Bellwork• Briefly describe Compromise of 1850. What

did it do (or fail to do)?

American History

Section 12, Unit 2Compromise Ends

Objectives

• Analyze how the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 affected northerners views of slavery.

• Explain why the Kansas-Nebraska Act reignited the debate over slavery.

• Explain how the previously described act affected Kansas

• State what led into the formation of the Republican Party

Election of 1852

• Although many Americans were dissatisfied with the Compromise of 1850, most Americans hoped that it had settled the slavery question.

• To tap into this sense of optimism, both parties adopted platforms that avoided a discussion of slavery.

Election of 1852• At their 1852 election, the

Democrats nominated Franklin Pierce, a supporter of the Compromise.

• Pierce persuaded many people on both sides that he shared their views on slavery.– Some Free-Soilers felt secure

enough with Pierce that they returned to the Democratic Party.

– Southerners generally felt that Pierce was sound on all his issues.

Election of 1852

• Having won the election of 1848 with General Taylor, the Whigs turned to Mexican War hero General Winfield Scott.

• However, many southern Whigs who were upset at northern Whig opposition to the Fugitive Slave Act (which was part of the Compromise of 1850), refused to vote for Scott.

Election of 1852

• Pierce won by a landslide.

• In his inaugural address, the President urged national harmony and even appointed members to his cabinet who were from the North and South.

Franklin Pierce

• However, Franklin Pierce proved to be a weak leader, who was unable to control his diverse cabinet or convince northerners he was not caving in to southern pressure.

The Fugitive Slave Act• The Compromise of 1850 began crumbling even

before Pierce became President, mostly because of the Fugitive Slave Act.

• The law, which made it a federal crime to assist fugitive slaves and authorized the arrest of fugitives in free states, roused opposition in the North.

The Fugitive Slave Act

• Harriet Beecher Stowe’s anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, helped stir northern opposition to the law.

• The novel dramatized the plight of runaway slaves and discussed how slavery degrades slave masters, breaks up black families, and made a mockery of Christian morality.

The Fugitive Slave Act

• Uncle Tom’s Cabin had an immediate impact on the nation as a whole and sold over a million copies.

• The book convinced many northerners that slavery was morally wrong and should be abolished.

The Fugitive Slave Act

• Northerners also began to see the inhumanity of the Act.

• As northerners began to see slave catchers at work, they began to believe that they should personally oppose helping the capture of slaves.

• Some peoples, such as Frederick Douglass, argued that the North should not be the “tools” of the South.

The Fugitive Slave Act

• Some northerners took direct action.• In New York and Massachusetts, angry mobs

freed runaway slaves taken into custody and helped them to Canada.

• The common sentiment of many was voiced by Amos A. Lawrence:

“We have submitted to slavery long enough, and must not stand it any longer… I am done catching Negroes for the South.”

Debate Reignites

• Early in 1854, Senator Stephen Douglas reignited the debate over slavery after he pushed to expand settlement (and railroads) to the West Coast.

• Because he was from Illinois, he wanted these railroads to run from Chicago to the Pacific Ocean.

Debate Reignites

• Construction of a new interstate railroad required Congress to organize Kansas and Nebraska– the lands of the Louisiana Territory west of Missouri and Iowa.

• This meant reopening the issue of slavery in the West.

Question: Why does this have to reopen the issue of slavery?

Kansas-Nebraska Act

• To quiet any congressional debate, Douglas introduced the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which organized the lands on the basis of popular sovereignty

• Essentially, it allowed Kansas and Nebraska to vote to allow or ban slavery.

Look very carefully at this map. Notice where Nebraska and Kansas are. Why might allowing them have slaves be a problem?

Kansas-Nebraska Act• The problem with the Act, however, is that it allowed the

territories above the Missouri Compromise line to have slaves– thereby repealing the Missouri Compromise.

• When the Act passed in 1854, southerners felt renewed hope of expanding slavery.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

• However, antislavery northern delegates were outraged.

• They called Douglas a traitor and accused him of caving into southern pressure just so that he can become president.

• Many northerners began to view the Kansas-Nebraska Act as a scheme for the south to “perpetuate the supremacy of Slave Power”.

Kansas-Nebraska Act• However, not everyone opposed the Act on

abolitionist grounds. • Some critics had economic concerns. They

argued that if slavery were allowed to spread into these territories, white workers would lose jobs.

• Arguably, no one would hire whites if blacks worked for almost nothing.

