CHAPTER 15 • SECTION 1
COMPARING
Perspectives
IMAGES OF SLAVERY
COMPARING Perspectives
IMAGES OF SLAVERY Explain that the
text on the tobacco label refers to the state
of Virginia, where tobacco harvesting was
once the single most profitable industry.
• Why would the tobacco company use
an image of slaves on its packaging?
(Possible Answer: Since tobacco growers
relied on slave labor, they may have
wanted to suggest that they treated
them well—to make their product more
appealing to customers in the North.)
CRITICAL THINKING ANSWER
Connect to Today Possible Answers:
Today’s tobacco companies often present
smoking as glamorous and fun; ads for
fast food often associate it with healthy
physical activities; many ads show only
slender, “perfect”-looking people.
Supporters of slavery argued that the enslaved
were well fed, well clothed, and happy—much
as they appear on this tobacco label below.
However, the reality of slavery was very different,
as the photograph at right reveals. Even the
children of the enslaved
were forced to labor long
hours in dangerous and
unhealthy conditions.
Slaves suffered violent and
cruel punishments. Many
enslaved families were
broken up when family
members were sold to
work on distant
plantations.
CRITICAL THINKING
Connect to Today Can you describe any modern
advertisements that present life in an unrealistic way?
More About . . .
Stephen A. Douglas
Douglas is perhaps best known for his
debates with Abraham Lincoln during the
1858 Senate race. Yet Douglas was one of
Congress’s most powerful members in the
1850s. Despite his small stature, Douglas
was called the “Little Giant” for the great
respect he commanded.
Answer: It was meant
to outlaw slavery in any
territory acquired during
the War with Mexico.
Slaveholders claimed
that Congress had no
right to prevent them
from bringing slaves into
the territories.
California could not gain statehood, however, without the approval of
Congress. And Congress was divided over the issue. But statesmen sought
compromise. Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky crafted a plan to settle the
problem.
• To please the North, California would be admitted as a free state,
and the slave trade would be abolished in Washington, D.C.
• To please the South, Congress would not pass laws regarding slavery
for the rest of the territories won from Mexico, and Congress would
pass a stronger law to help slaveholders.
People on both sides felt they had to give up too much in this plan.
bickering, just wanted to preserve the Union.
Others, tired of the sectional bickering
The job of winning passage of the plan fell to Senator Stephen A. Douglas
of Illinois. By the end of September, Douglas succeeded, and the plan, now
known as the Compromise of 1850, became law.
Some people celebrated the compromise, believing that it had saved the
Union. But the compromise would not bring peace. In the years that followed, sectional tensions continued to rise.
CAUSES AND EFFECTS Explain how the Wilmot Proviso inflamed debate.
484 Chapter 15
DIFFERENTIATING INSTRUCTION
Struggling Readers
Gains and Losses
in a Compromise
Students may have difficulty
understanding why Northerners and
Southerners in Congress accepted the
Compromise of 1850. To help them
understand, draw on the board the
diagram shown on the right. As a class,
complete the diagram and then discuss
what each side gained and lost in
making this compromise.
484 • Chapter 15
Compromise of 1850
North
South
• California
admitted as
free state
• Congress
not to pass
slave laws
in Mexican
territories
• Slave trade
ended in
Washington,
D.C.
• Congress to
pass stronger
law to help
slaveholders
CHAPTER 15 • SECTION 1
The Crisis Deepens
KEY QUESTION How did the Fugitive Slave Act
deepen the crisis?
The Compromise of 1850 was an attempt to calm
the political situation. However, it contained one
bill that heightened, rather than calmed, the crisis.
Act
That bill was called the Fugitive Slave Act.
The Fugitive Slave Act Under this law, accused
fugitives could be held without an arrest warrant.
They had no right to a jury trial. Instead, a federal
commissioner ruled on each case.
Southerners backed the Fugitive Slave Act because
they considered slaves to be property. But one aspect
of the act especially enraged Northerners: it required
them to help recapture runaway slaves. It also placed
penalties on people who would not cooperate with
the law. Southern slave catchers were allowed to
roam the North. Sometimes they captured free
African Americans.
