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■ Moving Closer to Conflict
Did you know
In the wake of the success of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, at least a dozen
Southern writers penned novels that attempted to portray Harriet
Beecher Stowe’s book as a pack of lies. The most popular of these works
was entitled Aunt Eva’s Cabin. It depicted the happy life of the enslaved
Aunt Eva.
I. Growing Support for Abolition (pages 545–547)
A. The Fugitive Slave Act had been in effect since 1793. The act made it a crime to
help runaway enslaved persons. The new Fugitive Slave Act, passed as part of
the Missouri Compromise of 1850, established harsher punishments. These new
provisions aroused deep anger among abolitionists in the North.
B. Northern anger over slavery increased in 1852 with the publication of the novel
Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
C. Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, the novel depicted the horrors of slavery in
moving detail. It sold more than 1 million copies and swayed more Northerners
than ever against slavery.
Do you think books still have the power to influence the thoughts and
opinions of large numbers of people? (Answers will vary; discuss with
students some modern-day examples of influential books.)
II. Kansas-Nebraska Act; Violence in the Senate (pages 547–549)
A. The political truce over slavery ended in 1854 with the passage of the KansasNebraska Act.
B. The Kansas-Nebraska Act was an attempt to encourage rapid settlement in the
Nebraska Territory. The act divided the Nebraska Territory into two
territories—Nebraska and Kansas—and repealed the prohibition of slavery
north of the Missouri Compromise line. The citizens of each territory would be
able to determine by vote whether their state would be slave or free.
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(continued)
C. People who supported slavery and those who opposed it both rushed into
Kansas in order to win the vote for their side. Antislavery settlers soon
outnumbered proslavery ones. However, the proslavery forces used harassment
and fraud to elect a proslavery legislature.
D. The antislavery forces refused to abide by the legislature’s laws. Soon violence
erupted throughout the region. Americans began to call the territory Bleeding
Kansas.
E. The issue of slavery and the chaos in Kansas also prompted violence on
Capitol Hill. During a speech, Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts
denounced slavery and the violence in Kansas. Preston Brooks, a South
Carolina representative, responded by attacking and beating Sumner on the
floor of the Senate.
F. Antislavery forces in Kansas eventually won out, due to their overwhelming
numbers. In 1861, Kansas entered the Union as a free state.
Why do you think Northern abolitionists were outraged by the passage of
the Kansas-Nebraska Act? (It repealed the prohibition of slavery north of the
Missouri Compromise line and instead left it up to the voters to decide.)
III. The Dred Scott Decision (pages 549–550)
A. In 1846, an enslaved person named Dred Scott sued for his and his family’s
freedom. Scott was a slave whose owner took him from a slave state to a free
state in the North. Scott claimed that living in a free territory made him a free
person.
B. Scott’s case eventually reached the Supreme Court. The Court handed down a
ruling against Scott in 1857. The justices ruled that African Americans were not
citizens. As a result, Scott had no right to sue for his freedom.
C. The Court further ruled that the Missouri Compromise ban on slavery north of
the 36°30’ line was unconstitutional because Congress had no right to prohibit
slavery in the territories.
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(continued)
D. The Court ruled in effect that the Constitution protected slavery—and that
abolishing slavery would require a constitutional amendment.
E. Southerners applauded the Court’s decision and happily considered all Western
territories open to slavery. Angry Northerners vowed to fight the Court’s
decision.
How was the Supreme Court able to declare an act of Congress
unconstitutional? (It had the power of judicial review, which allowed it to
interpret laws and declare them constitutional or not.)
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