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Constitution gave federal government right to abolish slave trade. Missouri Compromise of 1820-prevented extension of slavery
to certain territories. Wilmot Proviso 1846-whether African Americans should be slaves or free-REJECTED. Squatter-popular
sovereignty left slavery in a territory to the settlers. Election of 1848- Zachary Taylor- no executive interference with
congressional legislation-DEFEATED- Lewis Cass and Martin van Buren. Compromise of 1850 resolutions- robbed political parties
of distinctive appeal. Kansas and Nebraska- Popular sovereignty. John Brown- Equip slave army and urged lower class whites
to unite and abolish slavery.
Important Facts-
~Compromise of 1850-this series of five congressional statutes temporarily calmed the sectional crisis. Among other things
the compromise made California a free state, ended the slave trade in D.D., and strengthened the Fugitive Slave Law.
~Fugitive Slave Law- passed in 1850, this federal law made it easier for slave owners to recapture runaway slave; it also
made it easier for kidnappers to take free blacks. The new law became an object of hatred in the North.
~Ostend Manifesto- written by American officials in1854, this secret memo urged the acquisition of Cuba by any means necessary.
When it became public, Northerners claimed it it was a plot to extend slavery and the manifesto was disavowed.
~Lecompton Constitution- in 1857, a fraudulently-elected group of pro-slavery delegates met in Lecompton, Kansas, and
drafted a state constitution. After bitter debate, congress narrowly denied Kansas' entry into the Union under this constitution.
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