Lesson 1: Conflicts and Compromises

Question 1

Civil War Definition

Answer 1

a war between people of the same country

Question 2

Compromise of 1850 Definition

Answer 2

an agreement over slavery by which California joined the Union as a free state and a strict fugitive slave law was passed

Question 3

Daniel Webster Definition

Answer 3

a leading member of the House of Representatives for New Hampshire under Presidents Madison and Monroe who spoke for the interests of the North, and who later served as a representative and U.S. senator from Massachusetts and as U.S. Secretary of State

Question 4

Free-Soil Party Definition

Answer 4

the bipartisan antislavery party founded in the United States in 1848 to keep slavery out of the western territories

Question 5

Fugitive Definition

Answer 5

a runaway

Question 6

Fugitive Slave Act Definition

Answer 6

a law passed in 1850 that required all citizens to aid in the capture of runaway slaves

Question 7

John C. Calhoun Definition

Answer 7

(1782–1850) a leading member of the House of Representatives for South Carolina under Presidents Madison and Monroe. He spoke for the interests of the South, and who later served as vice president and U.S. senator

Question 8

Missouri Compromise Definition

Answer 8

an agreement, proposed in 1819 by Henry Clay, to keep the number of slave and free states equal

Question 9

Popular Sovereignty Definition

Answer 9

government by consent of the governed

Question 10

Secede Definition

Answer 10

to withdraw from membership in a group

Question 11

Uncle Tom’s Cabin Definition

Answer 11

an 1852 novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe written to show the evils of slavery and the injustice of the Fugitive Slave Act

Question 12

Wilmot Proviso Definition

Answer 12

a law passed in 1846 that banned slavery in any territories won by the United States from Mexico

Question 13

What was stated in the Missouri Compromise, established by Henry Clay?

Answer 13

Before 1819, the equal number of slave and free states helped balance the sectional divide. That year, however, Congress considered Missouri’s application to join the Union as a slave state. Immediately, a crisis erupted. Missouri’s admission would give the South a majority in the Senate. Determined not to lose power, northerners opposed letting Missouri enter as a slave state. The argument lasted many months. Finally, Senator Henry Clay made a proposal. During the long debate, Maine had also applied for statehood. Clay suggested admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. His plan, called the Missouri Compromise, kept the number of slave and free states equal. Under the provisions of the Missouri Compromise, Congress drew an imaginary line extending the southern border of Missouri at latitude 36°30’ N. Slavery was permitted in the part of the Louisiana Purchase south of that line. It was banned north of the Missouri Compromise line. The only exception to this was Missouri itself.

Question 14

How did the western lands won by the Mexican-American War influence the question of slavery?

Answer 14

The Missouri Compromise applied only to the Louisiana Purchase. In 1848, the Mexican War added vast western lands to the United States. Once again, the question of slavery in the territories arose.

Question 15

How did the Wilmot Proviso divide Congress? What fear made David Wilmot from Pennsylvania propose this law?

Answer 15

Many northerners feared that the South would extend slavery into the West. David Wilmot, a member of Congress from Pennsylvania, called for a law to ban slavery in any territories won from Mexico. Southern leaders angrily opposed this Wilmot Proviso. They said that Congress had no right to ban slavery in the West. The House passed the Wilmot Proviso in 1846, but the Senate defeated it. As a result, Americans continued to argue about slavery in the West even while their army fought in Mexico.

Question 16

What were the opposing views on slavery around the country?

Answer 16

As the debate heated up, people found it hard not to take sides. One of the effects of sectionalism was sharp division over the issue of expanding slavery. Abolitionists wanted slavery banned throughout the country. They insisted that slavery was morally wrong. Southern slaveholders thought that slavery should be allowed in any territory. They also demanded that enslaved African Americans who escaped to the North be returned to them. Even white southerners who did not own enslaved African Americans generally agreed with these ideas. Between these two extreme views were more moderate positions. Some moderates argued that the Missouri Compromise line should be extended across the Mexican Cession to the Pacific. Any new state north of the line would be a free state. Any new state south of the line could allow slavery. Other moderates felt that the Missouri Compromise line should not be extended at all. Still others supported the idea of popular sovereignty, or the right of people to create their government. Under popular sovereignty, voters in a new territory would decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery. Some also felt that slavery should be allowed where it existed at the time, but it should not be expanded to new territories.

Question 17

What was the Free-Soil Party? What was their goal? Who was there presidential candidate? Who ended up winning? What did their success show?

