A Rising Tide of Protest and Violence 10.2

Objectives Analyze why the Fugitive Slave Act increased tensions between the North and South Assess how the Kansas Nebraska Act was seen differently by the North and South Explain why fighting broke out in Kansas and the effects of that conflict.

Key Parts Resistance Against the Fugitive Slave Act The Kansas Nebraska Act Undoes the Missouri Compromise A Battle Rages in “Bleeding Kansas”

Introduction Read Section 10.2 Answer questions 4 &5 on page 337.

Resistance Against the Fugitive Slave Act Northerners did not like the Fugitive Slave Act and resisted it in may ways. One way was by passing personal liberty laws. These statutes nullified the Fugitive Slave Act and allowed the state to arrest slave catchers for kidnapping. In 1851 a small group of free African Americans gathered in a farmhouse being heavily armed they protected several fugitive slaves from their masters who were trying to claim them.

Cont. During this time the Underground railroad began coming largely into the picture. This was a secret network of “conductors” that hid runaway slaves and moved them to destinations in the North or Canada to safe locations. One of the most courageous was Harriet Tubman. She made over two dozen trips down south to free hundreds of slaves including her own parents. She was known as “Black Moses”

Cont.. In 1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe published Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which as a powerful book that condemned slavery. There were other books such as Blake that got the sympathizers to begin to go against slavery. This infuriated southerners so they began to write books themselves depicting slavery in a positive light and showing that it wasn’t harsh treatment.

The Kansas Nebraska Act Undoes the Missouri Compromise In 1854 senator Douglas forced the issue of slavery to the surface again. Once again congress was gripped in a bitter debate. Douglas’s idea was that Kansas would become a slave state and Nebraska would organize as a free State. This passed temporarily but it negated the Missouri Compromise by allowing slavery into areas that had bee free for over 30 years.

A Battle Rages in Bleeding Kansas Kansas attracted settlers from the north and the south. Both wanted to have the majority so that when it came down to voting they would have control of the government. During 1855 two governments arose in Kansas one known as Border Ruffians and the other Free-State government. On May 21, 1856 the Border Ruffians raided the antislavery town of Lawrence. They pillaged homes and burned down the Free State Hotel and destroyed the presses of The Kansas Free State Newspaper.

Cont. Swift retaliation came from John Brown. A New York abolitionist who had moved his family several times in pursuit of opportunities to confront slavery head on. Brown carried out a midnight execution of five proslavery settlers. This stemmed several outbreaks throughout Kansas and characterized the territory as “Bleeding Kansas”

Cont. Over the next several years, the question of how to admit Kansas to the Union baffled local residents, political parties, U.S. Congress and the Supreme Court. Violence even spread into the Senate. Preston Brooks attacked Sumner and beat him unconscious with a cane over the issue of Kansas. Ultimately Kansas entered into the Union as a free state in 1861.