The Compromise of 1850

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Tuesday, January 31
The Compromise of 1850
By Cathy Pearl
Caption: Henry Clay, "the Great Compromiser," introduces the
Compromise of 1850 in his last significant act as a senator.
Every few years there was a new problem between the Slave states
and the Free states. Each time, it looked like the country would split
into two. This happened again in 1850. But like all the times before
this one, a compromise saved the country.
In 1850, there were the same number of Slave states and Free states.
That year, California wanted to become a state. That would mean there
were more Free states than Slave states. Slave states would be outnumbered in the Senate. Again, they threatened
to secede or leave the Union.
Henry Clay begged the North and South to find a way to compromise. He had worked out the Missouri
Compromise. Now he was called on to find another compromise. Clay was seventy-three years old. He was sick
and weak. Still, he tried to find an answer.
Senator John C. Calhoun was from South Carolina. He was dying from tuberculosis. He was not interested in a
compromise. He wanted slavery to be allowed in all the Western territories. If it wasn't, he thought all Slave
states should leave the Union.
The debate kept going. In the middle of it, Calhoun died. During that time the president also died. The new
president was Millard Fillmore. He agreed with the plan that Henry Clay had worked out.
Henry Clay gave more than seventy speeches. He wanted people to agree to his compromise. Finally, he
became too sick to fight anymore. Stephen Douglass took over for him. Douglass helped to get the plan passed.
The Compromise of 1850 had five parts. First, California was allowed to become a Free state. Second, it
decided what to do with the lands that had been won in the Mexican War. This land was split into territories. The
voters in the territories would decide whether or not slavery would be allowed there. This is called popular
sovereignty.
Third, in Washington, D.C., slave trade was no longer allowed. Washington, D.C., had one of the largest slave
markets in the country. Under the compromise, it would be closed. Slavery would still be allowed there.
There was also a fight over the border of Texas at this time. Under the Compromise of 1850, the border was
settled. Texas had to give up the land it was fighting over. If it did, Texas would get ten million dollars. Texas
could then use the money to pay off the debt they had with Mexico.
Finally, it had a fugitive slave act in it. Under this act, all the people in the country had to help catch runaway
slaves. It didn't matter if the slaves had made it to Free states. People living in those states still had to send the
slaves back to their owners.
A person who let a runaway slave get away could be fined. The person could also be put into jail. Judges were
also paid to send runaway slaves back. They got more money to send a slave back than they did to free one. The
extra money meant that some free black men and women were sent back to the South as slaves.
This was the part of the plan that most people were not happy with. It was a disaster for freed African
Americans that were living in the North. Many left their homes and went to Canada. Twenty thousand African
Americans went to Canada during the next ten years.
Blacks had no way to defend themselves. They couldn't use the court system to help them. Many of them lived
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Tuesday, January 31
in fear of being sent back south.
The Fugitive Slave Act angered a lot of people in the North. The Underground Railroad became more active
during this time. It forced many people to make a decision about how they felt about slavery. People became
more organized in their fight against it.
The Compromise of 1850 was only a temporary solution. Many people could clearly see what was coming for
the country. A civil war was just around the corner.
The Compromise of 1850
Questions
1. How many parts were there to the Compromise of 1850?
A. Seven
B. Three
C. Five
2. What Senator argued against Clay's compromise?
A. John C. Calhoun
B. Millard Fillmore
C. Stephen Douglass
3. How many speeches did Henry Clay give for his plan?
4. How much was Texas paid to give up the land?
A. Fifty million
B. Twenty million
C. Ten million
5. What was a judge paid more to do?
A. Send a slave back to the South
B. Free a slave
6. Where did free blacks go after the Fugitive Slave Act was passed?
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Wednesday, February 1
Harriet Tubman
By Cathy Pearl
Harriet Tubman was born a slave around 1820. But she did not stay a slave.
Harriet ran away and then helped other slaves make their way to freedom. She
is known for being a conductor on the Underground Railroad.
Tubman's parents were both slaves. This meant that she was a slave as soon as
she was born. When she was around five years old, she started working as a
house slave. When she was a teenager, she was sent to work in the fields.
She was always ready to stand up for other people. Tubman tried to protect
another slave who was going to be punished for running away. While doing
this, she was hit in the head with a two-pound weight. The effects would stay
with her the rest of her life.
In 1844, she married a free black man, John Tubman. In 1849, Tubman was
afraid that she was going to be sold. She decided the best thing to do was to run
away. She left one night on foot. A white woman helped her first. At night, she
followed the North Star. She made it to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There she
found work. She also joined an abolitionist group in the city. This group was working to end slavery.
