Chapter 18
Renewing the Sectional Struggle
Popular Sovereignty
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The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the MexicanAmerican War, but it started a whole new debate
about the extension of slavery.
Northerners rallied around the Wilmot Proviso
The Southerners were able to vote the proviso down
in the Senate.
Sectional political parties meant the Union was in
jeopardy.
Lewis Cass was the Father of Popular Sovereignty.
It was acceptable because it was a compromise
between the extremes of the North and the South, and
it stuck with the idea of self-determination, but it could
spread slavery.
Election of 1848
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Democrat – Lewis Cass
– Father of Popular Sovereignty
Whigs – Zachary Taylor
– Ignored all issues
– Had never held office or voted
– Southern slave owner
Free Soil – Martin Van Buren
– Committed against extension of slavery in the territories
– Advocated federal aid for internal improvements and urged free
government homesteads for settlers
– Wanted to stop the spread of slavery to west because they wanted
wages to rise so a working class could climb social ladder
President Zachary Taylor
• Won a narrow victory in the election
• He was the second president to die--from illness-- in
office and the second president to die in the White
House.
• He was the first president not previously elected to any
other public office.
• President Taylor was one of six Presidents born in a log
cabin. He was one of seven Presidents from Virginia.
• Zachary Taylor never lived in one place long enough to
register to vote. He voted for the first time when he was
62 years old. Taylor had never voted in a Presidential
Election until he voted for himself in 1848.
California Gold Rush
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In 1848, gold was discovered in California, and
thousands flooded into the state.
Had a huge effect on the slave issue
Most people didn’t “strike it rich,” but there
were many lawless men and women who
settled in California.
Shortly after California was ready to become a
state
California drafted a constitution and then
applied for statehood.
Sutter’s Mill
California Goldmining
49ers
Sectional Balance in 1849
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In 1850, the South was very well off, with a
Southerner as president (Taylor), a majority in
the cabinet and on the Supreme Court, and
equality in the Senate.
With 15 free states and 15 slave states, the
South could veto any proposed amendment
that would outlaw slavery.
The balance of 15 free states and 15 slave
states was in danger with the admission of free
California.
Senate Debate of Californian Issue
• John C. Calhoun
– Argued that the South should get more representation in the
House and there should be two presidents – one from the North
and one from the South.
• Daniel Webster
– “Seventh of March” speech argued for compromise. Was
considered a “fallen angel” by many Northerners because he
did not come out against slavery.
• William Seward
– A young senator from New York, was flatly against concession
and hated slavery, but he didn’t seem to realize that the Union
was built on compromise, and he said that Christian legislators
must adhere to a “higher law” and not allow slavery to exist
• Henry Clay
– Argued hard for compromise (Compromise of 1850)
Clay’s Compromise of 1850
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Californian admitted as a free state
The Utah and New Mexico Territories could decide the slave
issue with popular sovereignty
Outlawed slave trade in DC
Slavery still legal in DC
Stricter fugitive slave laws
President Taylor was against the compromise but he died in
office. This helped the bill get passed since Millard Fillmore was
for it.
By far the most controversial aspect of the compromise was the
fugitive slave law. Led to “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” and Personal
liberty laws.
Helped put off Civil War for 11 more years
Death of President Taylor
• On Independence Day 1850,
President Zachary Taylor
stood hatless in the sun for
hours listening to long-winded
speeches. He returned to the
White House and attempted to
cool off by eating cherries,
cucumbers and drinking iced
milk. Severe stomach cramps
followed and it is likely that
Taylor's own physicians
inadvertently killed him with a
whole series of debilitating
treatments
This 1852 daguerreotype of a miner in California is
evidence of African Americans's role in the state's preCivil War history. Photo courtesy of the Museum of the
African Diaspora
Clay’s Compromise
• Senator Henry Clay of
Kentucky proposed the
Compromise Measures of
1850, a set of five bills
favoring compromise
among the states on the
issue of slavery.
President Millard Fillmore
signed all five measures
into law
Slavery in 1850
Millard Fillmore
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He signed the Compromise of
1850 as an alternative to war, but
it alienated both sides
nonetheless. However, it did stave
off war for 10 years.
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President Fillmore never ran for
President. He became President
after the death of Zachary Taylor.
When the Library of Congress
burned in 1851, Fillmore and his
Cabinet helped fight the blaze.
Millard Fillmore was a founding
member of the Buffalo Chapter of
he American Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
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Harriet Tubman
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Born into slavery, she escaped to
Philadelphia in 1849, and
subsequently became one of the
most successful “conductors” on
the Underground Railroad.
Returning to the South more than
a dozen times, she is generally
credited with leading more than
300 slaves (including her parents
and brother) to freedom,
sometimes forcing the timid ahead
with a loaded revolver. She
became a speaker on the antislavery lecture circuit and a friend
of the principal abolitionists, and
John Brown almost certainly
confided his Harpers Ferry plan to
her.
Underground Railroad
Election of 1852
• Whigs – Winfield Scott
– Hero of War of 1812
– Whigs 3rd war hero (Harrison and Taylor
• Democrats – Franklin Pierce
– Dark horse candidate
– Considered a pro-southern northerner
– His Secretary of War was Jefferson Davis the future
President of the Confederacy
– Expansion fever gripped Pierce. The desire to even
out the imbalance between free and slave states
Franklin Pierce
• Each of his three children died
before he was president and
before reaching adolescence.
• Two months before his
inauguration, the Pierce family
was involved in a train wreck
and their 11-year-old son,
Benjamin, was thrown from the
car and crushed to death
before their eyes.
• President Franklin Pierce was
arrested during his term as
President for running over an
old lady with his horse, but the
charges were later dropped.
Southern Targets of Expansion
Cuba
• Pierce offered Spain (who owned Cuba)
$100 million for Cuba – Spain refused
• Ostend Manifesto – Top secret plan
written by Pierce to offer Spain $120
Million for Cuba and if they refused the
U.S. would take it by force
• Word leaked out and Pierce was branded
pro-slavery which eventually led to his
demise
Gadsden Purchase
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The Southerners wanted a
route through the South, but
best one would go through
Mexico, so Secretary of War
Jefferson Davis arranged to
have James Gadsden
appointed minister to Mexico
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Purchased land south of
Arizona for $10 million
Kansas-Nebraska Act
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Proposed by Senator Stephen Douglas of
Illinois. Wanted Illinois to be the eastern
terminus of the Transcontinental railroad.
In order of the RR to extend west from
Illinois, unorganized territories had to be
organized and made official U.S. territories
Kansas and Nebraska territories were
formerly part of Louisiana territory
Douglas needed southern support to pass
Kansas-Nebraska Act. South was originally
against passage because of their desire to
have the RR travel through the South
Douglas enticed the south into voting for the
act by agreeing to let Popular Sovereignty
decide the slave issue thereby allowing
slavery to potentially spread to where it was
originally prohibited by law (Missouri
Compromise)
Essentially overturned the Missouri
Compromise