2. VOCABULARY Uncle Tom’s Cabin – Kansas-Nebraska Act – Border Ruffians –
John Brown –
Bleeding Kansas –

4. Abolitionists took many forms (newspaper editor, public speaker and “conductors”) to help encourage slaves to escape to the North. The Underground Railroad helped many slaves to freedom.
With the tariffs, a separation between the North and South becomes wider. The economy of the South depends on cotton and slave labor. The economy of the North depends on industry and paid labor.
As more people move west, and more territories becoming states, the issue of slavery heats up! The Missouri Compromise is passed keeping the balance of power in the Senate. A new political party emerges called the Free Soil Party. Their main goal was to keep slavery OUT of the western territories.
The Compromise of 1850 admitted California into the Union as a free state, but the North and South did not get everything they wanted. The North is especially angry with the passage of Fugitive Slave Act.

5. In 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe published a novel called Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Stowe wrote the novel to show the evils of slavery and the injustice of the Fugitive Slave Law.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin added to the growing antislavery mood in the north.

6. Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote her novel about the story of Uncle Tom
Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote her novel about the story of Uncle Tom. Tom is an enslaved African American who is known for his kindness and devotion to his Christian faith.
Tom is bought by a southern planter named Simon Legree. Legree is cruel to his slaves and treats Tom brutally.
As the story comes to an end, Uncle Tom refuses to obey Legree’s order to whip another slave.
Legree, in a fit of rage, then whips Uncle Tom to death.

7. In the North, Uncle Tom’s Cabin had wide appeal
In the North, Uncle Tom’s Cabin had wide appeal. The first 5,000 copies that were printed were sold out in two days.
In its first year, Stowe’s novel sold 300,000 copies and was published in many different languages.
It is considered one of the most influential books in American history because of the way it made the reader empathize with enslaved characters. This brought out an anger in people over the slavery issue that wasn’t there before.
Spoiler ALERT! Uncle Tom, the main character, is killed savagely at the end of the book.

8. Although Uncle Tom’s Cabin was popular in the North, it was not seen very favorably in the South.
Southerners claimed the book did not give a true picture of slave life and that Harriet Beecher Stowe had seen little slavery firsthand, which was true.
Even so, Stowe talked about the causes of slavery and the Fugitive Slave Law in her book. These ideas made her northern readers think of slavery as less of a political problem and more as a moral issue that could no longer be ignored.
THE OTHER SIDE: Many southerners claimed not all slaves were mistreated, as Stowe portrayed in her book.

9. Americans had hoped that the Compromise of 1850 would end the debate over slavery in the Louisiana territory.
In 1854, however, the issue of slavery in this territory surfaced again when Senator Stephen Douglas introduced a bill to set up a government for the Nebraska Territory.
The territory stretched from Texas north to Canada, and from Missouri west to the Rockies.

10. Douglas knew that white southerners did not want to add another free state to the Union.
He proposed that the Nebraska Territory be divided into two territories, Kansas and Nebraska.
The settlers living in each territory would decide the issue of slavery by popular sovereignty.
Douglas’s bill was known as the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

11. Most southern leaders supported the Kansas-Nebraska Act
Most southern leaders supported the Kansas-Nebraska Act. They were sure that slave owners from neighboring Missouri would move across the border into Kansas. They hoped eventually Kansas would become a slave state.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act seemed like a fair bill, since the Compromise of 1850 had also applied popular sovereignty (voting) in New Mexico and Utah.
What Douglas couldn’t have known was that by pushing the Kansas-Nebraska bill through Congress, the United States had just taken one solid step closer to all out civil war.

12. Missouri Compromise said no slave states above the 36 30’ line!
Kansas and Nebraska can now vote to become slave or free!
Passing the Kansas-Nebraska act meant that slavery could now be allowed north of the 36°30' parallel! Slavery had originally been outlawed in this part of the Louisiana territory with the passing of the Missouri Compromise of The Kansas-Nebraska Act would repeal (undo) the Missouri Compromise.
The northerners became angry and called the act a “criminal betrayal of precious rights.”
Slavery could now spread to areas that had been free for more than thirty years.

13. After months of debate, the Kansas-Nebraska Act passed on May 30, 1854
After months of debate, the Kansas-Nebraska Act passed on May 30,  The nation now turned its attention to Kansas as the territory prepared to decide whether it would be a free or slave state by voting (popular sovereignty).
Stephen Douglas hoped that settlers would decide on the slavery issue peacefully on election day.

14. With the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Kansas was now available for settlement, thus many people began moving into the new territory.
FARMERS from neighboring states who wanted cheap land (only a few had slaves).
ANTI-SLAVERY (abolitionists) brought in more than 1,000 settlers from New England.
PRO-SLAVERY settlers, some from the bordering state of Missouri and other slave states.

15. Pro-slavery settlers wanted to make sure that anti-slavery forces did not over populate the territory.
As Kansas organized itself into a real territory, it needed to elect lawmakers.
Pro-slavery settlers needed enough pro-slavery votes to elect pro-slavery representatives.

