antislavery forces rushed to the territories to vote.
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Northerners were unhappy about the act because it overturned the Missouri
Compromise and allowed slavery north of 36°30’ in the Louisiana Territory.
What actually happened?
 Pro-slavery settlers burn buildings, loot homes, and destroy newspaper
presses in Kansas. John Brown and 7 men responded by killing 5 proslavery men.
 SC representative attacks Senator Sumner after bloodshed in Kansas is
blamed on the South
Dred Scott was a slave who believed his trip to Wisconsin (where
slavery was banned) made him a free man. Took it to court when
returned to Missouri.
What actually happened?
• Scott could not sue for his freedom in a federal
court because he was not a citizen, nor could
any African American ever become an
American citizen.
• Scott’s stay in Wisconsin did not make him
a free man because the Missouri Compromise
was unconstitutional.
• Congress cannot ban slavery in the territories.
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During the Lincoln-Douglas debates, positions regarding slavery
were made clear.
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John Brown attacked the arsenal at Harpers Ferry to get weapons for
a slave rebellion.
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Lincoln, representing the opinion of the North, felt slavery was a moral issue.
“A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
Douglas, representing the opinion of the South, felt slavery was a legal issue
and was settled through the Dred Scott decision.
Northerners considered Brown a hero.
Southerners feared slave rebellions might spread throughout the South.
In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected president.
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Northerners were happy because Lincoln was opposed to the spread of slavery.
Southerners were unhappy because they had lost most of their political power.
What actually happened?
• SC and six other states seceded from the Union. (Lincoln states is
unconstitutional)
• SC fired on Fort Sumter (April 12, 1861) starting the Civil War.