Transcript Uncle Tom`s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

THE UNION IN PERIL:
CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR
CHAPTER 15
Section 2
The Crisis Deepens
Why were the Fugitive Slave Act and the KansasNebraska Act factors that led to war?
How was the debate over slavery leading to violence?
1. Of all of the components of the Compromise of
1850, Northerners most vigorously objected to
_______ Slave Act.
2. The Compromise of 1850 allowed ________ to
enter the Union as a free state.
3. Uncle Tom’s Cabin was written by
____________.
4. The Kansas-Nebraska Act proposed to determine
whether the territories would be free or slave by
using p________ s__________.
5. Who is famous for murdering 5 pro-slavery
settlers in Bleeding Kansas?
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin was historic for a number of reasons. Not only did it help
to fire up northern antislavery sentiments, but it also was the first American novel that featured African
American characters in prominent roles. It was issued in various editions with many different covers, but
most of them featured the lead character, Uncle Tom--another first in American publishing. This particular
cover, from an early "Young Folks' Edition" of the book, depicts the stooped old man with his young,
sympathetic white mistress. (Collection of Picture Research Consultants and Archives)
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
• Published in 1852
• Author: Harriet Beecher Stowe, daughter of
Rev. Beecher, abolitionist
• Reaction to Fugitive Slave Act
• Immensely popular in North, shapes
attitudes toward slavery
• Influential in France and England
• Immense political impact in US and abroad
Theatre poster: Uncle Tom's Cabin
Theatre poster: Uncle Tom's Cabin
With its vivid word pictures of slavery, Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin translated
well to the stage. Stowe herself was among the many who wrote dramatizations of the novel.
Scenes of Eliza crossing the ice of the Ohio River with bloodhounds in pursuit and the evil
Simon Legree whipping Uncle Tom outraged northern audiences and turned many against
slavery. Southerners damned Mrs. Stowe as a "vile wretch in petticoats." ( Smithsonian
Institution, Washington, D.C.)
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Impact of the
Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
1. Energized Northern Abolitionists
2. Persuaded moderate Northerners to become more
supportive of abolition (read bottom p. 288)
3. North responds by passing laws forbidding
imprisonment of runaway slaves
4. These laws angered the South, who felt that North
was not keeping its part of the bargain in the
Compromise of 1850
5. Increased sectionalism in the country & eroded
support for federal govt. in both N and S.
Kansas-Nebraska Act -1854
• Stephen Douglas pushes for popular sovereignty to
determine the status of the Kansas Territory and
splitting into two: Kansas and Nebraska.
• Kansas-Nebraska Act passed in 1854. It nullifies
(ends) the Missouri Compromise b/c land is north of
36º30’ line.
• Implied that Kansas to be Slave and Nebraska Free
• Both pro-slavery & anti-slavery settlers rush to Kansas
• Bloody conflict results
Map: The Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Why were the Fugitive Slave Act
and the Kansas-Nebraska Act
factors that led to conflict?
http://archives.nbclearn.com/portal/site/k-12/collectionnavigator?cuecard=518
Bleeding Kansas
• 1855: 1st Election in Kansas Territory
• Missourians (Slaveholders) cross border illegally & win
election, then pass Lecompton Constitution (proslavery)
• Free-soilers elect their own state govt. & own
constitution.
• 1856 Free-soiler settlement at Lawrence, KS attacked
by pro-slavery militia of over 800 men. Town is sacked.
• John Brown retaliates at Pottawatomie Creek, murders
5, leads to deaths of over 200.
• Civil strife continues in Kansas until end of Civil War
SUMMARY: The artist lays on the Democrats the major blame for violence perpetrated against antislavery settlers in
Kansas in the wake of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Here a bearded "freesoiler" has been bound to the "Democratic Platform"
and is restrained by two Lilliputian figures, presidential nominee James Buchanan and Democratic senator Lewis Cass.
Democratic senator Stephen A. Douglas and president Franklin Pierce, also shown as tiny figures, force a black man into
the giant's gaping mouth. The freesoiler's head rests on a platform marked "Kansas," "Cuba," and "Central America,"
probably referring to Democratic ambitions for the extension of slavery. In the background left is a scene of burning and
pillage; on the right a dead man hangs from a tree. CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1856. NOTES: [Drawn by John L. Magee]
http://archives.nbclearn.com/portal/site/k-12/collectionnavigator?cuecard=521
Armed antislavery men with John Doy
Armed antislavery men with John Doy
Though no one would deny that their cause was noble, many of the men who flocked to Kansas to
resist the expansion of slavery were no less violent than their proslavery adversaries. This
photograph, taken in 1859, shows a gang of armed antislavery men who had just broken an
accomplice (John Doy, seated) out of jail in neighboring St. Joseph, Missouri. Like proslavery
"Border Ruffians," many of these men also served in guerrilla bands during the Civil War and some
went on to careers as famous outlaws after the war was over. (Kansas State Historical Society)
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.