Lesson+One

Lesson 1-- Antebellum America: Setting the Stage for //Uncle Tom's Cabin//

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According to this video, there were many reasons for Westward Expansion. List them as you watch. There were also many effects of Westward Expansion. List them as you watch, as well. What does this video leave out about Westward Expansion?
 * DO NOW Activity:**

Go over Do Now Activity and answers. What was it that the Schoolhouse Rock video left out about expansion?
 * Discussion:**

During Westward Expansion, we gained much new territory. There were many debates on whether these new territories would be free or slave states.
 * Content and lecture (slight review):**


 * **Louisiana Purchase:** In 1803, the United States, under Thomas Jefferson, purchased the Louisiana Territory from France, under Napoleon Bonaparte, for about 15 million dollars. The territory encompassed 828,800 square miles across 14 modern day states.
 * **Missouri Compromise:** Passed in 1820, the Missouri Compromise regulated slavery in the Louisiana Purchase. Slavery would be prohibited north of the parallel 36°30' except in Missouri. A compromise was soon reached that allowed Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state along with the entrance of Maine as a free state. That way, the number of slave and free states remained equal.
 * **Texas Annexation:** During the 1820s, the state of Mexico urged Southern settlers to emigrate to Texas in order to populate the area. Texas came to be predominantly Anglo-Americans, many of whom were white Southern slave-owners. When the Mexican government stated a proposal to emancipate all slaves by 1827, the population grew irate, and for this and other reasons, declared independence from Mexico in 1836. The war ended in Texas' favor, but boundary disputes between Mexico and Texas did not subside. On December 29, 1845, President James K. Polk with a joint-resolution, that is, an agreement by both the Senate and the House of Representatives, was signed and Texas was officially annexed to the United States.
 * **Mexican-American War and the Mexican Cession**: In the wake of the Texas Annexation, Mexico threatened war if Texas was annexed. War broke out between Texas and America and lasted from 1846-48. During the course of the War, American troops invaded California and New Mexico and captured Mexico's capital, Mexico City. The United States then forced Mexico to agree to sell its northern territory to the US in exchange for $15 million, forgiven debts, and an agreement on the Rio Grande as the border. The newly acquired territories included New Mexico and California. In 1849, gold was discovered in California and led to the Gold Rush. Many slaves were brought to California during this time. The question of what would be a slave state or free state began.
 * **Wilmot Proviso:** A proposed bill that would forbid slavery in any territory to be gained from Mexico. It passed in the House, but failed in the Senate where the South had more power. This was one of the leading events that caused the Civil War.
 * **Compromise of 1850:** In this compromise, sponsored by Henry Clay and Stephen Douglas, secession was avoided and sectional conflicts subsided for four years. The Compromise came out of the Mexican cession and allowed California to enter as a free state, New Mexico and Utah were allowed to use popular sovereignty to decide to be free or slave states, the slave trade was abolished in the District of Columbia, and a stronger fugitive slave law was passed.
 * **Fugitive Slave Act of 1850:** This act infuriated many Northerners as they now had to participate in the institution of slavery. Any federal official who did not arrest and turn in a runaway slave was subject to fine and/or imprisonment. Additionally, anyone who did turn in a runaway slave would be rewarded. This act caused many abolitionists to increase their efforts against slavery.


 * Activity:** You are a Northerner. You may take on the role of a police officer or other public official, or just a normal citizen. You may be an abolitionist, neutral, or pro-slavery, but remember, you are a Northerner. If you had suspected your neighbor to be this "Emily" and saw this poster, what would you do? Would you capture her and turn her in for the reward? Would you do it because the law told you to do so? Or would you ignore this and let Emily be? Explain your reasons. This should be completed as an informal assignment to be discussed aloud and checked for completion.

After the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, posters like this one became harder to ignore as the law made it punishable by fine and imprisonment to do so. Hundreds of free slaves and fugitives were kidnapped and captured and sold or taken into slavery. Any black person was subject to kidnapping.




 * Begin Homework:** You are a Northern abolitionist in 1850. You are concerned about the growing state of slavery. Write a letter to your close friend, Harriet Beecher Stowe urging her to write an anti-slavery novel. Make at least 3 points that she should include in her book. This should be the first letter in your letter bundle project.