Section 15.1: Growing Tensions Between North and

South

Today’s Essential Question: What caused growing tensions between the North and

the South?

Today’s Vocabulary• tension – uneasiness based on

distrust, fear or hatred• fluid – changeable• rigid – stiff or unchanging• proviso – a stipulation or condition• territorial expansion –making a country

bigger by getting new lands

Check for Understanding• What is today’s Essential Question?• What does it mean if something is fluid?• How would a rigid mom treat her child?• If your mom says, “If you fail History, I’ll

take away your phone,” which part is the proviso?

• How was the Mexican Cession an example of territorial expansion?

What We Already Know

After the Missouri Compromise in 1820, political disagreements over slavery

seemed to go away.

What We Already Know

An abolitionist movement dedicated to ending slavery had grown more

widespread and more aggressive during the 1830s and ’40s.

What We Already Know

After the Mexican War,

the United States gained

ownership of a huge new area of land known as the Mexican

Cession.

• More industrial growth

• Rapid population growth

• Fluid society• Immigrants move

west• Canals and railroads

link Eastern and Midwestern states

North and South Take Different PathsThe North:

• Plantation economy• Rigid social structure, dominated by

planters• Dependence on cotton leads to expansion

of slavery• Cotton profits invested in more slaves

instead of industry• Slow–moving rivers couldn’t power

factories• Non-slaveholders supported the system

The South:

Get your whiteboards and markers ready!

1. How were the economies of the North and the South different by the

mid-1800s?A. Their economies and their labor systems were

very different.B. The Southern economy was more dependent on

immigrant labor than the Northern economy.C. The North relied on free labor, and was

increasingly industrial.D. Many northern factories used slaves to produce

their goods.E. The South remained agricultural and used

slaves.

Choose all that are true!

2. Why did the South develop so little industry?

A. The South received great wealth from cotton, so southerners thought industry was unnecessary.

B. Southerners believed slaves couldn’t do industrial work.

C. The South had few natural resources necessary to run factories.

D. No one in the South had enough wealth to invest to get new industries started.

E. Southern rivers weren’t powerful enough to provide stable power to operate factories.

Choose all that are true!

The issue of slavery caused tension between the North and the South.

• Most Northerners, even abolitionists, were racist by modern standards.

• Many whites refused to go to school with, work with, or live near African Americans.

• In most states, even free blacks could not vote.

The issue of slavery caused tension between the North and the South.

• Some Northern workers and immigrants opposed slavery because it was an economic threat to them.

• Because slaves did not work for pay, free workers feared that managers would employ slaves rather than them.

The issue of slavery caused tension between the North and the South.

On the other hand, some Northern

workers and immigrants

opposed abolition because free

workers would compete with them

for jobs.

Get your whiteboards and markers ready!

4. Why did Northern workers and immigrants oppose slavery?

A. Slavery made it impossible for them to get jobs in the South.

B. They felt it was morally wrong to discriminate based on race.

C. They feared that they would lose their jobs to slaves, who weren’t paid.

D. Slavery made the South too wealthy and powerful.

Choose all that are true!

As Northern attacks on slavery grew, slaveholders defended slavery.

• Most of them were openly racist, saying that white people were superior to blacks.

• Their inferiority made it impossible for blacks to compete with whites for jobs.

• Slave–owners claimed to be doing them a favor by protecting them from freedom.

Many Southerners claimed that

slavery helped Africans by

introducing them to civilization.

They also would be introduced to the

blessings of Christianity, so their souls could be

saved.

• Southerners claimed that slavery provided blacks with food, clothing, and shelter throughout their lives.

• These different ideas about slavery brought the North and the South into conflict.

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3. In what ways was racism common in both the North and the South?

Write down the letter of every true response to this question!

A. Slavery based on race was practiced in both regions.

B. Most people in both areas believed in white superiority.

C. Discrimination against blacks was practiced in both regions.

D. Both Northerners and Southerners passed laws requiring blacks to carry written passes at night.

The Wilmot Proviso• Many Northerners feared that slavery would

expand into the Mexican Cession.• Congressman David Wilmot tried to ban slavery

in the Mexican Cession.

Southerners reacted angrily to Wilmot’s proviso and called for

its defeat in Congress.

