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The Missouri Compromise
Missouri entered as a slave state
Maine entered as a free state
The 36’30” line is drawn. This line was supposed to decide whether slavery would be allowed in certain territories or not.
This compromise was effective for a number of years - almost thirty! However, after about 1850, problems began to occur and the compromise was less and less effective. -
Compromise of 1850
California enters as a free state.
Are from Mexican Cession divided into Utah and New Mexico. Slavery issue to be decided by popular sovereignty.
ENDED slave trade in Washington D.C.
Made a STRICT fugitive Slave Law
settled boarder problems between New Mexico and Texas.
Again, problems better for a short period of time and then became worse. -
Fugitive state law
This law was part of the compromise of 1850
It was a law that required citizens to catch runaway slaves.
If a person did not comply, they could be fined up to $1000 or put in jail for SIX months.
Judges received $10 if they returned a slave and $5 if they freed them.
Many blacks who were free captured and sent back into slavery.
Northerners hated this law because it forced them to become a part of the system of slavery. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
This was a novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe.
It was written to show the evils of slavery by telling the story of an older slave who was whipped to death by his owner.
After reading it, many northerners changed their view of slavery.
Southerners said the book was full of lies. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Divides land into Kansas and Nebraska territories.
Decided that slavery issue would be decided by popular sovereignty.
Led to violence in the senate.
Pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers in one area and this leads to conflict.
Northerners believe this repealed the Missouri compromise. -
Pottowatomi Creek Killings
Because of the violence going on in Kansas, John Brown and four of his sons,decide to take the law into their own hands.
They ride into a small town named and pull five pro-slavery men out of their beds in the middle of the night.
The men are murdered. John Brown believes he is doing what "God has told him to do".
Many northerners, while they don't believe in slavery, are appalled at what he did. -
Dred Scott Decision
Dred Scott was a slave.
He had lived in a free area with his owner.
His owner moved back into a slave state.
While there, the owner died.
Scott had abolitionist file a law suit for him.
It went to the supreme court, but he lost.
The court ruled he was not a citizen, but rather property and therefore he could not file a lawsuit.
Also they ruled that congress could not ban slavery in any of the territories.
Repelled the Missouri compromise
Southerners loved the ruling while northerners hated it. -
Lincoln-Douglas Debate
Lincoln and Douglas debated.
Douglas believed in deciding slavery by popular sovereignty.
Lincoln believed that slavery should not be allowed to spread into the territories.
Lincoln also believed the nation could not survive if the fighting continued to rip the union apart with the slavery issue. -
The Raid on Harper's Ferry
John Brown was at it again.
This time, he led five blacks and thirteen whites into Harper's ferry.
They planned to raid an arsenal and start a slave revolt.
Problem was no slaves "rose" to help.
A number of his men died, and he was arrested by Robert E. Lee.
Brown was tried and found guilty of murder and treason. He was later hanged.
Some northerners thought of him as a "martyr"(someone who dies for his beliefs). -
The election of 1860
Lincoln ran against Douglass in the presidential election of 1860.
The southern states did not like Lincoln or what he believed in. They overwhelmingly supported Douglass yet Lincoln still got elected.
Southerners grew very angry. They said this showed it did not matter what their opinions were. The north had too much power.
Many southerners talked of seceding from the union.