Chapter 14 section 2 Compromises Fail
Compromise of 1850 Sept. 1850: Congress passed 5 bills from Clay’s proposal (see 14.1) “Compromise of 1850” President Millard Fillmore supported it To please the North, California was added to union as free state and banned slave trade in the nation’s capital To please the South, all remaining states from Mexican Cession would use “popular sovereignty and also have a tough new fugitive slave law Fugitive Slave Act 1850: special gov’t officials could arrest anyone accused of being a runaway African Americans would have no right to a trial the only evidence would be a slave holder or any other white witness would have to say if slave was their property The North resisted the new law they saw many African Americans taken away from families after living for many years in North many fled to Canada North fought back against slave catchers from South coming to their states
Uncle tom’s cabin, Kansas-Nebraska act Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” in 1852 After book was published, many people grew more and more outraged Slavery was a moral issue, not a political issue anymore Sen. Stephen Douglas suggested having two territories in 1853 (Kansas and Nebraska) In 1854, the South rejected it because both states were above the Missouri Compromise border, thus both becoming free states Douglas proposed that the territories vote (popular sovereignty) but that conflicted with Missouri Compromise
Bleeding kansas After Douglas bill became a law, proslavery and antislavery settlers flooded Kansas to gain territory Thousands of Missouria people voted illegally Population of KA was only 3,000 but 8,000 voted Vote supported KA being proslavery, but the antislavery settlers demanded a revote Kansas now had two governments, one antislavery and one proslavery violence broke out with widespread fighting Kansas became known as “Bleeding Kansas”
Vocabulary & People HARRIET BEECHER STOWE: Daughter of abolitionist minister, wrote “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” in 1852 to make people feel what a horrible thing slavery is. Best seller in the North, readers saw slavery as a moral issue instead of political issue PROPAGANDA: false or misleading information that is spread to further a cause STEPHEN DOUGLAS: Wanted to develop land west of his home, proposed breaking land into two territories (Nebraska, Kansas) called the Kansas-Nebraska Act JOHN BROWN: Antislavery settler from Connecticut led men to proslavery settlement near Pottawatomie Creek, where they murdered proslavery men and boys. This set off widespread violence in Kansas (“Bleeding Kansas”)