The document discusses the political actions and moral arguments of those opposed to the spread of slavery in the United States between 1820-1854. It outlines the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which divided the country along the 36th parallel to maintain a balance of slave and free states. It also discusses the Mexican-American War, the Compromise of 1850, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act, all of which reopened debates around the expansion of slavery and territorial sovereignty, further dividing the nation along sectional lines and fueling the growing abolitionist movement in the North.

1. Opposing Slavery/ Antebellum
period
Day 4 Group A

2. The Question
• Analyze the moral arguments and political
actions of those opposed to the spread of
slavery in the context of:
The Missouri Compromise
• Mexican War
• Compromise of 1850
• Kansas-Nebraska Act

3. Missouri Compromise
• The Compromise passed in 1820 to divide
the Nation along the 36th parallel
• Anti-slavites used the compromise to
oppose slavery in new states, so long as
the number of slave states was equal to
the number of free states

4. The Missouri Compromise
• The Compromise granted the South
Missouri as a slave state, but the North
won the concession that territories could
be abolitionist
• Extremists condoned the compromise for
“avoiding” the issue of slavery, rather than
ending it.

5. Mexican American War
Background
• The War was brought on after Mexicans
retalliated to Northern agression in the
lone star republic of texas, which Santa
Anna considered Mexican territory
• Manifest Destiny played a large role in
starting the war, which served as a
“practice” theatre for the Civil War

6. The Mexican War
• Reopened the wound of slavery, which
had been ignored for decades.
Abolitionists blamed the war on a
slavocracy that schemed for slave states
• The treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended
the war, and was opposed in the Senate
by anti-slavites who wanted none of
Mexico, and slave owners who wanted all
of it

7. The Mexican War
• Anti-Slave opinion culminated into the
WILMOT PROVISIO, which demanded all
new territories gained be free states.
• The provisio actually passed in the senate,
but not the House.

8. Compromise of 1850
Background
• Despite delaying the Civil War 10 years,
many blame aspects of the compromise
toward causing the war
• It was vetoed by Taylor several times, but
he died. Fillmore passed it when he
assumed the presidency
• The Compromise drew extremists out of
the wood work

9. Compromise of 1850
• Needed to deal with the new territories of
California, Utah, and New Mexico
• Dictated that California would remain free,
and Utah and NM could vote to be slave
states- an idea known as POPULAR
SOVEREIGNTY
• The Bill also gave southerners to hunt
down slaves in the North

10. Compromise of 1850
• Abolitionists used the proposed
“bloodhound bill” to create the
Underground Railroad.
• Douglas’ popular sovereignty, though a
popular measure at the time, eventually
lead to violence…
• D.C banned the slave trade within its limits
• By delaying the war, the North became
better prepared for a fight.

11. The Kansas-Nebraska Act
Background
• Stephen A. Douglas (popular sovereignty)
wanted Kansas/Nebraska to host the
National Railroad, in opposition to the
Gadsden purchase
• The Deal split the Nebraska territory into
Kansas and Nebraska, and each state could
vote for/against slavery
• Since Nebraska was north of the 36 th
parallel, the act nullified the compromise of
1820

12. Kansas-Nebraska Act
• The Act was opposed by the Free Soil
Party, which demanded all soil be free, so
poor farmers could compete with
plantations
• Eventually, Nebraska would vote to be a
free state. However, Kansas’ fate was
undecided, causing much conflict

13. Bleeding Kansas
• Abolitionists hoped to influence Kansas by
pouring into the state, while southerners
streamed in from the South
• A mini-war broke out between the factions,
with Southerners ruling from a puppet
government in Shawnee Mission, and the
North fortified in Wichita.
• John Brown hatcheted 5 men to death
here.

14. The Kansas-Nebraska Act
• In addition to starting a war, anti-slavers
used the issue to found a new party, The
Republicans, which was a motley crew of
free-soilers, know-nothings, Whigs, and
other slave foes. Thus, the political parties
became sectional, finally dividing the
North and South

15. Review
• Anti-slaveites used the Missouri Compromise to create a
forced balance of free and slave states
• Abolitionists used the gains from the Mexican War to
finalize the idea that conquered South lands (Cali) could
be free states
• Abolitionists promoted the idea of popular sovereignty
when deciding the fate of NM and AZ in the compromise
of 1850, which also stirred northerners to action with its
reviled fugitive slave laws
• The Kansas-Nebraska act gave life to the Republican
Party, an organized anti-slavery movement in politics.
Extremists also battled for freedom in Kansas