Compromises

A. Missouri Compromise 1. Missouri wants statehood – Applies to join Union in 1819 – Would join as a slave state – Would throw off the balance in the congress 2.Balance of Power – US is split half slave and half free states – Each has equal representation in congress – Free states don’t want Missouri to join

3.The Compromise – Missouri joins as slave state – Maine joins as a free state – Slavery banned in northern part of Louisiana Purchase – Missouri Compromise line 36⁰ 30’ N: everything north of that must be a free states – Keeps the balance for the time being

B. Compromise of New Territory – Free or Slave? – Lots of new land gained after Mexican American War – The question of slave or free states comes up again – Northerners did not want slavery to extend to these new states

2.California upsets the balance – California want to become a free state in 1850 – Southerners said they may leave the Union if it joined – Henry Clay comes up with a plan known as the Compromise of 1850

3.The Compromise – California admitted as a free state – New Mexico and Utah territories organized, residents would decide on slavery

– Fugitive Slave act passed – Slave trade in District of Columbia outlawed – Keeps the balance for the time being

C. Fugitive Slave Act 1.What it does – Makes it a federal crime to assist runaway slaves – Escaped slaves can be arrested in states where slavery is illegal

2.Problems with Law – People accused of being escaped slaves had to prove they were not slaves – Those who claimed to be owners did not have to show any real proof – Escaped slaves who had lived free for many years could be returned to slavery – Judges were paid $10 for every slave returned and $5 for every case not proved

3.Resistance in the North – Law heavily opposed by abolitionists – Mobs rescued slaves from police – Many Northerners who were quiet on slavery now became vocal – Southerners were angered by North’s reaction and leaders talked about leaving the union again

D. Kansas Nebraska Act 1.Railroad Causes problems – A railroad needs to be built to connect California to the rest of the country – Southerners want it to connect to New Orleans – Northerners want it to connect in the north

2.Douglas’s Plan – Stephen Douglas (IL Senator) wants the railroad to connect to Chicago – Comes up with a plan to get South to vote for this – Kansas and Nebraska to use popular sovereignty to decide on slavery – Popular Sovereignty = people vote – But Missouri Compromise will not allow this

3.The Kansas Nebraska Act (1854) – Missouri Compromise is repealed – Allows the possibility of slavery north of the Missouri Compromise line

4.Effect on Political Parties – Democratic Party weakened by arguments over Northern Dems and Southern Dems – Whig Party falls apart – Northern Whigs and Democrats form Republican Party – Republican Party spreads across Northern states

Bleeding Kansas ( ) popular soveriegnty sequence of violent events involving anti- slavery and pro-slavery groups 63 people died entered as a free state

Dred Scott Case (1857) Supreme Court Case slave who sued unsuccessfully for his freedom lived in states and territories where slavery was illegal master died in Illinois – a free state the Court ruled that slaves had no claim to freedom; they were property and not citizens It allowed slavery anywhere in the U.S.