Ashley Robbins

Mr. Widenhofer
Honors United States History
January 17, 2016
Honors U.S. Midterm
In the 1840s to 1860s there was an increased tension on whether or not to extend slavery
into the southwestern territories. Several event over this question aggravated the already delicate
political situations. The Compromise of 1850, Kansas - Nebraska Act, Bleeding Kansas, and the
Dred Scott Decision were key events in which the controversy over slavery contributed to the
Civil War.
The United States victory in the Mexican American War and 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo gave the U.S. a great amount of southwest territory. But the question was what to do
with this land - extent the practice of slavery or not to extend. President Fillmore accepted Henry
Clays Compromise of 1850. Under this Compromise, California was admitted as a free state.
The remainder of the land acquired from the Mexican cession was to be formed into territories of
New Mexico or Utah, without the restriction of slavery, hence open to popular sovereignty. The
Compromise also called for the abolition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia. To please
the south, it became necessary to develop a more stringent fugitive-slave law than that of 1793.
This, however, caused greater controversy and stronger anti-slavery feelings among the
Northerners. Instead of the Compromise of 1850 settling this controversy on the question of
slavery between the North and South, it really acted as an uneasy agreement leading up to the
Civil War.

Tensions reached a new high in 1854 with the passage of the Kansas - Nebraska Act. This
Act said that the issue of slavery be decided by popular sovereignty in the Kansas and Nebraska
territories. Popular sovereignty meant that a vote would take place to decide whether or not to
allow slavery. Pro-slavery Missourians flooded the Kansas and Nebraska territories in order to
influence the vote. However, they clashed with anti-slavery settlers who were seeking to do the
same. The conflict became known as Bleeding Kansas when abolitionist John Brown led the
massacre in Potawatomi Creek and killed five pro-slaveryites. The country was shocked at the
violence.
The Dred Scott Decision was another key event among the controversy of slavery that led
to the Civil War. Chief Justice Roger Taney wrote a majority opinion that stated the
characteristics and status of slaves. He said that slaves are not citizens, and therefore cannot sue.
Taney stated that slaves are property and therefore cannot be taken away without due process.
Scott was trying to sue for his freedom, but Taney used these principles in the decision. The Dred
Scott Decision caused an outrage and the people did not want slavery to have the potential to
exist throughout the entire country.
These events led to the Freeport Doctrine, which completely split the Democratic party
and gave Abraham Lincoln forty percent of the cote to win the election. Because of the Doctrine,
North Carolina seceded which began the seemingly inevitable Civil War.