Nicholas Sosa

Assessment 6

1. Douglass’ decision caused controversy because this went against the Missouri
Compromise. In the Missouri Compromise it states that no territories above the 36 30
line will have slavery. Kansas and Nebraska both are above the line which would mean
that they should both be admitted as free states. The northerners were very upset with
this because they were not in favor of slavery in either territory and believed they should
both be free due to the terms of the Missouri Compromise.
2. The events in Kansas make the argument deeply problematic because there were more
anti-slavery citizens than pro-slavery citizens in Kansas. This created tension between
the two sides because both sides wanted to get their point across and either have
slavery in Kansas or to not have slavery in Kansas. Members from the state of Missouri
known as Border Ruffians led armed attacks to try and flip the anti-slavery citizens
beliefs. This violence would eventually make its way to the Senate when Senator
Andrew Butler’s nephew Preston Brooks beat Senator Charles Sumenr with Sumner’s
cain after he gave his speech “The Crime Against Kansas”.
3. The “Know Nothing” political party gains their support because of their beliefs. Their
primary belief is that they are an anti-immigrant party. Many native born protestants were
upset with the overwhelming amount of immigrants and they were afraid that the
immigrants would take their jobs away from them. They were very popular in the south
because a lot of the Catholic immigrants were present there and Americans did not want
any competition for their jobs.
4. The Whig party collapsed because they became internally divided with the Northern and
Southern Whigs each having offsetting ideas. The Republican party is founded on the
idea of no slavery in the western territories. This attracts members of all parties to join
the Republicans and have all of their support in the North.
5. The Republican party grew rapidly because they immediately stated their belief on the
primary issue of the country being slavery. The Whigs and “Know Nothings” don’t
announce their position on the issues so they lose a lot of their supporters in the North to
the newly emergent Republican party. The Republicans also had a lot of support from
business men and the big industries and factories were primarily in the North which was
also a big part of their emergence.
6. The 1856 election was thought of as two separate elections because with the
emergence of the Republican party the Democrats had a new opponent in the North and
in the South the Democrats had to compete with the “Know Nothing” party. This shows
us that the North and the South’s ideas were divided on the issue of slavery. The
Republicans only had support in the North with their foundation of no slavery in the west
and the “Know Nothings” had their support primarily in the South because of the
immigrants down there.
7. The Dread Scott Case was brought to the Supreme Court because Dread Scott, a slave
claimed he was a free man after his master brought him to the free state of Illinois. It was
ruled that Dread Scott was not a free man even though he was brought to a free state
 because it was ruled that a man can bring his property wherever he wants in the country.
This means that since slaves are considered property they can be brought anywhere in
the country and they will not be considered free. This overturned the Missouri
Compromise because now slavery was practically legal in all of the territories which
contradicted the Missouri Compromise which stated that slavery was outlawed in all
territories above the 36 30 line. This became very controversial in the north because the
ruling basically meant that slavery was now legal in all territories. The northerners are
not happy with this decision because they are opposed to slavery.
8. Chief Justice Taney made his argument on the fact that when writing the Constitution
the founding fathers did not consider slaves people and thought of them as property so
they were not being deprived of anything.
9. Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas each had different views on the issue of slavery.
Lincoln was against slavery while Douglas had some sympathy for slavery. Lincoln
believed that slavery was wrong but he also didn’t advocate for equality in society and in
politics for African Americans. Douglas on the other hand was a prime believer in
popular sovereignty and letting the people decide whether or not there should be slavery.
He also wanted to have even support throughout the North and the South but many of
the Northerners believed that his ideas were self centered and self serving
10. Lincoln’s position on the equality of African Americans was convoluted because he was
against the practice of slavery although he didn’t believe in rights and equality for African
Americans in society. The context of an election helps explain this because Lincoln
wanted to make his voters happy and they were against the equality of African
Americans so Lincoln wanted to be on the same side as his voters and supporters.