1. Divisive Politics of Slavery
How do the North & South differ on Slavery?

2. Antebellum South
Industrial North
Manufacturing
Agricultural (King Cotton)
2. Slavery seen as immoral or bad for business
2. Slavery is economic necessity & way of life
Discuss: What were the moral and ethical issues w/ slavery?

3. Mid 1800s Reforms
Second Great Awakening: Religious revival that states salvation comes from those who reform (esp. abolition)
2. Transcendentalists: blame societal greed & corrupt govt for slavery (Emerson/Thoreau)
3. Abolitionists: Call for end to slavery by any means (William L. Garrison) or non-violent resistance (Frederick Douglass)
4. Suffragists: Women who organize at Seneca Falls, NY calling for abolition & equality for women (Elizabeth Cady Stanton)

4. Fighting Against Slavery
1. Nat Turner & John Brown lead rebellions against slave owners
2. Harriet Tubman leads Underground Railroad, a network of escape routes for slaves trying to get north or Canada
3. Harriett Beecher Stowe write Uncle Tom’s Cabin to expose horrors of slavery
Discuss: How do women play a major role in the abolition mvmnt?

5. Compromise of 1850
Debate over 36/30 line for western states
1) California will be a free state, New Mexico (below 36/30) & Utah (above 36/30) are open to slavery (pop. sovereignty)
2) Stronger fugitive slave laws will be written

6. Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854
Congress will allow new states in these territories to be open to slavery through pop sovereignty (both above 36/30)
Violence breaks out as northerners & southerners race to settle the new territories

7. Dred Scott v. Sanford
Slave named Dred Scott sues his master saying that he & his owner lived in free territories & had been illegally enslaved
Supreme Court ruled against Scott saying he was “property,” which is protected by 5th Amendment

8. Two years later as an abolitionist candidate he wins Presidency
Election of Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln of new Republican Party defeats Democrat Stephen Douglas in Illinois Senate
Two years later as an abolitionist candidate he wins Presidency
Lincoln says he will allow slavery to continue but will not allow its expansion into new states, South threatens to secede from US