Chapter 17 - Manifest Destiny and Its Legacy
I. The Accession of “Tyler Too”
1. The Whig leaders, namely Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, had planned
to control newly elected President William H. Harrison, but their plans
hit a snag when he contracted pneumonia and died—only four weeks
after he came to the White House.
2. The new president was John Tyler, a Virginian gentleman who was a lone wolf.
o He did not agree with the Whig party, since the Whigs were pro-bank
and pro-protective tariff, and pro-internal improvements, but hailing
from the South, he was not. Tyler was really more of a Democrat.
II. John Tyler: A President Without a Party
1. After their victory, the Whigs unveiled their platform for America:
o Financial reform would come in the form of a law ending the independent treasury system; Tyler
agreeably signed it.
o A new bill for a new Bank of the U.S. was on the table, but Clay
didn’t try hard enough to conciliate with Tyler and get it
passed, and it was vetoed.
2. Whig extremists now started to call Tyler “his accidency.”
o His entire cabinet resigned, except for Webster.
3. Also, Tyler vetoed a proposed Whig tariff.
4. The Whigs redrafted and revised the tariff, taking out the
dollar-distribution scheme and pushing down the rates to about the
moderately protective level of 1832 (32%), and Tyler, realizing that a
tariff was needed, reluctantly signed it.
III. A War of Words with England
1. At this time, anti-British sentiment was high because the
pro-British Federalists had died out, there had been two wars with
Britain, and the British travelers in America scoffed at the
“uncivilized” Americans.
2. American and British magazines ripped each other’s countries,
but fortunately, this war was only of words and not of blood.
3. In the 1800s, America with its expensive canals and railroads was a
borrowing nation while Britain was the one that lent money, but when
the Panic of 1837 broke out, the Englishmen who lost money assailed
their rash American borrowers.
4. In 1837, a small rebellion in Canada broke out, and Americans furnished arms and supplies.
5. Also in 1837, an American steamer, the Caroline, was attacked in N. and set afire by a British force.
6. Tensions were high afterwards, but later calmed; then in 1841,
British officials in the Bahamas offered asylum to some 130 revolting
slaves who had captured the ship Creole.
IV. Manipulating the Maine Maps
1. Maine had claimed territory on its northern and eastern border that
was also claimed by England, and there were actually small skirmishes
in the area (the “Aroostook War” of feuding lumberjacks).
2. Luckily, in 1842 Britain sent Lord Ashburton to negotiate with
Daniel Webster, and after talks, the two agreed to what is now called
the Webster-Ashburton Treaty, which gave Britain their desired
Halifax-Quebec route for a road while America got a bit more land north
of Maine.
3. The U.S. also got, as a readjustment of the U.S.—Canadian
border, the unknowingly priceless Mesabi Range of iron ore up in
Minnesota. It later provided the iron for steel in the boom of industry.
V. The Lone Star of Texas Shines Alone
1. Ever since it had declared independence in 1836, Texas had built up
reinforcements because it had no idea if or when Mexico would attack
again to reclaim her “province in revolt.” So, Texas made
treaties with France, Holland, and Belgium. These alliances worried the
U.S. because…
2. If Texas "buddied up" to Europe, Britain especially, it’d cause big problems for America, such as…
o The Monroe Doctrine (where Europe was told to "stay away") would be undermined if England had a
buddy over here in Texas.
o The dominant Southern cotton economy would also be undercut by Texas cotton shipping to England.
3. The U.S. was at a stand-still over what to do with Texas.
o The North decried the Southern "slavocracy" (a supposed Southern conspiracy to always gain more
slave land).
o America could not just boldly annex Texas without a war with Mexico.
o Overseas, Britain wanted an independent Texas to check American expansionism.
o Yet, Texas would be good boost for American cotton production and provide tons more land. What to
do?!
VI. The Belated Texas Nuptials
1. James K. Polk and his expansionist ideas won the election of 1844.
His election was seen as a "mandate for manifest destiny," so the
following year, Texas was formally invited to become the 28th state of
the Union.
2. Mexico complained that Americans had despoiled it of Texas, which
was partly true, but as it turned out, Mexico would not have been able
to reconquer their lost province anyway.
VII. Oregon Fever Populates Oregon
1. Oregon was a great place, stretching from the northern tip of California to the 54° 40’ line.
2. Once claimed by Russia, Spain, England, and the U.S., now, only the
latter two claimed it; England had good reasons for its claims north of
the Columbia River, since it was populated by British and by the
Hudson’s Bay Company.
