Looking for:
Missouri compromise map- Missouri compromise map
Wikimedia Commons. This situation changed with the application of Missouri for statehood in It changed the political landscape so dramatically that when former president Thomas Jefferson heard about the enactment of the Missouri Compromise of , he wrote,. I considered it at once as the knell of the Union. After completing this lesson, students will gain a better understanding of how the controversies over slavery's expansion and federal tariffs further entrenched the dividing line between northern and southern interests.
How did the Missouri Compromise of attempt to settle the debate over the future of slavery in the growing American republic? How did the Nullification Crisis a decade later demonstrate the widening divide between northern and southern states?
Analyze a map of the Missouri Compromise to understand the geographical changes it brought to the U. Describe South Carolina's application of the theory of nullification and explain the compact theory of federal government upon which it is based. Evaluate President Andrew Jackson's argument that the federal government maintains supremacy over the states. There had always been differences between northern and southern states, the former more commercial and the latter more agrarian in outlook and livelihood.
But no difference was so potentially divisive as the South's insistence on the right to hold slaves and the North's growing aversion to it. The newly acquired territory to the West, resulting from the Louisiana Purchase in , brought the issue of the extension of slavery to a slow boil in Both sides, North and South, were concerned about the balance of power in the Senate being disrupted by the admission of new states carved out of the Louisiana Territory.
The legislative and rhetorical interventions of Kentucky Representative Henry Clay, a slaveowner who worked for gradual emancipation and colonization, were crucial to averting a sectional division of the American union. When Maine requested admission as a free state in , Congress agreed to a compromise where Missouri was permitted to come into the union with a constitution of its own choosing, which meant no restriction regarding slavery. In addition to Maine's admission in as a free state and Missouri's eventual admission as a slave state in , Illinois Senator Jesse B.
The Missouri Compromise thereby maintained an equal number of free and slaveholding states in the American union. But it proved only a temporary settlement of the slavery controversy. Another territorial dispute, involving Texas and Mexico, would later stoke the fires of sectional conflict over the spread of slavery into the western territories.
But slavery in the territories was not the only issue dividing North and South. The question of tariffs or taxes on foreign imports proved so volatile that one state tried to nullify an act of Congress and threatened to secede from the Union. South Carolina saw tariffs imposed by the national government on foreign imports not for general revenue purposes, but to help domestic, manufacturing industries located mainly in the North.
With depressed cotton prices and reduced foreign demand for raw goods from the South, the and tariffs eventually provoked South Carolina to desperate measures. Flags were flown at half-mast in Charleston, South Carolina, and throughout the South there was talk of boycotting northern goods. By , when Congress passed a new tariff bill that did not lower tariff rates enough to please the southern states, talk turned openly to nullification. South Carolina went so far as to call a state convention that declared the Tariff Acts of and "null, void, and no law, nor binding upon" the state.
This kept the tariff on the books and South Carolina in the Union. The Missouri Compromise was the product of a struggle in Congress for regional control of the national, legislative process. Southern states had lost majority influence in the House of Representatives because of their slower growing population as compared with the northern states. This led to an effort by slaveholding states to maintain equal representation in the Senate with free states as the nation added territories and hence new states to the Union.
Southerners in the Senate blocked Tallmadge's amendment, with Georgia Representative Howell Cobb predicting that if Tallmadge insisted on his amendment, "the Union will be dissolved! The impasse was finally resolved the following year when Maine requested entry as a free state. Illinois Senator Jesse B. Thomas offered an amendment that produced the Missouri Compromise. The attempt by South Carolina officials to nullify federal tariffs they deemed unconstitutional was not the first time a state considered rejecting specific federal laws.
The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions of , which countered the federal Alien and Sedition Acts , maintained that the federal government was a compact of sovereign states and could only act according to powers specifically delegated by the states. Any broad interpretation and exercise of federal authority beyond the express grant of authority could therefore be considered null and void by individual states.
In late , five New England states also showed they could find enough reasons to complain of federal actions that appeared to favor one section of the Union over another.
The Hartford Convention, called in response to the War of and its associated economic measures, debated but rejected secession from the United States and recommended amendments to reduce what they saw as a disproportionate southern influence in the Congress. This dramatization offers an opening to the class discussions and sets the stage for analyzing the different perspectives regarding tariffs in the U.
The Tariff of was somewhat more complicated than a simple disregard of the South by the North. Adams had narrowly won the election of , and Democrats wanted Andrew Jackson to win the presidency in Democrats, therefore, including southerners such as John C.
Calhoun, devised a scheme to discredit the Adams administration by raising the tariff rates so high that not even New England congressmen would support it. The plan backfired, however, as Congress passed the tariff bill with just a few amendments. However conceived, the Tariff of Abominations was widely protested in the South.
