Download Kansas-Nebraska Act

By 1860, cotton was the chief crop of the South
and represented 57% of all US exports.
• Railroads carried cotton
bales weighing up to
500 pounds to textile
factories in the North.
• By 1860, approximately
4 million enslaved
African Americans lived
in the South.
• Living conditions for
slaves varied in different
regions.
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A secret network of escape routes known as the
Underground Railroad was created in the 1830s.
• Harriet Tubman led more than
300 slaves to freedom in the
North, Canada and other
countries. Because of this, they
called her “The Moses of her
people”
• Abolitionists in the North, such
as former slave Frederick
Douglass, began to work for the
elimination of slavery in the
South. His newspaper, The North
Star, helped increase awareness
about abolition.
Southerners now feared the federal government
would interfere with slavery.
• A small minority in the
south known as “Fire
eaters” wanted secession.
• In theory, the Union was a
voluntary compact –
independent states were
free to leave at any time.
• When Alabama entered
the Union in 1819, there
were 11 free and 11
slaveholding states.
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The Constitution gave the federal government no
authority to interfere with slavery within the states.
• Abolitionists hoped to
prevent slavery’s spread.
• If Missouri entered the
Union as a slave state,
the South would have
more power in the
Senate.
• In 1821, Henry Clay
arranged what became
known as the Missouri
Compromise.
Missouri (slave) and Maine (free) would join the
Union at the same time.
• An imaginary line would be
drawn west of the Mississippi
along the southern border of
Missouri (36°30' N).
• South of this line, slavery was
permitted.
• In 1820, there were about
10,000 slaves in Missouri.
• By 1860, there were about
115,000 slaves in Missouri.
• By 1849, using this law as a
guide, there were 15 free and
15 slaveholding states.
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The United States had acquired a large tract of
land after the Mexican War.
• Abolitionists demanded that
slavery be excluded from these
new lands.
• John C. Calhoun (S.C.)
threatened secession if
Southern interests were not
respected in the new territories.
• The Free-Soil Party - formed
by Whigs and Democrats to
fight slavery – received 10% of
the popular vote in the 1848
election.
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In 1850, Henry Clay again arranged a compromise
that would keep the Union together.
• California would be
admitted to the Union
as a free state.
• The remainder of the
Mexican Cession
would vote on whether
to permit slavery.
• Washington D.C.
would close its ports to
the slave trade
• The compromise
included the Fugitive
Slave Law.
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Northerners were required to help capture escaped
slaves and return them to Southern slaveholders.
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• People who broke the
law could receive six
months in jail and a
$1,000 fine.
• Northerners felt
forced to be part of
the slave system.
• In response, Harriet
Beecher Stowe wrote
the antislavery novel
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
in 1852.
Stowe’s book was more popular in its day than any
other publication except the Bible.
• It sold 3,000 copies the
first day it was released.
• By 1857, 500,000 copies
had been sold.
• The fight over slavery was
about to turn violent.
• In 1854, Senator Stephen
Douglas of Illinois
introduced a bill to open
Western territories to
white settlement.
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The Kansas-Nebraska Act essentially repealed
the Missouri Compromise.
• Settlers in the territories
would decide “all questions
pertaining to slavery” by
popular vote.
• Soon, settlers on both sides
were flowing into Kansas to
vote on the issue.
• Southerners who had moved
to Missouri – known as
Border Ruffians– conducted
raids into Kansas to terrorize
and murder antislavery
settlers.
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In May 1856, Abolitionist John Brown led a raid
on proslavery settlers – killing five men and boys.
• The territory was soon
called “Bloody Kansas.”
• Antislavery forces finally
triumphed – Kansas
entered the Union in
January 1861 as a free state.
• Abraham Lincoln, a
longtime Whig, wrote that
the Kansas-Nebraska Act
called him to take action.
• Antislavery groups met to
form the Republican
Party.
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In 1846, a slave named Dred Scott and his wife
sued for their freedom.
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• Because he and his wife had
been taken to free territories,
Scott argued that they were
no longer slaves.
• In a 7 to 2 ruling in 1857, the
Supreme Court ruled that
African Americans were not
citizens and therefore had no
right to sue in federal courts.
• Chief Justice Roger Taney
issued a statement that
African Americans were “so
far inferior that they had no
rights which the white man
was bound to respect.”
Abraham Lincoln challenged Stephen Douglas for
his position of Illinois Senator in 1858.
• They engaged in debates that
gathered nationwide attention.
• Douglas stood by his KansasNebraska Act.
• Lincoln called slavery “a moral, a
social, and a political wrong” that
should not spread any further.
• Lincoln declared, "A house
divided against itself cannot stand.
I believe this Government cannot
endure, permanently, half Slave
and half Free.”
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Douglas won the election (in the Illinois legislature) but
Lincoln gained a national reputation.
• On October 16, 1859,
John Brown and 18
followers raided the
federal arsenal at
Harpers Ferry, Virginia.
• He planned to seize the
weapons and ammunition
to start a slave rebellion.
• Townspeople surrounded
the armory and killed
some of Brown’s men.
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On October 18, Marines led by Robert E. Lee
killed ten of the abolitionists and captured Brown.
• Brown was convicted of
treason on November
2, 1859.
• When he was hanged
for his crime one
month later, thousands
of Northerners hailed
Brown as a martyr.
• For Southerners, Brown
represented their
deepest fear – armed
intervention in their
states by Northern
abolitionists.
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Democrats were divided along regional lines
leading up to the 1860 election.
• Stephen Douglas was
nominated by Northern
Democrats.
• John Breckinridge of
Kentucky was nominated by
Southern Democrats.
• The Constitutional Union Party
chose John Bell of Tennessee
as their candidate.
• Republicans nominated
Abraham Lincoln, who won
easily in the electoral college
although he did not receive a
majority of the popular vote.
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During the campaign, Southerners had threatened
to secede from the Union if Lincoln was elected.
• South Carolina became
the first state to withdraw
from the Union on
December 20, 1860.
• By Lincoln’s inauguration
in March 1861,
Mississippi, Florida,
Alabama, Georgia,
Louisiana, and Texas had
also left the Union.
• In February 1861,
Southern delegates met in
Montgomery, Alabama to
set up a government.
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Jefferson Davis of Mississippi became the first
president of the Confederate States of America.
• In May 1861, the
Confederacy moved its
capital to Richmond,
Virginia.
• When Lincoln called for
states to send militias to
suppress the rebellion, the
upper South joined the
lower South in secession
• By June 1861, Virginia,
Arkansas, North Carolina,
and Tennessee had also
seceded.
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In his inaugural address, Lincoln said he would not
interfere with slavery where it currently existed.
• He did, however, point out
that he had just taken an
oath to "preserve, protect,
and defend” the Union.
• He ended his address by
saying, “We are not
enemies, but friends. We
must not be enemies.
Though passion may have
strained it must not break
our bonds of affection.”
• Just over a month later, the
Civil War began.