Chapter 15, Section 1

 The economies of the North and South had been developing differently since colonial times.  The North had: Small farms Industry & Commerce  The South had: Plantation farming Slave Labor  **The two distinctly different economies greatly divided the two sections.**

 Immigrants were attracted to the Northern Industry.  As industry began to move west, immigrants followed and developed new cities. Railroads and canals began to link the east with the west.  Northern abolitionists believed slavery was immoral. Some Northerners saw slavery as an economic threat to their industry.  Wage workers feared that free slave labor might replace their jobs.

 Southern economy survived because of agriculture.  A small class of wealthy planters dominated Southern politics & society. They invested into slave labor and land.  They made great profits from slave labor. Planters relied on exporting of cash crops.  However, most Southern farmers were poor whites who owned no slaves. Most resented plantation owners.  As criticisms of slavery increased, slaveholders defended their way of life. Most offered the openly racist arguments that whites were superior to Africans. Slaveholders also argued that they converted them to Christianity, and provided food and shelter for them.

 Many Northerners suspected that Southerners wanted to take territory from Mexico in order to extend slavery.  The north feared that this would upset the balance of free and slave states in Congress.  David Wilmot of Pennsylvania proposed a bill, known as the Wilmot Proviso. The bill outlawed slavery in any territory the U.S. might acquire from War with Mexico.

 Slaveholders believed Congress had to right to prevent them from bringing slaves into new territories. The Constitution, they clamed, gave equal protection of property to every citizen.  The Wilmot Proviso passed the House, but did Southerners did not let it pass the Senate.

 Even though the Wilmot Proviso never became law, it had important effects.  It led to the creation of the Free- Soil Party. A political party dedicated to stopping the expansion of slavery. “Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labor, and Free Men.” The party won 10 seats in Congress in the election of For once, slavery became a key issue in national politics.

 In 1848, the nations leaders had begun to debate how to deal with lands gained form the War with Mexico.  The discovery of gold and the rise in population, would help California apply for statehood. Most residents wanted to be a free state.  In 1850, California applied to be admitted as a free sates. With California as a free state, slave states would become a minority in the Senate, as they were in the House already.

 Congress had become divided over the issue.  Henry Clay, senator 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.  Both sides though they gave up too much.  In September 1850, the plan became law.

 Under this law, accused fugitives could be held without an arrest warrant. They had no right to jury trial. Southerners supported the law, as they considered slaves to be property. Northerners were enraged, because it required them to help recapture runaways.  It placed penalties on people who would not cooperate with the law.  Southern slave catchers were allowed to roam the North, sometimes capturing free African Americans.

 Abolitionist writer Harriet Beecher Stowe was outraged. Her anger inspired her to write Uncle Tom’s Cabin in  The novel presented the cruelty and immorality of slavery.  The book was popular in the North, but the Southerners believed it painted the wrong picture.

 In 1853, Senator Stephen Douglas drafted a bill to organize the Nebraska Territory. The bill proposed to divide the territory into two parts- Nebraska and Kansas. To get Southern support, Douglas suggested that popular sovereignty should be used to decide whether the territory becomes a free/slave state.  Popular sovereignty is a system which allows people the ability to vote on an issue.  The bill angered opponents of slavery, but it passed.

 During the election of 1855, proslavery residents outnumber antislavery residents About 5,000 Missouri residents came and voted illegally. The Kansas legislature was now filled with proslavery representatives.  John Brown, an extreme abolitionist, led seven other men in a massacre of five of his proslavery neighbors. This attack is known as the Potawatomie Massacre. News broke out, and violence spread, creating civil war for three years.

 In May 1856, Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts spoke out against slavery and insulted A.P. Butler, the senator from South Carolina. Preston Brooks, a relative of Butler, attacked Sumner with his cane, putting Sumner unconscious, disabling him for years.  Southerners cheered, while Northerners were shocked at the violence in the Senate.  In their anger, antislavery forces united to create a new political organization- the Republican Party.