Name: ______Date: ______Period: ______

Class Work: Conflict Over Slavery In the Territories

1. Below is a quick review of how westward expansion led to tension between the North and South over slavery. Use the word bank and see if you can put the correct words in all of the blanks!

Review of slavery and westward expansion:

  • ______ = exaggerated loyalty to a particular region of the country
  • 1820 – ______makes Missouri a ______state, Maine a ______ state, bans slavery in the LouisianaTerritory north of 36, 30’N latitude, and allows it south of that line. Temporarily preserves ______ between North and South
  • 1845 – ______ becomes a state after heated debate due to slavery
  • 1846 – During the Mexican-American War, Northerners call for the ______, which would have banned slavery in lands acquired from Mexico. ______ proposes making it illegal to ban slavery anywhere in the new territory.
  • 1848 – ______ forms – third party devoted specifically to outlawing slavery in the territories (many wanted to do this not to support African Americans, but because they wanted whites only in the west)
  • ______:
  • ______ admitted as a free state
  • New MexicoTerritory would have no restrictions on slavery
  • New Mexico – Texas border dispute settled in favor of New Mexico, but Texas was compensated
  • Slave trade ______ in D.C.
  • Strong ______ passed – this was very unpopular in the North and increased tensions

John C. Calhoun abolished Free Soil Party
California free slave
Compromise of 1850 Wilmot Proviso Missouri Compromise
Texas fugitive slave law balance
Sectionalism

2. The Kansas-Nebraska Act(Bower, Bert and Jim Lobdell, History Alive! The United States. Teachers’ Curriculum Institute: 2002. Print. P. 281 – 282)

Actively read along as we learn about one final attempt at compromise in the issue of slavery in the territories:

Early in 1854 (During the presidency of Franklin Pierce, Democrat), Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois introduced a bill in Congress that would have far-reaching consequences. Douglas had no intention of opening up another painful debate on slavery. He simply wanted to get a railroad built to California. This was more likely to happen, he thought, if Congress organized the Great Plains into the NebraskaTerritory and opened it to settlers. Because this territory lay north of the Missouri Compromise line, his bill said nothing about slavery.

Southerners in Congress agreed to support Douglas’s bill if he made a few changes. His final bill created two new territories, Kansas and Nebraska. It also scrapped the Missouri Compromise by leaving it up to settlers themselves to decide what to do about slavery in the two territories. In other words, the bill opened the territories to slavery, provided voters approved. Douglas called this policy “popular sovereignty,” or rule by the people.

Reactions: The assumption was that Kansas, which was right next to Missouri, would choose to become a slave state while Nebraska would become a free state. The South was pleased to have a chance to gain another slave state. The North, on the other hand, was upset -- they pointed out that if either territory chose to become a slave state it would violate the Missouri Compromise line of 1820. The act resulted in increased tensions between the North and South. Angry antislavery northerners started refusing to obey the Fugitive Slave Law outright. Free Soilers rushed to Kansas to try to make sure it became a free state. Southerners were furious.

Annotated Maps: Westward Expansion and Slavery

Let’s tie it all together by completing a map activity. Use the maps on the back of this page to quickly sketch in what each compromise over western territory and slavery looked like. Use the map on p. 323 of your textbooks for the Missouri Compromise and the maps on page 443 for the Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Use the spaces to explain what happened in each compromise (bullet points are fine). Be sure to answer the question at the bottom of the page.

1. The Missouri Compromise

/ Explain the Missouri Compromise:

2. The Compromise of 1850

/ Explain the Compromise of 1850:

3. The KansasNebraska Act

/ Explain the Kansas-Nebraska Act:

KEY

______Free states

______Territory closed to slavery

______Slave states

______Territory open to slavery

Question: In your own words, how did the compromises shown above help lead the U.S. closer to a civil war? ______