Lesson 15.2a: The Crisis Deepens

Today’s Essential Question: How did the slavery debate lead to acts of violence in the

1850s?

Vocabulary• debate – discussion or argument• fugitive – one who runs away or escapes• popular – of the people• sovereignty – self-rule• popular sovereignty – people ruling

themselves (the majority make the rules)• repeal – to revoke or take back a law

Check for Understanding

• What is today’s Essential Question?• What is a fugitive?• Why do teachers have more

sovereignty than students have?• Do you know of any laws that have

been repealed?

What We Already Know

In the 1840s, thousands of settlers moved onto the plains west of the Mississippi River.

What We Already Know

California’s request for statehood led to Henry Clay’s Compromise of 1850.

What We Already Know

The Compromise of 1850 contained a controversial new fugitive slave law.

The Fugitive Slave Act

• No arrest warrant required• No right to jury trial; federal commissioner

to rule on each case• Commissioner received $5 for releasing

the defendant and $10 for turning him over to a slaveholder

• Fines for those help runaway slaves• Required Northerners to help recapture

runaway slaves

The Fugitive Slave Act• Southerners believed slaves were property

and should be returned.• Northerners realized that, by supporting the

Fugitive Slave Act, they were supporting slavery.

• Should they obey the law and support slavery, or should they break the law and oppose slavery?

Meanwhile, Southern

slave catchersroamed the

North, sometimes

capturing free African

Americans instead of runaway slaves.

Get your whiteboards and markers ready!

What was the Fugitive Slave Act?A. It allowed fugitive slaves to be arrested

without warrants.B. Officials were paid $10 for releasing the

fugitive, but only $5 if he returned the fugitive to slavery.

C. Fugitives had no right to a jury trial.D. It required that Northerners return runaway

slaves to their masters.E. It placed fines on people who helped

runaway slaves escape.

Choose the one that is NOT true!

A. The act had been passed without any input from Northerners.

B. They didn’t believe black fugitives should have a right to a jury trial.

C. If they obeyed or enforced the act, they would be supporting slavery.

D. The act would lead to higher taxes in the North.

10. Why did Northerners resent the Fugitive Slave Act?

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

• Harriet Beecher Stowe was from a family that had helped runaway slaves escape.

• Her brother was a preacher and a leading abolitionist.

• She was outraged by the Fugitive Slave Act.

Uncle Tom’s CabinHer 1852 novel, Uncle

Tom’s Cabin, dramatically portrayed slavery as brutal

and immoral.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin

• The novel includes dramatic scenes, such as the dangerous escape of a slave named Eliza and her baby across the Ohio River.

• Stowe’s book was wildly popular in the North, but criticized by white Southerners as inaccurate.

Get your whiteboards and markers ready!

A. Margaret Chapman HoweB. Harriet Beecher StoweC. Madeline Douglas RowanD. Henrietta Beckham Rowe

Who was the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin?

A. It increased abolitionist feeling in the North by showing the brutality of slavery.

B. It led many western states to prohibit free blacks from settling within their borders.

C. It caused Southerners to become angry over the lies they said it told about slavery.

D. It led to the creation of the Free Soil Party.E. It helped convince Congress to pass the

Fugitive Slave Act.

Choose all that are true!

11. How did Uncle Tom’s Cabin influence national politics?

The Kansas–Nebraska Act• In 1854, Senator

Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois wanted to see a railroad built to link Chicago with California.

• To make this easier, Douglas proposed the organization of two new western territories – Nebraska and Kansas.

Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois

Douglas said the question of slavery in these territories was to be settled by popular sovereignty, a very controversial idea.

• Douglas’ idea of popular sovereignty was contro-versial because it would mean the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, since it would give people living north of 36º30’ a choice regarding slavery in their territory.

• Southerners supported the bill, but it angered opponents of slavery.

The Kansas–Nebraska Act

The Kansas-Nebraska Act and popular sovereignty would soon turn Kansas into a battle-ground over

slavery.

The Three Compromises

Get your whiteboards and markers ready!

What was popular sovereignty?

