Chapter 18Renewing the Sectional

Struggle

Popular Sovereignty and the Mexican Session

• Debate over what to do with the Mexican Cession– WILMOT PROVISO

(1848)--sought a Mexican Cession free of slavery• Passed by the House • Block by Southern

Senators• SIGNIFICANCE:

Brought slavery into the front of American politics from here on until the Civil War

“Popular Sovereignty”

• Emerged as a possible way to avoid the issue– LEWIS CASS--Became

Democratic nominee for election of 1848• Cass known as the “Father of

Popular Sovereignty

• Says people of a territory should decide for themselves whether to be slave state or not

Election of 1848• Whigs nominate Zachary Taylor

– “Hero of Buena Vista– Neutral on slave issue, but owned

slaves

• Free Soil Party nominates Van Buren– Mixture of northern antislavery Whigs,

Democrats, and Liberty Party members in North

– Supported Wilmot Proviso– “Free soil, free speech, free labor, and

free men”– Sign of the coming of the Republican

Party 6 years later!!!

Results of Election of 1848

• Taylor wins the election

• Free soilers won no states and did not impact the outcome of the election

Issue of California• Gold discovered in 1848 at

Sutters Mill

• By 1849, masses of people come to northern California

• Gold essentially paved the way for rapid economic growth in California

• CA drafted a Constitution in 1849 – Excluded slavery– Asked Congress for admission as

a state– Southerners opposed CA

statehood; free state threat

Underground Railroad• Chain of homes that hid slaves

escaping to Canada

• Harriet Tubman– Most famous person involved in

Underground Railroad

• Personal Liberty Laws– Passed by many Northern states

which prohibited state officials from assisting anyone trying to capture runaway slaves

– SIGNIFICANCE: Southerners demand a new stronger fugitive slave law

Get them out of the South!!!

Why Is the South so Upset???

• Issues of Concern for Southerners– CA would tip balance in Senate– New Mexico and Utah territories look to be free states– Northerners demanded abolition of slavery in

Washington DC– Loss of fugitive slaves

• When CA applied for statehood, southern “fire-eater's” threatened secession

Attempt at Compromise

• The Great Triumvirate– Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun,

and Daniel Webster make an attempt to end the crisis

• Henry Clay– North should pass a more

effective fugitive slave law– Supported by Stephen Douglas,

the “Little Giant”

• John C. Calhoun– Felt Clay’s position was inadequate– Leave slavery alone, return

runaway slaves, give South rights as a minority, and restore political balance

• Daniel Webster– Supported Clay– Gives famous “7th of March Speech”– Urged reasonable concession to the

South– Opposed Congress legislating in the

territories

• SIGNIFICANCE: Turned the North towards Compromise

• Abolitionists branded Webster a traitor– William H. Seward

• Opposed granting concessions to the South

• Stated Christian legislators must obey God’s moral law first

• “Slavery shouldn’t be allowed in western territories due to a ‘higher law’ than the Constitution”

I won’t show the

other side of

my face. Why?

Compromise of 18501. Popular sovereignty in Mexican Cession

2. Fugitive Slave law toughened

3. Abolition of slave trade in Washington DC

4. California admitted as a free state

5. Texas given $10 million for disputed Mexican territory

Pop-FACT

Election of 1852• Democrats

– Nominated Franklin Pierce– Sympathetic to Southern views– Acceptable to slavery wing of the

party– Campaign in favor of Compromise of

1850

• Whigs– Nominate General Winfield Scott– Party fatally split

• Southern Whigs supported Fugitive Slave Law but doubted Scotts willingness to hold Compromise

• Antislavery Whigs supported Scott but hated his support of the Fugitive Slave Law

Expansionism Under Pierce

• “Young America”– Pierce wanted to extend “Manifest Destiny”

overseas1. Wanted to build a canal in Central America

• Clayton-Bulwer Treaty--US and GB agreed that neither side would build and monopolize a new canal w/o the others consent

2. Issues with Asia• Signed trade agreements with China• Sent US ships to force Japan to open up trade with US

3. Cuba• Polk had offered Spain money for Cuba,

Spain refused• South wanted Cuba for slavery• OSTEND MANIFESTO--US secretly

demanded Cuba for $130 million. If Spain refused, use force

• Plan backfired b/c of angry Northerners who saw it as a slaveholders plot

Gadsden Purchase• Congress wanted a

transcontinental railroad built– Question should it be in the

North or South?– Best route seemed to be

below the Mexican border

• In 1853, US purchased Mesilla Valley (in southern New Mexico and Arizona) from Santa Anna for $10 million

• Result:– South now had the advantage

Kansas-Nebraska Act1854

• Most important short term cause of the Civil War

• Stephen Douglas proposed splitting Nebraska territory into two states: Kansas and Nebraska– Slavery issue would be based on popular sovereignty– Kansas would probably be slave, Nebraska free

• Problems– 36-30 line created by Compromise of 1820 prohibited slavery– Kansas was above it– Solution? Repeal Compromise of 1820– Fully supported by Southerners

Reaction to Kansas-Nebraska Act?

• Northerners shocked; saw Compromise of 1820 as sacred pact

• Northern reactions?????– Refused to honor Fugitive Slave Law– Antislavery movement grew stronger– North unwilling to compromise again

Birth of Republican Party• Formed in response to

the Kansas-Nebraska Act– Included Whigs, northern

Democrats, Free-Soilers, and Know-Nothings

– Lincoln came out of retirement and ran for the Senate

– Became nations 2nd major political party overnight

• Republican Party not allowed in the South