CH. 14.

2:
COMPROMISES FAIL
p. 486

CH.14.2 QUESTIONS:

1. Which President signed the Compromise of 1850

into law?
2. How did the Compromise appease the South?
3. How did the Compromise appease the North?
4. What was the most controversial part of the
Compromise of 1850?
5. Who wrote Uncle Toms Cabin?
6. What was the Kansas-Nebraska Act?
7. What large group of people voted illegally in Kansas?
8. What was Kansas nicknamed?
9. Who was attacked on the Senate floor?
10. Who beat him?

THE COMPROMISE OF 1850

In September 1850, Congress passed a bill based on Henry Clays

ideas

This became known as the Compromise of 1850

President Taylor had opposed the bill and any compromise

However, he died while in office

Became

suddenly ill with stomach pains on July 4 th

Died on July 9th and some people think he might have been poisoned

Millard Fillmore, his replacement, did support the bill and signed
it into law

COMPROMISE OF 1850

The purpose of the compromise was to end the issues of the

nation by giving both people in the North and South things that
they wanted
To Please the North

To Please South

California was admitted to the

Union as a free state

Popular sovereignty would be used

to decide the question of slavery
for the rest of the land received
from the Mexican-American War
People in those territories would
vote to be a slave or free state

The slave trade was banned in

Washington D.C.

A new fugitive slave law was

created: Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT OF 1850

Let special government officials

arrest anyone accused of being a
runaway slave

Those accused didnt have the

right to a trial

All a white witness had to do was

swear that the suspect was a
slaveholder's property

Northerners were required to help

capture runways slaves if official
asked for help

OUTRAGE IN THE NORTH

The Fugitive Slave Act was the most

controversial part of the Compromise of
1850
Many

northerners said they would ignore the

fugitive laws

People

in the North sometimes threatened

to harm slave catchers or helped protect
runways

Many
The

African Americans fled to Canada

law made more northerners think that

slavery was evil

UNCLE TOMS CABIN

Was written by
northerner Harriet
Beecher Stowe
She

was the
daughter of an
abolitionist
minister
had met many
people that had
escaped from
slavery

Uncle Toms Cabin was published

in 1852
It

was about a slave called Uncle

Tom who was abused by Simon
Legree

The

book was a bestseller in the

North

It

opened many peoples eyes to the

horrors of slavery and that it was a
moral issue

She

Southerners

were outraged by the

book

Believed that the book was propaganda

and gave false information about slavery
and the lives of African Americans

THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT

Moved the nation closer to war

Passed in 1854

The Act was proposed by Stephen Douglas

He

wanted to develop the lands west of Illinois

Wanted the creation of two new territories: Kansas
and Nebraska
To gain Southern support, the issue of slavery in the
those territories would be decided by popular
sovereignty

KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT (CONT.)

The South was in favor

of the act
Thought

slave owners
from Missouri would
move into the state to
ensure that Kansas and
Nebraska would become
slave slaves

The North hated the

act
Believed

that Douglas
had betrayed them by
reopening the issue of
slavery in the territories

BLEEDING KANSAS

Proslavery and antislavery settlers flooded into Kansas

after the Kansas-Nebraska Act become law

Each side wanted to make sure that they would win

the vote as to whether slavery would be allowed or not

Also, in 1855, proslavery supporters from Missouri

moved into Kansas to illegally vote in the election
Although

Kansas only had 3,000 voters, 8,000 votes were

cast on election day
Only 3 out of 39 legislators elected didnt support slavery
Anti-slavery supporters refused to accept the results and
held a second election

GROWING

Kansas now had two governments and tensions increased

In April 1855, a proslavery sheriff was shot in the town of

Lawrence
He

returned the following month with 800 men to attack the town

Three days later, John Brown and seven men attacked and
murdered five supporters of slavery near Pottawatomie
Creek

These situations led to widespread violence in Kansas

The attacks became so bad that the territory earned the

name Bleeding Kansas

BLOODSHED IN THE SENATE

Charles Sumner gave a passionate speech against

slavery and denounced the proslavery
government in Kansas

He attacked his enemies and singled out Andrew

Butler who was a Senator for South Carolina

A few days later Butler's nephew, Congressman

Preston Brooks attacked Sumner on the Senate
floor
He

beat Sumner with a cane until he was bloody and

unconscious
His injuries kept him from attending Senate meetings
for the next few years
Brooks resigned from office, but was reelected later
that year