Lecture notes for 3/24/99
Article 1, Section 9 (1808): Slave trade will end The Abolitionist Movement's purpose was to get rid of the slavery institution altogether. Free Soilers, on the other hand, just wanted to restrict the slave trade. Northwest Ordinance -states in the Northwest back then were not allowed to be slave states Texas and the Civil Rights Movement -Texas declares its independence from Mexico in 1836. -Texas applied for statehood but was denied since it recognized slavery. -Texas was denied statehood two more times. -As a result, it became a republic until 1845 when Texas is annexed into the U.S. as a slave state Compromise of 1850 -California would be admitted as a free state to offset Texas. -The territory between California and Texas were divided into two separate territories: New Mexico and Utah -These territories do not have any federal restrictions placed upon them -The territories had the local option of having slaves or not. Kansas-Nebraska Act -Nebraska territory was divided into Kansas territory and Nebraska territory. -Nebraska was admitted as a free state. -Kansas had the local option to accept the option of having slavery or not. Dredd Scott vs. Stanford (1857) -Scott traveled with his owner into free states; when his master died, Scott sued for his freedom. -The Supreme Court ruled against Scott, saying he was not a citizen. Civil War -Slavery became such an issue that when Abraham Lincoln was elected as president, South Carolina responded by seceding from the Union on December 20, 1860, touching off the Civil War. -Abraham Lincoln declared the Emancipation Proclamation, which stated that all slaves are free. (However, it applied only to the seceded states. Lincoln himself owned slaves.) -After the Union defeated the Confederacy, the freed slaves were allowed to participate in the political landscape. -This was known as the Reconstruction Era. -Reconstruction Amendments -13th amendment (1865): outlawed slavery and involutary servitude except as punishment -14th amendment (1868): all persons born within the U.S. are citizens of the U.S. as well as the state in which they are born; states cannot deprive life, liberty, or property from their citizens without due process of law. -15th amendment (1870): the rights of the citizens of the U.S. to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. -After the Civil War, the Supreme Court still had southern sympathizers, and these feelings were still evident through the mid-1900's. -Slaughterhouse Case of 1873 -The ruling of the court (5-4) said the states only apply equal protection for federal laws. -Civil Rights Cases of 1883 -This is an effort by the Supreme Court to strike down Reconstruction laws. -Scetion 5 of the 14th amendment says the federal government cannot forbid racial discrimination because it is a private situation. -As a result, the Civil Rights Act of 1875 (outlawed segregation in privately owned businesses and facilities) was declared unconstitutional. -The Supreme Court ruled that the 14th amendment limits only state actions. -Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896) -Supreme Court declares separate but equal facilities are equal. -As a result, the Supreme Court continued to institute segregation. -Jim Crow Laws (segregation laws)