#401: Slavery and Compromise

Preparation:

• Read/view:
  • ​View Crash Course U.S. History #13: Slavery (14:24)
  • Foner 378-83 (“A Dose of Arsenic”)
• Materials needed for class:
  • Please bring  Foner to class.
• Consider:
  • Why is slavery as practiced in the U.S. South before 1865 widely viewed as immoral today?
  • Given the human suffering caused by slavery, what arguments do you think Southern political figures like John Calhoun might have used against abolitionists?
  • Evaluate the costs and benefits of the Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. If you had been a member of the U.S. Senate in the 1850s would you have supported these agreements? Why or why not?

Image analysis:

• The following image, entitled “Take me back to Old Virginny” was published in 1859 and is said to depict slave life in the antebellum South. With a partner, consider the image below and consider the following SOAPSTone-related analysis questions:
  • Tone: Identify 2-3 adjectives that best represent this image.
  • Speaker/author: Who do you think created this image?
  • Audience: For whom do you think this image was created?
  • Purpose: Why do you think this image was created?

Further discussion:

• Why is slavery as practiced in the U.S. South before 1865 widely viewed as immoral today?
• Given the human suffering caused by slavery, what arguments do you think Southern political figures like John Calhoun might have used against abolitionists?

Charting compromise:

• In completing the exercise below, please rely on Foner and not online sources. We are choosing this path as a way to improve our ability to parse text for key facts.
• Step 1: Complete the chart below.
• Step 2: With a partner, consider the following questions:
  • ​Evaluate the costs and benefits of the Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854.
  • If you had been a member of the U.S. Senate in the 1850s would you have supported these compromises? Why or why not?
• Step 3: Full-class discussion.

Compromise	Components	Significance
Missouri Compromise (1820) See Foner, 288-89
Compromise of 1850 See Foner, 380
Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) See Foner, 382-83

Homework: #402. Please prepare carefully for next class – including thinking ahead of time about the “consider” questions. We will have a graded discussion in class.