3. However, Americans had strong claims south of the Columbia River
(named after his ship by Robert Gray when he discovered the river),
since they populated it much more. Plus, the Americans occupied and had
explored the interior of the land, thanks to Lewis and Clark.
4. The Oregon Trail, an over 2000-mile trail across America, was a common route to Oregon during the early
1840s.
VIII. A Mandate (?) for Manifest Destiny
1. In 1844, the two candidates for presidency were Henry Clay, the
popular Whig who had been defeated twice before, and a dark-horse
candidate, James K. Polk, who had been picked because the Democrats
couldn’t agree on anyone else.
2. Polk, having been Speaker of the House for four years and governor
of Tennessee for two terms. He was no stranger to politics, was called
“Young Hickory” (in fact, Polk was born in Pineville, N.C.,
only some 15 miles from Jackson’s birthplace) and Polk was even
sponsored by former president Andrew Jackson.
3. He and the Democrats advocated “Manifest Destiny”, a
concept that stated that the U.S. was destined to expand across the
continent and get as much land as possible.
4. On the issue of Texas, Clay tried to say two things at once, and
thus, it cost him, since he lost the election (170 to 105 in the
Electoral; 1,338,464 to 1,300,097 in the popular) by 5000 votes in New
York.
IX. Polk the Purposeful
1. Polk laid out a 4-point mission for himself and the nation (then achieved all 4 points in 4 years)
o Lower the tariff
o Restore the independent treasury (put U.S. money into non-government banks)
o Clear up the Oregon border issue
o Get California
2. One of Polk’s acts was to lower the tariff, and his secretary
of the treasury, Robert J. Walker, did so, lowering the tariff from 32%
to 25% despite complaints by the industrialists.
o Despite warnings of doom, the new tariff was followed by good times.
3. He also restored the independent treasury in 1846 and wanted to acquire California and settle the Oregon
dispute.
4. Under Polk, the Oregon border issue was settled.
o While the Democrats had promoted acquiring all of Oregon during
their campaign, after the annexation of Texas, the Southern Democrats
didn’t much care anymore.
o England and the U.S. had been bargaining for Oregon land to answer, "Where is the border of
Oregon?"
 England first answered 42o latitude; then said the Columbia River
 The U.S. first answered 54o40' latitude; then said 49o latititude
 Things were tense for a while, but England realized there were more
Americans in Oregon than Brits—their leverage was small.
o So, the British proposed a treaty that would separate British and American claims at the **49 th parallel
(excluding Vancouver), a proposal that Polk threw to the Senate, and which accepted.
o The U.S. got the better of the deal since
 the British second-choice was rejected but the Americans' second-choice was accepted and
 as with the Maine treaty, the U.S. got a bit more land than England did
o Those angry with the deal cried, “Why all of Texas but not
all of Oregon?” The cold, hard answer was that because Mexico was
weak and that England was strong.
X. Misunderstandings with Mexico
1. Polk wanted California, but this was difficult due to strained U.S.-Mexican relations.
o After the annexation of Texas, Mexico had recalled its foreign
minister, and before, it had been forced to default on its payments of
$3 million to the U.S.
o Also, when Texas claimed its southern boundary to be the Rio Grande
and not the Nueces River like Mexico said, Polk felt that he had to
defend Texas and did so.
2. The U.S. then sent John Slidell to Mexico City as an envoy
instructed to buy California for $25 million, however, once he arrived,
the Mexican government, pressured by its angry people, refused to see
him, thus “snubbing” him.
XI. American Blood on American (?) Soil
1. A frustrated Polk now forced a showdown, and on Jan. 13, 1846, he
ordered 4000 men under Zachary Taylor to march from the Nueces River to
the Rio Grande, provocatively near Mexican troops.
2. As events would have it, on April 25, 1846, news of Mexican troops
crossing the Rio Grande and killing of wounding 16 Americans came to
Washington, and Polk pushed for a declaration of war
o A group of politicians, though, wanted to know where exactly was
the spot of the fighting before committing to war; among them was
Abraham “Spotty” Lincoln because of his “Spot
Resolution.”
o Pushed by Polk, Congress declared war, and so began the Mexican-American War.
