Election of 1848
• President Polk sought no second term
• Democrats chose Lewis Cass
– Veteran of War of 1812
– “popular sovereignty”
• Whigs chose Zachary Taylor
– Hero of Buena Vista in Mexican War
– Dodged slavery issue
• Free Soil Party -- against slavery
– Attracted industrialists opposed to the tariff
– Selected Martin Van Buren

• Taylor wins the election

California Gold
• Discovery of gold in
California in 1848
• Thousands poured into CA
– Outburst of crime
– Needed state govt to protect citizens
• CA drafted constitution and excluded slavery
– Applied to Congress for admission as a state

ß
Problems of Sectional Balance in
1850
California statehood – would upset balance
ß Southern “fire-eaters” threatening secession.
ß Underground RR & fugitive slave issues:
 Personal liberty laws
 Prigg v. Pennsylvania (1842) (federal law is superior to state law)

Compromise of 1850
• Clay, Calhoun, and Webster assembled in
Congress
– Webster’s speech helped push the North to compromise
• President Taylor and William Seward were against compromise
– Taylor dies and Fillmore signs the compromise
• Southern “fire eaters” oppose concessions
– Talk of secession, but it passes
• Second Era of Good Feelings dawned

South gets its fugitive slave law and $10 million

√ Franklin Pierce Gen. Winfield Scott John Parker Hale
Democrat Whig Free Soil
Effective end of Whig Party

1852
Election
Results

Kansas-Nebraska Act,
1854

Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854
• Proposed that Territory of Nebraska would be split into two – Kansas and Nebraska
– Slavery would be decided by popular sovereignty
• Contradicted Missouri Comp and Comp of
1850
– Anti-Slavery North was angered
– South angered at the free-soilers attempt to control Kansas
• Greased the slope towards Civil War

Bleeding Kansas
• Northern abolitionists funded newcomers in
Kansas
– South responded by sending in armed slave owners
• (Pro-slavery) Border Ruffians came from
Missouri to vote = fraud
– Free soilers set up their own illegal government
• Gang of pro-slavery raiders burned Lawrence
• Lecompton Constitution – 1857 – vote for constitution with or without slavery – will still be slavery!
– Douglas opposed and called for revote
– Free Soilers win – Kansas remains territory

Border
“Ruffians”
(pro-slavery
Missourians)

Congressman
Preston Brooks
(D-SC)
Senator Charles Sumner
(R-MA)
Leading abolitionist

ß Northern Whigs.
ß Northern Democrats.
ß Free-Soilers.
ß Know-Nothings.
ß Other miscellaneous opponents of the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

√ James Buchanan John C. Frémont Millard Fillmore
Democrat Republican Whig/
Know-Nothing

1856
Election
Results

, 1857
• Scott sued for his freedom on the basis of his long residence on free soil
• Supreme Court ruled against him
– Denying blacks their citizenship & right to trial
• Suggested that slavery must be allowed everywhere
(property rights)
• Abolitionists were infuriated

Panic of 1857
CAUSES:
• Inpouring of CA gold inflated the currency
• Frenzied speculation
• Tariff of 1857 – reduced duties
EFFECTS:
• Unemployment
• Business failures
• Worse in North than in South (cotton prices still high)

√ Abraham Lincoln
Republican
John Bell
Constitutional Union
Stephen A. Douglas
Northern Democrat
John C. Breckinridge
Southern Democrat

Republican Party Platform in 1860
ß Non-extension of slavery [for the Free-Soilers.
ß Protective tariff [for the Northern Industrialists].
ß No abridgment of rights for immigrants
[disappointment for the “Know-Nothings”].
ß Government aid to build a Pacific RR [for the
Northwest].
ß Internal improvements [for the West] at federal expense.
ß Free homesteads for the public domain [for farmers].

A Last Ditch Appeal to Sanity
• Secession?
• Designed to appease the
South
• Federal protection for slavery south of 36-30
• Lincoln rejects the compromise
Senator John J.
Crittenden
(Know-Nothing-KY)

SC  Dec. 20,
1860