MISSOURI COMPROMISE –FREE VS. SLAVE STATESTEACHER VERSIONSubject Level:

Middle School History

Grade Level:

7-8

Approx. Time Required:

60 minutes

Learning Objectives:

• Students will be able to explain American sectionalism in the early 1800s.

• Students will be able to cite the parameters of the Missouri Compromise and evaluate its effectiveness.

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MISSOURI COMPROMISE – FREE VS. SLAVE STATES TEACHER VERSION

Activity DescriptionThe purpose of this activity is to introduce students to the Missouri Compromise and the

issues associated with the expansion of slavery in the Antebellum period of United States

history. Students will begin the activity by creating a map that represents the Missouri

Compromise’s impact on the United States. This map will serve as a backdrop for the activity

while introducing students to political and cultural sectionalism (northern and southern

states and the issue of slavery) in the early 1800s. After students complete the map, they

will answer several questions using it. Students will also be prompted to examine aggregated

data from the 1820 Census and a map titled “Mapping Slavery in the Nineteenth Century” to

make comparisons and draw conclusions about slavery, specifically in Missouri.

Suggested Grade Level:7–8

Approximate Time Required:60 minutes

Learning Objectives:• Students will be able to explain American sectionalism in the early 1800s.• Students will be able to cite the parameters of the Missouri Compromise and evaluate its

effectiveness.

Topics: • Missouri Compromise• Slavery

Skills Taught:• Analyzing historical

records• Comparing and contrasting• Drawing conclusions• Making inferences

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MISSOURI COMPROMISE – FREE VS. SLAVE STATES TEACHER VERSION

Materials Required:• The student version of this activity, 11 pages

• Colored pencils

Activity ItemsThe following items are a part of this activity. Items, their sources, and any relevant instructions for viewing them online appear at the end of this teacher version.

• Item 1: Apportionment Legislation (An Act Apportioning Seats for Maine, 1820)

• Item 2: The Missouri Compromise, 1820 – Blank Map Including Missouri

• Item 3: Mapping Slavery in the Nineteenth Century

• Item 4A: Information From the 1820 Census To download the document, click on the link on item 4A, then “Census of Population and Housing, 1820,” then “Full Document.” Once it downloads, open the folder, click on “1820a-02.pdf,” and go to Page 5 of the PDF.

• Item 4B: Table of Enslaved Population in Missouri This table includes data from Item 4A in a more readable version.

For more information to help you introduce your students to the Census Bureau, read “Census Bureau 101 for Students.” This information sheet can be printed and passed out to your students as well.

Standards AddressedSee charts below. For more information about the standards, read “Overview of Education Standards and Guidelines Addressed in Statistics in Schools Activities.”

Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects

Standard Strand Cluster

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.1

Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.

RH 6–8 – History/Social Studies

Key Ideas and Details

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.7

Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.

RH 6–8 – History/Social Studies

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

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MISSOURI COMPROMISE – FREE VS. SLAVE STATES TEACHER VERSION

UCLA National Standards for History: U.S. History Content Standards

Era Standard

4 – Expansion and Reform (1801–1861)

Standard 3B: Explain the Missouri Compromise and evaluate its political consequences. [Identify issues and problems in the past.]

UCLA National Standards for History: Historical Thinking Standards

Standard Description

1 – Chronological Thinking Distinguish between past, present, and future time. Students will create a map of the United States circa 1820. Connections to the political geography of the United States before and after this era will be easy to discern.

2 – Historical Comprehension Draw upon data in historical maps. Students will create a map of the Missouri Compromise and answer several questions using it.

Utilize visual and mathematical data. Students will use a data table and population density map to calculate and draw conclusions about the enslaved population of Missouri.

3 – Historical Analysis and Interpretation

Compare and contrast differing sets of ideas. Students will compare the sets of values of the northern and southern states regarding slavery.

4 – Historical Research Capabilities

Employ quantitative analysis. Students will examine population density in Missouri and compare these data with data for other southern states. Data for northern and southern states will be compared as well.

Bloom’s TaxonomyStudents will identify parameters of the Missouri Compromise and evaluate its effectiveness and sustainability.

Creating

Evaluating

Analyzing

Applying

Understanding

Remembering

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MISSOURI COMPROMISE – FREE VS. SLAVE STATES TEACHER VERSION

Teacher Notes

Before the ActivityTeachers must show students the map found at tinyurl.com/htbv553 and review the labels and color key with students prior to the activity.

