Compromise

"To satisfy the labor needs of the rapidly growing North American colonies, white European settlers turned in the early 17th century from indentured servants (mostly poorer Europeans) to a cheaper, more plentiful labor source: African slaves. "

"Required that escaped slaves found in free states be caught and returned to their masters. The Act also denied freed slaves the right to a jury trial and other constitutional rights."

The growth of the cotton industry led to much bigger demand for black slaves in order to run equipment and collect cotton.

"Banned slavery in the Louisiana Territory north of the 36° 30’ parallel, except within the borders of the state of Missouri, which would be admitted as a slave state; Maine to be admitted as a free state."

Missouri was admitted as a state despite a provision in its constitution excluding “free negroes and mulattoes” from the state.

"When abolitionists began submitting petitions about ending slavery to Congress, proslavery representatives passed a "gag rule" that prevented those petitions from being discussed."

"At Turner's Rebellion was a slave rebellion that took place in Southampton County, Virginia, during August 1831. Led by Nat Turner, rebel slaves killed from 55 to 65 people, the highest number of fatalities caused by any slave uprising in the Southern United States."

"Necessary to determine whether slavery would be allowed in states created by the territory acquired from Mexico in the Mexican-American War. California was admitted as a free state, while the Territory of New Mexico (including present-day Arizona and part of Nevada) allowed slavery. The Compromise also included a measure banning the slave trade (but not slavery itself) within the District of Columbia, as well as a new and more forceful Fugitive Slave Law."

"U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in the case of Dred Scott v. Sanford. The case had been brought before the court by Dred Scott, a slave who had lived with his owner in a free state before returning to the slave state of Missouri. Scott argued that his time spent in these locations entitled him to emancipation. In his decision, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, a staunch supporter of slavery, disagreed: The court found that no black, free or slave, could claim U.S. citizenship, and therefore blacks were unable to petition the court for their freedom."

"An unsuccessful attempt by Senator John J. Crittenden of Kentucky to resolve the secession crisis by making concessions to slave states. Crittenden proposed a constitutional amendment to guarantee the permanent existence of slavery in the slave states along the boundaries established by the Missouri Compromise line."