XII. The Mastering of Mexico
1. Polk hoped that once American had beaten Mexico enough, he could
get California and end the war, and the recently dethroned Santa Anna
told the U.S. that if he could return to Mexico, he would take over the
government, end the war, and give California to the U.S. He lied.
2. In the Southwest, U.S. operations led by Stephen W. Kearny (led
1700 troops from Leavenworth to Santa Fe) and John C. Fremont (leader
of the Bear Flag Revolt in California) were successful.
3. “Old Rough and Ready” Zachary Taylor, a general, he
fought into Mexico, reaching Buena Vista, and repelled 20,000 Mexicans
with only 5000 men, instantly becoming a hero.
4. General Winfield Scott led American troops into Mexico City.
XIII. Fighting Mexico for Peace
1. Polk sent Nicholas Trist to negotiate an armistice with Mexico at a
cost of $10,000 (Santa Anna took the bribe and then used it for his
defenses).
2. Afterwards, Trist was recalled, but he refused to leave.
3. He negotiated the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on February 2, 1848, which…
o Gave to America all Mexican territory from Texas to California that
was north of the Rio Grande. This land was called the Mexican Cession
since Mexico ceded it to the U.S.
o U.S. only had to pay $15 million to Mexico for it.
o $3.5 million in debts from Mexico to the U.S. were absolved as well.
o In essence, the U.S. had forced Mexico to "sell" the Mexican Cession lands.
4. In America, there were people clamoring an end to the war (the
Whigs) and those who wanted all of Mexico (but the leaders of the South
like John C. Calhoun realized the political nightmare that would cause
and decided not to be so greedy), so Polk speedily passed the bill to
the Senate, which approved it, 38 to 14.
5. Polk had originally planned to pay $25 million just for California,
but he only paid $18,250,000; some people say that American paid even
that much because it felt guilty for having bullied Mexico into a war
it couldn’t win.
XIV. Profit and Loss in Mexico
1. In the war, America only had 13,000 dead soldiers, most taken by
disease, and the war was a great practice for the Civil War, giving men
like Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant invaluable battle experience.
2. Outside countries now respected America more, since it had made no
major blunders during the war and had proven its fighting prowess.
3. However, it also paved the way to the Civil War by attaining more land that could be disputed over slavery.
4. David Wilmot of Pennsylvania introduced his Wilmot Proviso (a
provision or amendment), which stated that slavery should never exist
in any of the Mexican Cession territories that would be taken from
Mexico; the amendment was passed twice by the House but it never got
passed the Senate (where southern states equaled northern).
o Although it failed, the importance of the Wilmot Proviso lay in the fact that it opened old wounds—those
of slavery.
o In other words, it opened a "can of worms" by raising the question, "Will we have slavery in the
Mexican Cession lands?"
o It's this question that starts the Civil War in 1861, only 13 years later.
5. Bitter Mexicans, resentful of the land that was taken from them,
land that halved their country’s size while doubling
America’s. They took small satisfaction when the same land caused
disputes that led to the Civil War, a fate called "Santa Anna’s
Revenge".
Chapter 18 - Renewing the Sectional Struggle
I. The Popular Sovereignty Panacea
1. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican-American War, but
it started a whole new debate about the extension of slavery, with
Northerners rallying around the Wilmot Proviso (which proposed that the
Mexican Cession lands be free soil); however, the Southerners shot it
down.
2. Before, the two national parties, the Democrats and the Whigs, had
had strong support from all over the nation; now, that was in jeopardy.
3. In 1848, Polk, due to tremendous overworking and chronic diarrhea,
did not seek a second term, and the Democrats nominated General Lewis
Cass, a veteran of the War of 1812, a senator and diplomat of wide
experience and considerable ability, and the originator of popular
sovereignty, the idea that issues should be decided upon by the people
(specifically, it applied to slavery, stating that the people in the
territories should decide to legalize it or not).
o It was good (and liked by politicians) 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.
II. Political Triumphs for General Taylor
1. The Whigs nominated General Zachary Taylor, the hero of Buena Vista
in the Mexican War, a man with no political experience, but popular
man, and they avoided all picky issues in his campaign.
2. Disgusted antislavery Northerners organized the Free Soil Party, a
party committed against the extension of slavery in the territories and
one that also advocated federal aid for internal improvements and urged
free government homesteads for settlers.
o This party appealed to people angry over the half-acquisition of
Oregon, people who didn’t like Blacks in the new territory, as
well as “conscience Whigs” who condemned slavery on moral
grounds.
o The Free-Soilers nominated Martin Van Buren.