Students must understand the following key terms:

• Compromise

• Manifest Destiny

• Popular sovereignty

Students should have a basic understanding of the following ideas and concepts:

• Slavery, and the belief system that governed the northern and southern states on the issue of slavery

• Locations of states east of the Mississippi River

• The apportionment legislation that led to the Missouri Compromise; refer to Item 1: Apportionment Legislation (An Act Apportioning Seats for Maine, 1820), at www.census.gov/history/pdf/Maine_1820_Apportionment.pdf, for more information

During the ActivityTeachers may want to give students additional information on the Missouri Compromise and its history from this History.com page: tinyurl.com/nzqmoqr.

After the ActivityStudents should be able to answer this essential question: In a nation divided on the issue of slavery and its existence in new territories and states, how did the United States expand its borders while keeping peace between its northern and southern regions?

Following whole-class discussion and review, students will write an exit slip — which requires students to write responses to questions posed at the end of class to reflect on what they have learned and to help the teacher determine whether students understood the content. Ask students to answer the following questions:

• What is a compromise, and have you ever compromised with anyone? If so, please share your example. Student answers will vary.

• What was the goal of the Missouri Compromise, and did the compromise fulfill that goal? The compromise worked in the short term, but the complexities of slavery and Manifest Destiny would soon surface again.

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MISSOURI COMPROMISE – FREE VS. SLAVE STATES TEACHER VERSION

• In a nation divided on the issue of slavery and its existence in new territories and states, how did the United States expand its borders while keeping peace between its northern and southern regions? Student answers will vary. The idea is to recognize that the 36°30’ line of the Missouri Compromise geographically favored the northern states. Teachers can build on this conversation, discussing ways the country might have avoided the Civil War in addition to the idea of popular sovereignty, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and other terms and concepts.

• Next, using the 3-2-1 approach, write down three things you learned in this activity, two questions you still have, and one aspect of the activity that you enjoyed the most. Student answers will vary.

Extension Ideas • Students could read the first two paragraphs on this Senate Web page:

www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/The_Caning_of_Senator_Charles_Sumner.htm. The paragraphs discuss the caning of Sen. Charles Sumner in May 1856. At the center of this attack were views on slavery and sectionalism. After reading these paragraphs and discussing them with the class, the teacher may want to explain that events like these were years in the making, as the political climate intensified over slavery. At the time of the Missouri Compromise, the differences between northern and southern states were already evident, and sectionalist views were becoming stronger. The Missouri Compromise was written and instituted to attempt to defuse these future rivalries.

• Students could write a role, audience, format, topic (RAFT) piece in which they take on one of several roles: a northern abolitionist fighting to end slavery, a Mainer troubled by entering the Union with a slave state, or a southern plantation owner in support of slavery as a necessity and upset that the U.S. government has placed limits on the expansion of slavery.

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MISSOURI COMPROMISE – FREE VS. SLAVE STATES TEACHER VERSION

Student ActivityPrintable student versions are available here.

Student Learning Objectives• I will be able to explain American sectionalism in the early 1800s.

• I will be able to cite the parameters of the Missouri Compromise and evaluate its effectiveness.

By 1861, the issue of slavery in the United States had become so intense that it led our nation into a bloody civil war. The difference between northern and southern states began to take shape as our nation was founded, and this tension intensified in the early 19th century. Prior to 1819, decisions regarding slavery were made regionally; for example, the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 eliminated slavery for that area of the nation. The Missouri Compromise was the first time the United States had to tackle the question: As America expands, will slavery expand as well?

This is a difficult question — and one that Thomas Jefferson was fully aware of when he wrote to a friend, “This momentous question, like a fire bell in the night, awakened and filled me with terror. I considered it at once as the [death] knell of the Union.”

The debate over the admission of Missouri to the Union as a slave state, held in the U.S. Senate, was the nation’s first extensive discussion on slavery and thus marks a turning point in American politics and intensifying sectionalist differences. In 1820, Congress achieved a compromise over these differences with the leadership of Henry Clay, who became known as “The Great Compromiser” and “The Great Pacifier.” Though the parameters of the compromise made for a peaceful resolution to the question cited above, that resolution was short-lived. The 36°30’ line meant that most of the Louisiana Purchase territory would be free of slavery.