16. Slave state Free state More pro-slavery settlers
Elected pro-slavery representatives
Territory will more likely become a SLAVE state
Free state
Territory will more likely become a FREE state
More anti-slavery settlers
Elected anti-slavery representatives

17. In the months leading up to Kansas’ elections, large groups of pro-slavery men from Missouri, called Border Ruffians, crossed over the border into Kansas to attacked Free-State towns and settlements.

18. Pro-slavery settlers knew that eventually slavery would be outlawed in Nebraska because cotton didn’t grow well due to its climate.
But Kansas had land similar to Missouri's, which grew cotton very well.
This made Kansas, and not Nebraska, a main target for pro-slavery forces.

19. Will Kansas elect pro-slavery representatives?
Will Kansas elect anti-slavery representatives?

20. In 1855, when Kansas held elections to choose lawmakers, hundreds of Border Ruffians crossed into Kansas and voted illegally.
Although the number of votes cast exceeded the number of eligible voters in the territory, Kansas officials allowed it to happen fearful of more violence.
The illegal votes helped to elect a pro-slavery Kansas legislature. The new legislature quickly passed strict laws to support slavery.

22. Anti-slavery settlers refused to accept these illegally elected lawmakers and their strict pro-slavery laws.
Anti-slavery settlers ignored the pro-slavery legislature and elected their own governor and legislature.
With two rival governments, Kansas was in CHAOS!
The Border Ruffians continued to incite fear as they sought out anti-slavery settlers not willing to cooperate with the new pro-slavery government.

23. Two governments = Chaos!
Hundreds of Border Ruffians cross the border and vote illegally for PRO-SLAVERY.
ANTI-SLAVERY settlers ignore the new government and form their own.
Kansas becomes a SLAVE-state
Kansas becomes a FREE-state
Two governments = Chaos!

24. In 1856, a band of pro-slavery men raided the town of Lawrence, Kansas, where many anti-slavery settlers lived.
The attackers destroyed homes and smashed the printing press of a Free Soil newspaper.
John Brown, an abolitionist, became so angry he decided to strike back.
Brown had moved to Kansas to help make it a free state. He claimed that God had sent him to punish those who supported slavery.

25. John Brown rode with his four sons and two other men to the town of Pottawatomie Creek.
In the middle of the night, they dragged five pro-slavery settlers from their beds and hacked them to death. Brown later said he was not involved, but that he approved of the killings.
When citizens heard of the killings at Pottawatomie Creek it led to more violence.
By late 1856, more than 200 people had been killed.
Newspapers called the territory Bleeding Kansas.

26. Brown wanted to create a new state for freed slaves
Brown wanted to create a new state for freed slaves. He began recruiting anti-slavery men to his cause. He believed that once he began fighting, slaves would rise up and help him carry out his rebellion across the south.
The abolitionist Harriett Tubman helped Brown gather former slaves to join his fight.
Frederick Douglass, a freed slave and abolitionist, had heard about Brown's plans to lead an uprising of slaves to freedom. Douglass believed Brown’s rebellion was foolhardy and discourage blacks from enlisting.

27. By late September, Brown had only recruited 21 men but decided to continue with his plan to attack Harpers Ferry Armory.
On the night of October 16, 1859, Brown easily captured the armory, (which only had a single watchman) and began grabbing hostages from nearby farms. He spread the news to local slaves that their liberation was at hand.
When a train approached the town, Brown's men told the train to stop and opened fire on the passengers. The baggage master, Hayward Shepherd, who was a free black man, was the first casualty.

28. At noon, a militia seized the bridge and blocked Brown’s only escape route. Brown moved his hostages and men into the engine house, a small brick building at the entrance to the armory.
By the morning of October 18th the engine house was surrounded by a group of U.S. Marines under the command of Colonel Robert E. Lee.

29. Brown was told if they surrendered their lives would be spared
Brown was told if they surrendered their lives would be spared. Brown refused, saying, "No, I prefer to die here."
The Marines then broke down the engine room door. Within minutes Brown and his men were taken into custody.

30. Brown's raid at Harper’s Ferry ended with five civilians killed and nine wounded. Ten of Brown's men were killed.
Brown was charged with murdering four whites and a black, with conspiring with slaves to rebel, and with treason.
The jury found Brown guilty on all three counts and sentenced to be hanged in public on December 2nd.

31. “John Brown’s body lies a mold’ring in the grave,
Brown became a hero to many Northerners. Some considered him a martyr because he was willing to die for his beliefs.
On the morning he was hanged, church bells rang solemnly throughout the North.
In years to come, New Englanders would sing a popular song:
“John Brown’s body lies a mold’ring in the grave,
But his soul is marching on.”

32. To white Southerners, the Northern response to John Brown’s death was outrageous. They wondered how Northerners could praise a man who had tried to lead a slave revolt!
Many Southerners became convinced that the North wanted to destroy slavery – and the South along with it.
The nation was teetering close to war, poised for a violent clash.