1. Chapter 7, Section 1: Changing the Law of the Land

2. How was Slavery viewed in America when the Constitution was being written??

3. Framers’ Thoughts toward Slavery
The Constitution would have failed without a compromise on slavery.
Southerners believed that their farming economy would collapse without slave labor.
Framers needed both Northern and Southern States’ votes to ratify the Constitution.
Therefore, Framers decided to avoid the abolition of Slavery in the Constitution.
Made slavery seem acceptable by counting them in state population (Three-Fifths Compromise)
Many Americans feared an America divided over slavery wouldn’t survive.

4. Tensions between the North and South
Northern and Southern States competed for power in Congress.
Tensions:
North: argued that by counting slaves in population, the Southern States had more representatives than they deserved.
South: feared the North would use its majority power to Abolish Slavery everywhere.

5. How would Congress Resolve this issue??

6. Missouri Compromise of 1820
Divided the States in to either “Slave Territories” or “Free Territories”.
This divided America into two groups:
Those who believed slavery should be abolished.
Those who believed that Americans should have the right to own slaves.
**This would tear apart the country and lead to future conflicts.

7. This Compromise, however, would cause some controversy…

8. Scott v. Sanford: The Dred Scott Case, 1857
The Case:
A slave, Dred Scott traveled with his slaveholder to Illinois and made residence there, which is a “Free Territory”.
Scott argued that his residence in a Free Territory made him a free person.
The Ruling:
The Supreme Court ruled that slaves were property, and slaveholders could take slaves where they pleased.
This would interpret the Constitution as a document allowing slavery.

9. What would be the ultimate aftermath of such a controversial case?

10. The American Civil War 1861-1865
Abraham Lincoln
Jefferson Davis

11. The North Wins the Civil War: What will happen to slavery in America??

12. The Thirteenth Amendment
1865
The victory for the North in the Civil War paved the way for the passing of this amendment..
This Amendment would officially abolish slavery in The United States.

13. Although the slaves were free, they still lacked the rights of their fellow Americans….

14. The Fourteenth Amendment 1868
“All Persons Born or Naturalized in the United States are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside”
The States can not:
“Deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without a Due Process of Law.”
“Deny to any person, the equal protection of the laws.”
Considered the “Second Bill of Rights”
requires the States to respect citizens’ rights.

15. African Americans’ Right to Vote: The Fifteenth Amendment, 1870
In some states, being a citizen did not give the slaves Suffrage.
Suffrage: The Right to Vote.
States may not deny the right to vote to any person on the basis of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude”

16. Women and the Right to Vote

17. Traditional Ideas About Women
Belong in the home, caring for the family.
Unfit to handle the same jobs as men.
Could not vote or hold political office.
Less intelligent than men.
Unable to make political decisions.
Politically active women would leave their family behind.

18. Challenging the Traditional View
At the “Seneca Falls Women’s Right Convention in 1848, the movement for Women’s Suffrage would begin.
“We hold these truths to be self evident: That all men and women are created equal”

19. The “Suffragists”
Supporters of women’s suffrage were known as “Suffragists”
Suffragists would hold marches, give speeches, petition government officials and even hold hunger strikes.

20. The Nineteenth Amendment
1920
This amendment would officially give women the right to vote.
*This Amendment failed to pass in every session of congress for 40 years, from

21. What about the right to vote for America’s youth??

22. The Twenty-Sixth Amendment
1971
This Amendment changed the voting age from age 21 to 18.
Americans believed that if you were old enough to fight and die for your country at age 18, you should be allowed to vote at that age as well.