The Missouri Compromise kept the United States together for more than 30 years. It was later replaced by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which established popular sovereignty (local voting) on the issue of slavery in Kansas and Nebraska — even though both were north of the 36°30’ line.

In summary, the Missouri Compromise addressed the intense mistrust and sectionalist views of the early 1800s.

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MISSOURI COMPROMISE – FREE VS. SLAVE STATES TEACHER VERSION

1. Use the provided Item 2: The Missouri Compromise, 1820 – Blank Map Including Missouri to create a map of the United States in 1820, using different colored pencils to depict the following seven sections:

• Free states and territories

• Slave states and territories

• Oregon country

• The line established as part of the Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819

• Spanish land claims

• Unorganized territory – closed to slavery by Missouri Compromise

• Arkansas territory – open to slavery by Missouri Compromise

Create a key for the seven sections of your map. States to include on your map are:

Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida territory, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, and Virginia.

Final assignments should look similar to the map found at tinyurl.com/htbv553. Teachers must review this content with students prior to the activity so that they can complete their map.

2. Prior to Missouri’s entering the United States as a slave state and Maine’s entering as a free state, how many slave and free states were there? Why might this be significant?

There were 11 free states and 11 slave states. This is significant because there was an equal number of free and slave states. This balance of states was important, as one extra state — slave or free — would tip the balance of power in the U.S. government.

3. How might settlement of the West have increased tension between northern and southern states?

Northern states were focused on making sure future settlements of the West would prohibit slavery. Of course, this would signal a threat to an institution that the southern states had grown to depend on. If slavery were permitted in the western territory, it would further embed slavery as part of our nation.

4. On your map, examine the southern border of Missouri. This border represents what came to be known as the 36°30’ Missouri Compromise line. The Missouri Compromise established that any state formed below this line would be considered a slave state and any state formed above it would be a free state. What do you notice about the position of the line?

The southern states have far less land to expand into than the northern states.

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MISSOURI COMPROMISE – FREE VS. SLAVE STATES TEACHER VERSION

5. The Missouri Compromise has parameters:

• Maine will be admitted into the United States as a free state (12 free states total)

• Missouri will be admitted as a slave state (12 slave states total)

• The 36°30’ line will be established

Essential Question Connection: Given these parameters, do you believe that the Missouri Compromise would be a successful long-term solution to the disagreement between northern and southern states in America? Why or why not?

Student answers will vary. Here’s a sample answer: The Missouri Compromise may help establish peace between northern and southern states for a short time; however, the issues of western land and the 36°30’ line will likely be raised again.

6. Examine Item 4A: Information From the 1820 Census. Regarding slavery, what do you notice?

The northern states (including Maine) have no enslaved or relatively few enslaved people, while the southern states have tens of thousands of enslaved people.

7. Study Item 4B: Table of Enslaved Population in Missouri. What is the total number of enslaved people living in Missouri in 1820? Is this number greater or less than the number of “free colored persons” living in Missouri during that time?

There are 10,222 enslaved people in Missouri, according to the 1820 Census, which is far greater than the number of “free colored persons” living in Missouri in 1820.

8. Which categories of enslaved people, including both men and women, are the largest? What does this say about what slave owners valued in enslaved people?

By far, most enslaved people were 26 or younger. This likely means slave owners valued young and strong individuals who could perform the manual labor.

9. Examine Item 3: Mapping Slavery in the Nineteenth Century. Which area of Missouri is most densely populated with enslaved people? Why might this be?

Upper-central Missouri has the highest concentration of enslaved people. This is likely because the nearby Missouri River provided more fertile land and a waterway for irrigation.

10. How does Missouri’s population density compare with that of other southern states?

It is far less than all southern states. One likely reason is its emergence as a new settlement area and state.

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MISSOURI COMPROMISE – FREE VS. SLAVE STATES TEACHER VERSION

Item 1: Apportionment Legislation (An Act Apportioning Seats for Maine, 1820)

www.census.gov/history/pdf/Maine_1820_Apportionment.pdf

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MISSOURI COMPROMISE – FREE VS. SLAVE STATES TEACHER VERSION

Item 2: The Missouri Compromise, 1820 – Blank Map Including MissouriNa

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MISSOURI COMPROMISE – FREE VS. SLAVE STATES TEACHER VERSION

Item 3: Mapping Slavery in the Nineteenth Century

www.census.gov/history/pdf/slavedensitymap.pdf

_________________________NOAA Office of Coast Survey

www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/history/CivilWar

Mapping Slavery in the Nineteenth Century

Commercial lithographer Henry S. Graham printed this choropleth map showing the distribution of the slave population in September 1861. The map shows in graphic terms the density of the slave population in the Southern states, based on figures from the 1860 census. Although the development of this map was a collaborative government effort, cartographers working for Edwin Hergesheimer, U.S. Coast Survey Drafting Division, created it.

