Slavery and
Westward
Expansion
Main Idea
The
spread of slavery became
the preeminent political issue of
the 1850s
The
proposals, laws, and
compromises that defined the
decade will ultimately lead to
Civil War
Wilmot Proviso
 Proposal
any territory gained from
Mexico should be closed to slavery


Southerners = outraged


David Wilmot Penn. Democrat in House of Rep.
Forbidding slavery in the west threatened slavery everywhere
Passed the House; Senate refused to vote

Calhoun Congress had no right to ban slavery in territories
Popular Sovereignty

Citizens in the territories should decide whether to permit slavery

Settlers vote on the issue

Proposed by Lewis Cass Michigan senator

Northerners

idea
Believed they would settle most of the new territories & ban slavery
Free Soil Party

Combination of anti-slavery Whigs, anti-slavery Democrats, and
the abolitionist Liberty Party


Conscience Whigs unhappy with Zach Taylor’s presidential
nomination

Taylor = slaveholder

Opposed Cotton Whigs northern party members who supported slavery
Democrats unhappy with Lewis Cass’ presidential nomination


supported Martin van Buren
“Free soil, free speech, free labor, free men.”

Mostly wanted to preserve western land for white men
Election of 1848



Lewis Cass- Democrats

Supported popular sovereignty

Promised to veto Wilmot Proviso
Martin Van Buren- Free Soil

Anti-slavery in territories

Supported Wilmot Proviso
Zachary Taylor- Whigs

Avoided the issue (The Great Silence)

Focused on his military feats
Cass- Democrat
Van Buren-Free Soil
G
r
e
a
t
H
a
i
r
Election results
Free
Soil Party received
no electoral votes, but
deprived Cass of 36 in NY
Taylor
defeated Cass by
exactly 36 electoral votes
The California Question
 By
1849, about 80,000 “forty-niners”
rushed to California after gold was
discovered
More
than enough people to apply for
statehood
 California
drew up a constitution
which forbid slavery and applied for
statehood as a free state
Southerners
said if CA was admitted,
they would leave the union (secede)


The Great Debate
Henry Clay came out of retirement to help resolve the California
question w/ compromise
Calhoun opposed Clay’s resolutions


President Taylor opposed Clay as well


Died unexpectedly
VP Millard Fillmore becomes POTUS


Died the following summer
Supported the compromise
Illinois Senator, Stephen Douglas, replaces Clay who was
exhausted

Divided compromise into smaller bills GOT IT PASSED
The Compromise of 1850

North gets:

California admitted as a FREE state

Slave trade is abolished in Washington DC


NOT SLAVERY
South gets:

Stricter Fugitive Slave Law

Slavery issue will be decided by popular sovereignty in Utah & New
Mexico territories
Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

All runaway slaves must be returned to masters

“slave catchers” could just say an African-American was an escaped
slave



AA had no rights to testify in court could not defend themselves
Federal commissioners ruled on whether person was an escaped
slave or not

Paid $10 to rule person was a slave

$5 if they said the person was free
Federal marshals forced to help “slave catchers”

Any citizen who refused to cooperate jailed
The Underground Railroad

Secret system of routes & safe houses that led runaway slaves to
freedom in the North



IT WAS NOT UNDERGROUND. IT WAS NOT A RAILROAD.
“Conductors” people who helped slaves escape

Gave shelter, food, & money to start new life

Runaway slaves = “passengers”
Levi Coffin most famous safe house

Over 2,000 AA stopped at Indiana house

Moved to Cincinnati, Ohio & helped another 1,300 escape thru
Kentucky
Harriet Tubman

Most famous conductor of UGRR

Born into slavery in Maryland


Age 13 overseer fractured her skull after she tried to save another
slave from punishment

Escaped in 1849
Nicknamed “Black Moses”

Made 19 trips back into south to help runaways

Helped more than 70 slaves to freedom

Never lost a “passenger” to slave catchers
Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Best selling novel of 19th century

Uncle Tom- Main Character



Good Christian slave who stands up for his beliefs no matter the
punishment
Depicts slavery in its truest form

Cruelty of slave owners/ overseers

Breaking up of slave families/runaways

Kindness of some masters as well
Changed Northern perceptions of slavery

Considered to be a cause of the Civil War
Kansas-Nebraska Act

Stephen Douglas proposed bill intended to organize territory west of
Missouri for the new Transcontinental RR

Undo Missouri Compromise & allow slavery into region

Divide territory into 2 parts

North
Nebraska
South
Kansas
Popular sovereignty used to determine legality of slavery
Nebraska
Kansas

intended to be free
intended to be slave
Passed in Congress in 1854 despite massive opposition
“Bleeding Kansas”


Both Anti-slavery northerners & Pro-slavery southerners called on
settlers to move into territory and vote on slavery issue

Effectively became a settlement race

March 1856 Kansas had 2 governments
Violence was common between the 2 groups

Lawrence, KS pro-slavery “border ruffians” plunder and burn the
anti-slavery town

End of 1856 200 people dead; $2 million of property destroyed
Caning of Charles Sumner

May 1856 Mass. Senator Charles Sumner delivers anti-slavery
speech



Preston Brooks, House of Rep. & Butler’s cousin, savagely beats
Sumner w/ cane

Sumner severely injured couldn’t work for 3 years

Southerners consider Brooks a hero
Brooks convicted of assault…


Singled out Andrew P. Butler of South Carolina
Fined $300 & received no prison time
Incident further intensified sectional rivalry over slavery