The growth in sectional tensions- part two Flashcards
How did the Mexican American war bring slavery to the forefront?
Expansion southwest was popular in the south as it saw an opportunity to expand its cotton growing belt into Mexican lands.
What happened with Texas?
1829- Mexico outlawed slavery. 1836- Texas declares independence, Mexican forces under Santa Anna defeated at the Alamo, granting Texas de facto independence. 1844- Tyler annexed Texas. 1845- Texas joined the USA. 1846- border skirmish between troops led to the Mexican American war.
What was the wilmot provisio?
1846- senator wilmot proposed that slavery should be banned from territory gained from the Mexican American war.
Give five issues raised by the wilmot proviso?
- Did congress have a right to stop a legal form of property holding? 2. If congress could block slavery in new lands, it could interfere where it already existed. 3. If slavery was morally right, it made no sense to limit it. 4. The south had to expand slavery owing to its a growing slave population. 5. Proviso showed how hostile the north was to the southern way of life.
What did the north fear would happen if slavery expanded?
- USA would turn more backward with inefficient slave labor and limited industrial development. 2. Slave labor in new territories made free labor and northern investment impossible.
What was agreed under the 1850 compromise?
- California joined as a free state. 2. Slave trade banned in Washington DC. 3. New tough fugitive slave act. 4. New Mexico and Utah to decide if they had slavery or not. 5. Boarder dispute between Texas and New Mexico settled in favor of New Mexico.
Give four issues raised by the compromise
- South insulted by the ban on the slave trade in DC. 2. Compromised the rights/beliefs of free states. 3. Fugitive slave act led to violence and the invasion of free states by slavers. 4. Popular sovereignty undermined the idea of slavery as a moral issue.
Why did Stephen Douglas want to settle Kansas Nebraska?
Wanted a railway connection between the Atlantic and pacific coasts, it needed to go through a secure state, not just territory.
What did Douglas suggest?
Inhabitants of the KN Nebraska area should be given popular sovereignty. If they voted for slavery, it would stop congress interfering with southern expansion and could act as an area for surplus slaves.
Why did the north oppose the Kansas Nebraska act?
Slave power conspiracy, took the issue of slavery out of congress and into the territory itself.
What were the consequences of the Kansas Nebraska act?
1854- Massachusetts emigrant aid society began sending free settlers to the territory to influence the vote, south did the same. Rival governments set up with 4 years of unrest known as bleeding Kansas.
What was the background to the Dredd Scott decision?
Scott was a slave owned by john Emerson who had taken him to the free states of Illinois and Wisconsin. When Emerson died, his wife inherited Scott who tried to sue her for his freedom on the basis that he had lived in the free state of Illinois.
What did Taney decide?
By a 7:2 majority that Scott was a slave, so was property and could not sue in a US court. The Missouri compromise was unconstitutional and congress had no power to stop a lawful form of property holding.
What were the consequences of the Dredd Scott decision?
Uproar in the north, seen as evidence for the slave power conspiracy. Vindicated southern ideas about the position of slaves and the rightness of slavery.
What was john brown’s raid?
1859, abolitionist john brown tried to start a slave revolt in Virginia. Began by raiding Harpers ferry arsenal, rebels killed a black railway worker on a train they stopped and allowed the train to go on. Train driver warned nearby Virginians of the attack, the militia and forces under Lee crushed the rebellion, with 10/21 of brown’s men killed.
