Tensions Rise

NORTH  small farms, industry and commerce SOUTH  plantation farming and slave labor

 Railroads, roads, canals went east-west  Trade and other ties between Midwest and East  Views on Slavery  Morally wrong  Economic threat

 Control of South was with wealthy plantation owners  Wealth tied up in land and slaves- cash crops (cotton fueled economy)  Most southerners were poor farmers  didn’t own slaves  supported slavery because it gave them a sense of superiority  Justification for slavery:  White people superior  Slavery helps slaves- Christianity, food, clothing, shelter  Westward expansion meant more land for plantations (land worn out, rise in demand)

 When was the first time the issue of slavery came up for the U.S.?  Compromises were like band aids- not fixing the problem, just patching it up and covering it so you don’t have to see it.

 1820Missouri applies for statehood  North of the Mason-Dixon line  Maine added as a free state to keep balance in Congress between free and slave states.

 1846  Mexican Cession  slave territory?  ( The Missouri Compromise didn’t apply)

 Would have outlawed slavery in any territory the U.S. might acquire from the war but didn’t pass  Led to Free-Soil Party –political party dedicated to stopping the expansion of slavery “Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labor, and Free Men.”  Won 10 seats in Congress in 1848  Slavery again becomes a key issue

 California-  Gold rush increased population rapidly- will become state soon  slave or free?  Most Californians wanted it to be free state- but that would upset balance in Congress.  March 1850, California applies as free state

 The Compromise:  To make the North happy-  California admitted as a free state  Domestic slave trade abolished in Washington, D.C.

 To make the South happy-  No laws passed regarding slavery for the rest of the territories won from Mexico (popular sovereignty)  Congress will pass a stronger law to help slave- owners-Fugitive Slave Act

 Accused fugitives could be held without an arrest warrant  No right to trial by jury  Required Northerners to help recapture runaway slaves, and penalized those who did not  Southerners began to come up to the North and claim slaves that may have run away as many as 20 years before.

 Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin to make people aware of the atrocities of slavery  Story was of Uncle Tom- a slave who was poorly treated by his owner, and was eventually beaten to death.

 The book, published in 1851, became the best selling novel in the 1800’s, and the second best-selling book of that century after the Bible.  Reactions:  The North:  more people against slavery  The South:  Felt their way of life attached

 Nebraska territory divided into two parts- Nebraska and Kansas  Popular sovereignty will determine whether each part will be slave or free  Would undo Missouri Compromise (Mason- Dixon line)  Passed in 1854

 Elections of  more pro-slavery than anti-slavery residents  5000 pro-slavery people came from Missouri- voted illegally  Kansas legislature filled with Pro-slavery  Anti-slavery settlers refused to acknowledge election results- both sides armed

 Pro-slavery mob attacked Lawrence (anti- slavery city- looted and burned “Sack of Lawrence”  John Brown led 7 others to massacre 5 pro- slavery neighbors “Potawatomie Massacre”  Civil war breaks out in Kansas- 3 years long- “Bleeding Kansas”

 Charles Sumner-Senator from Massachusetts  A.P. Butler- Senator from South Carolina  Preston Brooks- Representative (House) from South Carolina- relative of Butler

 Sumner makes a speech in Congress against the pro-slavery forces in Kansas and insulted Butler in the process.  Brooks (relative of Butler) hears of the speech and goes to the Senate to confront Sumner  Brooks attacked Sumner at his desk on the floor of the Senate and beat him unconscious with his cane

 Brooks cheered in South  North was shocked.  Angry antislavery forces united to form the Republican Party.

 Dred Scott- a slave  His owner (John Emerson) worked for the military and traveled to free areas of the country.  When the Emersons died (his owners) Dred Scott sued the estate to be freed.

 His argument: that he had become free when he lived with Emerson in Illinois- a free state- and Wisconsin- a free territory.  The estate’s argument: Dred Scott was a slave and therefore property- not a citizen with any rights.

 The result: Dred Scott remained a slave  Slavery was strengthened by the ruling because it said that slaves were property and not citizens and therefore had no rights.  Also said that Congress had no right to limit slavery, because that would violate the slaveowners Constitutional property rights.

 The Missouri Compromise was voided  No state could be a free state  Not undone until the 14 th Amendment after the Civil War  Seen as the final straw before the Civil War

 Stephen A. Douglas- Democrat- sponsor of Kansas-Nebraska Act  Abraham Lincoln:- Republican-against expansion of slavery  Famous quote: “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”