1. A divided nation
Chapter 14 (Part I)

2. The debate over slavery

3. New Lands Renew Slavery Debate
Winning the Mexican-American War added vast amounts of land to the U.S. causing the issue of continuing or abolishing slavery to be debated

4. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 prohibited slavery north of 36°30’, but allowed Missouri to become a slave state

5. President Polk wanted to extend the line to the west coast
Other leaders encouraged popular sovereignty
Popular sovereignty – political power belongs to the people
People should decide whether to ban or allow slavery

6. The california question

7. The gold rush caused such a rapid population growth that California applied to join the Union as a state instead of a territory
Most Californians opposed slavery
It was already illegal when it was part of Mexico

8. If California entered the Union as a free state it would upset the balance of states in favor of free states
The South would not allow this

9. Compromise of 1850
The Compromise would institute the following (as proposed by Henry Clay)
1. California would enter the Union as a free state
2. The rest of the new lands “Mexican Cession” would be federal land and popular sovereignty would decide on slavery
3. Texas would give up lands east of the upper Rio Grande and in exchange the federal government would pay its debt from when it was an independent republic
4. The slave trade (but not slavery) would end
5. A more effective fugitive slave law would be implemented

10. The Compromise of 1850 passed
California entered as a free state
The Mexican Cession was divided into two territories
Utah and New Mexico
Utah and New Mexico would decide on slavery based on popular sovereignty

11. Fugitive slave act

12. The Fugitive Slave Act made it a crime to help runaway slaves

13. Slaveholders could use testimony from witnesses but runaway slaves could not testify

14. People who helped runaway slaves could not testify and they could be put in jail and fined

15. Commissioners (like judges) were paid $5 for freeing slaves, but were given $10 if they were returned to slave owners

16. Thousands of African Americans fled to Canada
Over 300 cases were tried but only 11 slaves were found to be free

17. Anti-slavery literature

18. Fiction stories were used to inform people about the evils of slavery
Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Tom was taken from his wife and sold into slavery
His owner, Simon Legree, had Tom beaten to death

19. Trouble in kansas

20. The kansas-nebraska act

21. The Kansas-Nebraska Act divided the remaining Louisiana Purchase into two territories
Slavery in Kansas and Nebraska would be decided by popular sovereignty

22. Due to voter fraud Kansas became a slave state
They passed a law that stated people who helped fugitive slaves could receive the death penalty

23. A second government that was anti-slavery was created in Kansas

24. Bleeding kansas

25. A congressional committee was established to determine which of the two governments was legitimate
Committee found that the pro-slavery government was established through voter fraud
Federal government ignored this and kept Kansas a slave state

26. Kansas broke into civil war (abolitionists v. pro-slavery)

27. The abolitionist city of Lawrence was set afire

28. John Brown killed five men with swords in the Pottawatomie Massacre

29. Senator Charles Sumner criticized pro-slavery supporters and criticized Senator Andrew Butler for being pro-slavery
A relative of Butler’s, Representative Preston Brooks beat Sumner unconscious with a walking stick
Supporters of Brooks sent him new canes while dissenters called him “Bully Brooks”
He had to pay a $300 fine
It was three years before Sumner was well enough to return to the Senate