HIST 1100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 24: Free Soil Party
Document Summary
Us senators met to discuss and defuse slavery crisis in west. Whig henry clay and democrat stephen douglas pushed congress to pass. End slave trade in dc (but not abolish slavery) Compromise settled boundary btwn texas and new mexico. Inc fed assistance to slaveholders seeking to capture slaves who were escaping to north free states. Fugitive slave law = viewed as major victory for south. Compromise adopted idea of popular sovereignty --let the ppl decide whether or not they were a slave state, not congress. Seemed like union had weathered slavery crisis again. Compromise = armistice rather than growth of economy. Douglas intended bill to organize territory of kansas for new settlement. Wanted to facilitate a transcontinental railroad thru chicago, il. To win southern support, douglas"s bill declared question of slavery would be decided by the ppl-- popular sovereignty . Proble--missouri compromise: banned slavery in louisiana territory. Southerners for it, but deeply angered the abolitionists and free soil.