These early threats of secession show that Americans had long disputed the meaning of the American union and its connection to securing individual liberty. Did it rest on a compact theory of the federal union, with the Unites States acting more like a league of sovereign states than a nation of individuals? Or was the country based more fundamentally on the action of the American people as a whole, making the U.
Constitution truly "the supreme law of the land" in its delegated spheres of governance? Tragically, for a nation founded upon ideals and not mere tradition or blood, this important question would eventually be answered by war instead of words. Explain how supporting questions contribute to an inquiry and how, through engaging source work, new compelling and supporting questions emerge.
Evaluate how historical events and developments were shaped by unique circumstances of time and place as well as broader historical contexts. Analyze change and continuity in historical eras. Use questions generated about individuals and groups to assess how the significance of their actions changes over time and is shaped by the historical context.
Analyze complex and interacting factors that influenced the perspectives of people during different historical eras. Construct arguments using precise and knowledgeable claims, with evidence from multiple sources, while acknowledging counterclaims and evidentiary weaknesses.
Present adaptations of arguments and explanations that feature evocative ideas and perspectives on issues and topics to reach a range of audiences and venues outside the classroom using print and oral technologies e. To teach this lesson about the seeds of American sectionalism, four activities are provided below: two on the Missouri Compromise and two on the Nullification Crisis. Review the activities, then locate and bookmark websites and primary documents that you will use.
If your students lack experience in dealing with primary sources, you might use one or more preliminary exercises to help them develop these skills. Finally, History Matters offers a page on " Making Sense of Maps " which gives helpful advice to teachers in getting their students to use such sources effectively.
Access the interactive map of the Missouri Compromise of and become familiar with the location of the free states, the slave states, the regions identified as U.
By clicking on each state, students can bring up statistical information about each state in the year , compiled by reference to the U. Bureau of the Census from the Department of Commerce. Students will find particularly interesting the statistics of their own state, if it existed by They will do a comparative study of regions and states by using the pop-up information.
Two worksheets with question and answer charts are provided for student use with the interactive map:. If time permits, both the economic and philosophic activities should be completed.
Otherwise, choose one to show the growing sectionalism of American. This section will help students to deepen their understanding of the basic commercial differences between the industrial North and the agricultural South. The South, especially South Carolina, was sorely aggravated by the imposition of the tariffs of and , causing them to resort to the threat of nullification and secession. In this activity, students will use internet resources from the EDSITEment-reviewed websites of American Memory and Digital History to read primary sources and analyze graphs and a map.
The video below provides a look at the issue of slavery and secession between the Revolutionary War and the American Civil War as a supplement to the primary source materials produced on competing sides of the slave and free state debate. The first fourteen minutes are recommended to provide background and context for the debates that transpired after Have the students visit the following sites, and answer the corresponding questions on pages of the PDF.
When students return with the information gained from this activity, begin a discussion about the basic differences in the commercial economies of North and South, and about how the tariffs embittered the relationship between the two regions.
If students do not bring this up, point out that while the diversified manufactures of the North were occupying a greater part of the overall U. When Congress enacted the Tariff of , which lowered the tariff but not substantially, the legislature of South Carolina responded by calling a special convention. They issued what was called the " South Carolina Ordinance of Nullification.
Print out and distribute to students pages of the PDF. Then ask the students to answer the questions that correspond to each document. In the third column of the worksheet—the one labeled "Citation"—students should indicate where in the document they found the evidence that allowed them to answer each question.
Place students in groups of with two students taking on the role of people on opposing sides at the time of the Missouri Compromise and Nullification Crisis and the remaining students participating as neutral citizens who need to be persuaded.
Students can use primary source materials and their interpretation of secondary sources from the time to participate in small group discussions around the following questions:.
Students who participate as neutral citizens during the activity are required to record evidence provided by their classmates as justification for why they have taken a given position on the issues. Neutral citizens are encouraged to ask questions of their fellow group members when they are unsure of or unconvinced by the arguments presented. Alternatively, have students use the matrix provided on Comparing North and South Worksheet Page 12 of the PDF to summarize the major differences between the North and South on the key issues brought up in this lesson, such as the respective view of the North and South on slavery in the south, slavery in the western territories, and tariffs, as well as major differences in their regional economies.
The debate in Congress over the admittance of Missouri to statehood was complicated by New York Congressman James Tallmadge's amendment. Have students read and interpret a famous letter that Thomas Jefferson wrote about the effect of the Missouri Compromise on the slavery controversy in America. Instruct them to jot down answers to the following questions:.
Skip to main content. Lesson Plan. Photo caption. Map of slave and free states based on the census. Analyze the arguments regarding the proposed admission of Missouri as a new state. Examine the historical purpose for needing to negotiate the Missouri Compromise of Analyze the competing perspectives around Missouri through an economic and geographic lens.
No comments:
Post a Comment