Slavery Divides the Nation

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Slavery Divides the Nation
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The Nations ExpandsDoes Slavery???

• As the nation grew larger
  in the 1800s, people
  questioned whether
  slavery would
  be allowed
  in the new territories and
  states.
• Southern slave owners wanted western lands to
  allow slaverythe land was perfect for farming.

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The Nations ExpandsDoes Slavery???

• Slavery in the West raised an important issue
  concerning the balance of power between the North
  and the South in Congress.
• In 1819, there were 22 states in the U.S. 11
  free and 11 slave.
• Both sides wanted the new territories to go along
  with their views in order to have more support in
  Congress.

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The Nations ExpandsDoes Slavery???

• In 1819, Missouri applied to be the 23rd state.
• Northerners wanted it to be a free state
  Southerners wanted it a slave state.

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The Missouri Compromise

• After fierce debate, the Missouri Compromise was
  adopted in 1820.
• The Compromise said
• Missouri would enter the Union (United States as
  a slave state.
• Maine would enter the Union as a free state.
• Slavery would no longer be permitted north of the
  southern border of Missouri.
• Would the Missouri Compromise settle the question
  of slavery in the West???

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The Nations ExpandsDoes Slavery???

• After The Mexican-American War, the U.S. expanded
  further west.
• The new territories were not part of the Missouri
  Compromise.
• Would they be free or slave???

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The Nations ExpandsDoes Slavery???

• At the time, there were 3 main opinions on
  whether slavery would be allowed in these new
  territories.
• One group (slave owners) believed Congress had no
  right to ban slavery in new territories.
• One group wanted slavery barred completely from
  all new territories.
• One group wanted the people (settlers) in the new
  territories to decide.

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The Nations ExpandsDoes Slavery???

• In the end, Congress worked out another
  compromise, The Compromise of 1850.
• The Compromise of 1850 angered as many people as
  it pleased.

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The Compromise of 1850

• The Compromise of 1850 said
• California would become the 16th free
  statecompared to 15 slave states.
• Two new territories, New Mexico and Utah, would
  vote whether to allow slavery.
• The slave trade was illegal in Washington D.C.
• The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was enacted.

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Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

• A fugitive is someone who has run away.
• The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
• Set a 6-month jail term and 1000 fine for people
  helping slaves escape.
• Said courts had to take the word of a slave owner
  who claimed an African American as their slave.
• The act made it very easy for slave catchers to
  catch slaves.

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More Fights Over Slavery

• The Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 created two new
  territories (Kansas and Nebraska) and let voters
  decide whether to allow slavery.
• This angered many Northerners as it went against
  the Missouri Compromise.
• What do you think happened in these new
  territories?

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Bleeding Kansas

• People who both opposed and were in favor of
  slavery rush to settle in the new territories.
• Battles broke out in Kansas. Over 200 people
  were killed in the fights.
• So much fighting occurred that the territory was
  called Bleeding Kansas.

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More Battles Over Slavery

• In 1857, the U.S. Supreme Court issued the Dred
  Scott decision.
• Dred Scott was a slave who went to court to claim
  his freedom.
• He argued that he became free when his owner took
  him where slavery was not allowed (Illinois and
  Minnesota).
• What do you think the Supreme Court said?

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The Dred Scott Decision (1857)

• The Supreme Court ruled on three pointsOn all
  three, Scott lost. The Court said
• First, Scott had no right to sue since he was of
  African descentthis meant he was not a U.S.
  citizen.
• Second, because Scott was a slave, he was
  property. People had a right to take their
  property anywhere.
• Finally, the Missouri Compromise was
  unconstitutional. If Congress barred slavery, it
  robbed slave owners of property rightsguaranteed
  under the Constitution.

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Responses to the Dred Scott Decision

• As you might expect, Southerners were overjoyed,
  they could take slaves into all U.S. territories.
• Northerners were outraged, they felt they could
  no longer stop slavery from spreading.

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Raid on Harpers Ferry

• John Brown was an abolitionist who decided to
  take action.
• He launched a slave uprising on the night of
  October 16, 1859.
• With a band of 18 men, he attacked a federal
  arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia.

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Raid on Harpers Ferry

• Although John Brown and his men captured the
  arsenal, their raid failed.
• No slaves joined them and after two days of
  battle, soldiers killed or seized Brown and his
  men.
• Brown was hanged. To many people, Brown was a
  hero of the fight against slavery.