Sectional Conflict Increases
Chapter 11
1845-1861
Chapter 11
Section 1
An Uneasy Balance
Pages 344-349
Objectives
• 1. Explain how the slavery issue affected the
debate over the acquisition of Texas and Mexican
territory.
• 2. Analyze the role that the slavery issue played in
the elections and political debates of the late
1840s.
• 3. Summarize the provisions of Henry Clay’s
proposal to Congress.
• 4. Discuss why some people opposed the
Compromise of 1850.
The Debate Reopens
• Slavery continued to be a issue in the 1830’s. Tensions were
growing in Congress and many carried knives into the
House. Political debates would erupt into violence.
• The annexation of Texas: Texas petitioned for annexation
into the United States and they permitted slavery. This
would put the balance of power towards the south.
• 1845: Congress settled the issue favoring the South. They
would come in as a slave state and the state legislature had
the option to divide Texas into five states. Congress
extended westward the dividing line that was set by the
Missouri Compromise.
• The Missouri Compromise: banned slavery in the Louisiana
Territory north of 36”30’-Missouri’s southern boundary.
Effects on Annexation Debates
• 1. Northerners feared that the addition of
Texas would tip the balance to slave-holding
states.
• 2. Congress admitted Texas as a slave state
and authorized it to split into as many as five
states.
• 3. As a solution, people suggested popular
sovereignty and the Wilmot Proviso.
Popular sovereignty and the Wilmot
Proviso
Even after Texas entered the Union the debate over
slavery didn’t end. Due to the Mexican War the
debate whether slavery would be allowed in any
territory acquired from Mexico.
President James Polk: suggested extending the
Missouri Compromise line westward to the
Pacific Ocean.
Popular Sovereignty: Lewis Cass, Michigan senator
and Stephen Douglas, Illinois senator suggested
that citizens of new territories should vote on
whether to permit slavery.
• August 1846: David Wilmot, Representative of
Pennsylvania introduced an amendment to
the bill. Wilmot Proviso banned slavery in all
lands that would be acquired from Mexico. Of
course political lines were drawn. The south
threatened to secede if it became a law.
Ultimately the Wilmot Proviso was cut from
the final bill.
The 1848 Election
• Winning the Mexican War gave the U.S. much of Mexico’s northern
territory. Congress had yet to decide if slavery would be permitted.
• The Democrats chose: Lewis Cass
• The Whigs chose: Mexican War hero General Zachary Taylor
• Neither party would address the issue of slavery.
• Free-Soil Party: formed in August, 1848 by anti-slavery Whigs and
Democrats. The group demanded Congress prohibit the expansion
of slavery into the territories. The platform supported free western
homesteads with federal funding for internal improvements. The
party supported free labor and opposed the spread of slavery into
the territories, gained support in northern small towns and rural
areas-places undergoing economic changes brought on by the
Market Revolution. In 1852, for example, the party won 10 percent
more votes in the shoemaking towns of Massachusetts than
anywhere else in the state.
Effects on 1848 Election
• Democrats nominated Lewis Cass, who
favored popular sovereignty
• Whigs nominated Zachary Taylor, who had few
known views.
• Antislavery forces united and formed the FreeSoil Party, which nominated Martin Van Buren.
• Taylor won the presidency, and the FreeSoilers won several seats in the House.
The Slavery Issue in Congress
• Effects on Other Political Debates:
• Created disputes over the introduction of
California and New Mexico.
• Pro-Slavery forces demanded a stronger fugitive
slave bill. [1842-The Supreme Court had ruled
that state officials did not have to assist federal
officials in capturing runaway slaves. ] The south
continued to oppose any efforts to abolish
slavery.
• Antislavery forces wanted to limit the size of New
Mexico.
Clay’s Proposal
• 1850-Henry Clay urged the northerners and southerners to
compromise. Clay met with Daniel Webster, veteran of the Whig
party. Clay felt that the response was positive enough to present to
the Senate.
• Antislavery interests: Clay proposed admitting California as a free
state and abolishing slave trade-slavery itself-District of Columbia.
Advocated paying Texas $10 million to abandon its claim to part of
the New Mexico Territory. Clay suggested to persuade the
southerners that the New Mexico territory be divided into two
territories –New Mexico and Utah. Clay wanted Congress to pass a
tougher fugitive slave law. The law would force state and local
officials as well as private citizens to aid federal officials in the
capture and return of escaped slaves.
• Clay tried to advocate for the stability of the Union.
• Northerners who supported the breakup of the U.S.
were abolitionists. Southerners who did were known as
fire-eaters-group of southern political leaders who held
extreme pro-slavery views. [Fire-eaters although
scholars do not know the exact origins of the term fireeater, it implies violence and radicalism. By 1851
Americans throughout the United States used it to
refer to political extremists in both the North and the
South. Overtime, however, scholars applied it only in
reference to southern radicals. During the 1850s,
though, southern radicals largely rejected the term as a
negative one.]
The Great Debate
• John C. Calhoun: Although John C. Calhoun
served as Andrew Jackson’s vice president, the
two men had a rocky relationship. As secretary of
war in the Monroe administration. Calhoun had
tried to discipline Jackson for pushing into
Spanish Florida. President Monroe stifled the
effort, however. As vice president, Calhoun came
into conflict with Jackson again, as well as his
secretary of state, Martin Van Buren. Following
one complicated wrangle, Calhoun resigned the
vice presidency. He later entered the U.S. Senate.
• Calhoun was a southern statesman and a
advocate for slavery and a fire-eater. He was
from South Carolina and opposed the
ratification of the U.S. Constitution.
• Compromise of 1850: [September 20] Clay’s
compromise proposal was supported by
President Millard Fillmore and was passed by
Congress.