3. Neither major party talked about the slavery issue, but Taylor won narrowly.
III. “Californy Gold”
1. In 1848, gold was discovered in California, and thousands flooded into the state, thus blowing the lid off of the
slavery issue.
2. Most people didn’t “strike it rich,” but there were many lawless men and women.
3. As a result, California (privately encouraged by the president)
drafted a constitution and then applied for free statehood, thus
bypassing the usual territorial stage and avoiding becoming a slave
state.
IV. Sectional Balance and the Underground Railroad
1. 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 meaning that its 15 states could block any
proposed amendment that would outlaw slavery. Still, the South was
worried.
2. The balance of 15 free states and 15 slave states was in danger
with the admission of free California (which would indeed destroy the
equilibrium forever) and other states might follow California as free
states.
3. The South was also agitated about Texas’ claims on disputed
territory and the prospect of no slavery in Washington D.C., thus
putting a piece of non-slavery land right in the middle of
slave-holding Virginia and Maryland.
4. Finally the Underground Railroad, a secret organization that took
runaway states north to Canada, was taking more and more slaves from
the South.
5. Harriet Tubman freed more than 300 slaves during 19 trips to the South.
6. The South was also demanded a stricter fugitive slave law.
V. Twilight of the Senatorial Giants
1. In 1850, the South was confronted with catastrophe, with California demanding admission as a free state.
o Thus, the three giants met together for the last time to engineer a compromise.
2. Henry Clay, AKA “The Great Compromiser,” now 73 years
old, urged concession from both the North and the South (the North for
a fugitive slave law, the South for others) and was seconded by Stephen
Douglas, the “Little Giant” and fine senator.
3. Southern spokesman John C. Calhoun, dying of tuberculosis, pleaded
for states’ rights, for slavery to be left alone, for the return
of runaway slaves, the restoration of the rights of the South as a
minority, and the return for political balance.
4. Northerner Daniel Webster proclaimed that the new land could not
hold slaves anyway, since it couldn’t cultivate cotton,
etc… and his Seventh of March speech helped move the North into
compromise.
5. As a result of the popular speech, though, Webster was also
proclaimed a traitor to the North, since he had called for ignoring the
slavery subject.
VI. Deadlock and Danger on Capitol Hill
1. A new group of politicians, the “Young Guard,” seemed
more interested in purifying the Union rather than patching it up.
2. William H. 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; this might have cost him the 1860 presidential
election.
3. President Taylor also appeared to have fallen under the influence
of the “higher law,” vetoing every compromise sent to him
by Congress.
VII. Breaking the Congressional Logjam
1. Then, in 1850, Zachary Taylor suddenly died of an acute intestinal disorder, and portly Millard Fillmore took
over the reigns.
2. Impressed by arguments of conciliation, he signed a series of agreements that came to be known as the
Compromise of 1850.
3. Clay, Webster, and Douglas orated on behalf of the compromise for
the North, but the South hated it; fortunately, they finally accepted
it after much debate.
VIII. Balancing the Compromise Scales
1. What the North got… (the North got the better deal in the Compromise of 1850)
1. California was admitted as a free state, permanently tipping the balance.
2. Texas lost its disputed territory to New Mexico and (now) Oklahoma.
3. The District of Columbia could not have slave trade, but slavery
was still legal. This was symbolic only. It was symbolic in that the
nation’s capital “took a stance” against the trade.
However, it was impractical because the trade only was illegal, not
slavery and because a person could easily buy a slave in next-door
Virginia.
2. What the South got…
1. Popular sovereignty in the Mexican Cession lands. This was good for
the South because prior to this, there was to be no new slave lands
(the 36o30’ Missouri Compromise line had drawn that).
On paper, this opened a lot of land to slavery, possibly. This was bad
for the South because those lands were too dry to raise cotton anyway
and therefore would never see slaves.
2. Texas was paid $10 million for the land lost to New Mexico.
3. A new, tougher Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 was drastic, and it
stated that (1) fleeing slaves couldn’t testify on their own
behalf, (2) the federal commissioner who handled the case got $5 if the
slave was free and $10 if not, and (3) people who were ordered to help
catch slaves had to do so, even if they didn’t want to.
