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The Compromise of 1850
This was a series of acts passed in response issues that arose after the Mexican-American
War. The first was the Fugitive Slave Act, which provided money for people who captured escaped slaves. California was then added as a free state. Congress settled the border dispute between New Mexico and Texas in favor of New Mexico, and they agreed to pay off Texas's debts. Slave trading was banned in Washington D.C. Finally, Congress allowed popular sovereignty to rule in territories regarding slavery. -
Impact of the Compromise of 1850
The compromise, which was intended to end the issues between the north and the south, instead amplified them. Slaveowners in the south held meetings to decide ways in which they could protect slavery as an institution. Meanwhile, the Fugitive Slave Act was having negative repercussions. Free black men in the north were being kidnapped and sent to the south, and the people doing it were receiving money for it. The compromise did not resolve the issue of slavery at all. -
The Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act was intended to solve the issue of slavery in the territory to the west. In the end, it was decided that the territories of Kansas and Nebraska would both be allowed to decide via popular sovereignty, effectively repealing the Missouri Compromise line. Democrats divided in response to this bill, and one of the most important results was the formation of the Republican Party. It also led to the end of the Free-Soil Party. -
Bleeding Kansas
Kansas ended up allowing slavery due to a fraudulent vote. As tensions rose, several antislavery settlers living there were indicted for treason. Afterward, sheriff Samuel Jones, who had been shot in the same town earlier, organized an attack, breaking the presses of two papers and burning down a hotel, although no one was hurt. John Brown and his sons, hearing of the attack, went to another town and killed four pro slavery settlers. In all, 150 people died in the violence over the next months. -
Bleeding Kansas Impact
Bleeding Kansas deepened the divide between both sides of the slavery issue. The fact that violence on this scale was shocking and appalling to many people. However, it did benefit one side. The violence put on display by anti slavery people allowed slave owners to justify their own fears that the government would take their right to slaves away. It also brought to light those abolitionists who felt that the time for violence was upon them. -
The Dred Scott Decision
Dred Scott and his family were slaves during this time period. His owner took them to Illinois and then to Wisconsin before they returned to Missouri. These first two states did not allow slavery, and after his owner refused to let him by his freedom, Scott took him to court. In the end, the Supreme Court made the sweeping ruling that black people could never be citizens of the United States, and therefore could not sue. This decision split the Democratic Party While infuriating Republicans.