Compromises and The
Growth of Slavery
Nancy Lehman
7th
Grade Social Studies
Westmoreland
Middle School
nlehman@westmorelandschool.org
Introduction:
By
1855, the United States had grown from “sea to shining sea”. As territory was acquired the issue over
whether to allow slavery to expand into new lands was cause for much heated
debate in the country. In this WebQuest you will work with a partner to explore
the compromises that resulted from these debates and evaluate their
effectiveness.
Task:
Assume
you and your partner are career Congressmen in the United States House of
Representatives between the years 1820 and 1855. You have been helping the country wrestle
with the issue of the growth of slavery into new territories prior to the Civil
War.
Since
you do not favor either the North or the South you have been given the task of
settling the disagreements that have erupted in Congress over this issue. You will begin your work by reviewing the
Missouri Compromise of 1820. Next, you
will outline the problems that evolved after the acquisition of the Mexican
Cession and in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. With your fellow Congressman, you will author
two compromises to settle these issues and compare your compromises to those
that were finally approved by Congress.
As
your Congressional career comes to a close in 1855, you and your partner will
each write a farewell speech that summarizes the issue of the growth of slavery
into new territories, the compromises that dealt with that issue and explains
your opinion on the future of the nation.
Process and Resources:
Step 1: Open the graphic organizer on compromises below
and save it to your files as “Compromises Graphic Organizer”. Print a copy.
Step 2: Review the Missouri Compromise by clicking on
the following links. Read carefully
through the information that is given on the compromise and take notes on your
graphic organizer.
PBS Missouri Compromise
Background
Missouri Compromise Interactive
Map
Step 3: Write out the parts of the compromise on the
appropriate place on the graphic organizer.
The Missouri Compromise
worked until 1850. As a result of winning the Mexican War, the United States
has acquired a huge territory known as the Mexican Cession. A decision now must be made as to whether
slavery will be allowed in these new lands.
California, a part of the Mexican Cession, has just asked to be admitted
to the Union as a free state.
Step 4:
Follow the American History Public Policy Analyst outline, AHPPA, to investigate this problem about the admission of
California to the Union.
Two: Gather Evidence of the
Problem
Save the worksheets from the
links above to your files and also print a copy to work with. Add the title California when you save.
Use the following link as a
resource to gather the information you need to investigate this problem.
The New Territories and the
Wilmot Proviso
Scroll down and read the section, New Territories and the
Wilmot Proviso
Step 5: Now, it’s your turn to write a compromise. Using
the information you gathered above in step 4, together with your partner, write a compromise that would satisfy northerners
and southerners on the admission of California to the Union.
Write your compromise on the same graphic organizer you
used for steps 2 and 3.
Step 6: AHPPA
Part 4: Evaluate the Policy. Use this link to evaluate the real Compromise
of 1850.
Save worksheet 4 to your
files as the Compromise of 1850 and print a copy to record your information on.
Use the following links to
access the details of the Compromise of 1850.
Write down the parts of the Compromise of 1850 and evaluate its
effectiveness.
Compare
this compromise to the one you wrote. What was similar and different?
Did the compromise satisfy both the North and the South?
Explain whether you believe this compromise was fair to
all involved.
Our Documents-Compromise of 1850
Unfortunately, 1854 brings
with it a new problem for Congress to resolve.
Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois has suggested that persons living
in the part of the Louisiana Territory closed to slavery by the Missouri
Compromise be allowed to decide for themselves whether or not they want
slavery. This idea follows that
principle of popular sovereignty instituted in New Mexico and Utah in the
Compromise of 1850.
Step 7: Once again you are to follow the American
History Public Policy Analyst outline, AHPPA,
to investigate this problem of whether Kansas and Nebraska should be open to
slavery.
Two: Gather Evidence of the
Problem
Again save the worksheets
from the links above to your files and also print a copy to work with. Be sure to label them Kansas-Nebraska so as
not to get confused with your information on California.
Use the following link as a
resource to gather the information you need to investigate this problem.
Step 8: Time to write your compromise. Using the
information you gathered above in step 7, write a
compromise that would satisfy northerners and southerners on whether to allow
Kansas and Nebraska to be open to slavery.
Write your compromise on the same graphic organizer you
used for steps 2 and 3.
Step 9: AHPPA
Part 4: Evaluate the Policy. Use this link to evaluate the real
Kansas-Nebraska Act. Use the worksheet
to record your information.
Write down the parts of the
compromise and evaluate its effectiveness.
Compare
this compromise to the one you wrote. What was similar and different?
Did
the compromise satisfy both the North and the South?
What
happened in these territories as a result of this compromise?
Explain whether you believe this compromise was fair to
all involved.
Use the following links to
access the details of the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
Reaction to the Kansas-Nebraska
Act: Opposition
Scroll
to the section, Reaction to the Kansas-Nebraska Act
Reaction to the Kansas-Nebraska
Act: Support
Increasing Support for the
Republican Party and the Assault on Charles Sumner
Step 10: Time to let your opinion be known. You are about to retire from Congress. It’s
1855 and you’ve experienced enormous turmoil in the U.S. and the country seems
on the verge of collapse. Write a
farewell speech that explains the compromises you’ve worked on over the past 35
years and ends with an explanation of your opinion on the direction the country
is headed. What do you believe will happen to the Union? Will the compromises remain? What advice do you have for Congress and the
American people?
Your speech should be no
longer than 5 minutes and will be given on the floor of the “House”.
You will need to type your
notes into final copies on all the worksheets and the graphic organizer you
completed in this WebQuest (remember, you saved them to your files), save,
print and hand them in for part of your grade on this project.
Evaluation:
You
and your partner will be evaluated on the criteria in the rubrics. Your research, problem solving and
collaboration will account for one grade.
Your farewell speech will account for another, separate, individual
grade for this project.
Conclusion:
Congratulations!
You have just completed a thorough examination of the compromises that
were made in Congress over the issue of slavery in newly acquired territories
in the mid 1800s in the United States.
Hopefully, this WebQuest has increased your understanding about this
issue and the turmoil in the United States before the Civil War.
New York State Learning
Standards:
English Language Arts
Standard 1: Language for
Information and Understanding Students will listen, speak, read, and write for
information and understanding. As listeners and readers, students will collect
data, facts, and ideas; discover relationships, concepts, and generalizations;
and use knowledge generated from oral, written, and electronically produced
texts. As speakers and writers, they will use oral and written language that
follows the accepted conventions of the English language to acquire, interpret,
apply, and transmit information.
Standard 3: Language for
Critical Analysis and Evaluation
Students will listen, speak, read, and write for critical analysis and evaluation. As listeners and readers, students will analyze experiences, ideas, information, and issues presented by others using a variety of established criteria. As speakers and writers, they will use oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language to present, from a variety of perspectives, their opinions and judgments on experiences, ideas, information and issues.
Social Studies
Standard 1: History of the
United States and New York
Students will use a variety
of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras,
themes, developments, and turning points in the history of the United States
and New York.
Standard 5: Civics, Citizenship, and Government
Students will use a variety
of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of the necessity for
establishing governments; the governmental system of the U.S. and other
nations; the U.S. Constitution; the basic civic values of American
constitutional democracy; and the roles, rights, and responsibilities of
citizenship, including avenues of participation.