1844-1877
• 1844
– The election of an expansionist
Jacksonian Democrat – James K. Polk
• 1877
– The end of Reconstruction and the final
removal of U.S. troops from southern
soil
Getting to know the 1844-1877
Time Period
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Battle of Gettysburg
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Gold Rush begins
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
published
Sand Creek Massacre
Homestead Act
Emancipation
Proclamation issued
John Brown’s Raid
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Mexican War begins
Gadsden Purchase
Election of Lincoln
Compromise of 1850
Reconstruction Acts
Battle of Little Bighorn
Birth of the Republican
Party
• Dred Scott Decision
Getting to know the 1844-1877 Time
Period
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Mexican War begins (1846)
Gold Rush begins (1849)
Compromise of 1850
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
published (1852)
Gadsden Purchase (1853)
Kansas-Nebraska Act
(1854)
Birth of Republican Party
(1854)
Dred Scott Decision (1857)
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John Brown’s Raid (1859)
Election of Lincoln (1860)
Homestead Act (1862)
Emancipation Proclamation
(1862)
Battle of Gettysburg (1863)
Sand Creek Massacre (1864)
Reconstruction Acts (1867)
Battle of Little Bighorn (1876)
American Westward Expansion
• Fueled by
– Economic interests – expanding the market
economy (new places to sell to and buy from)
– National security interests – controlling the
natives and protecting American settlers
• Justified by
– Claims of white racial superiority
– Claims of American cultural superiority
(Manifest Destiny)
American Westward Expansion
• Led to
– War with the natives and with Mexico
– New markets on the continent and in Asia
– New States/Territory
– Political conflicts over the spread of
slavery within the U.S.
MANIFEST DESTINY!
• A continuation of the
belief that God has
blessed America, we
are a city upon a hill,
and that God is
pleased with
American institutions
(freedom and
democracy)
MANIFEST DESTINY!
• From Jefferson (1801)
to the end of Jackson’s
presidency (1837), 10
new states were added
to the Union.
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Ohio 1803
Louisiana 1812
Indiana 1816
Mississippi 1817
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Illinois 1818
Alabama 1819
Maine 1820
Missouri 1821
Arkansas 1836
Michigan 1837
MANIFEST DESTINY!
–Americans had settled in Texas and by
1836 led a successful revolution
against the Mexican Government
–Americans had made their way on
trails west to California and by the
1840’s were stirring up a revolt
against the Mexican government
there
The Election of James K. Polk in 1844
• Led to
–Settling the Oregon dispute with
England (Pacific Northwest)
–Florida Statehood
–The annexation of Texas (which
actually happened 3 days before his
inauguration)
–War with Mexico and the acquisition
of the Mexican Cession
James K. Polk
The Mexican War (1846-48)
• Started over a boundary dispute between
Texas (after it became a state) and Mexico
• Controversial beginning (Historical
interpretation)
– Some historians argue that President Polk
provoked the war (by sending troops to the
disputed land) so we could take Mexican land
– Other historians argue that Polk was justly
defending U.S. territory
POLK’S MESSAGE ON WAR WITH MEXICO
• May 11, 1846
• “…Mexico has passed the boundary
of the United States, has invaded
our territory and shed American
blood upon the American soil.”
The Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo
(1848)
• U.S. acquired over 500,000 square miles of
Mexican land
– The Mexican Cession (California, Arizona, New
Mexico, parts of Utah and Colorado)
• Mexico recognized Texas independence and
the Rio Grande as its southern boundary
• The U.S. paid Mexico $15 million
The Wilmot Proviso (1846)
• During the war, a proposal was made
to prevent slavery from spreading into
a new lands we may acquire
• The Wilmot Proviso did not become
law but it set the stage for further
tensions over the spread of slavery
ANTI-SLAVERY
• Had been a growing sentiment in
the north (DIFFERENT AND MORE
COMMON than abolitionism)
• Any lands acquired through
westward expansion should be
open only to free men (1846 Wilmot
Proviso reflected this belief)
ANTI-SLAVERY
• Free men should not have to
compete against slave labor for
economic opportunities
• Free men, free soil, free labor
• The Free Soil Party nominated
former president Van Buren in
1848
ANTI-SLAVERY
• Slavery could exist where it had
traditionally existed
• This was the ideology of the Free Soil
party and eventually the Republican
Party
• This is NOT abolitionism
• Anti-slavery sentiment is anti the
SPREAD of slavery
The Controversy of 1850
• Should California (part of the
Mexican Cession) be allowed to
enter the Union as a free state?
