Baltimore Polytechnic Institute
December 11, 2012
A/A.P. U.S. History
Mr. Green

Objectives:
Indicate how the Whig party’s disintegration over slavery signaled the end of nonsectional political parties.
Describe how the Pierce administration, as well as private
American adventurers, pursued numerous overseas and expansionist ventures primarily designed to expand slavery.
Describe Americans’ first ventures into China and Japan in the
1850s and their diplomatic, economic, cultural, and religious consequences.
Describe the nature and purpose of Douglas’s Kansas-Nebraska
Act, and explain why it fiercely rekindled the slavery controversy that the
Compromise of 1850 had been designed to settle.
AP Focus
Not content with the land gained from Mexico, southerners look to
Central America and the Caribbean for possible slave states. Central America is also seen as an ideal location for a canal connecting the Pacific and Atlantic
Oceans, a project a future generation will undertake.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act, orchestrated by Senator Stephen A.
Douglas for political as well as personal reasons, further polarizes the nation.
Northerners conclude that, with popular sovereignty, there will be no limitations placed on the expansion of slavery.

CHAPTER THEMES
In the 1850s, American expansionism in the West and the Caribbean was extremely controversial because it was tied to the slavery question.
Commercial interests guided
American foreign policy in Asia and contributed to sectional tension within the
United States, as regions tried to secure the terminus to a transcontinental railroad.

Mexican War Chart-due today
Election Charts 1852 & 1856, 1860 &1864
Work on for next week
Decades Chart 1850’s-for next week

Identify the components of the Compromise of
1850.
How will this impact future slavery questions?
Evaluate the effectiveness of the Compromise of 1850.

Election of 1852
Democrats
Franklin Pierce
New Hampshire
Weak/Indecisive
Served in Mexican War
Endorsed: Compromise of 1850, Fugitive
Slave Law
254 Electoral Votes
Whigs
Winfield Scott
Ablest general of his generation
Praised Compromise of
1850, Fugitive Slave
Law
Split on slavery
42 Electoral Votes
Marked the end of the
Whigs

Central America a concern after the gold rush and Mexican
War
The dream of a continuous Atlantic to Pacific transportation route aroused debate
Britain seized San Juan del Norte (Nicaragua’s Mosquito
Coast)
Caused a treaty between the U.S. and New
Granada(Columbia)
U.S. the right of transit across the Isthmus by maintaining the “perfect neutrality” of the route for free trade
Transcontinental Railroad completed in 1855 though the
Panamanian jungle
Clayton-Bulwer Treaty-U.S. and Britain would not seek exclusive control over a future Isthmain waterway

Southern slavocrats wanted to push slavery south into
Central America by acquiring land.
William Walker-tried to take Baja California
Took Nicaragua and installed himself as President
U.S. withdrew recognition and he was executed in 1860 by a Honduran firing squad
Cuba another enticing slavery acquisition
Polk offered $100 million to Spain
1850-1851 feeble takeovers ended in disaster
Spain took American Steamer Black Warrior in 1854
Ostend Manifesto-$120 million for Cuba. If not, and the continued Spanish ownership endangered
American interests, the U.S. would be right in forcefully taking the land

Caleb Cushing sent by President Tyler in early
1844
Signed the Treaty of Wanghia-1 st formal diplomatic treaty between the U.S. and China
Matthew C. Perry sent by President Fillmore
Used grace and fear to finalize the Treaty of
Kanagawa on March 31, 1854

Transportation to newly acquired lands imperative to keep them in the union
All sorts of solutions….even camels
Railroads the only solution
Where to build this railroad??? The South? The
North?
Best routes south of the Mexican Border
Secretary of War Jefferson Davis arranged
James Gadsden, a railroad man to negotiate with Santa Anna
Purchased a small area for $10 million

Stephen Douglass envisioned a line of settlements across the continent
He also owned Chicago real estate and railroad stock.
Proposed the Nebraska Territory be sliced into
2-Kansas and Nebraska
Utilized popular sovereignty to decide slavery
Flew in face of Missouri Compromise

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