1. Chapter 14: The Nation Divided
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2. Section 1 – Growing Tensions Over Slavery
How did the question of admission of new states to the Union fuel the debate over slavery and states’ rights?
Why was it important to maintain a balance between free and slave states?
How does popular sovereignty give power to the people?
Why were southern leaders concerned over California being admitted into the Union?

3. Wilmot Proviso
The territory gained through the Mexican- American War threatened to destroy the balance between free and slave states in the Union.
The Wilmot Proviso was a proposal that Congress ban slavery in all territory that might become part of the United States as a result of the Mexican-American War.
Many supporters of slavery viewed the Wilmot Proviso as an attack on slavery by the North.

4. Why was it important to maintain a balance between free and slave states?

5. Popular Sovereignty
Popular sovereignty allowed people living in a specific territory or state to vote directly on issues, rather than having their elected representatives decide.

6. How does popular sovereignty give power to the people?

7. Free-Soil Party
The Free-Soil Party called for the territory gained in the Mexican-American War to be “free soil,” a place where slavery was banned.

8. California - Free or Not?
If California was admitted into the Union as a free state, it would upset the balance between free and slave states in the Senate.
Southern leaders began to threaten secession, or to withdraw, from the nation if California was admitted to the Union as a free state.

9. Why were southern leaders concerned over California being admitted into the Union?

10. Section 2 – Compromises Fail
What was the Compromise of 1850, and why did it fail?
Why were southern leaders concerned over California being admitted into the Union?
Who would have supported the Compromise of 1850 and why?
Who would have supported the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and why?
Why did some many people from both pro-slavery and antislavery groups flock to Kansas?

11. Compromise of 1850
The North supported the Compromise of 1850, because the compromise admitted California into the Union as a free state and banned the slave trade in the nation’s capital.
The Fugitive Slave Act of allowed special government officials to arrest any person accused of being a runaway slave.

13. Why were southern leaders concerned over California being admitted into the Union?

14. Who would have supported the Compromise of 1850 and why?

15. Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
People accused of being a runaway slave had no right to a trial to prove that they had been falsely accused.
Only evidence that was needed was a slaveholder or white witness to swear that the suspect was the slaveholder’s property.
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 also required northern citizens to help capture accused runaway slaves if authorities requested assistance.

16. Who would have supported the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and why?

17. Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Uncle Tom’s Cabin was a novel about the evils of slavery. Americans started to see slavery not just a political issue, but a moral issue too.

18. Date
Sales
June 5, 1851 – April 1, 1852
A serial publication in the National Era magazine has a circulation of about 8,000
March 20, 1852 – April 1, 1852
The first printing of 5,000 copies of Uncle Tom’s Cabin sells out in two weeks.
April 2, 1852 – April 15, 1852
The second printing of 5,000 copies of Uncle Tom’s Cabin also sells out in two weeks.
May 1852
Sales of the first edition reach 50,000
September 1852
Sales of the first edition reach 75,000
October 1852
Sales of the first edition reach 100,000
Holiday season, 1852
3,000 copies of a special illustrated edition are sold
January 1853
30,000 copies are sold of a new “Edition for the Million”
February 1853
The first foreign language version is printed in German
1852
Another 100,000 copies of a special edition printed in England are sold
Early, 1853
Sales of various editions reach 310,000
End of 1853
Sales reach 1 million worldwide

19. Stephen Douglas
Stephen Douglas wanted to develop the Nebraska Territory to establish railroads from his home state of Illinois through the Nebraska Territory to the Pacific Coast.

20. Bleeding Kansas
The Kansas-Nebraska Act was a new policy that allowed the people within the territories to decide on the issue of slavery through popular sovereignty.
Both pro-slavery and antislavery settlers flocked to Kansas within weeks after the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
Each side was determined to hold the majority in the territory when it came time to vote.
A mini civil war broke out between bands of pro-slavery and antislavery supporters. Both groups terrorized those who did not support their views.

21. Why did some many people from both pro-slavery and antislavery groups flock to Kansas?

22. Section 3 – The Crisis Deepens
Why did the Lincoln-Douglas debated and John Brown’s raid increase tensions between the North and South?
What was the main goal of the Republican Party in the mid-1800’s?
What did the Supreme Court decide in the Dred Scott decision?
Who was Abraham Lincoln’s rival and what did they disagree on?
Why did Stephen Douglas support popular sovereignty?
Who was John Brown and what was his goal?
What happened at Harpers Ferry in Virginia?