 Angry Northerners pledged not to follow the new law, and the Underground Railroad stepped up
its timetable.
 It turns out that the new Fugitive Slave Law was a blunder on
behalf of the South, since it inflamed both sides, but a civil war
didn’t occur, and this was better for the North, since with each
moment, it was growing ahead of the South in population and
wealth—in crops, factories, foundries, ships, and railroads.
IX. Defeat and Doom for the Whigs
1. In 1852, the Democrats, unable to agree, finally nominated dark horse Franklin Pierce, a man who was
unknown and enemyless.
2. The Whigs nominated “Old Fuss and Feathers,” Winfield
Scott, the old veteran of the War of 1812 and the Mexican-American War.
3. Both parties boasted about the Compromise of 1850, though the Democrats did more.
4. The Whigs were hopelessly split, and thus, Pierce won in a
landslide; the death of the Whigs ended the national political
arguments and gave rise to sectional political alignments.
X. Expansionist Stirrings South of the Border
1. Pierce tried to be another Polk, and he impressed followers by
reciting his inaugural address from memory, but his cabinet was filled
with Southerners like Jefferson Davis and he was prepared to be a
Southerners’ tool.
2. In July of 1856, a brazen American adventurer, William Walker,
grabbed control in Nicaragua and proclaimed himself president, then
legalized slavery, but a coalition of Latin American states overthrew
him. This threw some fuel on the “Slavocracy” theory (a
conspiracy theory where the South was always seeking new slave land).
3. America also eyed Cuba with envy.
o Although America wanted Cuba, Spain wouldn’t sell it to the U.S. at any price.
o So after two attempts to take Cuba failed, and after Spain captured
the American steamer Black Warrior on a technicality, three U.S.
foreign ministers met in Ostend, Belgium and drew up the Ostend
Manifesto which stated that the U.S. was to offer $120 million to Spain
for Cuba, and if it refused and Spain’s ownership of Cuba
continued to endanger the U.S., then America would be justified in
seizing the island (sell it or it’ll be taken).
4. Northerners were outraged once this “secret” document
was leaked, and the South could not get Cuba (and obtain another slave
state). Pierce was embarrassed and more fuel thrown on the Slavocracy
theory.
XI. The Allure of Asia
1. Over on the Pacific, America was ready to open to Asia.
o Caleb Cushing was sent to China on a goodwill mission.
2. The Chinese were welcoming since they wanted to counter the British.
3. U.S.—China trade began to flourish.
4. Missionaries also sought to save souls; they largely kindled resent however.
5. Relations opened up Japan when Commodore Matthew C. Perry steamed
into the harbor of Tokyo in 1854 and asked/coerced/forced them to open
up their nation.
o Perry’s Treaty of Kanagawa formerly opened Japan.
o This broke Japan’s centuries-old traditional of isolation,
and started them down a road of modernization and then imperialism and
militarism.
XII. Pacific Railroad Promoters and the Gadsden Purchase
1. Though the U.S. owned California and Oregon, getting out there was
very difficult, since the sea routes were too long and the wagon route
overland was dangerous, so the only real feasible solution lay in a
transcontinental railroad.
2. The Southerners wanted a route through the South, but the best one
would go through Mexico, so Secretary of War Jefferson Davis arranged
to have James Gadsden appointed minister to Mexico.
o Two reasons this was the best route: (1) the land was organized
meaning any Indian attacks could be repelled by the U.S. Army and (2)
geography—the plan was to skirt south of the Rocky Mtns
o Finding Santa Anna in power again, he bought the Gadsden Purchase
for $10 million, and despite clamor about the “rip-off,”
Congress passed the sale.
3. A northern railroad would be less effective since it would cross over mountains and cross through Indian
territory.
4. The South now appeared to have control of the location of the
transcontinental railroad, but the North said that if the organization
of territories was the problem, then Nebraska should be organized.
XIII. Douglas’s Kansas-Nebraska Scheme
1. To do this, Senator Stephen Douglas proposed the Kansas-Nebraska
Act, which would let slavery in Kansas and Nebraska be decided upon by
popular sovereignty (a concession to the South in return for giving up
the railroad).
2. The problem was that the Missouri Compromise had banned any slavery north of the 36∞30’ line, so the act
would have to repeal it.
3. Southerners had never thought of Kansas as a possible slave state, and thus backed the bill, but Northerners
rallied against it.