The act drew more people to the abolitionist
cause. Many decided to defy the act, even though
this meant breaking the law.
Outrage Over the Act Abolitionist writer
Harriet Beecher Stowe was outraged by the Fugitive Slave Act. Her anger inspired her to write
Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 1852. The novel presented
the cruelty and immorality of slavery. The novel
describes the escape of a slave named Eliza and
her baby across the Ohio River.
PRIMARY SOURCE
“
Eliza made her desperate retreat across the
river just in the dusk of twilight. The gray
mist of evening, rising slowly from the river,
enveloped her as she disappeared up the
bank, and the swollen current and floundering
masses of ice presented a hopeless barrier
between her and her pursuer.
”
—Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Stowe’s book was popular in the North. But
white Southerners argued that the book presented
a false picture of the South and slavery.
Teach
The Crisis Deepens
Think, Pair, Share
• What did Northerners most dislike about the
Fugitive Slave Act? (It required them to help
recapture fugitive slaves or face penalties.)
• Compare and Contrast How did the
Northern response to the publication of Uncle
Tom’s Cabin compare with the response
among white Southerners? (The book was
very popular in the North; white Southerners
claimed it presented a false picture of the South
and slavery.)
History Makers
Harriet Beecher Stowe
1811–1896
Harriet Beecher Stowe came from a family of
abolitionists. While Stowe and her family were living
in Cincinnati, Ohio, they bravely sheltered slaves
fleeing from the neighboring slave state of Kentucky.
Outrage at the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 led Stowe
to write Uncle Tom’s Cabin. This novel, published in
1852, revealed the cruelties of slavery. But it also
went a step further—and showed the evil effects
that slavery had on slaveholders themselves.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin made Stowe famous. It was
translated into more than 20 languages. Because of
its popularity, it drew the world’s attention to the
injustice of slavery in the South.
CRITICAL THINKING Draw Conclusions Why
was the novel so unpopular in the South?
ONLINE
BIOGRAPHY
For more on Harriet Beecher Stowe,
go to the Research & Writing
Center @ ClassZone.com
CAUSES AND EFFECTS Explain how the Fugitive
Slave Act affected the country.
Answer: The act drew more people to the abolitionist cause; people began breaking
the law; it inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe to write Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
A Nation Breaking Apart 485
DIFFERENTIATING INSTRUCTION
Inclusion
Gifted & Talented
Book Cover Blurbs
Reviews of Critical Novels
Read aloud to students examples of
blurbs from the front and back covers of
a few trade books. Discuss the purpose
of these blurbs (for example, to attract
readers). Then have students:
As a class, discuss novels students have
read that contain important themes,
or social or political messages, like
Uncle Tom’s Cabin—books that bring
awareness to an issue or problem in
society. Then have students choose a
book and write a book review that:
• work in pairs to create blurbs
for Uncle Tom’s Cabin
• display their blurbs and discuss what
makes them more or less effective
RESEARCH &
Go online to explore
WRITING CENTER
more of the heated
debate at
ClassZone.com
History Makers
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Find links to biographies of Harriet Beecher
Stowe at the Research and Writing
Center @ ClassZone.com. Stowe and
her siblings were greatly influenced by
their father, the Reverend Lyman Beecher.
A prominent minister, Reverend Beecher
encouraged his children to think, learn, and
become involved. Although Harriet became
a renowned writer—and the most famous
of the Beecher family—many of her siblings
were also accomplished reformers. Her older
sister Catharine founded several schools
for young women, while her youngest
sister, Isabella, was active in the women’s
suffragette movement.
CRITICAL THINKING ANSWER
Draw Conclusions Possible Answer:
Southerners thought that the book
showed a false picture of their region of
the country as well as slavery.
Unit 6 Resource Book
• Skillbuilder Practice, p. 27
• America’s History Makers, pp. 29–30
• American Literature, pp. 39–42
• describes the book’s main theme(s)
• compares the importance of the book
with that of Uncle Tom’s Cabin
• tells why classmates should read it
Teacher’s Edition • 485