THE UNION IN PERIL: CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR CHAPTER 10 Section 1 The Divisive Politics of Slavery What was the controversy in the territories about? Why

THE UNION IN PERIL:CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR

CHAPTER 10Section 1

The Divisive Politics of Slavery

What was the controversy in the territories about?

Why was the Compromise of 1850 adopted?

The South in the mid-1800’s is increasingly…

• Single Crop Plantation Economy (Cotton)

• Rural• Segregated

– black v. white– rich planters v. poor

whites• Fearful of Northern

interference & slave revolts

The North in the mid-1800’s is increasingly…• Industrial economy • Urban• Socially and

Culturally Diverse – Immigration from

Europe• More and more

abolitionists• More opposition to

spread of slavery

Map: Population Distribution, 1790 and 1850

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Map: U.S. Manufacturing Employment, 1820 and 1850

Map: Major American Cities in 1830 and 1860


Map: Cotton Production in the South


Slavery in Territories • Should territories and new

states have slavery– Missouri Compromise

• Wilmot Proviso – Closed to slavery

• California, Utah, and New Mexico

– Against southern constitutional rights

• Congress had no right to control the territories

• Passed by the House, rejected by the Senate – Twice

Debate over Slavery in the territories leads to… SECTIONALISM!!! (AGAIN!!!)

Wilmot Proviso = an amendment passed in 1846, stating that “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist” in the territory seized from Mexico during the war.

WHY? More slave states would upset the balance of power established in the Missouri Compromise.

PROBLEM: Gold Rush means that California is ready to become a state, due to population boom. California petitions to be a FREE state, despite being below the 36º30’ Missouri Compromise Line

The Senate Debates - 1849• Pres. Zachary Taylor backs California’s admission as a free

state and he backs the idea of popular sovereignty = the people of each territory should vote whether to be free or slave.

• Some Southern states, fearing a shift in the balance between N and S, threaten secession = formally withdrawing from the Union.

• Senators Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and John Calhoun work out the Compromise of 1850, and save the Union from splitting into sections.

Map: Westward Expansion, 1800-1860


Statehood for California • Gold Rush

– Population explosion • Skipped requirements to

become a territory

• State Constitution – Outlawed slavery– Outrage of Southerners

• Location of California

• How should California enter the union?– Free or slave– Balance of power

Compromise of 1850

CONCESSIONS TO NORTH

• California admitted as free

• New Mexico to receive disputed land with Texas

• Slave trade, but not slavery, abolished in D.C.

CONCESSIONS TO SOUTH

• New Mexico and Utah Territories to be determined by popular sovereignty

• Texas paid $10 million as compensation for New Mexico

• Stronger Fugitive Slave Act

Map: The Compromise of 1850


16FREE

VS.

16SLAVE

COMPARE AND CONTRASTTHE MISSOURI COMPROMISE & THE COMPROMISE OF 1850

Compromise of 1850: The PlayersNAME:• Calhoun• Taylor• Clay• Douglas• Webster• Fillmore

ROLE:= Opposed= Opposed= Architect, Supporter= Advocate, Supporter= Supporter= Conciliator

Calhoun and Webster famously debate the Compromise. Calhoun rejects it, Webster argues for it.

COMPROMISE OF 1850Calhoun and Webster debate the Compromise. Calhoun rejects it,

Webster argues for it.

• Calhoun= advocate of state’s rights. Slaveholders have no need to get permission to take their property into the new territories.

• Webster= the Union must be preserved, even if some Southerners and some abolitionists remain unsatisfied.

Senate FAILS to adopt the compromise. Clay retires. Stephen A. Douglass (Illinois) renews efforts to pass the Compromise in sections, which works. Calhoun’s death helps the bill to pass, also.

Taylor dies, and Millard Fillmore becomes President. Fillmore supports compromise and signs the bill into law.

Time line of Slavery• 1787

• 1820

• 1845

• 1848

• 1849

• 1850

3/5ths Compromise

Missouri Compromise. Slavery in the Territories, balance of power

Texas is admitted as a Slave state

End of the war with Mexico, new territories gained, slave or free.

California applies for statehood, state constitution prohibits slavery

Compromise of 1850

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THE UNION IN PERIL: CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR CHAPTER 10 Section 1 The Divisive Politics of Slavery What was the controversy in the territories about? Why