Understanding the Compromises WESTWARD EXPANSION AND THE ISSUE OF SLAVERY

The Missouri Compromise (1820) What to do about the territories? State law had been established in each state, but the territories were mute on the subject of slavery and under the jurisdiction of the federal government. The Missouri Compromise: Prohibited slavery in the territories north of parallel 36-30, EXCEPT in Missouri

Mexican-American War ( ) (also known as the Invasion of Mexico) The defeat of the Mexican military in 1848 created a huge tract of land to the west. Pro-slavery factions wanted to fill this land with the institution of slavery. While abolitionists (and Free Soilers) wanted this new territory to be free. Conflict inevitably arose. Most of the American West was not suitable for traditional slave agricultural work (cotton, tobacco, rice, etc.). Some slavery advocates believed that slaves could be used more in the mining of the west.

The Compromise of 1850 Conflict had existed after the Mexican-American War in regards to the expansion of slavery into the newly acquired territories. Compromise of 1850: California was admitted as a free state. The newly acquired territories (Utah and New Mexico) would decide upon the issue of slavery under the concept of “popular sovereignty” The federal government promised to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act in the North. Slave trade was outlawed in Washington DC.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) Effectively repealed the Missouri Compromise by allowing the territories north of the parallel to determine slavery based on “popular sovereignty.” Thousands of pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces poured into Kansas to vote for or against slavery in the newly forming state of Kansas. This led to a bloody civil war known as “Bleeding Kansas.”