Politics and SlaveryI. The Missouri Compromise 1. Missouri ready for statehood a. Balance of states disrupted -12 slave - 11 free 2. Solution: a. Missouri = Slave State b. Maine = Free State c. Defined Louisiana Territory

www.sonofthesouth.net/slavery/missouri-compro...

II. Election of 18481. Main Question: a. Mexican Cession Region -slave or free soil?2. 2 existing parties avoided “Slave Issue” 3. “Free Soil” Party formed -“No slavery in new states…”

4. Northern Whig Party formed -Zachary Taylor -Mexican War hero -southern slave owner

III. The Compromise of 1850

1. America expanded to the Pacific2. Problem: a. New territories slave or free?

www.sonofthesouth.net/.../westward-expansion.htm

III. The Compromise of 1850 Continued…

3. Henry Clay’s Solution a. California = free state b. Fugitive Slave Law -”arrest any black suspected

of being a runaway…”

c. Divided Mexican Cession into 2 Territories -New Mexico (South)

-Utah (North)

d. Popular Sovereignty -People of new states vote

on slave / free status

IV. The Great Debate a. Calhoun, Clay & Webster

-Why allow the people to decide?

-Congress avoided the issue near election time

-“democratic” method -decision based on need -some regions can use slaves -others don’t need slaves

V. Uncle Tom’s Cabin a. Harriet Beecher Stowe -“Little lady who started the big war…”

b. Fictional story -brutal evils of slavery… c. Increased abolition d. Angered many Southerners

www.senate.gov/.../Painting_32_00007.htm

Questions

1. How did Congress try to settle the question of slavery in the new western territories?

2. Why did many northerners refuse to abide by the Fugitive Slave Law?

3. How did Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Novel contribute to the hostility between the North and South?