Question: Is this a fair concern?

“Bleeding Kansas”

• The Kansas-Nebraska Act pitted antislavery and proslavery forces against one another for control of the new territories.

• To bolster the number of antislavery settlers, New Englanders formed the Emigrant Aid Company to help antislavery families move to Kansas.

“Bleeding Kansas”

• Proslavery forces countered by urging southerners to migrate to new territories.

• Issues became more tense when Kansas– which was mostly antislavery- prepared to elect their first territorial legislature.

“Bleeding Kansas”

• When they attempted to vote, some 5,000 proslavery Missouri residents crossed into Kansas and casted illegal votes.

• In this, they elected a largely proslavery legislature.

• The antislavery residents of the state refused to accept these members as their legal government.

“Bleeding Kansas”

• In response, antislavery residents formed a Free State party and elected their own legislature.

• Officially, Kansas now had two governments: one proslavery and one antislavery.

“Bleeding Kansas”

• With two rival governments in place, conflict was inevitable.

• Proslavery raiders from Missouri attacked antislavery Kansas settlers and in May 1856, a proslavery mob of around 700 burned the town of Lawrence, Kansas.

• In response, a group led by abolitionist John Brown attacked a proslavery settlement of Pottawatomie (paht-uh-waht-uh-mee) Creek.

“Bleeding Kansas”

• In what became known as the Pottawatomie Massacre, the raiding party dragged five men from their beds and brutally murdered them.

• Southerners became enraged as northerners were shocked at the news.

• This massacre sparked more violence in what newspapers began calling “Bleeding Kansas”.

“Bleeding Kansas”

• Back in Washington, Congress echoed many of the issues that was in Kansas.– In one instance, a

proslavery congressman savagely beat a antislavery senator with his cane.

• Due to the violence, many people had begun to move towards abolition.

John Brown and the clash of forces in Bleeding Kansas.

Formation of a New Party

• To carry their antislavery message, voters began to flock to a new party forming in the North.

• In 1854, antislavery Whigs and Democrats, together with some Free-Soilers, had organized a party against the expansion of slavery.

Formation of a New Party

• In 1854, at a convention in Jackson, Michigan, the delegates used the name of Thomas Jefferson’s party, calling themselves Republicans.

• The Republican party also gained support from the Know-Nothing Party, which has found itself divided over slavery.

Election of 1856

• Running the popular western explorer John C. Fremont, the Republicans campaigned on an antislavery platform.

• Abandoning Franklin Pierce, the Democrats nominated James Buchanan to be president.

Election of 1856

• The Democratic platform praised the Kansas-Nebraska Act as a reasonable solution to slavery and painted the Republicans as a sectional party who wished to destroy the Union.

• This tactic worked in Buchanan’s favor, as he received 174 electoral votes to Fremont’s 114.

Issues Brew

• While a President was being elected, events in Kansas continued to boil.

• Early in 1857, elections were held in Kansas to choose delegates for an upcoming constitutional convention.

• Suspecting that proslavery forces would rig the elections, antislavery forces boycotted the convention.

Issues brew

• The constitutional convention, made up entirely of proslavery delegates, met at Lecompton and drafted a constitution that protected slaveholder rights already living in Kansas.

• The Lecompton Constitution gave the voters of Kansas the right to decide only whether more slaves could enter the territory, but not the ability to remove slavery entirely.

Issues brew

• Senator Stephen Douglas attacked the Lecompton Constitution, arguing that voters in Kansas should have the right to decide if any slaves enter the territory.– Douglas would later lose a lot of support from the

South, who felt that he was supporting the Republican party.

Issues brew

• Despite the admission of Kansas as a free state in 1861, Douglas’ principle that states should have the right to choose whether or not to have slaves (i.e. popular sovereignty) was highly discredited by both sides of the slave issue.

Questions

• If you have any questions, please ask now.

Next lesson

• In the next lesson, we are going to discuss the beginnings of war.

Review1. How did Uncle Tom’s Cabin affect the nations views of

slavery? 2. Why was the Kansas-Nebraska Act so widely opposed by

the North? Why did the South support it? 3. How did the Fugitive Slave Act affect public opinion of

slavery in the North?4. Why did tensions rise (and violence occur) in Kansas? Be

sure to describe your answer. 5. What platform did the Republican Party form around? 6. How did the Democratic Party defeat the Republican

party in the election of 1856?7. How did Stephen Douglas’ request for expansion into the

West accidentally reopen the issue of slavery?