Chapter 14: The Nation Divided Section 2: Compromises Fail

The Compromise of 1850 Sept. 1850: Congress passes 5 laws based on Clay’s proposals Pres. Zachary Taylor opposed the Compromise bills – but died in 1850 New President Millard Fillmore approved the Compromise bills Zachary Millard Taylor Fillmore

To Please the North California is admitted as a Free State Banned the slave trade in D.C. Congress declares it does not have a right to regulate slave trade between the slave states

To Please the South Popular Sovereignty will be used to determine the slavery question in the rest of the Mexican Cession Southerner’s got a tough new fugitive slave law Fugitive Slave Act (1850): suspects had no right to a trial; only 1 white witness was required to claim the person was a slave; Northern citizens had to help capture runaways

Outrage in the North Northerners insisted they would resist the new law Outraged to see people accused of being slaves being denied their freedom Thousands of Northern African Americans fled to Canada, even those who had never been enslaved…

Outrage in the North North: city after city banded together to fight against the Fugitive Slave Laws Some threatened the slave catchers with harm Some rescued accused runaways and sent them to Canada Convinced many Northerners that slavery was evil

Uncle Tom’s Cabin Harriet Beecher Stowe: daughter of an abolitionist preacher Met many people that escaped from slavery 1852: Stowe’s book became a best-seller in the North – shocked thousands of people Turns slavery from a political problem into a MORAL problem Southerners viewed the book as Propaganda – novel was not accurate

Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) Senator Stephen Douglas pushed the law through – develop lands west of his home in Illinois Wanted to create 2 new territories – Kansas Territory & Nebraska Territory South refused – the new territories would forbid slavery because of the Missouri Compromise

Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) To win southern support – Douglas proposed to let each new territory use Popular Sovereignty to decide the slavery question… Thus, the Kansas-Nebraska Act undid the Missouri Compromise South supported these proposals – they were sure slave owners in Missouri would migrate to Kansas

Kansas-Nebraska Act North believed Douglas had betrayed them – reopened the issue of slavery in the territories Southern support in Congress allowed the act to pass in both houses President Franklin Pierce (1852) signed the bill into law

Bleeding Kansas Pro-slavery & Anti-slavery forces flooded into Kansas after passage of the bill Both wished to maintain the majority in time for the vote Thousands of Missourians rushed into Kansas to illegally vote for the territorial legislature Kansas had only 3,000 registered voters – 8,000 votes were cast!

Bleeding Kansas Of the 39 legislators elected – all but 3 supported slavery… Anti-Slavery elements refused to accept the results & held another election Kansas now had two competing governments, each claiming the right to impose their laws on the territory

Bleeding Kansas A proslavery sheriff was shot in Lawrence trying to arrest anti-slavery settlers He returned w/ 800 men & attacked the town John Brown (antislavery settler) led 7 men to a small proslavery settlement – murdered 5 proslavery men and boys

Bleeding Kansas These events set off widespread violence in Kansas Proslavery and Antislavery elements roamed the countryside, terrorizing people who did not support their views Charles Sumner denounced the South, Slavery, and Pro-slavery congressmen in the Senate Preston Brooks then beat Sumner unconscious on the floor of the Senate with a heavy cane

Questions What was the Compromise of 1850 and why did it fail? How did the Compromise of 1850 deal with the admission of California to the Union? What impact did Uncle Tom’s Cabin have? How did Stephen Douglas plan undo the Missouri Compromise? What was the outcome of the election to select a legislature in the Kansas Territory?