The Impending Crisis

The Impending Crisis

1836 - 1860

Introduction• Until the 1840s,

tensions between North & South remained relatively contained

• New sectional issues arose around the expansion of slavery

Looking Westward• More than a million

sq. miles of new territory came under the control of the U.S. during the 1840s

• “Manifest Destiny” ideology

Manifest Destiny• Am. destined by God &

history to expand its boundaries

• John O’Sullivan (1845)

• Reflected nationalism of 19th cent.; social perfection mvmts

• “Empire of liberty”

American Progress

Texas• In early 1820s, MX govt.

encouraged Am. immigration into TX

• Majority were white southerners & their slaves; est. cotton production

• By 1830s, twice the # of Ams. than MXs

Texas, cont.• Empresarios – received

sizable land grants from MX in return for bringing settlers into region

• Stephen Austin

• MX banned slavery in TX in 1830

• Independence declared in 1836

Texas, cont.• General Antonio Lopez

de Santa Ana defeated Ams. @ Alamo & Goliad

• General Sam Houston & Battle of San Jacinto

• TX granted independence

• Tejanos

Texas, cont.• Pres. Houston offered to

join Union

• Jackson doesn’t recognize TX until 1837

• Van Buren & Harrison also avoid issue

• Pres. Tyler

• 1845 (Polk)

Oregon• OR Territory

• Britain & U.S. claimed sovereignty

• 1818 treaty allowing for “joint occupation”

• Ams. outnumbered British by 1840s

Go West!!• Hundreds of

thousands of Anglo & African Ams. into far western regions of continent, 1840 – 1860

• Most traveled in family groups, young, shorter migrations before larger “trains”

Go West…(cont)• Economic opportunity

• Religious missions

• Mormons

• Major depots in IA and MO; joined wagon trails

• OR Trail & Santa Fe Trail

War is afoot…

• The growing number of Anglo Ams. west of the MS put great pressure on the govt. to annex TX, OR, & other territory

The Democrats and Expansion• Election of 1844

• Clay (Whig)

• James K. Polk (Democrat)

• Polk won

• TX became a st. in 1845

The Democrats and Expansion, cont.

• Polk resolved the OR question

• “Fifty-four forty or fight!”

• 1849 boundary fixed at the 49th parallel

The Southwest and California• Dispute over boundary

between TX & MX

• Rio Grande River vs. Nueces River

• Polk sends small army to Nueces line

• Part of area in dispute was NM

The Mexican War• Polk sends John Slidell

to try & buy land from MX; MX refused

• Jan. 1846 – Polk ordered Taylor’s army in TX to move across Nueces to Rio Grande

• May 1846 - war

The Mexican War, cont.

• War had many opponents in U.S., esp. Whigs

• Polk planned most of military strategy

• Taylor to cross Rio Grande, into northeastern MX, beginning w/Monterrey, before marching to MX City

The Mexican War, cont.

• Polk ordered offensives against NM & CA

• Colonel Stephen W. Kearny & Santa Fe

• Bear Flag Revolution & John C. Frémont

The Mexican War, cont.• MX refused to end the hostilities or cede the

conquered territory

• General Winfield Scott occupied MX City

• New govt. took power & negotiated peace

• Feb. 1848 – Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

Polk’s Legacy

General Winfield Scott – Entry into Mexico (1851)

Slavery and the Territories• Wilmot Proviso

(David Wilmot of PA – antislavery Democrat)

• Amendment to appropriation bill prohibiting slavery in any territory acquired from MX

Slavery and the Territories, cont.• Polk supported a

proposal to extend the MO Compromise line to Pacific coast

• Others supported “popular sovereignty”

Slavery and the Territories, cont.• Pres. campaign of 1848 – both Dems. & Whigs tried to

avoid the slavery question

• Dems. – Lewis Cass

• Whigs – Zachary Taylor

• Free-Soil Party emerged from the opponents of slavery; candidate was Van Buren

• Taylor won a narrow victory

The California Gold Rush• 1848 gold in Sierra

Nevada Mtns.• “Forty-niners”• 1st Chinese migrants;

Anglo Ams., Europeans, South Ams., Mexicans, freed slaves, slaves

• Discrimination• Foreign Miners’ Tax

Rising Sectional Tensions

• CA adopted a constitution prohibiting slavery; applied for statehood

• NM as soon as it was ready

• Calhoun

The Compromise of 1850, cont.• Provisions:

• CA as a free st.

