SSUSH8
The student will explain the relationship between growing north-south divisions and westward expansion.
a. Explain how slavery became a significant issue in American politics; include the slave rebellion of Nat Turner and the rise of abolitionism (William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, and the Grimke sisters).
b. Explain the Missouri Compromise and the issue of slavery in western states and territories.
c. Describe the Nullification Crisis and the emergence of states’ rights ideology; include the role of John C. Calhoun and development of sectionalism.
d. Describe the war with Mexico and the Wilmot Proviso.
e. Explain how the Compromise of 1850 arose out of territorial expansion and population growth.
b. Explain the Missouri Compromise and the issue of slavery in western states and territories.
c. Describe the Nullification Crisis and the emergence of states’ rights ideology; include the role of John C. Calhoun and development of sectionalism.
d. Describe the war with Mexico and the Wilmot Proviso.
e. Explain how the Compromise of 1850 arose out of territorial expansion and population growth.
a. Explain how slavery became a significant issue in American politics; include the slave rebellion of Nat Turner and the rise of abolitionism (William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, and the Grimke sisters).
• Frederick Douglass, a former slave, worked for Garrison and traveled widely, giving eloquent speeches on behalf of equality for African Americans, women, Native Americans, and immigrants. He later published autobiographies and his
own antislavery newspaper. |
Abolition
By 1820, although racial discrimination against African Americans remained, slavery had largely ended in the North. Many Northerners and some Southerners took up the cause of abolition, a campaign to abolish slavery immediately and to grant no financial compensation to slave owners. As most slaves were held in southern states, abolition was a significant issue that led to growing hostility between Northerners and Southerners. Prominent abolitionists included African Americans, whites, men, and women. Among the most notable were the following: • William Lloyd Garrison, a writer and editor, was an important white abolitionist. He founded regional and national abolitionist societies and published an antislavery newspaper that printed graphic stories of the bad treatment received by slaves. |
• The Grimke sisters, Sarah and Angelina, were southern women who lectured publicly throughout the northern states about the evils of slavery they had seen growing up on a plantation. Their public careers began when Garrison published a
letter from Angelina in his newspaper. |
b. Explain the Missouri Compromise and the issue of slavery in western states and territories.
c. Describe the Nullification Crisis and the emergence of states’ rights ideology; include the role of John C. Calhoun and development of sectionalism.
Nullification Crisis
Vice President John C. Calhoun argued with President Andrew Jackson about the rights of states to nullify (cancel) federal laws they opposed. Trouble, known as the Nullification Crisis, resulted when southern states sought to nullify a high tariff (tax) Congress had passed on manufactured goods imported from Europe. This tariff helped northern manufacturers but hurt southern plantation owners, so legislators nullified the tariff in South Carolina. Calhoun, a South Carolinian, resigned from the vice presidency to lead the efforts of the southern states in this crisis. His loyalty to the interests of the
southern region, or section, of the United States, not to the United States as a whole, contributed to the rise of sectionalism.
Calhoun and the advocates of sectionalism argued in favor of states’ rights––the idea that states have certain rights and political powers separate from those held by the federal government and that the federal government may not violate these rights. The supporters of sectionalism were mostly Southerners. Their opponents were afraid that if each state could decide for itself which federal laws to obey, the United States would dissolve into sectional discord or even warfare.
Vice President John C. Calhoun argued with President Andrew Jackson about the rights of states to nullify (cancel) federal laws they opposed. Trouble, known as the Nullification Crisis, resulted when southern states sought to nullify a high tariff (tax) Congress had passed on manufactured goods imported from Europe. This tariff helped northern manufacturers but hurt southern plantation owners, so legislators nullified the tariff in South Carolina. Calhoun, a South Carolinian, resigned from the vice presidency to lead the efforts of the southern states in this crisis. His loyalty to the interests of the
southern region, or section, of the United States, not to the United States as a whole, contributed to the rise of sectionalism.
Calhoun and the advocates of sectionalism argued in favor of states’ rights––the idea that states have certain rights and political powers separate from those held by the federal government and that the federal government may not violate these rights. The supporters of sectionalism were mostly Southerners. Their opponents were afraid that if each state could decide for itself which federal laws to obey, the United States would dissolve into sectional discord or even warfare.