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Unit 5-Causes of the Civil War
Compromise of 1850
By 1850, many Southerners were deeply worried about by the ever-tipping political balance. There were then fifteen slave
states and fifteen free states. However, Californians drafted a state constitution that outlawed slavery, and then they
applied for admission to the US. The admission of California would destroy the delicate equilibrium in the Senate. Even
more disagreeable to the South was the loss of runaway slaves, many of whom were assisted north by the Underground
Railroad. This was a secret network of people who aided fugitive
slaves in their escape from the slave states to the free-soil
sanctuary of the northern states or Canada. Men and women hid
fugitives in secret tunnels and in
their homes, provided them with
food and clothing, and escorted or
directed them to the next station.
The most amazing leader of the
Underground Railroad was an
illiterate runaway slave from
Maryland, fearless Harriet
Tubman. During nineteen trips
into the South, she rescued more
than three hundred slaves, and
deservedly earned the title
“Moses.” By 1850 southerners
were demanding a new and more
stringent fugitive-slave law.
Estimates indicate that the South
in 1850 lost perhaps 1,000 runaways a year out of its total of 4 million.
The Congress was bitterly divided over whether slavery would be allowed in the new territories. Congressman Henry Clay
understood that if the North and South did not work together to solve the conflict that the country would go to war with
itself. He worked tirelessly to create the
Compromise of 1850 that both the North
and the South could accept.
To appeal to the North, the compromise
accepted California as a free state in the
Union. Also, slave trade was banned in
Washington, D.C. To appeal to the South,
the compromise proposed a new and more
effective Fugitive Slave Act. The Fugitive
Slave Act required people in the free states
to capture and return escaped slaves to the
South. Other provisions of the
compromise appealed to both the North
and South. For example, a provision
allowed residents of the territories of New
Mexico and Utah to use popular
sovereignty. Popular sovereignty was the
right of residents of a territory to vote to
decide whether the state would become a
free or a slave state.
1) Compare and contrast the Missouri Compromise (of 1820) and the Compromise of 1850:
Missouri Compromise (of 1820)
Compromise of 1850
Why was there
a conflict?
1)
Describe each
part of the
Compromise
2)
1)
2)
3)
3)
4)
What parts
does the North
like?
What parts
does the South
like?
Fugitive Slave Act
On June 2, 1854, thousands of people lined up on the streets of Boston,
Massachusetts. Flags flew at half-mast, and a black coffin bearing the words “the
Funeral of Liberty” dangled from a window. Federal soldiers, guns ready, marched
a single African American, Anthony Burns,
toward the harbor. He was being forced
back into slavery in Virginia. Burns’ return
to slavery happened because of the
Fugitive Slave Act, which was the most
controversial part of the Compromise of
1850.
In addition to requiring people in the free
states to capture and return escaped slaves
to the South, the law also fined anyone
who helped a fugitive slave $1,000 dollars and/or 6 months in jail. Infuriated by
the Fugitive Slave Act, some northern states passed laws that forbade the
imprisonment of runaway slaves and guaranteed that they would have jury trials. At the same time, leaders of the
Underground Railroad stepped up its timetable and sped up how quickly they led blacks out of slavery.
In 1852, ardent abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe published Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The story delivered the message that
slavery was not just a political struggle, but also a great moral struggle. Stirring strong reactions from North and South
alike, the novel became an instant bestseller. More than a million copies had sold by the middle of 1853. Northern
abolitionists increased their protests against the Fugitive Slave Act, while southerners criticized the book as an attack on
the South as a whole.
2) What is the most controversial piece of the Compromise of 1850?
3) How did northerners resist the law?
4) What was the name of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel? How did the North respond? How did the South respond?
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Stephen Douglas, a Senator from Illinois, wanted to develop and settle Nebraska and Kansas, lands to the west Missouri.
Along with many other members of the Democratic Party, Douglas was sure that continued expansion would strengthen
his party and unify the nation. He believed that popular sovereignty provided the most fair and democratic way to
organize the new state governments. He proposed to use popular sovereignty to decide the free or slave status of the
Kansas and Nebraska Territories. Kansas, which lay west of slaveholding Missouri, would presumably choose to become a
slave state. But Nebraska, lying west of free-soil Iowa, would presumably become a free state.