• They had fought in Mexico and as a result of the war, vast new lands were brought into the United States.

• They felt entitled to spread their culture into this area, including slavery.

Failure of the Wilmot Proviso led to the birth of the Free Soil Party.

• The party was dedicated to keeping slavery from expanding into new territories.

• Slavery now became a key issue in national politics, and politicians could no longer ignore it.

Get your whiteboards and markers ready!

A. The two sections argued about whether slavery would be permitted in the new territory that was gained.

B. Most of the soldiers were Southerners, who resented the North for not fighting alongside them.

C. The South gained thousands of new slaves captured in Mexico.

D. Thousands of Southerners had refused to pay taxes that supported such an evil war.

5. How did the War with Mexico lead to conflict between the North and the

South?

What would the Wilmot Proviso have done?

A. Made California a slave stateB. Outlawed slavery in any

territory gained from the War with Mexico

C. Made Arizona a free stateD. Banned the slave trade in

New Mexico

A. It declared slavery to be a moral evil.

B. It had been written by abolitionists hoping to embarrass Southerners.

C. It would keep them from taking their slaves into the Mexican Cession.

D. It would have raised taxes on the sales of both cotton and slaves.

6. Why did slaveholders oppose the Wilmot Proviso?

7. What did the Free Soil Party stand for?

A. No slavery in the territoriesB. California's admission as a

free stateC. Support of the Wilmot ProvisoD. A stronger fugitive slave law

Controversy Over California• In 1848, the discovery

of gold in California led to rapid population growth there.

• In 1850, California requested admission as a free state.

• As in 1820, the free state-slave state balance in the Senate was threatened.

• Southerners felt that statehood for California threatened their way of life.

The Compromise of 1850

As he did in 1820 and in 1832, Henry Clay came up with

a compromise.

a. California would enter as a free state.

b. A new, tough fugitive slave law was introduced.

• People accused of being fugitives under this law could be held without an arrest warrant.

• Instead of a jury trial, a federal commissioner ruled on each case.

• The commissioner received five dollars for releasing the defendant and ten dollars for turning the defendant over to a slaveholder.

c. The slave trade would be banned in Washington, D.C.

d. No laws restricting slavery in the rest of the Mexican Cession would be introduced, but the

residents of those areas could decide for

themselves instead.

Use your whole whiteboard to write

your answer!

(see Vocabulary)

Daniel Webster, U.S. senator

from Massachusetts, lent his support

to Clay’s compromise bill

in a very passionate

speech.

Despite the support of

Webster and his own best

efforts, Clay was unable to

get enough support to pass the compromise

bill.

Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois came up with a way to win

passage for Clay’s bill.• He broke up Clay's proposal

into five parts and built up a slim majority for each among various congressmen.

• After several weeks of work, Douglas succeeded in getting each part of Clay’s plan adopted.

• Once the plan became law, some people celebrated, believing that it had saved the Union. But the compromise would not bring peace.

Get your whiteboards and markers ready!

8. How did Henry Clay try to settle the California problem?

A. He offered to sell California back to Mexico.B. He introduced a new compromise that he

hoped would satisfy both Northerners and Southerners.

C. He called for the admission of New Mexico as a new slave state.

D. He introduced the Wilmot Proviso.E. He called for the admission of Arizona as a

new free state.

A. a stronger fugitive slave lawB. California's admission as a free stateC. the freedom for new territories to decide

the slavery question for themselvesD. the admission of Arizona as a slave stateE. a ban on the slave trade in Washington,

D.C.

Which of the following was not part of the Compromise of 1850?

Choose the one that is NOT true!

9. How did Daniel Webster help persuade Congress to pass the Compromise of

1850?A. He called for rejection of the

fugitive slave law.B. He made a passionate speech

in favor of the compromise as a way of preserving the Union.

C. He promised Republican support for the admission of Arizona and New Mexico as slave states.

D. He forced northern industrial interests to add their support to the bill.

9. How did Stephen Douglas help Congress to pass the Compromise of

1850?A. He proposed the same

terms as Clay’s bill in the form of a constitutional amendment.

B. He took the compromise directly to the voters in the 1852 elections.

C. He came up with a new compromise based on the Wilmot Proviso.

D. He broke up Clay's proposal into five parts and built a slim majority vote for each.