In 1850, Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act. This led Tubman to join the Underground Railroad. In 1851,
Tubman made her first trip back to the South. She managed to lead her sister and her sister's children to freedom.
Soon, she made another dangerous trip to the South. This time she helped her brother and two other men. After
this trip, she went after her husband. When she found him, she learned that her husband had taken another wife.
This did not stop her. Instead, she found other slaves and led them to freedom.
From that time until the Civil War, Tubman kept traveling to the South and leading slaves to freedom. She had
tricks to help her. She had slaves run away on Saturday nights. This was because the owner couldn't put a notice in
the paper until Monday.
Tubman would also turn around and head south if she saw possible slave hunters. No one thought that an escaped
slave would run toward the South. This helped to confuse the people looking for them.
Tubman was also said to carry a gun with her. She carried it with her for protection. She also threatened runaway
slaves with it if they tried to turn back.
In 1856, the government really wanted to catch her. There was a forty thousand dollar reward if she was caught.
Her reputation kept growing. By the time of the Civil War, she had gone south almost twenty times. She had
helped close to three hundred slaves. One of her most dangerous trips was when she led her seventy-year-old
parents to safety.
She was never caught. She also never lost a slave to hunters or to militia that looked for runaway slaves in the
South. Other people were always afraid for her, but she never seemed to be afraid. The idea of being caught never
seemed to worry her.
At the end of the Civil War, Tubman married Nelson Davis. They lived in Auburn, New York. In 1908, she built a
home for the elderly and the poor. She worked at this home. She was also taken care of there right before she died
in 1913.
Tubman was buried in Auburn with military honors. Since her death, she has been honored in many ways.
Freedom Park, named in her memory, opened in Auburn in 1994. There has also been a postage stamp with her
picture on it.
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Date
Wednesday, February 1
Harriet Tubman
Questions
1. What year did Tubman make her first trip back south?
A. 1844
B. 1851
C. 1850
2. How much of a reward was offered to capture Tubman?
3. What night was a good night for slaves to run away?
A. Sunday
B. Saturday
C. Monday
4. How many slaves did Harriet Tubman help?
A. Three thousand
B. Three hundred
C. Three
5. Name two ways Harriet Tubman has been honored.
6. Who did Tubman lead north on her first trip back south?
A. Her husband
B. Her sister and her sister's children
C. Her parents
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Date
Wednesday, February 1
44 Sanford St.
Lafayette, LA 70509
February 24, 2012
Dear ____________________________________,
I was born free in Africa, but I was captured and sold into slavery. I grew up as a slave. I married
another slave, and we had children. I worked hard. I worked extra jobs for other people who
would pay me. When I finally had enough money, I bought my freedom. I continued to work hard
so that I could buy my family's freedom. I also became a property owner. My life began free in
Africa, and it ended free in America.
I worked many years for freedom. What would you be willing to work many years for? Do you
know anyone who has worked a long time for something that is important? Give it some thought
and then write me back and tell me about it.
Thanks,
Venture Smith
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Date
Wednesday, February 1
Name
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Thursday, February 2
The American Colonization Society
By Jane Runyon
The first slaves were brought to the American colonies in the 1600s. British merchants made money kidnapping
Africans. They shipped them to the Caribbean. Other British merchants bought the slaves in the Caribbean. Then
they resold them in the American colonies. The slaves worked as house servants. They also worked as farm
laborers.
Farmers in the southern colonies found the need for more slaves. They grew cotton. Cotton was a hard crop to
harvest. It had to be picked by hand. The plantations grew larger. The need for laborers grew also. Plantation
owners wanted the work to be done for as little money as possible.
Abolitionists were people who wanted to do away with slavery. They felt that slaves were being mistreated. They
wanted slaves to have their freedom. But they worried about the slaves. Would they be able to live in a white
society?
Slave owners felt differently. Slaves were their property. Fear arose that slaves might rebel against their masters.
Some slave owners began to fear for the safety of their families. They feared for their very lives.
England was no longer involved with slavery in the United States after the Revolutionary War. But the problems
still remained. Several Americans decided it was time to do something in 1816. The slave owners and the
abolitionists joined forces. Robert Finley started an organization that tried to satisfy the concerns of both sides.
It is estimated that 2 million Negroes lived in America after the Revolution. It is thought that about 200,000 of
these were free blacks. Abolitionists feared that white people would never accept blacks if they were all free. They
felt that a separate place should be set aside where black people could emigrate. They wanted all freed blacks to
live away from white society.
