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Trouble in Kansas SECTION 2 DO NOT EDIT--Changes must be made through “File info” CorrectionKey=TX-A Trouble in Kansas SECTION 2 If YOU were there... TEKS 7C, 7D, 8B, 10A, 24A You live on a New England farm in 1855. You often think about moving West. But the last few harvests have been bad, and you What You Will Learn… can’t afford it. Now the Emigrant Aid Society offers to help you get Main Ideas to Kansas. To bring in antislavery voters like you, they’ll give you a 1. The debate over the expan- wagon, livestock, and farm machines. Still, you know that Kansas sion of slavery influenced the election of 1852. might be dangerous. 2. The Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed voters to allow or Would you decide to risk settling in Kansas? prohibit slavery. 3. Pro-slavery and antislavery groups clashed violently in what became known as “Bleeding Kansas.” BUILDING BACKGROUND The argument over the extension of slavery grew stronger and more bitter. It dominated American politics The Big Idea in the mid-1800s. Laws that tried to find compromises ended by caus- The Kansas-Nebraska Act ing more violence. The bloodiest battleground of this period was in heightened tensions in the Kansas. conflict over slavery. Key Terms and People Election of 1852 Franklin Pierce, p. 483 Four leading candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination Stephen Douglas, p. 484 emerged in 1852. It became clear that none of them would win a Kansas-Nebraska Act, p. 485 Pottawatomie Massacre, p. 487 majority of votes. Frustrated delegates at the Democratic National Charles Sumner, p. 487 Convention turned to Franklin Pierce, a little-known politician Preston Brooks, p. 487 from New Hampshire. Pierce promised to honor the Compromise This political cartoon shows pro- Use the graphic organizer online to slavery politicians take notes on Stephen Douglas’s forcing slavery on plan for a railroad to the Pacific a settler in Kansas Ocean, southern congressmem- who is a member of bers’ views of his plan, and the the antislavery Free- Soil political party. resulting Kansas-Nebraska Act. A DIVIDED NATION 483 DO NOT EDIT--Changes must be made through “File info” CorrectionKey=TX-A From Compromise to Conflict MINNESOTAMINNESOTA OREGONOREGON UNORGANIZEDUNORGANIZED TERRITORY MICHIGAN TERRITORY UNORGANIZED TERRITORYTERRITORY TERRITORYTERRITORY TERRITORYMICHIGAN TERRITORYUNORGANIZED TERRITORY TERRITORY Missouri Missouri UTAH Missouri CompromiseMissouri UTAH CompromiseCompromise line (36°30'N) TERRITORYTERRITORY CompromiseMO. line (36line°30'N) (36°30'N) line (36°30'N) MO. ARKANSAS NEW MEXICONEW MEXICO INDIANINDIAN TERRITORYARKANSAS TERRITORYTERRITORY TERR. TERR. TERRITORY Disputed The Missouri Compromise, 1820 Free state The Compromise of 1850 Under the Missouri Compromise of 1820, Free territory The Compromise of 1850 allowed there are an equal number of free states Slave state for one more free state than slave (orange) and slave states (green). Slave territory state, but also passed a strict fugi- Popular sovereignty tive slave law. Fuse & Explosion ah06se-c14mcb007a Middle School – American History HRW F1 Proof – 10/29/04 Approved 12/01/04 of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Act. There- The Kansas-Nebraska Act fore, southerners trusted Pierce on the issue In his inaugural address, President Pierce of slavery. expressed his hope that the slavery issue had The opposing Whigs also held their con- been put to rest “and that no sectional . vention in 1852. In other presidential elec- excitement may again threaten the durabil- tions, they had nominated well-known for- MissouriCompromiseCompromise Compromise of 1850 of 1850 Missouri Compromise ity [stability] of our institutions.”ah06se-c14map007bah06se-c14map007cah06se-c14map007c LessKansas-Nebraska than Act 1854 mer generals such as William Henry Harrison ah06se-c14map007b a year later, however,MiddleMiddleMiddle School aSchool proposal School – American – American – toAmerican build History History ah06se-c14leg007da History Middle SchoolMiddle – American School History– American History and Zachary Taylor. This had been a good MapQuest.com/HRWMapQuest.com/HRWMapQuest.com/HRW railroad to the West coast helpedMapQuest.com/HRW revive theMapQuest.com/HRW strategy, as both men had won. The Whigs 5th5th proof proof3rd - Proof11/22/04 - 11/05/04 – 9/15/04 slavery controversy and openedApproved Approveda3rd new Proof 12/01/04 period 12/01/04 – 9/15/043rd Proof – 9/15/04 decided to choose another war hero. They Approved 12/01/04 of sectional conflict. passed over the current president, Millard Fillmore, because they believed that his strict Douglas and the Railroad enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act would Ever since entering Congress in the mid- cost votes. Instead, they chose Winfield Scott, 1840s, Stephen Douglas had supported a Mexican War hero. Southerners did not trust the idea of building a railroad to the Pacific Scott, however, because he had not fully sup- Ocean. Douglas favored a line running from ported the Compromise of 1850. Chicago. The first step toward building