leading up to kansas-nebraska act compromise of 1850 dealt w/ mexican cession (ca & new mexico...
TRANSCRIPT
Leading up to Kansas-Nebraska Act
• Compromise of 1850 dealt w/ Mexican Cession (CA & New Mexico Territory, Utah Territory)
• Did not deal with land that was part of the LA Purchase (Missouri Compromise of 1820)
Kansas-Nebraska Act - 1854 • Senator Douglas - IL proposed
setting up a government for Nebraska Territory by dividing it into 2 territories - Kansas and Nebraska(part of LA Purchase)
• Settlers in each territory decide issue of slavery by popular sovereignty
Reaction to Kansas-Nebraska Act
• Southerners hoped slave owners from MO would move into Kansas and make it a slave state
• Northerners - MO Compromise already banned slavery in Kansas and Nebraska
Reaction to Kansas-Nebraska Act
• Kansas-Nebraska Act would overturn/repeal Missouri Compromise
• Slavery could now spread to areas that were free for over 30 years
• Some challenged Fugitive Slave Act
Kansas consisted of …• Abolitionists brought over 1,000
settlers from New England
• Proslavery settlers also came
• Proslavery groups from MO rode across border - Border Ruffians - fought with antislavery groups
Two Governments• 1855 Kansas held elections for
governor and legislature• Border Ruffians voted illegally
and helped elect proslavery legislature- passed laws to support slavery
• Antislavery settlers refused to accept new laws
Two Governments Continued …
• Antislavery settlers elected own governor and legislature
• Two governments resulted in chaos
• Armed gangs roamed the territory
“Bleeding Kansas”• Proslavery men raided town of
Lawrence - (founded by abolitionists) destroyed homes and smashed press of Free-Soil newspaper - 1856
• John Brown - abolitionist - and other men attack town of Pottawatomie Creek - murder 5 proslavery settlers at night
“Bleeding Kansas”• Both sides engaged in guerrilla
warfare - hit and run tactics
• Late 1856 over 200 people killed
• Newspapers started calling the territory “Bleeding Kansas”
Dred Scott Case • Dred Scott was a slave in Missouri • He moved with his owner to Illinois
and Wisconsin Territory - slavery not allowed
• Scott returned to MO with his owner who then died
• Antislavery lawyers helped Scott file a lawsuit
Dred Scott Case
• Scott’s lawyers argued that since he lived in a free state/territory, he became a free man
• 1857 - Supreme Court decided - Scott could not file a lawsuit b/c a slave was not a citizen
Dred Scott Case Continued…
• Slaves considered property - (5th Amendment - cannot have property taken away w/o applying the law)
• Congress did not have the power to outlaw slavery in any territory
Dred Scott Case Continued…
• MO Compromise - unconstitutional b/c denies people right to their property
Reaction to Dred Scott Case
• Slave owners - slavery now legal in all territories
• African Americans - condemned ruling - held public meetings
• Northerners hoped that slavery would eventually die out if restricted to the South
Reaction to Dred Scott Case
• Northerners worried now slavery could spread to the West