US History – Chapter 16
Slavery Divides the Nation
Chapter 1: Slavery in the Territories
• What was the purpose of the Missouri Compromise?
• Why did conflict arise over the issue of slavery in the western territories?
• Why was the Free-Soil party founded?
The Missouri Compromise
In 1819, there were ___ free states and ___ slave states. Representation in the Senate was evenly balanced between the North and the South.
______wanted to join the Union as a slave state. That would give the South a majority in the Senate.
______proposed the Missouri Compromise.
• Missouri would join the Union as a slave state.
• ______would join the Union as a free state.
• Congress drew an imaginary line across the ______border of Missouri at latitude 36º30´N. Slavery would be permitted in the ______south of that line.
The Issue of Slavery in the West
Problem: As a result of the Mexican War, the United States acquired a vast amount of land. The Missouri Compromise applied only to the Louisiana Purchase, not the new western lands.
The Argument:
______:
Congressman David Wilmot of Pennsylvania called for a law to ban slavery in any territories won from Mexico. This proposal was known as the ______.
______:
Southern leaders said Congress had no right to ban slavery in the West.
The Outcome:
The house passed the Wilmot Proviso, but the Senate defeated it. The argument continued.
______: Slavery should be banned throughout the country. It is morally wrong.
Southern Slaveholders: Slavery should be allowed in any territory. Slaves who escape to the North should be returned.
Other views: The Missouri Compromise line should be extended all across the Mexican Cession. Any state south of the line could allow ______.
• States carved out of the Mexican Cession should decide the slavery issue by ______that is, voters in a new territory should decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery.
The Founding of the Free-Soil Party
In 1848, slavery became an important election issue for the first time.
• Many northern ______and Whigs opposed the spread of slavery.
• They did not speak up because they did not want to lose southern votes. Also, they feared the slavery issue would split the nation.
• In 1848, ______members of both parties formed the Free-Soil party. Only a few members were abolitionists. The party’s main goal was to keep slavery out of the western territories.
Section 2: The Compromise of 1850
• Why did the slavery debate erupt again in 1850?
• What was the impact of the Compromise of 1850?
• How did Uncle Tom’s Cabin affect attitudes toward slavery?
The Slavery Debate Erupts Again
• In 1849, there were ___ slave states and ___ free states. ______asked to enter the Union as a free state.
• If California entered the Union as a free state, the North would have a ______in the Senate. The South feared that Oregon, Utah, and New Mexico would also soon join the Union as free states.
• Some ______worried that they would be outvoted in the Senate. They said southern states should secede, or remove themselves, from the United States.
• Northerners said that ______should be allowed to enter the Union as a free state because most of the territory lay north of the Missouri Compromise line.
• ______of Kentucky: He pleaded for the North and South to reach an agreement and warned that the nation could break apart.
• ______of South Carolina: He refused to compromise and insisted that slavery be allowed in the western territories. He demanded that fugitive, or runaway, slaves be returned to their owners as lost “property.” He said that if the North did not agree to these demands, the South would use force to leave the Union.
• ______of Massachusetts: He felt that slavery was evil, but the breakup of the United States would be worse. He warned against civil war, a war between people of the same country. He thought that northerners should be forced to return fugitive slaves.
The Compromise of 1850
Consisted of five parts:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Impact of the Compromise of 1850
Provisions of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
• All citizens must help catch ______slaves.
• People who let fugitives escape could be fined $1,000 and jailed.
• ______would handle cases of runaways. There would be no jury trials. Judges would receive $10 for sending an accused runaway to the South and $5 for setting someone free.
Response to the Fugitive Slave Act
• Some judges sent ______to the South whether or not they were runaways.
• The act enraged ______northerners. It made them feel as if they were part of the slave system.
• Tensions remained ______because neither side got what it wanted.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
What is Uncle Tom’s Cabin?
• ______wrote a novel called Uncle Tom’s Cabin to show the evils of slavery and the injustice of the Fugitive Slave Act. The book tells the story of Uncle Tom, an enslaved African American noted for his kindness and piety.
Section 3: The Crisis Deepens
• What was the goal of the Kansas-Nebraska Act?
• Why did violence erupt in Kansas and in the Senate?
• What impact did the Dred Scott case have on the nation?
The Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Problem: The Compromise of 1850 dealt mainly with the Mexican Cession, and not with the lands that were part of the Louisiana Purchase.
Provision of the Kansas-Nebraska Act: ______Territory was to be divided into two territories—Kansas and Nebraska. The settlers in each territory would decide the issue of slavery by popular sovereignty.
The argument for the act: Many people thought the act was fair because the Compromise of 1850 had applied popular sovereignty in ______and ______Southerners hoped slave owners from Missouri would move into Kansas and make Kansas a slave state.
The argument against the act: The Missouri Compromise already banned slavery in Kansas and Nebraska. In effect, the Kansas-Nebraska Act would ______the Missouri Compromise. Northerners protested by challenging the Fugitive Slave Act.
Violence Erupts in Kansas
• ______settlers were to settle the slavery issue by popular sovereignty. ______and antislavery settlers fought for control of Kansas. Abolitionists brought in settlers from New England. Proslavery settlers also moved into Kansas, and proslavery bands from Missouri—Border Ruffians—often rode across the border into Kansas.
• In 1855, Kansas held elections. ______voted illegally, helping to elect a proslavery legislature. Antislavery settlers refused to accept the legislature and elected their own governor and legislature. Kansas had two governments.