• What about the spread of slavery
into the rest of the Mexican
Cession?
THE COMPROMISE OF 1850
• California entered the union as a
free state
• The rest of the Mexican Cession
was divided into two territories
where popular sovereignty would
determine the slave issue
THE COMPROMISE OF 1850
• The slave trade in Washington,
D.C. was abolished
• A tough new fugitive slave law
was passed
UNCLE TOM’S CABIN (1852)
• Harriet Beecher
Stowe
• Written in response
to the fugitive slave
law
UNCLE TOM’S CABIN (1852)
• Melodramatic story of a devout Christian
slave (Uncle Tom) who is brutalized for
refusing to whip another slave
• A desperate mother (Eliza) runs away with
her child rather than having him sold to pay
off her masters debt
UNCLE TOM’S CABIN (1852)
• Pulls the heart-strings of readers
• Points out hypocrisy of Christians
that do not condemn slavery
• Stirs up anti-slavery sentiment in
the north
THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT (1854)
• Stephen Douglas,
Democratic senator from
Illinois
• Wants a proposed
transcontinental RR to run
through Chicago for the
economic benefits
• Needs southern support
because the RR would lead
to populating the northern
L.P. territory
THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT (1854)
• Organized the northern L.P. land into two
territories: Kansas and Nebraska
• Opened the territories to popular sovereignty and
therefore REPEALED THE MISSOURI
COMPROMISE!!!!
• Douglas felt this would give him southern support
for a northern RR
• He also felt Kansas and Nebraska would end up
being free
IMPACT OF THE K-N ACT
• Angry northerners, some Dems, some Whigs,
some Free Soilers eventually organize into an
anti-slavery political party: The Republican
Party
• The Kansas territory became a testing ground
for popular sovereignty
IMPACT OF THE K-N ACT
• Anti-slave and pro-slave settlers moved into
Kansas
• This is where John Brown takes the stage of
American history
James Buchanan (1857-1861)
THE DRED SCOTT DECISION (1857)
• Scott belonged to an
army surgeon and lived
in Illinois and the
Wisconsin Territory for
an extended time (7
years) where slavery was
prohibited
THE DRED SCOTT DECISION (1857)
• This gave him the
basis for suing in a
Missouri (his new
home) court for
his freedom
THE 1857 LANDMARK DECISION (Dred
Scott)
• 7 of the 9 Supreme
Court justices had
been appointed by
pro-slavery southern
presidents
• 5 were from slaveholding families
including the Chief
Justice, Roger B.
Taney
THE 1857 LANDMARK DECISION
• The Court Ruled
– Slaves were not citizens therefore Scott had no
right to sue in the first place
– The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was
UNCONSTITUTIONAL because it denied U.S.
citizens the right to property (protected in the 5th
Amendment to the Constitution)
– Therefore, the federal government could not
restrict the spread of slavery!!!
THE 1857 LANDMARK DECISION
• Slaves were “a subordinate and inferior
class of beings, who had been
subjugated by the dominant race…and
had no rights or privileges but such as
those who held the power and the
Government might choose to grant
them.”
IMPACT OF THE DRED SCOTT DECISION
• Outraged abolitionists and antislavery
northerners
• Appeared to them as evidence that there was
a slave power conspiracy within the federal
government
• Greatly increased the tensions in the country
on the heels of Bleeding Kansas
John Brown’s Raid
• October 1859
• Harper’s Ferry, Virginia (today it’s in West
Virginia)
THE ELECTI0N OF 1860
Secession Crisis
(1860-1861)
• Between Lincoln’s election (November 6,
1860) and his inauguration (March 4, 1861),
7 southern states voted to secede from the
U.S.
• SC, GA, FL, AL, MS, LA, TX
• Last minute attempts at compromise failed
(Crittendon Compromise and a proposed
13th Amendment to protect slavery)
CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR
• Breakdown of the balanced second party
system of the Age of Jackson (Dems and
Whigs) and the emergence of sectional
political parties (Dems and Republicans) in
the 1850’s
• The industrialization and urbanization of the
North while the South remained based on
slave agriculture
CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR
• Rising anti-slavery sentiment in the North
• A vocal abolitionist movement – American
ideals conflicting with American realities
• The ongoing debate over federal government
power vs. state power: States’ Rights
CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR
• Southern perception of Northern intentions
(John Brown Republicans) vs. Northern
perception of a slave power conspiracy in the
federal government (past presidents, Dred
Scott)
CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR
• The immediate spark was the election of a
Republican in 1860
• Many southerners concluded they no longer
had a voice in the federal government
The Civil War (1861-1865)
• Reviewed Tindall 16 and 17 quiz
• Video
– John Brown
– The Higher Object
– New Birth of Freedom
– Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address
– The Lincoln Assassination – from the Conspirator
(You Tube)
Sullivan Ballou Letter
Why Did the Northern States defeat
the Secessionists?