Answer 17

The debate over slavery led to the birth of a new political party. By 1848, many northern Democrats and Whigs opposed the spread of slavery. However, the leaders of both parties refused to take a stand. They did not want to lose any southern votes. Some also feared that the slavery issue would split the nation. In 1848, antislavery members of both parties met in Buffalo, New York. There, they founded the Free-Soil party. The main goal of the Free-Soil party was to keep slavery out of the western territories. Only a few Free-Soilers were abolitionists who wanted to end slavery in the South. In the 1848 presidential campaign, Free-Soilers named former President Martin Van Buren as their candidate. Democrats chose Lewis Cass of Michigan. The Whigs selected Zachary Taylor, a hero of the Mexican War. For the first time, slavery was an important election issue. Van Buren called for a ban on slavery in the Mexican Cession. Cass supported popular sovereignty. Taylor did not speak on the issue. However, because he was a slave owner from Louisiana, many southern voters assumed that he supported slavery. Zachary Taylor won the election. Still, Van Buren took 10 percent of the popular vote, and 13 other Free-Soil candidates won seats in Congress. The success of the new Free-Soil party showed that slavery had become a national issue.

Question 18

How was the balance of the power in the Senate threatened by California’s request to be admitted as a free state in 1850?

Answer 18

For a time after the Missouri Compromise, both slave and free states entered the Union peacefully. However, when California requested admission to the Union as a free state in 1850, the balance of power in the Senate was once again threatened.

Question 19

What were the circumstances surrounding the conflict over California?

Answer 19

In 1849, there were 15 slave states and 15 free states in the Union. If California entered the Union as a free state, the balance of power would be broken. Furthermore, it seemed quite possible that Oregon, Utah, and New Mexico might also join the Union as free states. Many southerners feared that the South would be hopelessly outvoted in the Senate. Some even suggested that southern states might want to secede, or remove themselves, from the United States. Northern congressmen, meanwhile, argued that California should enter the Union as a free state because most of the territory lay north of the Missouri Compromise line. It was clear that the nation faced a crisis. Many in Congress looked to Senator Henry Clay for a solution.

Question 20

To fix the conflict over California, why did people look to Henry Clay to solve it? What factors disabled him to do so? What was John C. Calhoun’s perspective on the issue? How did this lead to his threat of seceding from the Union?

Answer 20

Clay had won the nickname “the Great Compromiser” for working out the Missouri Compromise and the compromise Tariff of 1833, which resolved the Nullification Crisis. Now, decades later, the 73-year-old Clay was frail and ill. Still, he pleaded for the North and South to reach an agreement. If they failed to do so, Clay warned, the nation could break apart. Senator John C. Calhoun of South Carolina had worked with Clay to pass the compromise Tariff of 1833, but now he opposed compromise over the extension of slavery to the West. He drafted a speech expressing his opposition. Calhoun was dying of tuberculosis and could not speak loudly enough to address the Senate. He stared defiantly at his northern foes while Senator James Mason of Virginia read his speech. Calhoun refused to compromise. He insisted that slavery be allowed in the western territories. In addition, Calhoun demanded that fugitives, or African Americans who had fled slavery, be returned to their owners. He wanted northerners to admit that southern slaveholders had the right to reclaim their “property.” If the North rejected the South’s demands, Calhoun told the Senate, “let the states … agree to part in peace. If you are unwilling that we should part in peace, tell us so, and we shall know what to do.” Everyone knew what Calhoun meant. If an agreement could not be reached, the South would use force to leave the Union.

Question 21

What did Daniel Webster say in his speech to combat Calhoun’s claims? What was his thought process towards a comprimise?

Answer 21

Daniel Webster of Massachusetts spoke next. He had opposed Clay’s compromise Tariff of 1833. Now, he supported Clay’s plea to save the Union. Webster stated his position clearly:
“I speak today not as a Massachusetts man, nor as a northern man, but as an American…. I speak today for the preservation of the Union. … There can be no such thing as a peaceable secession.”

—Daniel Webster, Speech in the U.S. Senate, July 17, 1850

Webster feared that the states could not separate without starting a bloody civil war. A civil war is a war between people of the same country. Like many northerners, Webster viewed slavery as evil. The breakup of the United States, however, he believed was worse. To save the Union, Webster was willing to compromise. He would support southern demands that northerners be forced to return fugitives from slavery.

Question 22

Which political figures died in 1850? How did this lead to support for Clay’s compromise plan?

Answer 22

In 1850, as the debate raged, Calhoun died. His last words reportedly were “The South! The poor South! God knows what will become of her now!” President Taylor also died in 1850. The new President was Millard Fillmore. Unlike Taylor, he supported Clay’s compromise plan.