• A band of proslavery men raided the town of ______, destroying homes and smashing the press of a Free-Soil newspaper.
• Abolitionist John Brown led a band to the town of Pottawatomie Creek and killed five proslavery settlers there.
• The killings at ______led to more violence. Both sides engaged in guerrilla warfare, or the use of hit-and-run tactics. Newspapers started calling the territory “Bleeding Kansas.”
Violence Erupts in the Senate
• Charles Sumner of Massachusetts was the leading abolitionist senator. In one speech he denounced the proslavery legislature of Kansas and viciously criticized his southern foes, especially Senator Andrew Butler of South Carolina.
• A few days later Butler’s nephew, Congressman Preston Brooks, marched into the Senate chamber and with his cane beat Sumner until he was unconscious.
The Dred Scott Case
What was the Dred Scott Case?
• ______filed a lawsuit, that is, a legal case brought to settle a dispute between people or groups. Dred Scott had been enslaved in Missouri. He moved with his owner to Illinois and then to the ______, where slavery was not allowed. Scott with his owner returned to Missouri. When his owner died, Scott claimed that because he had lived in a free territory, he had become a free man. The case reached the Supreme Court as Dred Scott v. Sandford.
What did the Supreme Court decide?
• Scott could not file a ______because, as an enslaved person, he was not a citizen.
• Slaves were considered to be property.
• Congress did not have the power to outlaw slavery in any territory. This decision meant the ______was unconstitutional.
• White southerners: White southerners were overjoyed. The decision meant that slavery was legal in all territories.
• African American Northerners: Northern African Americans condemned the ruling and asked whites to join their efforts to end slavery.
• White northerners: White northerners were shocked. They had hoped that if slavery were kept to the South, it would eventually just die out. Now, slavery could spread.
Section 4: The Republican Party Emerges
• Why did the Republican Party come into being in the mid-1850s?
• What events lay behind the rapid emergence of Abraham Lincoln as a Republican leader?
• How did Americans react to John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry?
The Republican Party Emerges
Who formed the Republican Party?
• A group of ______-______, northern Democrats, and antislavery Whigs
Why did they form a new party?
• They believed that neither the ______nor the ______would take a strong enough stand against slavery.
What was the goal of the party?
• Its main goal was to keep slavery out of the ______territories. A few Republicans hoped to end slavery in the South as well.
How Abraham Lincoln Became Leader of the Republican Party
• Abraham Lincoln was born in ______. Later, he lived in ______and ______.
• Lincoln opened a store in Illinois. He studied law and entered politics.
• He served eight years in the state legislature and one term in Congress.
• He opposed the ______-______Act, so he ran for the Senate in 1858.
• During the Senate campaign, he debated Stephen Douglas seven times.
• Lincoln: ______is wrong. African Americans are entitled to all the natural rights in the Declaration of Independence, so slavery should not extend to the territories. However, it can remain in the states where it already exists.
• Douglas: The slavery question should be settled by ______.
• Douglas narrowly won the election. However, during the campaign, Lincoln became known throughout the ______.
The Impact of John Brown’s Raid
• In 1859, John ______led followers, including five ______, to Harpers Ferry, Virginia. He planned to raid a federal arsenal, or gun warehouse.
• Brown took over the ______. He expected that would inspire a slave uprising, but none took place.
• Troops killed ten raiders and captured Brown. He was tried for ______and ______, or actions against one’s country.
• Brown gave a moving defense of his actions. Nevertheless he was found guilty and sentenced to death. ______was hanged.
• To many northerners, John Brown became a martyr because he was willing to give up his life for his beliefs.
• White ______were outraged at the northern response. Many southerners became convinced that the North wanted to destroy slavery and the South along with it.
Section 5: A Nation Divides
• How did the election of 1860 reflect sectional divisions?
• How did the South react to the election results?
• How did the Civil War begin in 1861?
The Election of 1860
The Democratic party split in two: Northern Democrat and Southern Democrat.
• ______Democrats nominated Stephen Douglas.
• ______Democrats nominated John Breckinridge.
Some Americans tried to heal the split by forming a new party, the Constitutional Union party.
• The ______nominated John Bell.
• The ______nominated Abraham Lincoln.
How the South Reacted to the Election of 1860
• Many ______thought that Lincoln’s election meant the South no longer had a voice in national government. They believed the ______and ______were against them.
• Senator ______of ______introduced a bill to extend the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific. He proposed an amendment to the Constitution that would guarantee slavery south of the compromise line forever. His ______received little support.
• Other southerners believed secession was their only choice. On ______20, 1860, South Carolina became the first state to secede. By late February 1861, ______, Florida, ______, Louisiana, ______, and Texas had followed.
• At a convention in Montgomery, Alabama, the seven states formed a new nation, the Confederate States of America. Jefferson Davis became its president.
How the Civil War Began
• When Lincoln took office, he warned that no state could ______leave the Union.
• ______had already ordered Confederate forces to begin seizing federal forts in the South.
• ______had to make a decision. Should he let ______take over federal property and look like he was admitting that states had a right to leave the Union? Or should he send troops to hold the forts and risk a war?
• By April 1861, the Union held only ______forts in the South. Food supplies at one—Fort Sumter in South Carolina—were running low. Lincoln notified the governor of ______that he was going to ship food to Fort Sumter. He said he would not send troops or weapons.
• The ______demanded that Fort Sumter surrender to them. The Union commander refused to give in. The Confederates opened fire. The Union troops ran out of ammunition and had to ______.