Compromise and War Notes USI.9b

Issues that Divided the Nation

An important issue separating the COUNTRY related to the power of the FEDERAL government.

Power of the Federal Government SOUTHERNERS believed that they had the POWER to declare any national law ILLEGAL. Northerners believed that the national government’s power was SUPREME over that of the STATES.

While the CIVIL WAR did not begin as a war to ABOLISH slavery, issues surrounding SLAVERY deeply divided the NATION.

Issue of Slavery Southerners felt that the abolition of slavery would DESTROY their region’s ECONOMY. Northerners BELIEVED that slavery should be abolished for MORAL reasons.

Tensions Rise

As settlers moved into western territories, they took with them their own ways of life. Settlers from the North believed in a life without slavery Those from the South wished to bring along their enslaved workers

Once a territory had 60,000 people, it could apply to become a STATE.

Tensions Rise For a time, there was an EQUAL number of free states and slave states in the nation. This kept a BALANCE OF POWER between the North and the South in the Untied States Senate, where each state had two senators. As more territories wished to become states, the balance of power was threatened in the Senate.

The SOUTH feared that the North would take control of CONGRESS, and Southerners began to proclaim STATES’ RIGHTS as a means of SELF-PROTECTION. The South believed the individual states should have more “say,” or power, than the national government (Congress) The North believed the national government has more authority

As an attempt to resolve these conflicts, several compromises were made.

Compromises to Resolve Differences

MISSOURI COMPROMISE (1820) Missouri wanted to become a state, which would upset the balance of power in Congress. As a solution, Missouri entered the Union as a SLAVE state while MAINE entered the Union as a FREE state. An imaginary line was drawn below Missouri’s southern border. Any new state added above that line would be “free,” while any new state below that line would be a slave state.

BEFORE MISSOURI COMPROMISE

AFTER MISSOURI COMPROMISE

COMPROMISE OF 1850 California to join the Union as a free state, but this would upset the balance of power in Congress. As a compromise CALIFORNIA entered the Union as a free state, while the rest of the Mexican Cession was divided into two SOUTHWEST territories where they would DECIDE about the SLAVERY issue for themselves. As part of the Compromise of 1850, the FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT required the North to return runaway slaves to the South or face fines and other punishments.

BEFORE COMPROMISE OF 1850

AFTER COMPROMISE OF 1850

KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT (1854) This allowed PEOPLE living in the Kansas and Nebraska territories to decide the slavery issue by voting called “POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY.” People on both sides began moving into Kansas to influence the vote. Fighting often broke out and the territory became known as “Bleeding Kansas.”

BEFORE KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT

AFTER KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT

RESULTS OF SLAVERY COMPROMISES

As tensions rose, many people feared there would be no PEACEFUL solution to the slavery issue. The South pushed even harder for states’ rights, and some even began to talk about LEAVING the Union (United States).

Southern Secession Following ABRAHAM LINCOLN’S election, the Southern states SECEDED from the Union, creating the CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA.

Southern Secession LINCOLN and many Northerners believed that the UNITED STATES was one nation, a UNION, that could NOT be SEPARATED or DIVIDED.

Southern Secession Most SOUTHERNERS believed that states had freely CREATED and JOINED the Union and could freely LEAVE it.

Southern Secession In April 1861, CONFEDERATE forces attacked FORT SUMTER, in South Carolina, marking the BEGINNING of the Civil War.