Question 23

What were the five parts of the Compromise of 1850, established by Henry Clay and pushed by Stephen Douglass?

Answer 23

Henry Clay gave more than 70 speeches in favor of a compromise. At last, however, he became too sick to continue. Stephen Douglas, of Illinois, took up the fight for him and guided Clay’s plan, the Compromise of 1850, through Congress.
The Compromise of 1850 had five main provisions. First, it allowed California to enter the Union as a free state. Second, it divided the rest of the Mexican Cession into the territories of New Mexico and Utah. Voters in each would decide the slavery question according to popular sovereignty. Third, it ended the slave trade in Washington, D.C., the nation’s capital. Congress, however, declared that it had no power to ban the slave trade between slave states. Fourth, it included a strict fugitive slave law. Fifth, it settled a border dispute between Texas and New Mexico.

Question 24

How did the Fugitive Slave Act, established in the Compromise of 1850, help the South? What did judges do to take advantage of this act?

Answer 24

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 required all citizens to help catch African Americans trying to escape slavery. People who let fugitives escape could be fined $1,000 and jailed. The new law also set up special courts to handle the cases of runaways. Suspects were not allowed a jury trial. Judges received $10 for sending an accused runaway to the South but only $5 for setting someone free. Lured by the extra money, some judges sent African Americans to the South whether or not they were runaways.

Question 25

How did the North fight against the Fugitive Slave Act? What was the South’s response?

Answer 25

The Fugitive Slave Act enraged antislavery northerners. By forcing them to catch runaways, the law made northerners feel as if they were part of the slave system. In several northern cities, crowds tried to rescue fugitives from their captors.
Despite the compromise, tensions remained high because neither side got everything that it wanted. The new Fugitive Slave Act was especially hard for northerners to accept. Each time the act was enforced, it convinced more northerners that slavery was immoral and evil. To counter the Fugitive Slave Act, many northern states passed personal liberty laws. These laws made it harder to recapture those accused of running away. The laws brought suspects before judges, provided jury trials, and prohibited kidnapping. Some laws also gave legal assistance. One state, Vermont, declared free any enslaved person who entered the state. Southerners were outraged by these laws and called any interference with the Fugitive Slave Act unconstitutional.

Question 26

What were the effects of the Compromise of 1850? How was this compromise different from others, such as the compromise Tariff of 1833?

Answer 26

The Compromise of 1850 had the effect of holding the union together for a while longer and creating a peaceful solution to the threat of secession by the South and civil war. However, the conflict between the North and the South over the issues of slavery and its expansion remained. Many in the North and in the South were not satisfied with the compromise. Three great Congressional leaders’ actions had an effect on the conflict over slavery and the Compromise of 1850, just as they had had on an earlier compromise, the compromise Tariff of 1833 that ended the Nullification Crisis. In 1833, the actions of Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun had brought the passage of the compromise tariff, while Daniel Webster stood in opposition. In 1850, Clay, the Great Compromiser, once again arranged the passage of a compromise, but this time with the support of Webster, as Calhoun tried to block the compromise. As they had in 1833, the compromisers of 1850 helped preserve the Union. In 1850, though, the opponents of compromise threatened to tear it apart.

Question 27

Which book written by Harriet Beecher Stowe added to the growing antislavery mood of the North?

Answer 27

An event in 1852 added to the growing antislavery mood of the North. Harriet Beecher Stowe, a New England woman, published a novel called Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Stowe wrote the novel to show the evils of slavery and the injustice of the Fugitive Slave Act.

Question 28

What was stated in the book “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” written by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Answer 28

Stowe told the story of Uncle Tom, an enslaved African American noted for his kindness and piety. Tom’s world is shattered when he is bought by the brutal Simon Legree. When Tom refuses to reveal the whereabouts of two runaways, Legree whips him to death. Uncle Tom’s Cabin had wide appeal among northern readers. The first printing, consisting of 5,000 copies, sold out in just two days. It quickly became a best seller, selling 300,000 copies the first year. Eventually, the book sold millions of copies and was translated into dozens of languages.

Question 29

What were the mixed reaction to “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” nationwide?

Answer 29

Although Uncle Tom’s Cabin was popular in the North, southerners objected to the book. They claimed that it did not give a true picture of slave life. Indeed, Stowe had seen little of slavery firsthand. Despite such objections, Uncle Tom’s Cabin helped to change the way northerners felt about slavery. No longer could they ignore slavery as a political problem for Congress to settle. More and more northerners now saw slavery as a moral problem facing every American. For this reason, Uncle Tom’s Cabin was one of the most important books in American history.