Protest, resistance, and Violence

Chapter 10 section 2

1. Fugitive Slaves and the Underground Railroad A. Fugitive Slave Act: a law enacted as part of the Compromise of

1850, designed to ensure that escaped slaves would be returned into bondage

I. Alleged fugitives were not entitled to a trial by jury, nor could they testify on their own behalf (Despite 6th amendment)

II. A statement by a slave owner was all that was required to have a slave returned

III. $10 fee for those who returned an alleged fugitive, $5 if they freed him or her, an obvious incentive to “return” them to slavery

IV. Anyone convicted of helping an alleged fugitive was subject to a fine of $1,000, imprisonment of 6 months, or both

2. Resisting the Lawa) Northerners resisted the Fugitive Slave Act

i. They did so by organizing committees to send endangered African Americans to safety in Canada.

ii. Nine Northern states passed personal liberty lawsi. Forbade the imprisonment of runaway slaves and

guaranteed they would have jury trials

3. Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroada) The Underground Railroad developed: a network of

people who would, at great risk to themselves, aid fugitives slaves in their escape

i. “Conductors” hid fugitives in secret tunnels and false cupboards and provided with food and clothing

b) One of the most famous conductors was Harriet Tubman

i. Born a slaveii. After her owner died she decided to make a break for

freedom and succeeded in reaching Philadelphia iii. In all, she made 19 trips back to the South and is said to

have helped 300 slaves, including her own parents.iv. She later became a speaker for abolition

4. Uncle Tom’s Cabin

a) Ardent abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe published Uncle Tom’s Cabin

i. Became an instant best-seller, more than a million copies had sold by the middle of 1853

ii. The novel had parts such as the slave Eliza who fled across the frozen Ohio River, clutching her infant son in her arms. Or when Simon Legree, a wicked Northern slave owner who moved to the South, bought Uncle Tom and had him whipped to death.

iii. Delivered a message that slavery was not just a political contest, but a great moral struggle

iv. In response, Northern abolitionists increased their protests against the Fugitive Slave Act

5. Tension in Kansas and Nebraskai. Issues of slavery in territories (supposedly settled in the Compromise of

1850) surfaced againi. Stephen Douglas was most responsible for resurrecting issue

ii. Popular Sovereigntyi. Douglas pushed to organize the huge territory west of Iowa and Missouri

a) Developed a proposal to divide the area into two territories, Kansas and Nebraska

I. His motives were complicated, he pushed for the construction of a railroad between Chicago and San Francisco

II. To get this route he had to make a deal with the Southerners who wanted the railroad to start in Memphis or New Orleans

ii. Douglas believed: a) The nation wished to see the western lands incorporated into

the Unionb) It would strengthen the Democratic partyc) Popular sovereignty would provide the most fair and

democratic way to organize the new state governments

VI. Douglas failed to understand how opposed the Northerners were to slavery

I. Still thought popular sovereignty was the best way to decide whether slavery was allowed in the territory of Nebraska Territory

VII. The problem was Nebraska was north of the 36°30’ and therefore was legally closed to slavery

I. Douglas assumed the territory of Nebraska would enter the Union as two states, one free and one a slave state, maintaining the balance

I. Was convinced that slavery could not exist on the prairie land since no crops relying on slave labor could be grown there

II. To win over the South, Douglas supported repeal of the Missouri Compromise which would make slavery legal north of the 36°30’ line

6. The Kansas-Nebraska Acta) Douglas introduced a bill to Congress to divide the area into two

territories, one being in the North and one in the Southi. If passed, it would repeal the Missouri Compromise

and establish popular sovereignty in both territories b) Debate over the bill was bitter

i. Northern congressmen saw the bill as a plot to turn the area into slave states

ii. 90% of the Southern congressmen voted for the billiii. This spread across the general population which lead

to petitions in Congress both for and against the billiv. With help from President Franklin Pierce, a Democrat,

Douglas’s proposal steered through the Senatev. The Kansas-Nebraska Act became a law in May 1854

7. Violence Erupts in “Bleeding Kansas”a) It was a race between the North and South for the virgin soil of

Kansas 1. Settlers from both the North and the South poured into

Kansas territory i. Some were farmers, most were sent by emigrant aid

societies 2. Kansas had enough settlers to hold an election for a

territorial legislaturei. Thousands of “border ruffians” from the slave state

Missouri, crossed into Kansas and voted illegally ii. They won a fraudulent majority for proslavery

a. As soon as they won, they set up a government at Lecompton and promptly issued proslavery acts

b. Furious, abolitionists organized a rival government in Topeka

8. “The Sack of Lawrence” A. Antislavery settlers founded a town named Lawrence

i. A proslavery grand jury condemned these settlers as traitors and called on the local sheriff to arrest them

ii. A proslavery posse of 800 armed men went to Lawrence to carry out the grand jury’s will

a) They burned down the antislavery headquarters, destroyed two newspapers’ printing presses, and looted many houses and stores

b) Abolitionist newspapers called the event, “the sack of Lawrence”

III. “The Pottawatomie Massacre”I. News of Lawrence reached John Brown, an abolitionist

I. Brown believed God had called on him to fight slavery II. With a mistaken impression that the posse killed 5 men,

Brown was set on revengeII. He and his followers pulled 5 men from their beds in the proslavery

settlement of Pottawatomie Creek I. He hacked of their hands and stabbed them with

broadswordsII. This attack became famous as the “Pottawatomie

Massacre”I. The massacre triggered dozens of incidents throughout

Kansas and some 200 people were killedII. Brown fled Kansas but left behind men and women who lived

with rifles by their sidesIII. People began calling this territory Bleeding Kansas, since

it had become a violent battlefield in a civil war

9. Violence in the Senate a. Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner delivered an impassioned

speech in the Senate later called “The Crime against Kansas”I. For two days he verbally attacked his colleagues for their

support of slaveryI. He was particularly abusive towards Andrew P. Butler of

South Carolina, making fun of his impaired speech and proslavery views

II. Butler’s nephew then went to the Senate chamber and over to Sumner’s desk after reading the speech

I. Butler’s nephew claimed it libel on South Carolina and on Andrew P. Butler

II. After that, he took his cane and struck Sumner on the head repeatedly

I. Southerners applauded this act while Northerners condemned it as another example of Southern brutality

b. No compromises could satisfy the North or SouthI. Tensions resulted in political alliances as well as violence II. Old national parties were torn apart and new political

parties emerged