such a Pierce won the election of 1852 by a large railroad would be organizing what remained margin. Many Whigs viewed the election as of the Louisiana Purchase into a federal ter- a painful defeat, not just for their candidate, ritory. The Missouri Compromise required but for their party. that this land be free territory and eventually free states. READING CHECK Drawing Conclusions Southerners in Congress did not support What issues determined the outcome of the Douglas’s plan, recommending a southern presidential election of 1852? route for the railroad. Their preferred line 484 CHAPTER 15 DO NOT EDIT--Changes must be made through “File info” CorrectionKey=TX-A WASH. TERR. NEBRASKA TERRITORY MINNESOTA WASH. TERRITORY TERR. OREGONNEBRASKA TERRITORYTERRITORY MINNESOTA TERRITORY OREGON TERRITORY UTAH KANSAS TERRITORY TERRITORY UTAH KANSAS TERRITORY TERRITORY INDIAN NEW MEXICO TERR. TERRITORY INDIAN Free state NEW MEXICO TERR.Disputed TERRITORY Free territory Slave state Slave territory Popular sovereignty The Kansas-Nebraska Act As a result of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the GEOGRAPHY question of slavery is to be decided by popular SKILLS INTERPRETING MAPS sovereignty—by the people who vote in the elections 1. Region In what part of the United States there—in the newly organized territories of Kansas and were the slave states located?Fuse & Explosion Nebraska. The act sparked violent conflict between 2. Place What free state wasah06se-c14mcb007a added with the pro-slavery and antislavery groups. CompromiseMiddle of 1850? School – American History HRW F1 Proof – 10/29/04 Approved 12/01/04 ran from New Orleans, across Texas and New Even so, with strong southern support— Mexico Territory, to southern California. and with Douglas and President Pierce pres- Determined to have the railroad start in Chi- suring their fellow Democrats to vote for it— Kansas-Nebraska Act 1854 cago, Douglas asked a few key southern sena- the measure passed both houses of Congress ah06se-c14leg007d tors to support his plan. They agreed to do and was signed into law on May 30, 1854. Middle School – American History so if the new territory west of Missouri was Lost amid all the controversy over the ter- MapQuest.com/HRW 3rd Proof – 9/15/04 opened to slavery. ritorial bill was Douglas’s proposed railroad Approved 12/01/04 to the Pacific Ocean. CongressKansas-Nebraska would not Act 1854 ah06se-c14map007d Two New Territories approve the constructionMiddleKansas-Nebraska of School such –a Americanrailroad Act 1854 History In January 1854, Douglas introduced what until 1862. ah06se-c14map007dMapQuest.com/HRW became the Kansas-Nebraska Act, a plan Middle School – American4th proof History - 10/27/04 MapQuest.com/HRWApproved 12/01/04 that would divide the remainder of the Loui- Kansas Divided 3rd Proof – 9/15/04 siana Purchase into two territories—Kansas Antislavery and pro-slavery groups rushed and Nebraska—and allow the people in each their supporters to Kansas. One of the people territory to decide on the question of slavery. who spoke out strongly against slavery in Kan- The act would eliminate the Missouri Com- sas was Senator Seward. promise’s restriction on slavery north of the 36º 30' line. “Gentlemen of the Slave States . I accept [your challenge] in . the cause of freedom. We will Antislavery northerners were outraged engage in competition for . Kansas, and God by the implications. Some believed the pro- give the victory to the side which is stronger in ACADEMIC OCABULARY posal was part of a terrible plot to turn free numbers as it is in right. V ” implications territory into a “dreary region . inhabited —William Henry Seward, quoted in things that are by masters and slaves.” All across the North, The Impending Crisis, 1848–1861 by David M. Potter inferred or citizens attended protest meetings and sent Elections for the Kansas territorial legisla- deduced anti-Nebraska petitions to Congress. ture were held in March 1855. Almost 5,000 A DIVIDED NATION 485 DO NOT EDIT--Changes must be made through “File info” CorrectionKey=TX-A pro-slavery voters crossed the border from In April 1856, a congressional commit- Missouri, voted in Kansas, and then returned tee arrived in Kansas to decide which govern- home. As a result, the new legislature had a ment was legitimate. Although committee huge pro-slavery majority. The members of members declared the election of the pro- the legislature passed strict laws that made slavery legislature to be unfair, the federal it a crime to question slaveholders’ rights government did not agree. and said that those who helped fugitive slaves could be put to death. In protest, anti- Attack on Lawrence slavery Kansans formed their own legislature The new pro-slavery settlers owned guns, 25 miles away in Topeka. President Pierce, and antislavery settlers received weapons however, only recognized the pro-slavery shipments from friends in the East. Then, legislature. violence broke out. In May 1856 a pro- slavery grand jury in Kansas charged leaders READING CHECK Analyzing Why did of the antislavery government with treason.
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