The slave owners wanted unruly slaves, the "promoters of mischief," to be sent out of the country. They suggested
sending slaves back to Africa where they came from.
Robert Finley's group came up with a compromise that seemed to answer the wishes of both groups. The
American Colonization Society met on December 21, 1816, in Washington, D.C. The group was made up of
several middle-class white males. Their idea was to provide transportation for any slave who wished to return to
Africa. The society would provide guidance and help in starting a completely new colony in Africa.
It took four years for the money to be raised to support the society's plan. In January 1820, the first ship left New
York. It was on its way to the city of Freetown in Sierra Leone. The ship carried three white members of the
American Colonization Society. Also on board were 88 blacks returning to Africa. From Freetown, they sailed
down the western African coast. Their goal was to reach an area which would later be named Liberia. Liberia
meant liberty.
The first settlers didn't fare too well. All three white men and twenty-two of the former slaves died within the first
three weeks. The rest traveled back to Sierra Leone. They waited for another ship of freed slaves to arrive. The new
arrivals and the survivors of the first ship joined forces. They founded a colony on Mesurado Bay.
Life was not easy for these first settlers. Disease was hard to fight off. The settlers weren't welcomed by the
natives of the land. The settlers fought hard to keep their new land. Ten years later, 2,638 blacks had left America
and settled in Liberia.
White members of the Colonization Society governed the new colony for the first twenty years. In 1842, Joseph
Jenkins Roberts became the first non-white governor. In 1847, Liberia proclaimed itself an independent nation. J.J.
Roberts was elected as its first president.
By 1867, the American Colonization Society had provided transportation to over 13,000 new citizens of Liberia.
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Thursday, February 2
The society provided educational and missionary assistance to Liberia until 1964. The society was disbanded at
that time. The problem of slavery persisted for many years. The people of the American Colonization Society
provided an answer to the problem. They thought their solution was a fair one. It may have been the right solution
for some, but it was not fair for all.
The American Colonization Society
Questions
1. Liberia is a word that means freedom or liberty.
A. true
B. false
2. What is an abolitionist?
A. a free slave
B. a politician
C. a slave owner
D. someone who wants to do away with slavery
3. Where is Liberia?
A. on the east coast of the United States
B. on the west coast of Africa
C. in Europe
D. in the Caribbean
4. What concern did abolitionists have about freeing all the slaves?
5. What was the name of the group that provided transportation to Africa for slaves who wanted to return?
A. British Merchants Society
B. American Colonization Society
C. NAACP
D. Home to Africa
6. The colonization group disbanded right after the Civil War.
A. true
B. false
7. How many former slaves were on the first ship back to Africa?
A. 13,000
B. 3
C. 88
D. 22
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Thursday, February 2
Underground Railroad Image
Image Caption: Slaves traveled along the Underground Railroad, depicted in this painting
CREDIT: Webber, Charles T. (reproduction of a painting in the Cincinnati Art Museum). The underground railroad."
C1893. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.
1. In what year was this painting created?
A. 1793
B. 1693
C. 1993
D. 1893
2. Approximately how many people are in this image?
A. twenty
B. fifty
C. seventy-five
D. five
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Thursday, February 2
3. What is the title of the painting?
A. "Charles Webber"
B. "The Underground Railroad"
C. "Slaves Traveling"
D. "The Train Stop"
4. Based on this document and your knowledge of social studies, where might the slaves be heading?
A. freedom
B. prison
C. south
D. back to their owners
5. Who would be supportive of the Underground Railroad?
A. abolitionists
B. plantation owners
C. slave owners
D. none of the above
6. Using this document and your knowledge of social studies, explain the Underground Railroad. What was it
exactly? Who were the major groups of participants? How did it work?
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Thursday, February 2
7. What were the fundamental differences between the North and the South during this era?
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Thursday, February 2
8. Describe the conditions runaway slaves would have encountered on the Underground Railroad.
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Friday, February 3
Breaking the Barrier
Written by Beth Beutler
The bell rang, and the students gathered their books and papers. Callie met up with her friend
Melissa on their way out the door.
"What group did you get assigned to, Melissa?" Callie asked as she shifted her backpack to her
other shoulder.
"I'll be working with Tim and Mary. How about you?"
"I'll be with Natalie and Jessica," Callie responded.
"I bet you were hoping to be with Kyle," Melissa said with a grin, playfully poking her friend.
Callie rolled her eyes. "That would have been cool, but he is with Sarah and Jackie."
"No kidding? Sarah really likes him."
"Don't remind me," Callie said, frowning. "Let's change the subject. What topic were you
assigned?"