A. Proposed by Senator Stephen Douglas B. Violated the Compromise of 1850C. Supported most strongly by NorthernersD. Would allow the residents of a state to

decide the slavery questionE. Repealed the Missouri Compromise line

Choose ALL that are true!

What was the Kansas-Nebraska Act?A. Strengthened the Missouri CompromiseB. Introduced to make it easier to build a

railroad to CaliforniaC. Established the territories of Kansas and

NebraskaD. Required Congress to submit future

requests for statehood to the Supreme Court

E. Gave their residents the right to decide whether to allow slavery

Choose ALL that are true!

12. How was the issue of slavery to be decided in Nebraska and Kansas?

A. It would be decided only after their residents had ratified their respective state constitutions.

B. It would be decided by the Supreme Court.

C. It would be decided on the basis of popular sovereignty, with each state's residents voting on it.

D. It would be decided as part of the Compromise of 1863.

13. Why was the Kansas–Nebraska Act controversial?

A. It banned slavery in all lands gained from Mexico.

B. It repealed the Missouri Compromise and replaced it with popular sovereignty.

C. It established the territories of Kansas and Nebraska , which were not yet American possessions.

D. It required Congress to submit future requests for statehood to the Supreme Court.

“Bleeding Kansas”

Proslavery and anti-slavery settlers rushed

into the Kansas Territory to elect the territorial legislature, including

5,000 Missourians (border ruffians).

“Bleeding Kansas”

Antislavery settlers boycotted

the pro-slavery government and

formed a government of

their own, as both groups of settlers

armed themselves.

“Bleeding Kansas”

In an attack that came to be known as the Sack of Lawrence, a proslavery mob burned the anti-slavery

capital at Lawrence, Kansas.

John Brown

Seeking revenge for the sack of Lawrence, an

extreme abolitionist named John Brown and seven other antislavery men murdered five of their

proslavery neighbors as they slept at a cabin near

Pottawatomie Creek.

As news of this attack (known as the Pottawatomie Massacre) spread, civil

war broke out in Kansas.

The violence continued for three years, and the territory came to be called “Bleeding

Kansas.”

Get your whiteboards and markers ready!

A. Native Americans and white settlers battled on the wind-swept plains.

B. Pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces were fighting for political control of the territory.

C. White settlers and free black settlers competed for possession of the best farmland.

D. Supporters of the Dred Scott decision clashed with supporters of popular sovereignty.

Why did violence break out in Kansas in 1855?

15. Why did John Brown murder five proslavery people in Kansas?

A. He was angry about the Fugitive Slave Act being declared unconstitutional.

B. Pro-slavery men had led an assault against the federal arsenal at Topeka.

C. It was revenge for the proslavery attack on Lawrence, Kansas.

D. He was angry because Congress turned down Kansas' application for statehood.

Violence in Congress• In late May, 1856, Massa-

chusetts Senator Charles Sumner gave a rousing speech before the Senate.

• In very insulting terms, he attacked the pro-slavery forces in Kansas, the institution of slavery in general, and pro-slavery Senators such as Andrew Butler of South Carolina in particular.

Violence in Congress

• Nearby, in the House of Representatives, South Carolina Congressman Preston Brooks got wind of Sumner’s speech.

• Senator Butler was related to Congressman Brooks, who angrily decided he must defend the honor of his family and of the South.

Congressman Brooks charged into the Senate chamber and viciously beat Sumner

unconscious with a cane.

Many Southerners cheered Brooks’ defense of the South,

but most Northerners were shocked at such violence in

the Senate.

“Bleeding Kansas” and “Bleeding Sumner” became rallying cries for antislavery

Northerners, as well as for a new political party that was beginning to emerge.

Get your whiteboards and markers ready!

A. Brooks objected to Sumner's position on popular sovereignty.

B. Sumner made insulting remarks against proslavery forces and Brooks' relative.

C. of the inaccurate portrayal of slavery in Sumner's novel, "Uncle Tom's Cabin.“

D. Sumner had criticized Brooks for supporting John Brown.

16. Why did Preston Brooks attack Charles Sumner in the Senate?