Renewing the Sectional Struggle:1848-1854

Theme: The sectional conflict over the expansion of slavery that erupted after the Mexican War was temporarily quieted by the Compromise of 1850, but Douglas’s Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 exploded it again.

Theme: In the 1850s American expansionism in the West and the Caribbean was extremely controversial because it was tied to the slavery question.

Theme: A series of major North-South crises in the late 1850s culminated in the election of the antislavery Republican Lincoln to the presidency in 1860. His election caused seven southern states to secede from the union and form the Confederate States of America.

I. Compromise of 1850

A. Background Events1. Wilmot Proviso, 18482. The compromise: Popular

Sovereignty3. Election 1848

a. Taylor/Fillmore (W) v. Cass (D)b. “Free soil, free speech, free labor,

free men.”4. CA Gold Rush

B. Background Issues1. Political balance of slavery 2. CA and Mexican Cessation?3. Fugitive Slave Law, 1793

a. Harriet Tubman4. Disputed territory with TX5. Slavery in D.C. (1000 per year)

C. Negotiations A. Clay and Douglas and Webster and

FillmoreB. Calhoun C. William “higher law” Seward

D. Provisions (PopFACT)

Manifest Destiny SF Walking Tour, Dec. 21st

II. Expansion of Slavery

A. Election of 18521. Pierce a proslave northerner

supported the F.S.L. (D)2. Scott’s (W) support of F.S.L.

alienated southern Whigs

B. International Expansion1. Asia

a. Treaty of Wanghia, 1844b. Commodore Perry, 1852

2. Latin Americaa. Clayton-Bulwer Treaty, 1848b. W. Walker in Nicaraguac. Ostend Manifesto, 1854

II. Expansion of Slavery (cont.)

C. Domestic Expansion: Transcontinental RR

1. Gadsden Purchase2. Proposed territory of NB

and KSa. S. Douglasb. Popular Sovereignty

3. Reactions! a. North “Free-Soilers”b. Southern “Fire-eaters”c. Crash of Democratic

Party-28 years d. Creation of GOP

III. Rise of Sectionalism

A. Voices of Sectionalism1. Harriet Beecher Stowe2. Hinton Helper

B. Case Study: “Bleeding KS”1. Emigration into KS

a. NEEAC and “Beecher’s Bibles”2. Territorial vote, 1855

a. “border ruffians”b. Free-soilers in Topeka

3. Violencea. Attack on Lawrence, KSb. Pottawatomie Massacre, 1856c. Lecompton Constitution, 1857d. Caning of Senator Sumter

4. Election of 18561. Buchanan (D) v. Fremont (R) v.

Fillmore (“Do Not”)

John Steuart Curry’s Tragic Prelude (1938-1940)

IV. Failure of CompromiseA. Dred Scot Decision

1. Pro-Slave majority on court (Taney)2. Hit #1: No citizenship for blacks3. Hit #2: Slaves be taken anywhere (5th)4. Hit #3: Missouri Compromise

unconstitutional (5th)5. North horrified, “It’s an opinion, not

decision!”B. Financial Crisis of 1857

1. Ca Gold and Over-production/speculation2. Western demand for free land/1603. Industrialists demand for higher tariffs4. Cotton is King!

C. Lincoln-Douglas Debates, 18581. GOP spotlight2. Freeport Doctrine-territories could refuse to

pass laws protecting slavery—ending slavery.

D. Harper’s Ferry, 18591. Establish free black state2. Became a martyr in north and feared in the

south

Standing Lincoln, Lincoln Park, Chicago

IV. Failure of Compromise (cont.)

E. Election of 18601. Democrats

a. Douglasb. Breckinridge

2. Constitutional Union1. Bell

3. Republicans1. Lincoln

F. Tragic Chain Events1. 11 states secede by VA2. Confederate States of

Am., 18613. Crittenden amendments

Review Question

1. Analyze the ways in which controversy over the extension of slavery into western territories contributed to the coming of the Civil War. Confine your answer to the period 1845-1861 (2010, A)

2. Analyze the social, political, and economic forces of the 1840s and early 1850s that led to the emergence f the Republican Party (2009, A)