1. Rising Tensions... 1850-1860

2. Abolitionism Spreads in North Frederick Douglass: runaway slave becomes abolitionist leader William Lloyd Garrison: editor of abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator Underground Railroad: elaborate network of white abolitionists, free blacks and slaves (NOT just Harriet Tubman!) Total number of fugitives assisted by the URR b/w 1830-1860 is anywhere between 70,000 and 100,000.

3. Compromise of 1850 California wants to be a free state But the South assumed it wouldn’t be So... California will be free, BUT Utah and New Mexico will vote on slavery Fugitive Slave Law: meant to appease South; many Northerners feel it turns them into slave- catchers...

4. Kansas-Nebraska Act 1850 Proposed by Stephen Douglas People in Nebraska Territory will vote on whether to have slavery or not (popular sovereignty) Sounds like a good idea, BUT Anti-slavery (Freesoilers: poor farmers who couldn’t compete with slave-owners) and pro- slavery forces stream in... Mini- civil war: “Bleeding Kansas”

6. John Brown Abolitionist Involved in the Underground Railroad Moves to Kansas to support the anti- slavery cause Responds to violence by proslavery men by organizing the murder of 5 proslavery settlers: Pottowatomie Creek Massacre

7. John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry Planned a raid on a Federal arsenal Wanted to distribute weapons to slaves Didn’t happen: Brown and his men were mostly captured or killed within 36 hours Brown was ultimately hanged

8. Today’s Question Abraham Lincoln called Brown a “misguided fanatic.” Do YOU think John Brown was a “misguided fanatic?” Misguided: confused Fanatic: extremist