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Slavery Dominates Politics
In these notes, you will learn about how
the North and the South tried to solve
their conflicts over slavery.
 Fill in the blanks on the handout.
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North and South take different paths
As you have learned, the North and the
South took different paths.
 The South remained dependant on
agriculture. The North was increasingly
becoming dependant on manufacturing.
 As a result, the North and South took
different views on the issue of slavery.
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Slavery causes conflicts
The North, no longer needing slaves for
their economy, thought slavery should be
abolished.
 The South needed the slaves to pick their
cotton and tobacco. They wanted slavery
to continue.
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Political Compromises
There were many political compromises
in dealing with the issue of slavery.
 The first was way back in 1787 when the
Constitution was being written.
 Remember – the 3/5 Compromise
allowed the South count each slave as 3/5
of a person for the purposes of
representation. (They got more
representatives in the House of
Representatives).
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Northwest Ordinance 1787
The Northwest Ordinance was the next
political compromise.
 The Northwest ordinance forbid slavery
in the Northwest Territory.
 This was the first time that slavery had
been forbidden in an American territory.
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The Missouri Compromise
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In 1820 with the admission of Missouri to the Union, the
issue of slavery came up again. There was already a great deal
of tension between the North and the South.
The South, was highly agricultural. It wanted to keep slavery
a way of life on their plantations. The North, which was far
more industrial, saw this "peculiar institution" as unnecessary
and increasingly morally wrong.
One way the government tried limit the tension was by
keeping the number of slave and free states equal.
So, in 1820, when Missouri met the requirements for
statehood and applied for admission to the Union as a slave
state, there was a problem. The balance of free and slave
states would be destroyed.
Results of Missouri Compromise
To solve the problem, a compromise was
reached.
 Missouri was admitted to the Union as a
slave state. Maine would be admitted at
the same time as a free state.
 The Louisiana Purchase was also divided
into slave and free territory.
 This compromise kept things peaceful for
a few years.
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The Wilmot Proviso
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After the Missouri Compromise in
1820,political disagreements over slavery
seemed to go away. But new disagreements
arose with the outbreak of the War with
Mexico in1846.Many Northerners believed that
Southerners wanted to take territory from
Mexico in order to extend slavery. To prevent
that, Representative David Wilmot of
Pennsylvania proposed a bill, known as the
Wilmot Proviso.
It would outlaw slavery in any territory the
United States might acquire from the War with
Mexico.
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But slaveholders believed that Congress had no right to
prevent them from bringing slaves into any of the
territories. They viewed slaves as property. The
Constitution, they claimed, gave equal protection to the
property rights of all U.S .citizens.
The Wilmot Proviso removed the right of slaveholders to
take their slaves, which they regarded as property,
anywhere in the United States or its territories.
Southerners claimed that the bill was unconstitutional.
The Wilmot Proviso never became law.
Problems with California
By 1848, the nation’s leaders had begun to debate how to
deal with slavery in the lands gained from the War with
Mexico.
 In 1849, gold was discovered in California. The population
grew very fast.
 By 1850, California applied to become a new state.
 If California was admitted as a free state, it would upset
the balance of free and slave states.
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Compromise of 1850
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Congress went to work on a plan to solve the California
problem. It was called the Compromise of 1850.
To please the North, California would be admitted as a free
state, and the slave trade would be abolished in Washington,
D.C.
To please the South, Congress would not pass laws
regarding slavery for the rest of the territories won from
Mexico, and Congress would pass a stronger law to help
slaveholders recapture runaway slaves. This was called the
Fugitive Slave Act.
Fugitive Slave Act
An 1850 law that helped slaveholders
recapture runaway slaves.
 It was illegal to help a slave escape.
 A person could be put in jail if they did.
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Harriet Beecher Stowe
Harriet Beecher Stowe was outraged when
she heard about the part of the Compromise
of 1850 that would help slaveholders
recapture runaway slaves. She stated that the
Christian men who passed this law “cannot
know what slavery is.”
 As a result, in 1852 Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s
Cabin; a novel which portrayed slavery as
brutal and immoral.
 This book encouraged many people in the
North to become abolitionists.
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Popular Sovereignty
A system where the people decide an
issue by voting on it.
 Southerners wanted to use popular
sovereignty to decide if slavery should
exist in new states.
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Kansas–Nebraska Act
A bill proposed by Senator Stephan
Douglas of Illinois.
 The bill would split the Nebraska
territory into two states – Kansas and
Nebraska.
 The people of Kansas and Nebraska
would be allowed to decide if there
would be slavery in their states. (popular
sovereignty)
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Bleeding Kansas
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Because popular sovereignty was going to be
allowed in Kansas, proslavery and antislavery
settlers rushed into the territory.
Bloodshed resulted.
John Brown – an extreme white abolitionist went to
homes of several proslavery neighbors and
murdered five people.
News of the violence spread, and civil war broke out
in Kansas. It continued for three years, which was
why it was called “Bleeding Kansas.”
John Brown
Republican Party
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In 1854, the Republican Party was created
to stop the spread of slavery.
Presidential Election of 1856
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Republicans nominate John C. Fremont, a national hero
from his exploration of the West.
Democrats nominate James Buchanan.
The American or Know-Nothing party nominated
Millard Fillmore.
Democrat Buchanan won, but the election showed that
the Republicans were very strong in the North, and that
the issue of slavery had divided the country.
Dred Scott Case
Dred Scott - a slave in Missouri.
 Owner took him to the North where slavery was
illegal.
 Scott sued for his freedom because he was in a free
state.
 The case reached the Supreme Court.
 The Supreme Court ruled that Scott could not sue in
the U.S. because he was not a citizen. He was the
property of his owner.
 This case angered people in the North.
 The ruling also stated that Congress could not ban
slavery in the territories.
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Lincoln and Douglas Debates
In 1858, Abraham Lincoln challenged Stephan Douglas
for senator from Illinois.
 Douglas and Lincoln had debates over the issues.
 The major issue was slavery.
 Lincoln had called slavery “a moral, a social, and political
wrong.”
 Douglas said that slavery was up to the people.
 Douglas won, but Lincoln became a national figure after
the debates.
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John Brown Attacks Harpers Ferry
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1859, John Brown, who had murdered proslavery Kansans
three year earlier wanted to inspire slaves to fight for
their freedom.
He planned to capture the weapons in the U.S arsenal at
Harpers Ferry,Virginia.
Brown and 18 followers, 13 white and 5 black, captured
the weapons.
They wanted to give the weapons to slaves so they could
start a slave revolt.
They killed four people.
No slaves joined the fight and Brown and six
others were captured and hanged.
 On the day that Brown was put to death,
abolitionist rang bells in his honor. Southerners
were horrified by the reaction of the North.
 The issue of slavery was becoming very tense.
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