Political Action on Slavery

Missouri Compromise, Wilmot

Proviso, Compromise of 1850

Missouri Compromise

• The Missouri Compromise was passed in

1820 and prohibited slavery in the former

Louisiana Territory north of the 36 30’

parallel except within the boundaries of the

proposed state of Missouri. To balance the

number of "slave states" and "free states,"

the northern region of what was then

Massachusetts was admitted into the United

States as a free state to become Maine.

Map of the Missouri Compromise

Adding to the Slave Issue

• Tariff of Abominations (Tariff of 1828) - The clash between John C.

Calhoun and Andrew Jackson. South Carolina felt controlled by the

Federal Government (an unfair tariff).

• Nat Turner's Rebellion - A black minister who led a massacre of

50+ southerners. REACTION - white militias killed hundreds of

blacks.

• The Nullification Crisis (1832) - Similar to VA and KY Resolutions,

stating a Constitution law "null and void." In this case federal tariffs.

More anger and resentment from the South.

The Amistad Case

• Noted by historian, Samuel Eliot

Morison as, "... The most important

court case involving slavery before

being eclipsed by that of Dred Scott.”

• Involved the non-importation law of

1807. African slaves took over the

clipper ship, La Armistad. They were

granted their freedom as the Spanish

violated this law.

• Video includes: John Quincy Adams

and Martin Van Buren

• John Quincy Adams connecting equal

rights and the Declaration of

Independence.

Wilmot Proviso

• The Wilmot Proviso, one of the major events leading to the

American Civil War, would have banned slavery in any

territory to be acquired from Mexico in the Mexican War or in

the future, including the area later known as the Mexican

Cession, but which some proponents construed to also include

the disputed lands in south Texas and New Mexico east of the

Rio Grande.

Compromise of 1850

Sectional Issues

• California statehood

• Southerners

threatening secession

• Underground

Railroad and issues

over the Fugitive

Slave Law

• Proposed by Henry

Clay

The Compromise of 1850 overturned the

Missouri Compromise and left the overall issue

of slavery unsettled.

Which received the better deal?

Kanas-Nebraska Act

• Started by Stephen Douglas

of Illinois.

• Introduced the idea of

popular sovereignty to

decide whether a state would

have slaves.

• Led to Bleeding Kansas, as

northerners and southerners

rushed to inhabit the territory.

• Passing of the bill split the

Whig party, leading to the

modern Republican party.

The “Little Giant”

Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854

Caning of Charles Sumner

Southern Representative from South Carolina Preston Brooks

attacked the northern Senator from Massachusetts over his

“Crime Against Kansas” speech.

Trends in Antebellum America,

1800-18601. New intellectual and religious movements.

(Shakers, transcendentalists, etc.)

2. Social reforms. (Lowell System, Seneca Falls, William Lloyd Garrison, etc.)

3. Industrial Revolution

4. Second Party System (Popular vote increased)

5. Federalists Legacy (Marshall decisions & small stumble of states’ rights)

6. Increase in American Nationalism (Manifest Destiny, War of 1812)

7. Expansionism (Pioneers, internal improvements)

Economic and Religious Reasons to move westward.

Major Pioneer Settlers

• Donner Party – Took all possible measures to

survive an unexpected winter.

http://www.history.com/topics/donner-party

• Sutter’s Mill, 1848 (GOLD!)

Pony Express

• Between April

1860 and

November 1861.

• Could receive

newspapers and

letters within 10

days.

• Moving from New

York, to Missouri,

to San Francisco.

Dred Scott Decision, was a landmark

decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. It

held that the federal government had

no power to regulate slavery in the

territories, and that people of African

descent (both slave and free) were not

protected by the Constitution and were

not U.S. citizens.