Resistance to SlaveryResistance to Slavery

Learning Targets

• I can define popular sovereignty and explain its impact on the conflict between North and South.

• I can describe the role of prominent abolitionists leading up to the Civil War.

• I can summarize the main message and describe the impact of Uncle Tom’s Cabin on the abolition movement.

Fugitive Slave Act (1850)

• Required all runaway slaves to be returned to owners, even if found in the North.

• Northerners resisted it:– Helped runaway slaves

go to Canada– Tried to free slaves in

prisons– Passed state laws that

went against Fugitive Slave Act.

Harriet Tubman

• Abolitionists started the underground railroad to help slaves escape North.

• Harriet Tubman was the most famous “conductor”.

• Made 19 trips and helped 300 slaves escape.

“Popular Sovereignty” in Territories

• Popular sovereignty for slavery = states get to choose whether they are free or slave.

• Northerners angry; Southerners happy.

• Allowed the possibility of slavery in previously non-slave states.

Kansas Issue

• Missouri slave owners crossed the border into Kansas to vote “slave state”.– They won.

• Abolitionists in Kansas were angry.– They set up an anti-slavery town,

Lawrence.• Lawrence was “sacked” by pro-

slavery men.– Destroyed buildings, looted houses.

John Brown• John Brown was a strong

abolitionist.• He thought 5 men were

killed at Lawrence (they weren’t).– Retaliated by killing 5 pro-

slavery men.• Brown wanted to start a

slave rebellion in Harper’s Ferry, Virginia.– Rebellion failed to start—

Brown’s men killed.• Brown was hanged for

treason.

Harriet Beecher Stowe

• Abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 1852.

• Accurately depicted treatment of slaves.

• Opened Northerners’ eyes to the brutality.

• Sold over 1 million copies by 1853 (total population was 23 million).

Frederick Douglas

• African-American social reformer, orator, writer, and statesman

• became great orator for abolitionist cause

• helped lead the American Anti-Slavery Society

• established North Star– Abolitionist newspaper

Learning Targets

I can define popular sovereignty and explain its impact on the conflict between North and South.

I can describe the role of prominent abolitionists leading up to the Civil War.

I can summarize the main message and describe the impact of Uncle Tom’s Cabin on the abolition movement.