Compromises over Slavery (1730-1860)

The Negro Act of 1740 was passed in South Carolina, during Governor William Bull's time in office, in response to the Stono Rebellion in 1739. The act made it illegal for enslaved Africans to move abroad, assemble in groups, raise food, earn money, and learn to write.

The “Three-Fifths Compromise” provided a formula for calculating a state’s population, in which three-fifths of “all other persons” (including slaves) would be counted for purposes of representation. The Constitution also included a provision to ban the importation of slaves starting in 1808. It also included a fugitive slave clause requiring escaped slaves to be returned to their owners.

This act 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.

In an effort to preserve the balance of power in Congress between slave and free states, the Missouri Compromise was passed in 1820 admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. It's purpose was to maintain the balance of power between the North and South in the United States senate.

This document was crucial 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.

This act was created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska and provided that residents of those territories would vote to determine whether the two territories would allow slavery. This resulted in violence between pro-slavery and anti-slavery advocates who moved to the territories.