"We're supposed to take a look at how Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in major league
baseball."
"That should be very interesting!" Callie said. "I love baseball."
"I do, too. I think it will be very cool to present how a major sport became open to having players
of other races."
"It's hard to believe that was ever a problem," Callie said thoughtfully.
"Things seem better now, but sometimes I think racism is still a problem," Melissa said.
"Really?" Callie said. "Why?"
Answer the following questions before you finish the story.
1. How will Natalie, Jessica, and Callie get along?
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Friday, February 3
Breaking the Barrier
2. How long has Callie liked Kyle?
3. When did Jackie Robinson play his first major league game? (This may require research.)
4. How do you think people responded to a black player on the field for the first time?
5. Why does Melissa think racism is still a problem?
6. What attitudes in the class may change because of the projects they are assigned?
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Friday, February 3
Breaking the Barrier
Using the ideas you wrote for the thinking questions, write an ending to the story. Be sure to include
dialog in your ending. Write in complete sentences, using correct punctuation. Be creative and use
these two blank pages.
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Friday, February 3
Breaking the Barrier
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Monday, February 6
Advantages and Disadvantages
By Cathy Pearl
When the Civil War started, both sides thought that they would win easily. They also thought they were fighting
the war for the right reasons. The Union planned an aggressive attack against the South. They wanted to go to war
to save the Union. At first, ending slavery was not a goal of the war.
The South planned on waiting until the North was sick of fighting. The South felt they were fighting to save their
way of life. They compared the war to the Revolutionary War. Those in the South felt that they were fighting to
gain their freedom.
Both sides in the war had strengths and weaknesses. The South had one big advantage. They planned to fight a
defensive war. If the North did not come into the South, the South saw no reason to fight.
It is easier to defend land that a person knows well. Friendly people in the country would guide soldiers on roads
that weren't on maps. Soldiers knew the forests well. They knew the best places to hide. The trees also helped to
protect Southern soldiers when the Union Army invaded.
Families in the South had grown up around guns and horses. They knew how to hunt and live off the land. This
helped them adjust to being soldiers. They were comfortable firing guns and knew how to handle them well.
Many of the best military leaders were in the South. Lincoln had trouble during the war finding generals that could
match the skill that those in the South had. Robert E. Lee had a tough time deciding which side to fight for. Lincoln
asked him to command the Union Army. Lee was from Virginia. When Virginia seceded, he chose his home state
over the Union. Later he would become commander of the Confederate Army in the South.
The South had disadvantages, too. One of the main weaknesses was their economy. They did not have factories
like those in the North. They could not quickly make guns and other supplies that would be needed for a long war.
Their railroad system was another weakness. There weren't a lot of railroads in the South. This made it hard to
move troops and supplies. Also, many of the tracks did not connect to each other. The tracks would go between
two points and stop.
The North had both advantages and disadvantages, too. There were a lot more free people living in the North than
there were in the South. This meant there were a lot more men who could volunteer in the Army. These extra
people could also grow more food and work in the factories.
When the war started, ninety percent of goods made in this country were made in the North. After the war started,
factories quickly started to make bullets, guns, uniforms, and other supplies that an army would need. The North
had an easier time getting supplies to an army.
The railroads in the North were much better. Seventy percent of all the rail lines were there. This made it much
easier to move people and supplies where they were needed.
When the war first started, some people were worried about Abraham Lincoln. They wondered what kind of
leader he would be. He did not have lot of experience in anything that had to do with the military. In the end,
Lincoln turned out to be very good at planning for a war. He was a strong leader for the North.
The North had many things working against it. The men in the Union Army would be invading a part of the
country that they were not familiar with. They would not be defending their own homes like the army in the South.
It would be harder to supply the Union troops as they got farther and farther away from home. This long distance
would make it easier for Southern troops to stop supplies from getting to the Union Army.
Both sides were sure that their advantages would help them quickly end the war. One of the first battles, the Battle
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Monday, February 6
of Bull Run, showed that this would not be true. The war would be long and deadly for many of the soldiers
fighting in it.
Advantages and Disadvantages
Questions
1. Which side had more factories?
A. The South
B. The North
2. Whom did Lincoln ask to lead the Union Army?
A. Robert E. Lee
B. Abraham Lincoln
C. Jefferson Davis
3. Why was the railroad a disadvantage for the South?
A. They had a lot of rail lines.
B. It was easy to get from place to place.
C. Rail lines were often not connected.
4. Why would it be harder to supply Union troops as they moved farther south?
5. Which side had more factories to make supplies for their army?
A. The North
B. The South
6. Name two advantages that the North had.