Douglas’ Kansas-Nebraska plan contradicted the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which had forbidden slavery in all
territory north of the sacred 36-30 line at the Missouri-Arkansas border. The only way to open the region to popular
sovereignty was to repeal the 1820 deal outright. But what Douglas failed to fully understand was how strongly opposed to
slavery northerners had become and how far supporters from both sides would travel to support their cause.
Congressional debate over the bill was bitter and people from the territory flooded Congress with petitions both for and
against the bill.
Bleeding Kansas
The race for the possession of
Kansas was on. From both the
North and the South, settlers
poured into the Kansas Territory.
Most were simply farmers in
search of new land. But a small
part of the migrants were
financed (paid for) by groups of
northern abolitionists or freesoilers. These antislavery
societies supplied them with
guns, animals, seeds, and farm
equipment. In 1855, Kansas held
the election to decide whether it
would become a slave or a free
state. Thousands of pro-slavery advocates from the slave state of Missouri crossed the border into Kansas and voted
illegally. Their fraudulent election swung the votes in favor of slavery. Before long, violence surfaced in the struggle for
Kansas.
A proslavery group burned down an anti-slavery town and arrested many of the settlers as traitors. John Brown, a white
abolitionist, led a militia in a massacre of proslavery settlers at Pottawatomie Creek. Brown cut off their hands and
impaled them with swords. Proslavery settlers cried for revenge and the massacre triggered dozens of incidents
throughout Kansas. Over 200 people were killed. John Brown fled Kansas but left behind men and women who lived with
rifles by their sides. People began calling the territory Bleeding Kansas, as it had become a violent battlefield.
5) What was popular sovereignty?
6) Explain why the Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed (cancelled) The Missouri Compromise:
7) Create an illustrated advertisement (picture + words) in The North Star asking for volunteers to move to Kansas to stop
slavery from spreading there:
Brooks-Sumner Incident
Senator Charles Sumner, a northern abolitionist gave a speech in Congress criticizing his colleagues who supported
slavery. Sumner was particularly disrespectful toward a Senator from South Carolina named Andrew Butler when he
made fun of Butler. A few days later, Butler’s nephew, Congressman Preston Brooks walked into the Senate room and
beat Charles Sumner with his cane. Sumner was covered with blood and he suffered shock and brain damage.
Northerners condemned the incident, while southerners were outraged that Sumner’s hateful speech was so popular in the
North.
8) You are a reporter in Washington, D.C. Write an urgent telegram
to the newspaper to tell them what has just happened in the Senate
room.
Rules for writing a telegraph
a) WRITE IN ALL CAPS b) instead of writing the period at the end
of each sentence, write –STOP—
c) use only 20 words d) Get rid of small connecting words such as
“a” “the” “that” “we” “I” “in” “your” “was”
BREAKING NEWS FROM WASHINGTON—STOP—_______________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
Dred Scott v. Sanford
In 1856 an important legal question came before the Supreme Court. The case concerned Dred Scott, a slave from
Missouri. Scott’s owner had taken him north of the Missouri Compromise line in 1834 and for five years they had lived in
the free territories of Illinois and Wisconsin. Later they returned to Missouri, where Scott’s owner died. Scott then sued
to gain his freedom, arguing that he should be a free person because he lived in free territory for several years. Not
surprisingly, the Supreme Court rejected Scott’s argument because black men like himself were not citizens, and therefore
did not have the right to sue others in court.
The Court did not simply reject his case, however. The Supreme Court ruled that because a slave was private property, he
or she could be taken into any territory and legally held there in slavery. Congress could not forbid slavery in any part of
the territories. Doing so would interfere with slaveholders’ right to own property. Southerners were delighted with this
unexpected victory. Northerners were infuriated by this endorsement of the spread of slavery. By striking down the
Missouri Compromise, the Supreme Court had cleared the way for the extension of slavery.
9) What does the court say about slaves and citizenship?
10) What does the court say about slaves and property?
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
The Republican Party was a new political party made up of former Whigs and Free Soilers. The party did not call for the
immediate abolition of slavery, but it did adopt the Free-Soil position of opposing the extension of slavery into new
territories. In the summer of 1858 the race for one of Illinois’ senate seats occurred between the popular Democrat
Stephen Douglas and a Republican challenger, Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln was a self-educated man, a lawyer, and a
politician with only two years of experience. Lincoln boldly challenged Douglas to a series of joint debates. This was a
rash act, because Douglas was probably the nation’s most devastating debater.
