Ch.15, Sec.1 – Growing Tensions Between North & South

North and South Take Different Paths

- the Northern economy was based on manufacturing & industry, whereas the Southern economy was based on plantation farming using slave labor

- most Southern whites did not own slaves, but they still supported slavery because it kept them off the bottom of society

Ch.15, Sec.1 – Growing Tensions Between North & South

Antislavery and Racism

- Northern abolitionists believed slavery was unjust and also could eliminate their jobs and hurt them economically

- most Northern whites were racists by modern standards: whites did not want to live, work, or go to school with blacks

- in most states, even free African Americans could not vote!

Ch.15, Sec.1 – Growing Tensions Between North & South

- slaveholders were absolutely determined to defend slavery and their way of life at all costs!

Ch.15, Sec.1 – Growing Tensions Between North & South

The Wilmot Proviso

- slavery issues came back into public life after we gained land from Mexico in 1846

- most northerners believed the South wanted to extend slavery into these new lands

- however, Pennsylvania Representative, David Wilmot proposed the Wilmot Proviso which outlawed slavery in these territories

David Wilmot- even though the law was not passed, it divided Congress & created new political parties

Ch.15, Sec.1 – Growing Tensions Between North & South

- the Wilmot Proviso helped to create the Free-Soil Party, a political party dedicated to stopping the expansion of slavery

- politicians could no longer ignore slavery

Ch.15, Sec.1 – Growing Tensions Between North & South

Controversy over Territories

- after the Gold Rush, California had enough residents to apply for statehood and became a free state in 1850

- with California admitted into the Union as a free state, the slave states would become the minority in Congress

- Jefferson Davis, a senator from Missouri, warned this would destroy the balance of power in Congress

Jefferson Davis

Ch.15, Sec.1 – Growing Tensions Between North & South

The Compromise of 1850

- California could not gain statehood without the approval of Congress, but Congress was divided over the issue

- behind the scenes, statesmen led by Kentucky Senator Henry Clay (who helped to create the Missouri Compromise) came up with a plan to settle the California problem:

Henry Clay

Ch.15, Sec.1 – Growing Tensions Between North & South

1. To please the North, California would be admitted as a free state, and the slave trade would be abolished in Washington D.C.

2. To please the South, Congress would not pass laws regarding slavery for the rest of the territories won from Mexico, and Congress would pass a stronger law to help slaveholders recapture runaway slaves.

Ch.15, Sec.1 – Growing Tensions Between North & South

- many felt they gave up too much in this plan, but they also wanted to preserve the Union

- the job of winning passage of the plan fell to Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois

- by the end of September, Douglas succeeded and the plan, now known as the Compromise of 1850, became law

- the compromise would not bring peace & sectional tensions amongst Americans would continue! Stephen A. Douglas