4. Nevertheless, Douglas rammed the bill through Congress, and it was passed, repealing the Missouri
Compromise.
XIV. Congress Legislates a Civil War
1. The Kansas-Nebraska Act directly wrecked the Missouri Compromise of 1820 (by opening slavery up above
the 36o30’ line) and indirectly wrecked the Compromise of 1850 (when everyone thought the issue was settled
and done).
2. Northerners no longer enforced the Fugitive Slave Law at all, and Southerners were still angry.
3. The Democratic Party was hopelessly split into two, and after 1856, it would not have a president elected for 28
years.
Chapter 19 - Drifting Toward Disunion
I. Stowe and Helper: Literary Incendiaries
1. In 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe published Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a popular book that awakened the
passions of the North toward the evils of slavery.
o In one line, it’s about the splitting up of a slave family and the cruel mistreatment of likeable Uncle
Tom by a cruel slave master.
o The book sold millions of copies, and overseas, British people were charmed by it.
o The South cried foul, saying Stowe’s portrayal of slavery was wrong and unfair.
o The book helped Britain stay out of the Civil War because its people, who had read the book and
had now denounced slavery because they sympathized with Uncle Tom, wouldn’t allow
intervention on behalf of the South.
2. Another book, The Impending Crisis of the South, written by Hinton R. Helper, a non-aristocratic white
North Carolinian, tried to prove, by an array of statistics, that the non-slave-holding
Southern whites were really the ones most hurt by slavery.
o Published in the North, this book and Uncle Tom’s Cabin were both banned in the South, but
widely read in the North. They drove the North—South wedge deeper.
II. The North-South Contest for Kansas
1. Northerners began to pour into Kansas, and Southerners were outraged, since they had supported the
Compromise of 1850 under the impression that Kansas would become a slave state.
2. Thus, on election day in 1855, hordes of Southerners “border ruffians” from Missouri flooded the polls and
elected Kansas to be a slave state; free-soilers were unable to stomach this and set up
their own government in Topeka.
o Thus, confused Kansans had to chose between two governments: one illegal (free government in
Topeka) and the other fraudulent (slavery government in Shawnee).
3. In 1856, a group of pro-slavery raiders shot up and burnt part of Lawrence, thus starting violence.
III. Kansas in Convulsion
1. John Brown, a crazy man (literally), led a band of followers to Pottawatomie Creek in May of 1856 and
hacked to death five presumable pro-slaveryites.
o This brutal violence surprised even the most ardent abolitionists and brought swift retaliation from
pro-slaveryites. “Bleeding Kansas” was earning its name.
2. By 1857, Kansas had enough people to apply for statehood, and those for slavery devised the Lecompton
Constitution, which provided that the people were only allowed to vote for the constitution “with slavery” or
“without slavery.”
o However, even if the constitution was passed “without slavery,” those slaveholders already in the
state would still be protected. So, slaves would be in Kansas, despite the vote.
o Angry free-soilers boycotted the polls and Kansas approved the constitution with slavery.
3. In Washington, James Buchanan had succeeded Franklin Pierce, but like the former president, Buchanan
was more towards the South, and firmly supported the Lecompton Constitution.
4. Senator Stephen Douglas, refusing to have this fraudulent vote by saying this wasn’t true popular
sovereignty, threw away his Southern support and called for a fair re-vote.
5. Thus, the Democratic Party was hopelessly divided, ending the last remaining national party for years to
come (the Whigs were dead and the Republicans were a sectional party).
IV. “Bully” Brooks and His Bludgeon
1. “Bleeding Kansas” was an issue that spilled into Congress: Senator Charles Sumner was a vocal antislaveryite, and his blistering speeches condemned all slavery supporters.
2. Congressman Preston S. Brooks decided that since Sumner was not a gentleman he couldn’t challenge
him to a duel, so Brooks beat Sumner with a cane until it broke; nearby, Senators did nothing but
watched, and Brooks was cheered on by the South.
3. However, the incident touched off fireworks, as Sumner’s “The Crime Against Kansas” speech was
reprinted by the thousands, and it put Brooks and the South in the wrong.
V. “Old Buck” versus “The Pathfinder”
1. In 1856, the Democrats chose James Buchanan, someone untainted by the Kansas-Nebraska Act and a
person with lots of political experience, to be their nomination for presidency against Republican John C.
Fremont, a fighter in the Mexican-American War.
