Confronting the Issue of Slavery

CA SS: 8.9.3, 8.9.4, 8.9.5

8th Grade U.S. HistoryMrs. Chen

The Issue: Man or Property?

THE NORTH

Abolitionists African Americans are

MEN who deserve all the rights promised to men in our Declaration of Independence and Constitution

THE SOUTH

Supports slavery Slaves are PROPERTY

and not men therefore they have no rights

The government’s job is to protect the rights of it’s citizens and slaveholders have rights to “life, liberty, and property” (John Lock’s idea of Natural Rights)

Road to Abolition

ABOLITIONISTS Benjamin Franklin -

outspoken abolitionist Theodore Weld – sent

antislavery petitions to Congress

John Quincy Adams – introduced amendments to abolish slavery

Harriet Tubman – Underground Railroad

Frederick Douglass – Escaped slave; author; speaker

William Lloyd Garrison – Published The Liberator

LEGISLATION & POLICIES

Northwest Ordinance (1787) – described how the Northwest Territory was to be governed and outlawed slavery in those territories

Wilmot Proviso – bill to outlaw slavery in any territory the U.S. might acquire from the Mexican American War, it didn’t pass

Free-Soil Party – political party dedicated to stopping the expansion of slavery

Compromises (Both created by Henry Clay)MISSOURI COMPROMISE (1820)

There were 11 free states and 11 slave states, adding Missouri as a slave state would disturb the balance of power in congress

Missouri was admitted to the union as a slave state and Maine as a free state

Banned slavery in the Louisiana Territory north of the parallel 36’30’

COMPROMISE OF 1850

California would be admitted as a free state & slavery would be abolished in Washington D.C.

Congress agreed not to pass laws regarding slavery for the rest of the territories won from Mexico, AND Congress would pass a Fugitive Slave Act to help slaveholders recapture runaway slaves

Comparing Compromises

Complete the CTQs comparing the compromises of 1820 and 1850 by referring to the different maps of the U.S.

Set Backs to the Abolitionist Movement in the mid 1800sFUGITIVE SLAVE ACT (1850)

Required all citizens to help catch runaway slaves

Anyone who aided a fugitive slave could be fined or imprisoned

Northerners refused to enforce the law

Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass continued to aid slaves in escaping to the North

DRED SCOTT DECISION (1857)

Prior to 1857 some slaves who lived in free states were successful in suing for their freedom

The Dred Scott case went all the way to the Supreme Court

Chief Justice Taney ruled that Dred Scott was still a slave, not a citizen, therefore had no right to sue, living in a free state does not make a slave free, and the government had no right to take property

“A Dredful Decision” DO NOW Complete the reading and questions about

the Dred Scott Decision then answer the following prompt…

Imagine you are Dred Scott’s lawyer, write your closing arguments for his case. (Make sure to write an effective argument by stating a thesis and supporting it with evidence and sound reasoning, use your TEES writing strategy)

Kansas-Nebraska Act

In 1854, Stephen Douglas wanted to build a transcontinental railroad so he proposed a plan to organize the region west of Missouri into Kansas and Nebraska

Both lay above the Missouri Compromise line, if both were admitted as free states, the South be upset and not pass the law.

Douglas proposed to abandon the Missouri Compromise altogether and let the settlers in the new territories vote on the slavery issue (popular sovereignty)

“Bleeding Kansas” After the Kansas-Nebraska Act passed, pro and

antislavery groups rushed into Kansas in hopes of establishing a legislature on their side.

In May of 1856, about 800 slavery supporters attacked the antislavery capital of Lawrence.

In response, John Brown (an abolitionist who believed God had chosen him to end slavery) led six men along Pottawatomie Creek where they found and killed five proslavery men

Three years later in 1859, John Brown led a raid on Harpers Ferry to obtain weapons for a slave rebellion. It was unsuccessful, Brown was captured and hanged.

The Tragic Preludeby John Steuart Curry

What do you think Curry’s views were on John Brown’s role in the Civil War?

Violence in Congress

Some suspected Senator Stephen Douglas had plotted with Southerners to make Kansas a slave state.

In 1856, Senator Charles Sumner (abolitionist) spoke out against Douglas and Southerners in a speech: “The Crime Against Kansas”

Two days later, South Carolina’s representative, Preston Brooks, attacked Sumner in the Senate, beating him with his cane until it broke in half. Brooks got off with a $300 fine from a Washington judge.

Reactions to the attack showed how divided the nation had become: Southerners applauded Brooks; Northerners said it was another example of Southern brutality

Is war inevitable?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eATEZcgY4yQ Imagine it is 1857, and you live in California

(the state that is furthest away from the rest of the country), our country seems bound for a Civil War between the North and the South.

Think of a non-violent solution that could possibly reconcile the North and the South over the slavery issue. Describe it in detail. Remember, both sides would have to agree to your solution. (at least one full paragraph)

Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1858)Race for Illinois Senator

ABRAHAM LINCOLN (REPUBLICAN)

“A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free”

Slavery was a moral, not a legal issue; slavery is wrong.

STEPHEN DOUGLAS(DEMOCRAT)

Supported the Kansas-Nebraska Act: each state can vote on slavery via popular sovereignty

Wanted to continue the nation with slave and free states.

Lincoln lost the election, but the debates helped make him a national figure.

A Nation Divided:The Election of 1860 and Secession

DEMOCRATS

Split between Northern and Southern factions

Stephen Douglas in the North vs. John C. Beckinridge in the South

REPUBLICANS

Abraham Lincoln won the election easily.

During the campaign, Lincoln said he is not interested in abolishing slavery where it already existed, he just didn’t want it to spread

For white Southerners, this meant the South was now a minority in Congress. It no longer had the power and the South feared, sooner or later, Congress would abolish slavery completely

Secession: A States’ Rights Issue

Before the 1860 presidential election, many Southern states warned that if Lincoln won, they would secede: withdraw and separate from the Union.

They argued the States’ Rights Doctrine: states should have the right of “nullification” and decide which federal laws they enforce within their state. Also, they argued that states voluntarily joined the Union therefore they also had the right to leave.

The Confederate States of America

On December 20th, 1860, South Carolina became the first state to secede.

Within 6 weeks, 6 more states joined in secession.

In February 1861, the seceded states met in Montgomery, Alabama, and formed the Confederate States of America. They named Jefferson Davis the president of the Confederacy.

Is SECESSION constitutional? “A house divided against itself can not stand.” -

Abraham Lincoln

Many Northerners considered the secession of the Southerners to be unconstitutional and if secession were permitted, the Union would become weak. Northerners also argued that Southerners simply did not want to live by the rule of democracy, majority rule

What do you think? Let them go or make them stay? Which would be better or worse?