66 The Missouri Compromise declared that all territory north of Bleeding Kansas 36° 30' should be free; but now, influenced by the friends of squatter sovereignty," Congress voted that, although Kansas and Nebraska were north of the line, yet when they wished to come in as states, they might be free or slaveholding, as they chose. Then there was a struggle to win the new territories. Settlers from the slave states round about pressed into Kansas. Anti-slavery men in the North became colonists or gave money to help to send others. Both parties were sure that they were in the right; both were eager and excited. There were battles between them, and for several years there was so much bloodshed in the territory that it was called "bleeding Kansas.” In a battle at Osawatomie, one of the fighters was John Brown, of Connecticut, who fought so fiercely that he was afterwards often called Osawatomie Brown." The one aim of his life was, as he said, to wage "eternal war with slavery,” and he had gone to Kansas to do everything in his power to make the territory into a free state. 66 sion In 1857 James Buchanan became president; in the next four years there was one act that especially aroused the North and one The Dred Scott Deci that alarmed the South. The first was what was known as the "Dred Scott Decision." Dred was a slave. His master kept him in Illinois several years, and then carried him back to Missouri. In Missouri, Dred was flogged. He said, "No man is a slave in Illinois; therefore, when I was there, I became free, and my master must pay for flogging me.” The case went from one court to another, and at last the Supreme Court of the United States, whose business it is to tell what the laws mean when people differ, said, “A slave is not a person; he is property, and his master may take him anywhere." The North cried indignantly, "That is not only protecting slavery in the states where it already exists, it is forcing slavery upon us ;" and the opposition became even more determined. 66 John secede Two years later came the act that alarmed the South. "Osawatomie Brown" had left Kansas to live near Harper's Ferry in Virginia. He thought that with the aid of a few friends it would be possible to fortify some place in the mountains where fugitives might be safe, and that after a while the slaves might be united in a general revolt. To get arms, he seized upon the United States arsenal at Harper's Ferry. A fight followed; John Brown was captured by United States troops led by Robert E. Lee, tried for treason and murder, and executed. He had broken the law of the land, and his punishment was lawful; but so much sympathy was felt in the HARPER'S FERRY North with his eagerness to free the negroes that his death strengthened the northern hatred of slavery. In the South it was thought possible that John Brown was supported by many northerners. There might be a general revolt Seven states of the slaves, pillage, burning, and murder. The South was fearful of the horrors that might come, and more angry than ever with the North. It was near the end of Buchanan's term. Many southerners declared that the South would leave the Union if the next President should oppose slavery. "Must a state be kept in the Union against its will?" they asked. "Has it not a right to secede?" Abraham Lincoln was elected, and the watchword of his party was, "No more slave states." Seven states, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas left the Union. Franklin's great-granddaughter was present when the senators of these seven states withdrew from Congress. Jefferson Davis was one of the senators, and he told her that the new government and the old would live side by side and be friendly to each other. "The North will never fight the South," he said. "You see how quietly they have let us go." SUMMARY. Texas freed herself from Mexico and was admitted to the United States. A quarrel over her boundary brought this country into a war with Mexico. The telegraph was invented. The conflicting claims of the United States and Great Britain to Oregon were settled, and the northern boundary of our country was marked. California and a vast area of land east of California were ceded to the United States by Mexico. The discovery of gold in California caused a great westward migration in 1849. California was admitted as a free state, and to satisfy the South the Fugitive Slave law was passed. Squatter sovereignty did away with the Missouri Compromise. The question of slavery became more violent. "Uncle Tom's Cabin " and the "Dred Scott Decision" aroused the North; while John Brown's raid alarmed the South. Finally, seven states seceded. SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK. Morse tells Congress how valuable the telegraph will be. A Forty-niner describes his journey to California. |