Their most famous debate came in Freeport, Illinois, where Lincoln nearly impaled
his opponent on the horns of a dilemma. Lincoln asked Douglas what would
happen if the people of a territory used popular sovereignty to vote against
slavery? The Supreme Court in the Dred Scott decision ruled that the people could
not do this. So who would be right, the Court or the people? Douglas’ response
became known as the Freeport Doctrine. He argued that no matter how the
Supreme Court ruled, slavery would not exist if the people voted against it.
Douglas’ Freeport Doctrine angered southern Democrats who were determined to
break away from Douglas.
Although Lincoln lost the election, he became a nationally known Republican leader. His views on slavery were complex
and they reflected the beliefs of many white northerners. Lincoln believed that slavery was immoral and that it should not
be allowed to spread to the west as the country grew. Lincoln doubted that slavery would cease to spread without
legislation outlawing it in the territories. However, Lincoln did not believe in racial equality. “I am not, nor ever have
been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races.”
11) What did Stephen Douglas’ Freeport Doctrine state? What was the effect of this argument on southerners?
12) Why are Lincoln’s views on slavery considered complicated?
Harpers Ferry
1859 was a year of action. Most Americans probably would have welcomed a respite (break) from the issue of slavery.
Instead, John Brown reemerged and ended all hopes of a compromise over slavery between the North and the South.
While politicians debated the slavery issue, John Brown was studying the slave uprisings that had occurred in ancient
Rome and on the French island of Haiti in the late 1790s. In Haiti, black men and women fought their white slave holders
and ended slavery in Haiti. John Brown believed that the time was ripe for similar uprisings in the US.
On the night of October 16, 1859, he led a band of 21 men, black and white, into Harpers Ferry, Virginia. His aim was to
seize the federal arsenal, which is a place the government keeps its supplies of guns and ammunition for the army. After
taking control of the arsenal, his plan was to distribute the guns to slaves in the area, and start a slave rebellion. John
Brown held 60 of the town’s slave owners hostage. He hoped that their slaves would then join the insurrection, but
nobody came forward. Instead, local troops killed eight of Brown’s men. Then the US marines, led by Colonel Robert E.
Lee, raced to Harpers Ferry, stormed the engine house where Brown and his men had barricaded themselves, killed two
more of the raiders, and captured Brown.
Brown was hanged for treason a month later. Public reaction was immediate and intense. Although Lincoln and Douglas
condemned Brown as a murderer, many other Northerners expressed admiration for him and for his cause. Some
northerners called Brown a martyr (pronounced mar-ter: a person who is put to death because of a belief, principle, or
cause) for the sacred cause of freedom. The response was equally extreme in the South, where mobs assaulted whites who
were suspected of holding antislavery views. Harpers Ferry terrified Southern slaveholders, who were convinced that
northerners were plotting slave uprisings everywhere.
13) Choose 6 of the events from the reading on John Brown’s Raid at Harper’s Ferry that you believe are the most
important. Draw a cartoon that illustrates each of the six events:
The Election of 1860
Four major candidates ran for president in 1860. The Republican Party nominated Abraham Lincoln, who opposed the
spread of slavery into the territories. The Democratic Party split over the issue of slavery: Northern Democrats nominated
Stephen Douglas, who believed in popular sovereignty. Southern Democrats nominated John Breckinridge, who believed
that slavery should be protected. The Constitutional Union Party, which ignored the issue of slavery, nominated John Bell
of Tennessee.
Lincoln pledged to stop the spread of slavery into the new territories. However, Abraham Lincoln did not want to interfere
with slavery in the South. Regardless, southerners viewed Lincoln as a threat to their power. Lincoln did not campaign in
the South and Lincoln's name did not appear on the ballot in 10 southern states.
14) Take a look at the electoral map and chart below: Who won the Election of 1860?
15) Why do you think many Southerners were convinced that they had lost their voice in the national government?
Candidate
Electoral Votes
Lincoln (dark grey)
180
Breckinridge (light
grey)
Douglas
72
Bell
39
12