23. The Republican Party
A new political party split from the Whig Party in The new political party was called the Republican Party, its main goal was to stop the spread of slavery into the western territories.

24. What was the main goal of the Republican Party in the mid-1800’s?

25. Dred Scott
Dred Scott was an enslaved person who had once been owned by a United States Army doctor.
With the help of antislavery lawyers, Dred Scott sued for his freedom. He argued that he was free because he had lived where slavery was illegal.

26. Dred Scott’s Court Case
Chief Justice Roger B. Taney wrote the decision for the Supreme Court. The Court decided Dred Scott was not a free man, for two reasons.
First, Dred Scott had no right to sue in federal court because African Americans were not citizens.
Second, living in free territory did not make an enslaved person free. Slaves were property and property rights were protected by the United States Constitution.

27. What did the Supreme Court decide in the Dred Scott decision?

28. Kansas-Nebraska Act
Abraham Lincoln returned to politics embracing the Republican cause and opposing the Kansas- Nebraska Act.
Abraham Lincoln’s long-time rival was Illinois Senator Stephen Douglas, the author of the Kansas- Nebraska Act.
Abraham Lincoln challenged Stephen Douglas to a series of public debates on slavery, which became known as the Lincoln-Douglas Debates.

29. Who was Abraham Lincoln’s rival and what did they disagree on?

30. Stephen Douglas and Popular Sovereignty
Stephen Douglas strongly defended popular sovereignty to determine the policy of slavery in the new territories.
At the end of the debates, Douglas won the Senate election against Lincoln. However, the debates made Lincoln known throughout the country.

31. Why did Stephen Douglas support popular sovereignty?

32. John Brown’s Raid
John Brown was an abolitionist who developed an idea to free the slaves in the South. John Brown’s plot was to raise an army and free people in the South who were enslaved.
In 1859, John Brown and his supporters attacked the town of Harpers Ferry in Virginia. His goal was to seize guns the United States Army stored there.
John Brown and his supporters gained control of the guns, but were surrounded by United States troops. Ten of Brown’s supporters were killed and John Brown was wounded and captured.
On December 2nd, 1859, the state of Virginia hanged John Brown for treason.

33. Who was John Brown and what was his goal?

34. What happened at Harpers Ferry in Virginia?

35. Section 4 – The Coming of the Civil War
Why did the election of Abraham Lincoln spark the secession of southern states?
What political party split in 1860?
How did the South respond to the election of 1860?
What new nation was established from the results of the election of 1860?
Where was the first battle of the American Civil War?
What is a civil war?

36. A Nation Divided
By 1860, the long and bitter debate over slavery had left the nation seriously divided.
Southern Democrats wanted the party to support slavery in the territories, but northerners refused to do so. In the end, the Democrat Party split in two.

37. What political party split in 1860?

38. 1860 Election Results
In the election of 1860, Abraham Lincoln, Republican candidate, won in every free state.
John Breckinridge, the Southern Democrat candidate, won all the slave-holding states except four.
Abraham Lincoln only won 40% of the popular vote, but won enough electoral votes to win the election.

40. Secession
Southerners felt that the South no longer had a voice in the national government.
South Carolina was the first southern state that decided to secede from the Union.
Six more states would follow South Carolina and secede from the Union. The seven southern states that seceded established a new nation called the Confederate States of America.

42. How did the South respond to the election of 1860?

43. What new nation was established from the results of the election of 1860?

44. Fort Sumter
The first standoff between the two nations would be at Fort Sumter. Fort Sumter was a fort located on an island in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina.
Fort Sumter was held by the Union, but in the territory of the new Confederate States of America. The fort’s commander would not surrender the fort to the South, and President Lincoln did not want to give up the fort.
The Confederate leaders decided to capture the fort, and on April 12th, 1861, the first battle of the American Civil War began.
A civil war is a war between opposing groups of citizens of the same country.

47. Where was the first battle of the American Civil War?

48. What is a civil war?