2. Another party, the American Party, also called the “Know-Nothing Party” because of its secrecy, was
organized by “nativists,” old-stock Protestants against immigrants, who nominated Millard Fillmore.
o These people were anti-Catholic and anti-foreign and also included old Whigs.
 The campaign was full of mudslinging, which included allegations of scandal and conspiracy.
 Fremont was hurt by the rumor that he was a Roman Catholic.
VI. The Electoral Fruits of 1856
1. Buchanan won because there were doubts about Fremont’s honesty, capacity, and sound judgment.
2. Perhaps it was better that Buchanan won, since Fremont was not as strong as Lincoln, and in 1856, many
people were still apathetic about slavery, and the South could have seceded more easily.
VII. The Dred Scott Bombshell
1. On March 6, 1857, the Dred Scott decision was handed down by the Supreme Court.
o Dred Scott was a slave whose master took him north into free states where he lived for many
years. After his master’s death, he sued for his freedom from his new master, claiming that he had
been in free territory and was therefore free. The Missouri Supreme Court agreed,
freeing him, but his new master appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which overruled the
decision.
2. Outcomes or decisions of the case…
o Chief Justice Roger Taney said that no slave could be a citizen of the U.S. in his justification.
o The Court said a legislature/Congress cannot outlaw slavery, as that would go against the 5th
Amendment saying a person’s property cannot be taken without due process of law. This was the
bombshell statement.
o The Court then concluded the Missouri Compromise had been unconstitutional all along (because
it’d banned slavery north of the 36° 30’ line and doing so was against the second point listed
above).
3. The case inflamed millions of abolitionists against slavery and even those who didn’t care much about it.
4. Northerners complained; Southerners were ecstatic about the decision but inflamed by northern defiance,
and more tension built.
5. The North—South scoreboard now favored the South undeniably. The South had (1) the Supreme Court,
(2) the president, and (3) the Constitution on its side. The North had only Congress (which was now
banned from outlawing slavery).
o Reasons the Constitution favored the South…
1. the Supreme Court just said so with the Dred Scott decision and it is the Supreme Court
that interprets the Constitution
2. the 5th Amendment said Congress could not take away property, in this case, slaves
3. it could be argued that slavery is in the Constitution by way of the Three-Fifths
Compromise
4. it could be argued slavery is not in the Constitution since the word “slavery” is not present,
but using this argument, the 10th Amendment said anything not in the Constitution is left
up to the states, and the Southern states would vote for slavery.
VIII. The Financial Crash of 1857
1. Psychologically, the Panic of 1857 was the worst of the 19th century, though it really wasn’t as bad as the
Panic of 1837.
It’s causes were
o California gold causing inflation,
o over-growth of grain,
o over-speculation, as always, this time in land and railroads.
2. The North was especially hard hit, but the South rode it out with flying colors, seemingly proving that
cotton was indeed king and raising Southern egos.
3. Also, in 1860, Congress passed a Homestead Act that would provide 160 acres of land at a cheap price
for those who were less-fortunate, but it was vetoed by Buchanan.
o This plan, though, was opposed by the northeast, which had long been unfriendly to extension of
land and had feared that it would drain its population even more, and the south, which knew that it
would provide an easy way for more free-soilers to fill the territories.
4. The panic also brought calls for a higher tariff rate, which had been lowered to about 20% only months
before.
IX. An Illinois Rail-Splitter Emerges
1. In 1858, Senator Stephen Douglas’ term was about to expire, and against him was Republican Abraham
Lincoln.
o Abe was an ugly fellow who had risen up the political ladder slowly but was a good lawyer, had a
down-home common sense about him, and a pretty decent debater.
X. The Great Debate: Lincoln Versus Douglas
1. Lincoln rashly challenged Douglas, the nation’s most devastating debater, to a series of seven debates,
which the Senator accepted, and despite expectations of failure, Lincoln held his own.
2. The most famous debate came at Freeport, Illinois, where Lincoln essentially asked, “Mr. Douglas, if the
people of a territory voted slavery down, despite the Supreme Court saying that they could
not do so (point #2 of the Dred Scott decision), which side would you support, the people or the Supreme
Court?”
o “Mr. Popular Sovereignty,” Douglas replied with his “Freeport Doctrine,” which said that no matter
how the Supreme Court ruled, slavery would stay down if the people voted it
down; since power was held by the people.
