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Debate Of Slavery In The Missouri Compromise Of 1850

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The debate of slavery in the Western territories was dominated by four proposals; outright exclusion, extension of the Missouri Compromise line to the Pacific, popular sovereignty, and protection of the property of slaveholders. In 1846, Democrat David Wilmot proposed The Wimot Proviso, stipulating “As an express and fundamental condition to the acquisition of any territory from the Republic of Mexico...neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any parts of said territory.” By the election of 1848, Whig nominee Zachary Taylor was elected president despite his silence on the slavery issue. By the time he took office, the Gold Rush to California was underway and lasted through 1849 and the 1850s. The Compromise of 1850 was …show more content…

It claimed the U.S. had the “divine right” of Cuba over Spain, known as the Ostend Manifesto. That same year, the Kansas-Nebraska Act was enforced, creating the territories but leaving slavery up to popular sovereignty, which repealed the Missouri Compromise. Due to the popular sovereignty in the Kansas territory, both pro and antislavery Americans rushed to the area in an attempt to gain majority. This influx of citizens to Kansas all with opposing views resulted in a civil war during 1855, known as “Bleeding …show more content…

Before the debates began, Lincoln gave his famous “House Divided” Speech where he speaks of success through sticking together. Although Lincoln did not win the senate position, he received much publicity and interest from U.S. citizens, eventually providing a foundation for his later presidential campaign. Soon after this senatorial election, abolitionists began to take a radical approach in the antislavery effort. In 1859, John Brown’s Raid in Harper’s Ferry, Virginia was a failed attempt to arm and free slaves. Although he failed and was later executed, this raid implemented a new fear in Southerners due to the fact that a Northerner had planned this attack on the

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