Slavery and the West

Problem 1 = 11 free states, 11 slave statesMissouri requested to enter the union as a slave state

This would have made representation unequal

Problem 2 = North and South (different economies) competing for land in the West

Problem 3 = Growing number of Northerners want to restrict or ban slavery

Created by Henry ClayMissouri = slave state, take land from Massachusetts and create Maine = free state, balance preserved

Created the Missouri Compromise line = 36”30’N latitude, above line = free, below line = slave

(spotlight video)

Created by Henry Clay California allowed to enter as free state

Rest of newly acquired territories would be open to slavery by popular sovereignty

Slave trade (not slavery) banned in Washington DC

Strict fugitive slave law

Slavery Sectionalism

Missouri Compromise (1820)

-line drawn at 36”30’N latitude-slavery banned above the line, slavery allowed below the line

-Tried to keep free states and slave states balanced-How? Missouri entered as slave state, Maine was created and entered as free state

Compromise of 1850

-Slave trade (not slavery) banned in Washington DC-Strict Fugitive Slave Law

-California entered as free state-slavery decided in territories by popular sovereignty

Part of the Compromise of 1850

Required all citizens to help catch runaway slaves

Anyone who helped a runaway slave could be fined or put into prison

North = saw the evils of slavery, felt forced to accept slavery

South = force the North to recognize the rights of the South

Slaveholders made more of an effort to catch runaway slaves

Even tried to catch runaway slaves that had lived in the North for years

Sometimes kidnapped African Americans who were not slaves and force them into slavery

Refused to follow the lawUnderground Railroad (network of both free African Americans and whites who helped runaway slaves escape to freedom)

Bought freedom for slavesNorthern juries refused to convict anyone accused of violating the Fugitive Slave Act

Stephen A. Douglas = helped to finish the Compromise of 1850, proposed new idea = popular sovereignty

Organize region west of Missouri and Iowa as new territories known as Kansas and Nebraska

Also proposed that although these territories were above the Missouri Compromise line, that they be allowed to decide on whether to allow slavery or not by popular sovereignty

Map in textbook pg. 454

Only 1,500 voters actually lived in Kansas at the time

Pro and anti-slavery groups rushed to Kansas each intending to make Kansas either free or slave…due to this over 6,000 votes were cast

Border ruffians = pro-slavery people from Missouri who crossed the border to vote in Kansas intending on making Kansas a slave state

Kansas adopted pro-slavery legislation, but anti-slavery people refused to follow the new laws so they created their own government

With 2 different governments in Kansas, violence was inevitable

May 1856 = Pro-slavery group attacked the town of Lawrence (anti-slavery settlement), burned down several homes, a hotel and 2 newspaper offices

Anti-slavery groups soon retaliatedMay 1856 = Potawatomie Massacre: John Brown and his supporters dragged 5 pro-slavery people from their beds and killed them (spotlight video)

Other armed groups, from both sides, roamed all throughout the territory giving the area the nickname “Bleeding Kansas”