Divisive Politics of Slavery How do the North & South differ on Slavery?

Life in the Antebellum South 1.Primarily agricultural (Cotton is 57% of exports) 2. Slow industrialization w/ inadequate transportation systems with 3. 40% of US pop with 6 mill whites (350K S.O) & 3 mill slaves 4. See slavery as a way of life that must continue 1.Primarily industrial 2. Fully industrialized with great transportation systems 3. 60% of US pop, mostly White, some freed slaves 4. Abolitionists want to see an end to slavery Life in Northern States

Slave-Owning Families (1850) Question: In 1850, the majority of slave owning families owned how many slaves?

Southern Population Question: In what states did slaves outnumber whites? In, which states were slaves over 1/3 of the population?

Compromise of 1850  California & other territories want statehood  Southern States believed CA should vote on slavery due to the Missouri Compromise (most below 36/30 line)  North says NO! South threatens secession (leave the US)  Henry Clay creates Compromise of 1850  1) California will be a free state, New Mexico (below 36/30) & Utah (above 36/30) can vote on slavery  2) Stronger fugitive slave laws will be written

Rebelling Against Slavery  Virginian slave Nat Turner rebels against slave owners killing 60 pro- slavery whites. - Turner eventually caught  Slaves escape the South via a network of escape routes called the Underground Railroad w/ help of “conductors” like Harriet Tubman  See map on page 159

Uncle Tom’s Cabin, 1852  Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe  Exposed the horrors of slavery  Argued slavery was not just a political issue, but also a moral one

Kansas-Nebraska Act  Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) divided the territory into two states (both above 36/30 line), allowed a vote on Slavery in each  Violence breaks out in each state as northerners and southerners race to settle in the state

Dred Scott vs. Sanford, 1857  A slave named Dred Scott sues his owner for freedom.  Scott argues that he, with his owner, had previously lived in free territories; therefore had been illegally enslaved.  Supreme Court ruled against Scott saying he was “property,” which is protected by 5 th Amendment.

Lincoln vs. Douglas  Democratic Party: pro-slavery, new Republican party is abolitionist  Illinois Senate race btwn Abraham Lincoln (R) & Stephen Douglas (D)  Douglas favors voting on slavery, Lincoln says slavery is immoral  Lincoln wins, two years later he wins Presidency  Lincoln says he will allow slavery to continue but will not allow its expansion into new states  Southerners want to secede from the union