3. Douglas won the Illinois race for senate, but more people voted for Abe, so he won the moral victory.
o Plus, Douglas “won the battle but lost the war” because his answer in the Freeport Doctrine
caused the South to dislike him even more.
 The South had loved Douglas prior to this due to his popular sovereignty position, but then
came the Kansas pro-slavery vote which he’d shot down.
 Then the Freeport Doctrine came down where he turned his back on the Supreme Court’s
pro-South decision).
o This Freeport statement ruined the 1860 election for presidency for him, which was what he really
wanted all along.
XI. John Brown: Murderer or Martyr?
1. John Brown now had a plan to invade the South, seize its arms, call upon the slaves to rise up and revolt,
and take over the South and free it of slaves. But, in his raid of Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, the
slaves didn’t revolt, and he was captured by the U.S. Marines under the command of Lieutenant Colonel
Robert E. Lee and convicted of treason, sentenced to death, and hanged.
2. Brown, though insane, was not stupid, and he portrayed himself as a martyr against slavery, and when he
was hanged, he instantly became a martyr for abolitionists; northerners rallied around his memory.
Abolitionists were infuriated by his execution (as they’d conveniently forgotten his violent past).
3. The South was happy and saw justice. They also felt his actions were typical of the radical North.
XII. The Disruption of the Democrats
1. After failing to nominate a candidate in Charleston, South Carolina, the Democrats split into Northern and
Southern factions, and at Baltimore, the Northern Democrats nominated Stephen Douglas for
president while the Southern Democrats chose John C. Breckinridge.
2. Meanwhile, the “Know-Nothings” chose John Bell of Tennessee and called themselves the Constitutional
Union party. They tried to mend fences and offered as their platform, simply, the
Constitution.
XIII. A Rail-Splitter Splits the Union
1. The Republicans, sensing victory against their split opponents, nominated Abraham Lincoln, not William
“Higher Law” Seward.
2. Their platform had an appeal to every important non-southern group: for free-soilers it proposed the nonexpansion of slavery; for northern manufacturers, a protective tariff; for the immigrants, no abridgement of
rights; for the West, internal improvements at federal expense; and
for the farmers, free homesteads.
3. Southerners threatened that Lincoln’s election would result in Southern secession.
4. Lincoln wasn’t an outright abolitionist, since as late as February 1865, he had still favored cash
compensation for free slaves.
5. Abe Lincoln won the election despite not even being on the ballot in the South.
XIV. The Electoral Upheaval of 1860
1. Lincoln won with only 40% of the popular vote, and had the Democratic Party been more organized and
energetic, they might have won.
2. It was a very sectional race: the North went to Lincoln, the South to Breckinridge, the “middle-ground” to
the middle-of-the-road candidate in Bell, and popular-sovereignty-land went to Douglas.
3. The Republicans did not control the House or the Senate, and the South still had a five-to-four majority in
the Supreme Court, but the South still decided to secede.
XV. The Secessionist Exodus
1. South Carolina had threatened to secede if Lincoln was elected president, and now it went good on its
word, seceding in December of 1860.
o Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas (the Deep South) followed in the
next six weeks, before Abe was inaugurated.
o The seven secession states met in Montgomery, Alabama in February of 1861 and created the
Confederate States of America, and they chose Jefferson Davis as president.
2. President Buchanan did nothing to force the confederacy back into the Union, partly because the Union
troops were needed in the West and because the North was still apathetic toward secession; he simply
left the issue for Lincoln to handle when he got sworn in.
XVI. The Collapse of Compromise
1. In a last-minute attempt at compromise (again), James Henry Crittenden of Kentucky proposed the
Crittenden Compromise, which would ban slavery north of the 36°30’ line extended to the Pacific
and would leave the issue in territories south of the line up to the people; also, existing slavery south of
the line would be protected.
2. Lincoln opposed the compromise, which might have worked, because his party had preached against the
extension of slavery, and he had to stick to principle.
3. It also seems that Buchanan couldn’t have saved the Union no matter what he would have done.
XVII. Farewell to Union
1. The seceding states did so because they feared that their rights as
a slaveholding minority were being threatened, and were alarmed at the
growing power of the Republicans, plus, they believed that they would
be unopposed despite what the Northerners claimed.
2. The South also hoped to develop its own banking and shipping, and to prosper.
3. Besides, in 1776, the 13 colonies had seceded from Britain and had won; now the South could do the
same thing.