ACOS # 12: Identify causes of the Civil War from the northern and southern viewpoints. ACOS # 12a: Describe the importance of the Missouri Compromise, the Compromise of 1850, and John Brown’s Rebellion. ACOS # 12c: Identify on a map locations important to the Civil War.

Key Vocabulary Words Slave state – a state that permitted slavery. Free state – a state that did not permit slavery. Union – another name for the United States. Popular sovereignty – the right of people to make political decisions for themselves.

Would Slavery Spread? The United States grew-the Louisiana Purchase and the Mexican War opened new lands to settlers. Congress set up government for these lands and some of these regions became territories. When a territory’s population became large enough, it could become a state. Congress had to decide whether to allow slavery in each territory. Territories that allowed slavery became ‘slave states’. A slave state A free state Territories where slavery was illegal were called ‘free states’. Congress tried to keep an equal number of free and slave states. permitted slavery. did not permit slavery.

Compromises in Congress Through the first half of the 1800’s, Congress argued over which territories would have slavery. Northerners wanted free states to have a majority of representatives in Congress so they could pass laws against slavery. Southerners wanted more slave states. Missouri wanted to join the Union as a slave state. The Union is To satisfy both sides, Congress created the Missouri Compromise. another name for the United States.

The Missouri Compromise allowed Missouri to be a slave state and Maine to join as a free state. Congress created an invisible line across the rest of the territories. Only territories south of that line would allow slavery.

Congress allowed settlers in some territories to make the decision for themselves. The right of the people to make political decisions for themselves is called popular sovereignty.

In 1850, Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act. This law gave popular sovereignty to the Kansas and Nebraska territories. Abolitionists were against this act because it allowed slavery north of the line created in the Missouri Compromise. Settlers supporting and opposing slavery started rushing to settle this land. In 1861, Kansas joined the Union as a free state.

The Growing Crisis As part of the Compromise of 1850, Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Law, which upset northerners. A fugitive is This law stated that slaves who had escaped to the North had to be returned to slavery. The Fugitive Slave Law also ordered citizens to help catch runaway slaves. Many northerners refused to obey the law. a person who is running away.

Harriet Beecher Stowe, a writer from New England, was against the Fugitive Slave Law. She wrote a story, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, to describe the cruelty of slavery. Stowe said that slavery was not just the South’s problem, it was the nation’s problem. Some southerners said that her portrayal of slavery was incorrect. This book pushed the North and South further apart.

Dred Scott A legal case about slavery came to the Supreme Court in Dred Scott, an enslaved man from Missouri, asked the court for his freedom. He believed he should be free because he had once lived in Illinois, a free state, and Wisconsin, a free territory. The Supreme Court disagreed. They said slaves were property and living in a free state did not make them citizens. This decision was a victory for slave owners. It meant slavery had to be legal in all territories. Abolitionists feared slavery would spread over the whole country.

John Brown An abolitionist named John Brown decided to fight slavery. In 1859, he tried to start a rebellion against slavery by attacking a U. S. Army post at Harper’s Ferry. Soldiers quickly captured him and his group. Brown was tried for treason and hanged. Many northerners saw Brown as a hero. Southerners saw him as a violent man out to destroy their way of life. By 1860, the North and South were deeply divided and the stage was set for the Civil War.