• Popular sovereignty in the rest of territories acquired from MX

• Abolition of slave trade in DC

• More effective fugitive slave law

The Compromise of 1850, cont.• 1st dominated by Clay,

Calhoun, & Webster

• Defeated in July of 1850

• 2nd group of politicians emerge

The Compromise of 1850, cont.• William H. Seward

(NY)

• Jefferson Davis (MS)

• Stephen A. Douglas (IL)

The Compromise of 1850, cont.• New leaders were able to produce a

compromise• Led by Douglas, the “omnibus bill” was

divided into a series of measures to be voted on one by one

• September 1850

The Crises of the 1850s

• The sectional conflict seemed to briefly be forgotten amid booming prosperity & growth

The Uneasy Truce• Pres. election of

1852

• Dems. – Franklin Pierce

• Whigs – Winfield Scott

The Uneasy Truce, cont.

• Whigs plagued by defections of antislavery northerners

• Refused to openly condemn slavery

• The “Conscience” Whigs

• Free-Soil Party was gaining in numbers

The Uneasy Truce, cont.

• Pierce won

• Fugitive Slave Act – most controversial of the provisions of the Comp. of 1850

• Many northerners were openly defying it

• Personal liberty laws

“Young America”

• Expansion of democracy around the world as a way to divert attention from the controversies over slavery

“Young America,” cont.

• Ostend Manifesto (1854) made the case for seizing Cuba by force

• Kingdom of Hawaii (1854)

• Mvmt. to annex Canada

Slavery, Railroads, and the West• Great Plains were

suitable for farming

• Railroads & slavery

• Support for a transcontinental railroad

• Gadsden Purchase (1853)

The Kansas-Nebraska Controversy• Douglas wanted

transcontinental railroad for Chicago

• Introduced a bill (Jan. 1854) to organize territory west of IA & MO

The Kansas-Nebraska Controversy, cont.• Proposed territory was north of the MO

Compromise line

• Douglas offers popular sovereignty

• KS-NE Act

• Republican Party (1854)

“Bleeding Kansas”• Anglo settlers

from both the North & the South moved into area

• 1855 election for a territorial legislature

“Bleeding Kansas,” cont.

• Proslavery forces elected a majority to legislature (fraudulent)

• Free-staters enacted their own “govt.” in Lawrence

• Town is sacked by proslavery forces

“Bleeding Kansas,” cont.

• John Brown

• Pottawatomie Massacre

• Senator Charles Sumner (MA) beaten by Rep Preston Brooks (SC)

The Free-Soil Ideology• Differing economic &

territorial interests

• “Slave power conspiracy” threatened the future of the anglo laborer & property owner

• New Republican Party

Buchanan and Depression• Pres. election of 1856

• Dem.- James Buchanan

• Rep. – John C. Frémont

• Know-Nothing – Fillmore

• Buchanan won

The Dred Scott Decision

• Dred Scott v. Sanford

• Questions status of slavery in territories

• Chief Justice Roger Taney

The Dred Scott Decision, cont.• Scott couldn’t bring a suit in federal

court because he wasn’t a citizen; Africans had no claim to citizenship

• Congress possessed no authority to pass a law depriving persons of their slave property

Deadlock over Kansas• Buchanan supported

KS admission as slave st.

• Lecomptom Constitution – legalized slavery, but a majority of KS opposed slavery

• St. in 1861

The Emergence of Lincoln

• U.S. Senate election in IL

• Douglas vs. Lincoln

• Douglas defended popular sovereignty (Freeport Doctrine)

The Emergence of Lincoln, cont.• Douglas accused Reps. of advocating social equality of

the races & wishing to interfere w/slavery in the South

• Lincoln’s increasingly eloquent attacks on slavery

• Lincoln appealed to basic human rights & free labor; prevent its expansion into territories; wouldn’t directly challenge it where it existed; eventually it would die out

The Emergence of Lincoln, cont.• Lincoln lost the

election

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUjG1HSSaGI&feature=player_detailpage

John Brown’s Raid• Oct. 16, 1859, he & 18

followers attacked & seized control of a U.S. arsenal in Harpers Ferry, VA

• Brown & 6 followers were hanged

John Brown Mural – Kansas State Capitol

John Brown Going to His Hanging (1942) by Horace Pippin

The Election of Lincoln

• Douglas – Northern Democrat

• John C. Breckinridge – Southern Democrat

• John Bell – Constitutional Union

• Lincoln – Republican

The Election of Lincoln

• Republican platform: • High tariff • Internal improvements • Homestead bill & a Pacific railroad to

be built w/federal assistance • Congress nor territorial legislatures

could legalize slavery in territories