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The US after the Missouri Compromise
Becomes Kansas
Becomes Nebraska
The Kansas-Nebraska Act•1854: Proposed by Senator Stephen Douglas who wanted to run for president•Law established:•Kansas and Nebraska territories•Gave their residents their right to decide on
slavery (popular sovereignty)
*Kansas is known as “bleeding Kansas” because it was a battleground between
proslavery and antislavery forces
The Dred Scott DecisionMarch 1857
Background:•Scott was a slave in a slave state who’s master moved to a free state and brought him with•Dred sued for his freedom
The Supreme Court ruling:•People of African decent were not and could never be citizens, therefore didn’t have the right to a trial in the court of law•Ruled the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional
The Outcome:•Scott’s original owner’s sons paid his legal fees and bought Scott and his wife and set them free•Scott died 9 months later
Roles of Abolitionists:•Were considered agents of political and social change•Many were involved in other work like women’s suffrage
Key Abolitionists:• William Lloyd Garrison (Published The Liberator
and founded the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1833)• Federick Douglass (member of the American Anti-
Slavery Society)
The Underground Railroad
•Direct, illegal action taken
•Network of men and women; “conductors”
•Volunteers were both white and black
•Most famous: Harriet Tubman, known as “Black Moses”
Lincoln-Douglas Debate•Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln; both running for the Illinois Senate in 1858•Douglas: believed whites were superior than blacks—supported slavery•Lincoln: also believed whites were superior, but, believed slavery was morally wrong•Debates gained nationwide attention•Douglas defeats Lincoln
The Election of 1860•Differences between northern and southern democrats split the party•Two democrat nominees: (north) Stephen Douglas and (south) John C. Breckinridge•Republican nominee: Abraham Lincoln•Constitutional Union nominee: John Bell•Lincoln wins electoral votes but only 40% of popular vote•Country is divided; lower south secedes