1. The Debate Over Slavery
Chapter 15

2. A. New Land Renews Slavery Disputes

3. 1. The US gained more than 500,000 square miles of land in the Mexican-American War, this renewed the fight over slavery

4. 2. Regional Differences
One proposed solution: The Wilmot Proviso which would make all of the new territory free – It died in the Senate
Sectionalism became an issue

5. 3. The California Question
Most people in CA. opposed slavery
Admitting CA. as a free state would upset the delicate Senate balance.

6. B. Compromise of 1850

7. 1. California would enter the Union as a free state

8. 2. The rest of the Mexican Cession = federal (U. S. ) land
2. The rest of the Mexican Cession = federal (U.S.) land. The slavery issue to be decided by Popular Sovereignty

9. 3. Texas would give up some land and the U. S
3. Texas would give up some land and the U.S. government would pay off it’s debt to Mexico

10. Slave trade would end in Washington D.C. (not slavery)

11. 5. A new fugitive slave act was passed

12. C. Reactions the the Compromise of 1850
Opposed by John C. Calhoun - claimed it would destroy the nation’s balance and lead to Civil War. Believed that the South had a right to secede.
Daniel Webster was instrumental in getting the bill passed.

13. D. The Fugitive Slave Act

14. 1. Details
Made it a crime to help runaway slaves & forced officials to arrest slaves in free areas or go to jail 6 months in jail and pay a $1000 fine
Only white people could testify.
Commissioners earned $5 for setting a slave free and $10 for sending them back.

15. 2. Reactions
Thousands of African Americans from the U.S. fled to Canada
Northerners hate the Fugitive Slave act, especially the lack of trial by jury
Most that resisted did so peacefully, however sometimes violence erupted such as the Anthony Burns Case