Chapter 10 The Union in Peril

Protest, Resistance, and Violence

Fugitive Slave Act

• Compromise of 1850 included Fugitive Slave Act– All people in free states were required to catch and return all fugitive

slaves. Anyone who did not help would be jailed– Fugitive slaves were not allowed trial by jury (Violates 6th Amendment)– Were not allowed to testify at their own trial

• This law led to increasing support of the Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad

• Secret group of abolitionists who helped runaway slaves travel to Canada

• “Conductors”– Hid slaves in secret

tunnels, provided them with food/water, escorted them to next “station”

Harriet Tubman

• Harriet Tubman- former slave helped people escape North– Said to have helped over 300

slaves escape • Harriet Tubman and the Underg

round Railroad

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

• Book by Harriet Beecher Stowe• Gave a dramatic account of the

cruelty of slavery• Turned many people against

slavery• North- criticized Fugitive Slave

Act• South- criticized book as an

attack on the South

Kansas-Nebraska Act 1854

By the 1850s the area above Texas was ready to be recognized as a territory in preparation to becoming a state.

It was North of the 36x30 line. The Compromise of 1850 had stated that these territories could decide for themselves if they were going to be free or slave.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

• Stephen Douglas- wants to construct a railroad from Chicago to San Francisco

• Also wanted to unify country – strengthen Dem. Party – felt Popular Sovereignty was fair

• Problem was NB was above 36 30’ – he assumed they would enter union as 2 states: 1 free & 1 slave

• He thought no need for slaves on prairie – but supported repeal of Missouri Compromise to appease South

Kansas-Nebraska Act

- In 1854 Congress passed a bill creating 2 territories-- Kansas (South) and Nebraska (North).

- Slavery in each territory would be decided by the voters=Popular Sovereignty.

-Results:1. Bleeding Kansas-Settlers poured into KS to sway the

vote – some farmers, emigrant groups and antislavery migrants lots of violence

2. The Democratic Party lost support in the North but gained it in the South. Democrats were pro-slavery.

3. The Republican Party is created and it gained power among those against slavery.