Transcript Westward Expansion and the Issue of Slavery

Westward Expansion and the
Issue of Slavery
Georgia Standards
 SSUSH8 The student will explain the relationship between growing northsouth divisions and westward expansion.
 a. Explain how slavery became a significant issue in American politics; include
the slave rebellion of Nat Turner and the rise of abolitionism (William Lloyd
Garrison, Frederick Douglas, and the Grimke sisters).
 b. Explain the Missouri Compromise and the issue of slavery in western states
and territories.
 d. Describe the war with Mexico and the Wilmot Proviso.
 e. Explain how the Compromise of 1850 arose out of territorial expansion and
population growth.
 SSUSH9 The student will identify key events, issues, and individuals relating to
the causes, course, and consequences of the Civil War.
 a. Explain the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the failure of popular sovereignty, Dred
Scott case, and John Brown’s Raid.
Essential Question
 As America fulfills Manifest
Destiny and expands from the
Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific
Ocean, will the newly acquired
land be slave or free?
The Missouri Compromise (1820)
The Road to the Missouri Compromise
 Northwest territories land acquired from the
British after their
defeat in the American
Revolutionary War.
 Northwest Ordinance
of 1787 strictly
forbade slavery in
these territories.
The Road to the Missouri Compromise
 Louisiana Purchase (1803) – vast amount of land purchased from
France; doubled the size of the United States
 The question after acquisition of this land: Will it be free or slave?
The Missouri Compromise of 1820
 To keep the balance of slave state and free states in
Congress, Kentucky Senator Henry Clay proposed the
Missouri Compromise.
 The Compromise included the following terms:
 1. Maine entered as free state, carved out of Massachusetts
 2. Missouri entered as slave state
 3. Slavery outlawed in Louisiana Purchase north of the 36/30
line of latitude
FREE
SLAVE
War with Mexico (1846-1848)
Onto War…With Mexico
 The addition of Texas to the Union was a big issue
during the 1830s-40s.
 American immigration into the Mexican state of
Texas exploded in the 1820s shortly after Mexican
independence from Spain.
 Soon, Texas (with its American-born majority) would
lead a revolt against the Mexican government.
 In retaliation Mexico invaded Texas in 1836;
defeated Texan forces at the Battle of the Alamo.
 “Remember the Alamo” became a rallying cry
around the US, inspiring many to move to Texas to
join the fight against Mexico
 The Texas Revolution proved successful and
eventually led to the independence of Texas
 However after 9 years as an independent nation,
Texas would enter the Union as a slave state in
1845.
Map of the United States (1846)
The War with Mexico (1846-1848)
 President James K. Polk (right) wanted to
expand the United States to the Pacific Ocean
fulfilling “Manifest Destiny”.
 Planned to buy California from Mexico but
Mexico would not accept the offer.
 Mexico still staked claim over the now US
state of Texas.
 Mexico also maintained a border dispute
between the Rio Grande and the Nueces
River with the US.
 Polk sent General Zachary Taylor and his
forces into the disputed territories.
 Viewing the US army occupation of the region
as a threat, Mexico mobilized its army.
 What resulted was the Mexican-American
War.
Territorial Gains of US After Mexican War
• Treaty of GuadalupeHidalgo officially
ended Mexican War in
1848
• US gained California
and much of the
Southwest and Rocky
Mountains (red)
The War’s Aftermath: The Wilmot Proviso
 David Wilmot, Representative
from PA
 Introduced amendment to
peace agreement with Mexico
to forbid slavery in newly
acquired territory
 Did not pass Senate, never
became law
 In some sense, the Mexican
War was the opening shots of
the Civil War
Provided, That, as an express and fundamental condition
to the acquisition of any territory from the Republic of
Mexico by the United States, by virtue of any treaty
which may be negotiated between them, and to the use
by the Executive of the moneys herein appropriated,
neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist
in any part of said territory, except for crime, whereof
the party shall first be duly convicted.
- Wilmot Proviso, 1846
Territorial Expansion and
Population Growth (1850-1860)
Gold Discovered in California
 Discovery of gold in
CA leads many West
in search of riches
 Residents petitioned
Congress to grant
statehood in 1849
 CA’s proposed
constitution forbade
slavery
The Slavery Issue in Newly Acquired Territory
 Free states were beginning to outnumber slave
states.
 Southerners were afraid that slavery would be
abolished.
 Territorial expansion and population growth
were inadvertently tearing the nation apart
 In order to appease the two sides, Henry Clay
(who 30 years prior introduced the Missouri
Compromise) proposed the Compromise of
1850.
Henry Clay
The Compromise of 1850
 California would be
admitted as free
 Utah and New
Mexico Territories
open to popular vote
on slavery
 Slave trade abolished
in D.C.
 Enforcement of
Fugitive Slave Law
I have heard something said about allegiance to the South. I know no
South, no North, no East, no West, to which I owe any allegiance.
- Henry Clay “Speech in the Senate”, 1848
“Bleeding Kansas”
Popular Sovereignty:
*States should decide for themselves whether they
wanted to be free or they wanted to hold slaves.
Kansas-Nebraska Act
 Proposed in 1854 by Stephen A.
Douglas (right)
 Said that Nebraska and Kansas
would enter the Union with the
principles of popular sovereignty
 Act nullified the Missouri
Compromise by allowing slavery in
the “forever free” territories of the
LA Purchase
“Bleeding Kansas” (1854-1859)
 Settlers from North and South
flocked to Kansas; each side
wanting to outnumber the other
 Proslavery forces had set up a
state capital in Lecompton
 Anti-slavery forces set up a state
capital in Topeka
 Violence erupted over the vote of
allowing or banning slavery in the
new Kansas Constitution.
 Popular sovereignty was clearly
not working.
1856 Democratic
Presidential
nominee James
Buchanan
Stephen A.
Douglas
Democratic
President
Franklin Pierce
Preston Brooks
Charles Sumner
In 1856, Northern Senator Charles Sumner gives his “The Crimes Against Kansas
Speech”. In response to Sumner’s insults directed at his Senator uncle, South Carolinian
representative Preston Brooks attacked and nearly killed Sumner on the Senate floor.
Violence over slavery had made its way into the halls of Congress.
Ohio native and radical abolitionist, John Brown, moves his family to Kansas to
fight against proslavery factions. He and his sons will murder for his cause.
Fumbling Towards War (1857-1859)
The Dred Scott Decision (1857)
 Dred Scott, a slave, sued for his freedom after
being taken by his master to a free state
 The case went all the way to the Supreme Court
 In 1857, the Court ruled against Scott, claiming
that slaves were property and could be taken
anywhere.
 Supreme Court also ruled the MO Compromise of
1820 unconstitutional saying that slavery could
not be prohibited in federal territories.
 South rejoiced, North was appalled.
John Brown’s Raid
 1859 – John Brown of Kansas (right)
decides to help start a slave uprising to
end slavery once and for all.
 Planned to seize weapons at an armory
in Harper’s Ferry, VA and give weapons
to slaves.
 His plan failed. He was captured and
executed.
 North saw him as a martyr; South saw
him as a terrorist.
 Event pushed the divided nation even
further apart.
 Civil war was just around the corner…
“I am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land can never be purged away
but with blood.”
- John Brown, December 2, 1859
The Election of 1860
Election of 1860
South Carolina Secedes
 Upon hearing of the
news of Lincoln’s
election, South
Carolina secedes from
the Union.
 10 other states would
follow and secede.
 These states would
make up the new
Confederate States of
America.