

1848-1861
 Polk
did not run for
reelection – ailing
 Democrats
nominated
General Lewis Cass
o “Father of popular
sovereignty”
• Slavery: Turn the national
issue into a local one
• Flaw: Might spread slavery
 Whigs
nominated
Zachary Taylor – “Hero of
Buena Vista”
o Whigs didn’t choose Clay
– too many enemies
o Dodged most significant
issues, no formal stance
on extension of slavery –
shove it under the rug
 Free
Soil Party
nominated Martin Van
Buren
o Supported the Wilmot
Proviso
o Advocated for internal
improvements & free
homesteads for settlers
 Taylor
wins
 The
discovery of gold
ignited issue of slavery
in spite of Taylor who
had hoped to ignore it
o Tens of thousands flooded
California – no stable
government established –
rampant crime and
mayhem ensued
o 1849 – Drafted a
Constitution (excluding
slavery) and applied for
admission

A free California worried
many slave-holding
Southerners
o In 1850, Southern states could
veto any amendment aimed at
abolishing slavery
o The admission of a free would
change that
o They were also upset over the
call for abolition in D.C. & the
loss of runaways through
Underground Railroad
• They wanted a more stringent
fugitive slave law

Key Players: Clay, Calhoun, and Webster
o Clay defended compromising
o Calhoun rejected concessions – leave slavery alone, return
runaway slaves, restore balance
o Webster defended Clay’s calls for compromise – famous
“Seventh of March Speech”

Congress deadlocked on the issue

Taylor (influenced by William H. Seward) was likely to veto
any compromise
o Then Taylor died unexpectedly -> Millard Fillmore
o Compromise
 Who
got a better deal?
o The North…
• California’s admission as a free state tipped the
balance of power in Congress
• The disputed “Texas” territory was surrendered to
New Mexico
• Almost certain to be a free state
• The slave trade was abolished in DC
• The most controversial provision was the Fugitive
Slave Law
• Enraged Northerners, some of whom refused to enforce it
(like SC in 1832)
– couldn’t
decide who to run
 Democrats
o Franklin Pierce (who’s
he?)
• Dark-horse, enemy-less –
(pro-Southern Northerner –
accepted by the proslaveryites of the
Democratic party)
• Platform – territorial
expansion, support of
Compromise of 1850
(including Fugitive Slave
Law)
– should have run someone associated with
the Compromise of 1850 (Fillmore or Webster)
 Whigs
o Instead, they went with tradition (military leader) –
Winfield Scott
o As a result, the party was split
• Antislavery (North) did not agree with Scott’s endorsement of the
Fugitive Slave Law
• Southern Whigs agreed with platform, but weren’t convinced of
Scott’s commitment to the Compromise of 1850
 Pierce
wins in a landslide

In 1854, Stephen Douglas
proposed a way to restore
the balance of power in
Congress
o He suggested that
Nebraska be divided into
two territories with the
slavery question
determined by popular
sovereignty
o Most assumed that
Nebraska would be free,
while Kansas would be
slave
 Douglas’s
proposal contradicted the Missouri
Compromise
o Required that the 1820 be formally repealed, the
very idea of which enflamed Northerners
 Southerners
saw a chance to gain one more slave
state
 Northerners
Slave Law
reacted with opposition to the Fugitive

Northerners settlers into
Kansas were mostly pioneers
o A small number, however, were
financed by New England
Emigrant Aid Company
• Antislavery organization that the
movement of northerners into
Kansas

Southerners were outraged
o They had supported Kansas-
Nebraska Act with the
understanding that Kansas = slave
& Nebraska = free
 1855
– Election of the first territorial legislature
o “Border Ruffians” – Slavery supporters from Missouri
who crossed the border to vote in the Kansas election
o The scheme worked & slavery supporters soon set up
a government at Shawnee Mission
o In response, free-soilers set up their own government
in Topeka
– Proslavery raiders destroyed the free-soil
town of Lawrence
 1856
– Kansas has enough people to apply for
“popular sovereignty” statehood
o Proslavery forces devise the Lecompton
Constitution
 1857
• Required voters to vote for constitution either with or
without slavery
• If they voted against slavery, an additional clause in the
Constitution protected the owners of slaves already in
Kansas
• Free-soilers were enraged as there was no
chance of a free Kansas
• They boycotted the polls allowing proslavery
forces to adopt constitution with slavery
 “Bleeding
Kansas” spilled over to the floor of the
Senate
o May 1856 – Abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner
delivered an enraged speech titled “The Crime Against
Kansas”
o South Carolina Senator Preston Brooks took matters
into his own hands
o He struck Sumner with an 11 oz. cane until it broke,
leaving him bleeding and unconscious
• Brooks resigned his seat, but was reelected
• Sumner forced to leave his seat & seek medical treatment
– The Supreme Court handed down
the Dred Scott Decision
 March1857
o Dred Scott had lived with his master for 5 years in the
Illinois & Wisconsin territories
o Upon his master’s death, he sued for his freedom
• The Court ruled that since Dred Scott was a slave & not a
citizen, he could not sue in federal courts
• Further, because a slave was private property, he or she
could be taken into any territory and held legally as a
slave
• Also, the Missouri Compromise (repealed by KansasNebraska Act) had been unconstitutional because
Congress didn’t have power to ban slavery from territories

John Brown schemed to
secretly invade the South,
create a slave uprising,
provide them with arms,
and establish a free black
state
o October 1859 – Brown & 20
others seized the federal
arsenal at Harpers Ferry
• Killed 7 people & injured
about 10 more
• Captured by U.S. Marines
• Convicted of murder and
treason
 Most
fateful election in American history
 The
Democrats were split
o The North supported Stephen Douglas
• Southerners viewed him as traitor because of the
Lecompton Constitution and his so-called “Freeport
Doctrine”
o The South supported John C. Breckenridge
• They had walked out of the National Convention in both
Charleston & Baltimore
• Eventually, they held their own Convention

The Republican Party
nominated Abraham
Lincoln
o The party’s platform appealed to
many groups:
• Free-soilers – non-extension of
slavery
• Northern manufacturers –
protective tariff
• Immigrants – protection of rights
• Northwest – Pacific railroad
• West – internal improvements at
federal expense
• Farmers – free homesteads
from public lands
 South
Carolina now had excuse to secede
o Within 6 weeks AL, MS, FL, GA, LA, & TX followed
o They were eventually joined by AR, TN, VA, & NC
1861 – They declared themselves the
Confederate States of America
 Feb
o Jefferson Davis was chosen as their president
 “Lame
Duck” period
o Buchanan did not believe the South could legally
secede, but he any constitutional authority to stop them

There were final attempts at compromise

The Crittenden Amendments were designed to
appease the South
o Prohibited slavery north of the 36°30’ parallel
o Protected slavery south of the line
o All future states would decide the issue through popular
sovereignty

Lincoln rejected the plan
o He had been elected on opposition to the extension of
slavery