1. Compromises over Slavery
Why did political compromise fail to solve the issue of slavery in the United States?

2. National Unity or Sectionalism?
John C. Calhoun: "The South asks for justice, simple justice, and less she ought not to take. She has no compromise to offer but the Constitution and no concession or surrender to make.”
Daniel Webster: "I wish to speak today, not as a Massachusetts man, not as a northern man, but as an American.... I speak today for the preservation of the Union. Hear me for my cause.”
Henry Clay: "I know no South, no North, no East, no West to which I owe any allegiance."

3. US Constitution
At the Constitutional Convention, what compromises did the framers make regarding slavery?
3/5 Compromise
Slave Trade Compromise

4. Missouri Compromise

5. Missouri Compromise (1820)
Tallmadge Amendment:
Further slavery would be prohibited in MO
Existing slaves would be freed at 25
Henry Clay found a solution
MO admitted as a slave state
ME admitted as a free state
No slavery in Louisiana Territory north of 36˚ 30’ parallel

6. Compromise of 1850

7. Compromise of 1850 Question of slavery in Mexican Cession
Wilmot Proviso- no slavery in Mexican Cession
Extension of Missouri Compromise (36 30’)
Slavery cannot be excluded from new territories
Popular Sovereignty – citizens of territories should decide for themselves whether or not to have slavery
CA applied for statehood after Gold Rush—state constitution excluded slavery!
Southern “fire-eaters” threatened secession

8. Compromise of 1850

9. Compromise of 1850
Henry Clay helped orchestrate the Compromise of 1850
California free state
Popular sovereignty would determine legality of slavery in territories of Utah and New Mexico
Disputed territory b/w Texas and NM awarded to NM
Slave trade (not slavery!) abolished in D.C.
New, more stringent Fugitive Slave Law

10. Kansas Nebraska Act

11. The Kansas-Nebraska Act
After Gadsden Purchase, Illinois Democratic senator Stephen Douglas wanted transcontinental RR for Chicago
Needed Nebraska territory and Southern support
Introduced bill to organize Nebraska territory: Kansas-Nebraska Act
Question of slavery would be decided by popular sovereignty
Repealed Missouri Compromise
Realigned party politics

13. Realignment of the Party System
Since 1830s, party system (Whigs & Dems) had limited sectionalism
Sectional, rather than national, parties emerged in mid-1850s
Whig party died by 1856; Democrats became Southern dominated party
Know-Nothings (American Party) emerged as an anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant (nativist) party
Republican Party emerged after K-N Act
Comprised of northern Whigs, Free-Soilers, northern Democrats
Opposed extension of slavery – wanted to keep western territories free
Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1858)
Douglas defeated Lincoln for senate seat in Illinois