Project 2

Project 2. By: Alexis S., Joseph J., Alexys R., Eduardo V..

[Audio] The Sectional Crisis in the 1850s occurred because Northern politicians wanted to abolish slavery while Southern politicians wanted to retain slavery. It caused many debates in newspapers, speeches, and congressional records. The Sectional Crisis informed people how divisive people were becoming about slavery in the North and the South. The Sectional Crisis contributed to the division because people in the North believed that slaves should be free; hence the North was trying to weaken the constitutional protection of slavery. It meant that if the North kept weakening constitutional protections for slavery, then it would be abolished in the South, and this led to the Civil War..

[Audio] Senator Henry Clay was responsible for the Compromise of 1850. He wanted to lessen the divide between the North and the South. The Compromise of 1850 was a set of five bills that were meant to solve the disputes of slavery in the newer territories that were added to the United States in the wake of the Mexican-American war. It admitted California as a free state and let Utah and New Mexico decide if they wanted to be a slave or free state. The proslavery coalition argued that the federal government shouldn't be able to determine a new state's laws regarding slavery. They believed that states should be able to vote on their stance by a concept called "popular sovereignty." California got into the Union with its laws about slavery being untouched. The Compromise of 1850 introduced the Fugitive Slave Act, which was despised by the North and increased tensions between the North and the South..

[Audio] The Haitian Revolution was a series of conflicts between 1791 and 1804 between Haitian slaves, the British army, French colonizers, and other parties. The Haitian people then won independence from France. It caused many concerns due to the revolution, and it made them think that slaves could revolt too. The Haitians were victorious in the Haitian Revolution, which meant that they were the first country to be founded by former slaves. The victory contributed to the division as the Haitian Revolution influenced the Louisiana purchase. The land is where an abundance of slavery occurred due to new territory, which contributed to the division..

[Audio] In 1854 Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois presented a bill destined to be one of the most consequential pieces of legislation in our national history. The act created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska out of what was then Indian land. The act extinguished Indians' long-held treaty rights in the region and repealed the Missouri Compromise. The passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act enraged Northerners who considered the dismantling of the Missouri Compromise a sign of the rising power of the South. The bill raised the possibility that slavery would extend into areas where it had once been banned. Its passage intensified the bitter debate over slavery in the United States, which later exploded into the Civil War. The act then produced a violent uprising known as " Bleeding Kansas." Bleeding Kansas was a period of violent conflicts over the fate of slavery in the mid- 1850s. The violence in Kansas intensified the sectional division over slavery..

[Audio] The Mexican-American War was the first war fought on foreign land. This war took place between 1846 and 1848. The Mexican-American war started after Mexican soldiers attacked and killed US soldiers. The Mexican soldiers then siege an American fort. The general of the attacked US soldiers called reinforcements and was able to defeat the Mexicans. Two days later, Congress declared war, but Mexico never officially declared war. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed and ended the war. This treaty established the border between the US and Mexico. It also let the US take Texas, and the US bought the territory north of Rio Grande for $ 15 million. Southern Democrats favored the war while Whigs saw this as an opportunity to acquire land, and Abolitionists saw the war as an attempt for the South to extend slavery and increase their power. This war contributed to the division as the new territories caused conflict over slavery. The South wanted slavery in the new states while the North did not..

[Audio] In the raid, John Brown led a small group of farmers against a federal armory in Harpers Ferry. The reason for this raid was to try and start a revolt of slaves to stop the institution of slavery. The raid begun on the night of October 16, 1859 but it did not work. On October 19th they were overruned which cost the lives of ten of Browns men. Brown was then tried and found guilty and was then beheaded. Although the raid failed, it made the presidential election more important and made it harder to make an agreement between the North and South which was an important cause of the Civil War..

Major Events Prior to The Election of Abraham Lincoln.

[Audio] The Missouri Compromise, passed in 1820, made Missouri a slave state and Maine a free state and prohibited slavery in the Louisiana Territory. The Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise in 1854. Three years later, it was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott v. Sandford decision. This decision ruled that Congress did not have the authority to prohibit slavery in territories. The Missouri Compromise kept the balance between free and slave states. The balance stayed until it was repealed by the Kansas-Nebraska Act and was later declared unconstitutional. This event caused slavery and anti-slavery states to rush into the territory, which led to the uprising know as Bleeding Kansas and the start of the Civil War..

[Audio] Nat Turner's Rebellion was an 1831 slave uprising in Virginia led by Nat Turner. On the night of August 21, he and his followers killed his owners, the Travis Family, and then headed to nearby plantations in Southampton County. The uprising led to the deaths of 57 white men, women, and children and freed more than 50 slaves. But on August 22, furious white militiamen burst on the scene and captured the black rebels. Turner managed to hide out but, after two months, was eventually caught, tried, and hung. The state of Virginia executed 55 other African Americans suspected of assisting Turner. The rebellion instilled panic among white Virginians, who beat and killed some 200 blacks with no connection to the uprising. The execution of Turner and his followers reminded African Americans how far whites were willing to go to protect the institution of slavery..

[Audio] Dred Scott was born in 1799 as a slave. After his owner died, he was bought and was sent to Illinois, a free state. The Dred Scott case took place in April 1846. He and his wife filed lawsuits for freedom against Irene Emerson, and the court ruled against them and gave them a retrial due to a technicality. After Scott and his wife went to trial again in 1850, they won their freedom but were later enslaved again in 1852. He then lost his fight for freedom in the Dred Scott decision on March 6, 1857. He was finally freed on May 26, 1857, but died on September 17, 1858. This case showed where the government stood on slavery and increased tensions between the North and the South..

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