Prior to the Civil War

LEGALITY OF SLAVERY

THREE-FIFTHS COMPROMISE (1787)• During the Constitutional Convention, Southern states wanted slaves to be

considered in the census for the purpose of determining representation in Congress.

• Northern states opposed this because slaves weren't considered citizens and counting them would give Southerners more influence in Congress.

• They compromised and allowed every 5 slaves to be counted as 3 citizens for the purposes of representation and taxation.

• This meant each slave individually counted as 3/5ths of a person

• EFFECT: Gave Southern states additional representation in Congress and thus more influence in creating laws that favored slavery

MISSOURI COMPROMISE OF 1820• Congress was considering whether

to admit Missouri as a state and there was significant debate about whether it should be a free state or a slave state.

• Ultimately, it was admitted as a free state on the basis that the rest of the former Louisiana Purchase territory above a specific latitude would not be eligible for admission to the union as slave states at any later date.

COMPROMISE OF 1850• The Compromise of 1850 included several major provisions:

• California was admitted as a free state.

• The slave trade was abolished in Washington, D.C.

• The Territories of Utah & New Mexico were allowed to vote on whether they wanted slavery or not.

• Texas gave up much of the western land which it claimed and received compensation of $10,000,000 to pay off its debt.

• A harsher Fugitive Slave Act was passed

• May have delayed Civil War for 10 years, but made those years some of the worst for enslaved people

KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT (1854)• Allowed potential new states (like Kansas and

Nebraska) to vote for themselves about whether to allow slavery

• Nullified the Missouri Compromise

• Controversy over whether Kansas would be a free state or a slave state led to bloody confrontations known as “Bleeding Kansas”

• John Brown, a white abolitionist, thought the only was to end slavery was through violent insurrection; led a band of people who murdered 5 supporters of slavery

DRED SCOTT V. SANDFORD (1857)

• Dred Scott was a slave who’d been taken by his owners to free states and territories.

• He tried to purchase freedom for himself and his family, then tried to sue for his freedom.

• The Supreme Court ruled that African Americans (slave or free) were not be American citizens and therefore could not sue in federal court.

• Also ruled the federal government couldn’t regulate slavery in territories acquired after 1776.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION

How do conflict and geography relate to the changing conditions of slavery?