From Compromise to

Conflict

America in 1819 • 7 new states were added: OH, IN, IL, KY,

TN, LA, MS

• 2 more applied for statehood: AL and MO

• Should MO be free or slave?

• Tallmadge Amendment – MO could

become a state if no more slaves were

brought in & all children of slaves were

freed at age 25

• Northerners liked the amendment,

Southerners were afraid it would lead to

the abolition of slavery anywhere

Missouri Compromise

The Missouri Compromise

• 1820-Maine asked Congress for

statehood as a free state

• The Compromise

– Missouri would join as a slave state

– Maine entered as a free state

– North of the 36’30” line would be banned,

except in Missouri

The Anti-Slavery Movement

• In the 1820s a religious revival inspired

abolitionists to push Congress to get rid of

slavery

• When told that Congress had no power to

get rid of slavery in the states, abolitionists

asked for the ban of slavery in Washington

D.C.

• Congress voted in 1836 to stop acting on all

anti-slavery petitions

• Abolitionists were inspired to attack slavery

in books, newspapers, and in public

meetings

The Nat Turner Rebellion

• August 13, 1831 – Nat Turner enlisted 6

slaves to assist him in an attempt to kill

as many whites as possible

• In 2 days, Turner and the 6 slaves killed

60 men, women, and children using axes

• The reaction

– Slave meetings outlawed

– Slaves required to have a pass

– Abolitionist writings were outlawed

Runaway Slaves • Runaway slaves faced the constant

threat of being caught

• Runaways were helped by many, the most famous was Harriet Tubman

• Tubman helped more than 300 slaves to freedom, $40,000 was offered as a reward for her capture

• The Underground Railroad-a network of free blacks and abolitionists that helped slaves escape to freedom in Canada

America in 1848 • The gag rule on slavery expired and anti-

slavery petitions poured into Washington D.C.

• The number of slave and free states was balanced at 15 each

• Congress had to decide whether or not to allow slavery in the territory won in the Mexican War

• California applied for statehood – Northerners agreed, Southerners did not

The Compromise of 1850

• Senators Henry Clay and Daniel Webster

worked together to come up with a

compromise

• The Compromise

– CA would be admitted as a free state

– NM and UT would be territories open to

slavery

– The slave trade, not slavery, was banned in

Washington, D.C.

– A stronger Fugitive Slave Law

• After 9 months, Congress fully accepted

Clay’s compromise

Fugitive Slave Law of 1850

• Under this law, fugitives would be jailed without bail or a jury trial

• Any person helping a slave escape, could be jailed or fined

• In the north, slave hunters were harassed

• Northerners refused to enforce this law and few fugitive were returned to the South

America in 1854 • Senator Stephen Douglas of IL proposed

that the NE territory be organized so that

a railroad could be built from IL to CA

• Southerners suggested 2 changes:

– KS and NE territories were both created

– The question of slavery would be settled by

“popular sovereignty” (the people would vote

on the issue)

• Northerners objected strongly to the bill

Bleeding Kansas

Bleeding Kansas

• After the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed, settlers flooded into Kansas (most were farmers)

• Most came to make Kansas either slave or free

• Kansas soon had two competing governments:

– Lawrence – anti-slavery capital

– Pottawatomie – pro-slavery capital

The Beating of Charles Sumner by

Preston Brooks

The Beating of Charles Sumner

• Senator Sumner gave a speech entitled “The Crime Against Kansas” and insulted Sen. Andrew Butler

• The next day Butler’s nephew, Rep. Preston Brooks, confronted Sumner and then beat Sumner with his cane

Dred Scott Decision

• African Americans are not citizens

• Scott remains a slave under Missouri law

• Congress cannot ban slavery in any territory

• The Missouri Compromise is unconstitutional

//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Stephen_A_Douglas_-_headshot.jpg

Abraham Lincoln and Stephen

Douglas

• Anti-slavery activists formed the Republican

party

• In 1858, Republicans in Illinois nominated

Abraham Lincoln to run for the Senate

– Insisted that the United States could not

last half slave and half free

• Lincoln’s opponent for Sen. Stephen

Douglas

– Douglas insisted that the Dred Scott

decision had ended the slavery debate

• Lincoln lost the election

John

Brown

Election of 1860

The Election of 1860

• Republicans ran Abraham Lincoln for President & Democrats chose Stephen Douglas

• Democrats split when Douglas did not firmly support slavery

• Southern Democrats – John C. Breckinridge (KY)

• Constitution Union Party – John Bell (TN)

• Lincoln wins, and Southern states considered secession

The Bombardment of Fort Sumter

Fort Sumter • December 20, 1860

– Lincoln stated that he would allow the extension of slavery

– Delegates at a state convention in South Carolina voted to secede

• March 4, 1861 – Lincoln is sworn in as President

• April 12, 1861 – Fort Sumter, a federal fort in Charleston Harbor, surrenders to the South Carolina state militia