• Manpower and resources advantage
– 85/15; Better able to replace the dead and
wounded
• The Emancipation Proclamation prevented
recognition of the CSA by changing the
purpose of the war
• Both CSA invasions into the USA failed
(Antietam in 1862, Gettysburg in 1863)
• Southern resources and environment
destroyed by the invading Northern army
The Civil War in Perspective
• 600,000 Americans died in the Civil War
• Out of a total population of about 31
million
• This represented about 2% of the total
U.S. population
• A war like that today would result in the
death of
• OVER 6 MILLION AMERICANS
RECONSTRUCTION
1865-1877
• 3 PHASES
– PRESIDENTIAL RECONSTRUCTION
• 1865-1866
• SOUTHERN STATES MEET
LENIENT LINCOLN/JOHNSON
REQUIREMENTS TO REJOIN THE
UNION
• SOUTHERN STATES SUPPRESS
FREE BLACKS (BLACK CODES)
Mississippi Black Codes
• Website Page 3
RECONSTRUCTION
1865-1877
– CONGRESSIONAL/MILITARY/RADICAL
RECONSTRUCTION
• 1867 to (Varies state by state)
• CONGRESS FORCES CHANGE ON THE
SOUTHERN PEOPLE – BLACKS,
SOUTHERN REPUBLICANS
(SCALAWAGS), AND TRANSPLANTED
NORTHERN REPUBLICANS
(CARPETBAGGERS) VOTE, HOLD
OFFICE, WIELD POWER (temporarily)
RECONSTRUCTION
1865-1877
• REDEMPTION
– AS EARLY AS 1868 AND AS LATE AS 1877 (VARIES
STATE BY STATE)
– SOUTHERN WHITES REGAIN CONTROL OF THEIR
STATE GOVERNMENTS (Redeemer Governments)
– WHEN ALL THE EX-CONFEDERATE STATES RETURN
TO WHITE SOUTHERN CONTROL, AND ALL UNION
TROOPS ARE REMOVED FROM THE SOUTH,
RECONSTRUCTION ENDS (1877)
Short Term Successes of
Reconstruction
• Re-united the United States
• Provided political opportunities for black
Americans (during the Radical phase)
• Temporarily rearranged the relationships
between blacks and whites in the South
(during the Radical phase)
• The federal government used its authority to
protect the individual rights of the ex-slave
(during the Radical phase)
• The Constitution was dramatically changed
with the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments
13th Amendment
• Abolished slavery everywhere in the U.S.!!
• Neither slavery nor involuntary
servitude, except as a punishment
for crime whereof the party shall
have been duly convicted, shall exist
within the United States, or any
place subject to their jurisdiction.
14th Amendment
• Took the main provisions of the Civil Rights
Act of 1866 and enshrined them into the
Constitution
• Made anyone born on U.S. soil a citizen
(designed to make ex-slaves citizens)
• 1st and only mention of EQUALITY in the
Constitution (Equal Protection Clause)
The 14th Amendment (1868)
• All persons born or naturalized in
the United States, and subject to
the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens
of the United States
• No State shall deny to any person
within its jurisdiction the equal
protection of the laws.
Eric Foner on Reconstruction
• Foner video on the 14th Amendment
15th Amendment
• Provided for black male suffrage
• The right of citizens of the United States
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
In What Ways was Reconstruction a
Failure?
• In the end, it did not change Southern
attitudes or culture (white supremacy
remained)
• After Radical Reconstruction, the
Republican Party did not take hold in the
South – The South remained solidly
Democratic (The Solid South)
In What Ways was Reconstruction a
Failure?
• After Radical Reconstruction, the federal
government stopped using its authority to
ensure that all Americans received equal
protection under the law
• Ex-slaves remained property less and tied to
the land of white southerners
(Sharecropping)
• Foner video