The development of this map was revolutionary for its time for several reasons. First, it was among the first of its kind, initiating a trend of statistical cartography in the United States that allowed the thematic mapping of larger social, political, and cultural trends. Second, this map represented an early use of statistical information from the census. Third, new techniques in shading developed by Hergesheimer were a path-breaking application of these new techniques to human geography. Finally, its makers went as far to use “moral statistics” in order to affect political change.

This map was more than a collaborative effort initiated by the federal government; it is a reflection of the beliefs of the cartographers and administrators who made it. The United States Coast Survey took the statistics from the 8th Census, supervised by Joseph Camp Griffith Kennedy, who was pro-Union and created controversy regarding the information to be gathered about slaves. Kennedy wanted to include

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MISSOURI COMPROMISE – FREE VS. SLAVE STATES TEACHER VERSION

Item 3: Mapping Slavery in the Nineteenth Century (Continued)

_________________________NOAA Office of Coast Survey

www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/history/CivilWar

slaves by name, but Congress refused. Alexander D. Bache, the Coast Survey Superintendent, was also pro-Union, and allowed his staff to undertake such a map. Hergesheimer was an immigrant from Germany, who left after the failed 1848 liberal revolution in Germany, to lend his expertise to the U.S.Coast Survey. Hergesheimer and his German colleagues were largely against slavery and strongly supported the Union.

The map was created to understand the secession crisis, by providing a visual link between secession and slavery. The mapmakers consciously limited the map to just the Southern states, including the Border States of Maryland, Virginia, and Kentucky, but not the Western slave states of Nebraska, New Mexico, and Utah. During and after the war, the map then could be used by the Union to argue that the destruction of the Confederacy meant the destruction of slavery. There is a strong message in the banner at the top of the map that reads “For the Sick and Wounded Soldiers of the U.S. Army.”

According to artist Francis Bicknell Carpenter, this map was frequently consulted by President Abraham Lincoln in considering the relationship between emancipation and military strategy. Carpenter took up residence at the White House in February 1864 to paint President Lincoln, after he was inspired by Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. Carpenter wrote that Lincoln would look at the map and send his armies to free blacks in some of the highest density areas in order to destabilize Southern order.

Carpenter painted the map into symbolic significance in his painting First Reading of the EmancipationProclamation of President Lincoln, which is now located in the U.S. Capitol. In this painting, Carpenter captures the moment Lincoln announces his decision for emancipation to his cabinet. The slave density map is purposely placed in the corner, demonstrating the weight of this proclamation in graphic and statistical terms.

References:

Francis Bicknell Carpenter (Painter), First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation of President Lincoln. c. 1864. U.S Capitol, Washington, D.C. Accessed 11 Oct 2010.http://senate.gov/artandhistory/art/artifact/Painting_33_00005.htm.

Harold Holzer, Gabor S. Boritt, and Mark E. Neely, Jr., “Francis Bicknell Carpenter (1830-1900): Painterof Abraham Lincoln and His Circle,” American Art Journal 16, no. 2 (Spring 1984), 75.

Susan Schulten, “The Cartography of Slavery and the Authority of Statistics,” Civil War History, Volume56, Number 1, March 2010, 5-32.

Susan Schulten, “Visualizing Slavery,” The New York Times Opinionator, December 9, 2010, http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/09/visualizing-slavery/

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MISSOURI COMPROMISE – FREE VS. SLAVE STATES TEACHER VERSION

Item 4A: Information From the 1820 Census

www.census.gov/library/publications/1821/dec/1820a.html

Item 4B: Table of Enslaved Population in Missouri

Missouri Slaves

Males Females

Males under 14 years old

Males of 14 and under 26

Males of 26 and under 45

Males of 45 and upwards

Females under 14 years old

Females of 14 and under 26

Females of 26 and under 45

Females of 45 and upwards

2,491 1,511 852 487 2,281 1,461 855 284

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