Presentation Transcript

1. Chapter 11

   Section 2
2. Effects of Missouri Compromise The newly acquired western land forced the question of whether or not slavery would be allowed in the new territories The Missouri Compromise helped maintain a balance between slave and free states in the Senate and also limited slavery below 36 degree 30’ N latitude This did not limit the number of states that could be created from the newly acquired Texas, New Mexico and California territories- in theory the South could create many states and take a majority in the Senate and even the Electoral College Northerners wanted to keep slavery out of the new territories while they were not states- the south wanted the gov’t to stay out of these matters because they had no right to tell people what to do with their property
3. Effects of Missouri Compromise During the Presidential election of 1848 both parties ( Democrats and Whigs) hoped to get voters from both sides- opposed and supported slavery- so they did not discuss the topic This angered some members who created a new political party called the Free Soil party which opposed slavery in the new territories. This party did not win any states during the election, but did take enough votes away from the Democrats (Cass) to give the Whigs (Taylor) the victory
4. Compromise of 1850 In 1849 the thousands of Americans who went to CA for the Gold Rush requested CA’s admission to the US as a free state- this would shift the delicate balance toward the north In order to help solve the problem, Henry Clay, a KY Senator created the Compromise of 1850 which had two parts for the North and two parts for the South: 1. CA would be admitted as a free state2. NM and UT would decide for themselves if slavery was legal3. No sale of slaves in D.C.4. Slavery was legal in D.C.5. The Fugitive Slave Act would require all citizens of the US to assist in returning all slaves who had escaped their owners
5. Compromise of 1850 Senator John Calhoun of SC opposed the Compromise. He believed the North had gained too much power in the House due to its larger population and was controlling the government Calhoun, like many southerners, liked the theory of states’ rights- where states have the right to nullify acts of the federal gov’t and leave the Union if they wanted to Calhoun and other southerners believed ending slavery interfered with their liberty to own slaves as property and a gov’t that would do that was not a gov’t worth respecting Senator Daniel Webster of MA favored the Compromise on the position that it would help save the union. He thought slavery in NM was not practical and that it was a constitutional right to return fugitive slaves- this upset northern abolitionists but was supported by business owners who wanted to trade with the South Tyler died while in office bringing in Millard Fillmore as President. Fillmore and Stephan Douglas of Illinois pushed through the Compromise. It did nothing besides admitting CA as a free state and infuriated the north as they were apart of slavery now with the Fugitive Slave Act
6. Political Parties The Whig party began to decline after the acceptance of the Compromise of 1850. They were beat by a landslide in the 1852 election and never really heard from again Nativism, or a movement to ensure that native-born Americans received better treatment than immigrants, arose in response to the surge of immigration This idea created a secret society called the Order of the Star-Spangled Banner. The order required complete secrecy- they used passwords, special handshakes and always replied to questions with “I know nothing” They created a political party called the American party which pledged to work against Irish Catholic candidates and for laws requiring immigrants to wait longer before becoming citizens The American party started to be called the Know-Nothings. They did very well in local elections in the northern states- voters who were worried about crime, vice and losing their jobs voted for their candidates
7. Kansas-Nebraska Act Senator Stephan Douglas of Illinois raised the issue of slavery in the territories again due personal interest1. He wanted Chicago to benefit from the development of the West. The sooner KA and NE were states the sooner the railroad could be built across them to link Chicago to the west2. He wanted to run for President- to do that he needed support from southern Democrats- but pushing for statehood was not a positive for them as under the MO Compromise they would be free To make both happy he introduced the Kansas-Nebraska Act which would support the practice of popular sovereignty, or letting the people in the territory vote to decide if slavery would be allowed. The South would be happy because it gave KA and NE a chance to be slave states and northerners happy because they thought slavery would not work in the west due to cotton not growing there This would repeal the MO Compromise Congress passed the act but it did not work as Douglas had planned. Northern Democrats called Douglas a sell out.
8. Creation of the Republican Party During 1854 people throughout the North held meetings to protest the KA-NE Act During a meeting in Michigan they created a new political party- the Republican party- a direct ancestor of the same party today The members of this party were dedicated to stopping the “Slave Power” or the South, fight the extension into new territories and to repeal the KA-NE Act and Fugitive Slave Act They got their support from antislavery Democrats, Whigs, Free Soilers in the North. Farmers, professionals, small business owners and craftworkers were also Republicans