Compromises over Slavery

Aim: Why did compromise fail to solve the issue of slavery in the United States?

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."

Classwork

Read and analyze the documents. Underline important text. Answer the following questions:

Is this a primary or secondary source? What is the main idea of the reading? What effect did this event have on slavery in the

United States? Summary Question: Was the federal government

successful in dealing with the question of slavery in America?

I. US Constitution

At the Constitutional Convention, what compromises did the framers make regarding slavery?

3/5 Compromise

Slave Trade Compromise

II. Missouri Compromise

Missouri Compromise (1820)

1819, Missouri applied for statehood Politicians disagreed about whether it would

be a slave state or free state Northerners vs. Southerners

Missouri Compromise Missouri would allow slavery Maine would enter union as free state (no slavery) 36º30’N latitude would separate Free States from

Slave States in the Louisiana Territory

III. Compromise of 1850

Compromise of 1850

Compromise of 1850

California = free state Utah and New Mexico territories allowed popular

sovereignty: citizens of territories decided for themselves whether to have slavery

Slave trade, but not slavery itself, abolished in Washington, D.C.

Strong federal enforcement of new Fugitive Slave Act (VERY CONTROVERSIAL)

Compromise of 1850

1. California = free state 2. Popular sovereignty in Utah and New

Mexico territories 4. Slave trade, but not slavery itself,

abolished in Washington, D.C. 5. Strong federal enforcement of new Fugitive

Slave Act (VERY CONTROVERSIAL)

IV. Kansas Nebraska Act

The Kansas-Nebraska Act

A. Popular Sovereignty in these territories1. Repealed the Missouri Compromise of

18202. Many Northerners were outraged

B. “Bleeding Kansas”1. violent conflict broke out between pro- and

anti-slavery factionsC. Republican Party forms

1. Opposed expansion of slavery2. Abraham Lincoln