Download A Road Map to Civil War: An Uneasy Compromise

A Road Map to Civil War:
An Uneasy Compromise
Northwest Ordinance (1787)
(1787) Banned slavery in the
Northwest territories
Louisiana Purchase (1803)
Lead to the debate
on expansion of
slavery
Doubled the size
of the U.S.
Missouri Compromise (1820)
Created MO/ME and
banned slavery north
of the 36° parallel
36’30 Line
Kept the balance of
free & slave states
States Rights and Nullification
Nullification debate grew in the U.S. Senate:
Webster-Hayne Debate
Vice-President John C. Calhoun claimed “states
should have final authority on whether to follow
acts of Congress”
He felt states had the right to
judge if a law is constitutional
Congressmen from South Carolina
defended & promoted secession
Slavery and Abolitionism
• Abolitionists
believed slavery
was morally wrong
should be ended
immediately
• Southerners
denied the
allegations of
Abolitionists and
defended slavery
and the treatment
of African
Americans
Mexican Cession and Gold Rush
• Opened up new debate
about the expansion of
slavery
• Many northerners did not
want slavery to expand west
• Southerners defended the
expansion of slavery,
arguing that slaves were
property
• The population boom in
California lead to its
admittance as a free state
and an unbalance of power
in Congress between free
and slave states
Wilmot Proviso
The Debate of 1850
Debate in Congress centered on
California becoming a state
The Great Three
take the lead in
Congress
Clay seeks a compromise and makes over
70 speeches in the House (Webster
supported holding the Union together)
In the Senate, Calhoun (too sick to read his
own statements) calls for the south to secede –
DIES before the issue is settled.
Henry Clay’s
Proposed Compromise of 1850
California admitted
as a free state
Slave
trade
ended
in D.C.
Rest of the Mexican
Cession open to slavery
by popular sovereignty
Texas give up
western lands
Stronger Fugitive Slave Law to
help southern slaveholders
recapture runaway slaves in
the north
Senate Debate on the Compromise of 1850
John C. Calhoun
What was the purpose
of the speech?
How does the Senator
address the issue of
slavery?
What are his
arguments for/against
preserving the Union?
Daniel Webster
Fugitive Slave Law
• Helped
slaveholders
return escaped
slaves to the
south
•Fugitives held
without warrants
•Commissioners
paid $5 to release
and $10 for return
to slave owner
•.
Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)
Nebraska Territory split
Popular Sovereignty would decide
issue of slavery in Kansas/Nebraska
American Expansion and Division