I. Manifest Destiny: South and North
A. The Push to the Pacific
1. Oregon
a) Claimed by Britan, US, increased interest due to excellent
harbors, fertile soil
b) “Oregon Fever”
c) Americans headed to the region with wagons, oxen, cattle;
34,000+ died of disease and exposure during the 2,000mile journey
d) approx. 10,000 migrants settled in the Willamette Valley
(Western coast near Portland, Eugene-OR); settlers
restricted voting to white men.
2. California
1. About 3,000 migrants settled in the Mexican
province of California during the 1840s
2. Mexico granted land to the settlers to raise cattle
3. New England businesses sent agents to the
area to buy leather for shoes/boots, and they
then married the daughters of elite Mexican
ranchers (Californios)
4. Thomas Larkin was one of many agents who did
not want to assimilate but instead annex
California for the United States.
I. Manifest Destiny: South and North
B. The Plains Indians
1. The Great Plains
a) Vast sea of wild grasses that stretched from Texas north
to Saskatchewan in Canada, and west from the Missouri
River to the Rocky Mountains
b) home to nomadic people who hunted buffalo; tribes
included Pawnees, Mandans, Apaches, Comanches,
Kiowas, Cheyennes, and Arapahos
c) desired European horses, weakened by European
diseases
d) smallpox epidemic 1779–1781 killed approximately
half the Plains Indians; others were killed by
European weapons.
2. The Sioux
1) Traded for guns and ammunition with French,
Spanish, and Americans; were buffalo hunters
2) nomadic lifestyle enable them to avoid major
outbreaks of disease
3) 1830s, the Lakotas were the dominant tribe in the
central and northern plains
4) became very prosperous selling buffalo hides to
American Fur Company and Missouri Fur
Company
5) herds were declining and Sioux did not understand
the market system well enough to demand proper
prices; by the 1860s, the number of buffalo herds
had declined significantly.
I. Manifest Destiny: South and North
C. The Fateful Election of 1844
1. “Oregon conventions”
a) Election significantly altered U.S. policy in the West
b) southerners wanted Texas annexed to keep the British from
making gains in North America
c) 1843, Americans in Ohio River Valley and Great Lakes
states organized conventions at which Democrats and
Whigs called for U.S. control of entire Oregon Country,
from Spanish California to Russian Alaska (which
began at 54°40’ north latitude)
d) southerners renewed called for annexation of Texas.
2. “Fifty-four forty or fight!”
1. In April 1844, Tyler administration wrote a treaty to
annex Texas
2. Van Buren and Clay (both running for president)
opposed because they did not want the Senate to
undertake debate on slavery
3. 1844 election then centered on Texas and Oregon
4. James K. Polk (D-TN) used the campaign slogan
“Fifty-four forty or fight” to show his support for
claiming all of Oregon to the Alaska border
5. Polk won; calls for annexation of Texas
increased; a joint resolution of Congress brought it
into the Union (28th state) in December 1845.
II. War, Expansion, and Slavery,
1846–1850
A. The War with Mexico, 1846–1848
1. Polk’s Expansionist Program
a) Texas voted to join Union, and Mexico broke off diplomatic
relations with U.S.
b) Polk began efforts to gain other northern provinces of
Mexico (CA, NM)
c) diplomatic relations broke down
d) Polk sent 2,000 soldiers to occupy disputed lands; war
began between Mexico and U.S.
e) Polk accepted a negotiated settlement with Britain that
divided the Oregon Country at the 49th parallel.
2. American Military Successes
1. Army led by Gen. Zachary Taylor
2. end of 1846, U.S. controlled most of
northeast Mexico; secured California
early in 1847
3. fighting continued with U.S. attacking
Mexico City, seizing the capital in
September 1847 and defeating Santa
Anna.
II. War, Expansion, and Slavery,
1846–1850
B. A Divisive Victory
1. The Wilmot Proviso
a) Northern Whigs had opposed the war on moral grounds;
split Democrats across sectional lines
b) Congressman David Wilmot (D-PA) proposed that slavery
be prohibited in any territory obtained through the war with
Mexico
c) Whigs and anti-slavery Democrats supported Wilmot
d) rejected by Senate; expansionist fervor continued, but not
without hesitation by some who feared more war
e) in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848), U.S. paid
Mexico $15 million in return for more than one-third of
its territory; agreements were reached on granting land
in Oregon.
2. Free Soil
1. Fear increased of a “Slave Power”
conspiracy growing in the U.S. to
dominate national life
2. to thwart any such plan, northerners
started a “free-soil movement” and
organized the Free-Soil Party
3. claimed slavery threatened
republicanism and Jeffersonian
ideals.
3. The Election of 1848
1. Polk did not run for reelection
2. Whigs nominated Gen. Taylor (LA
slave owner) who did not support
expansion of slavery to the new
territories
3. Taylor won 47 percent of the popular
vote and an electoral majority.
II. War, Expansion, and Slavery,
1846–1850
C. California Gold and Racial Warfare
1. The Forty-Niners
a) In 1848, gold was discovered in California
b) rush of men, ships, and wagons to the West began—
more than 80,000 men by end of 1849
c) lived in cramped quarters amid gambling, alcohol, and
prostitution
d) ruthless treatment of Indians, Mexicans, Chileans, and
Chinese; disease killed many; many men were
disillusioned by failure to find wealth.
2. Racial Warfare and Land
Rights
1. Indians received no protection from what little
law enforcement existed in California, faced
disease
2. settlers murdered Indians to take their land
3. creation of a slave-like trade among whites
taking Indians as labor
4. despite treaties with Mexico, whites wanted to
push Californios off their land
5. many sold their land to whites simply to leave
the region
6. whites who settled in the northern part of
California had more success with crops.
II. War, Expansion, and Slavery,
1846–1850
D. 1850: Crisis and Compromise
1. Constitutional Conflict
a) California ratified an antislavery constitution,
opening debate for admission to Union
b) debate ensued about whether California to
be admitted free or slave
c) Senator Stephen Douglas (D-IL) called for
“popular sovereignty,” which gave power of
choice to the people.
2. A Complex Compromise
1. Douglas achieved passage of five
law “Compromise of 1850”
• (1) new Fugitive Slave Act
• (2) California admitted as a free state
• (3) settled boundary dispute between New
Mexico and Texas in favor of New Mexico
• (4) abolished slave trade in District of
Columbia
• (5) established New Mexico and Utah with
popular sovereignty on the slavery issue.
III. The End of the Second Party
System, 1850–1858
A. Resistance to the Fugitive Slave Act
1. Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
a) required federal judges in the North to
determine the status of alleged fugitive
slaves
b) denied blacks a jury trial or even the right to
testify
c) northerners almost immediately resented the
sight of slave catchers in their states;
abolitionists assisted runaways.
2. Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)
1. Aided opposition to the Fugitive Slave Act
2. increased the northern public’s outrage to slavery
on moral grounds
3. sold millions of copies and increased antislavery
action in Britain
4. northerners called for “personal-liberty laws” to
enhance their rights, including the rights of
fugitives in free states
5. Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled in Ableman v.
Booth (1857) that the Fugitive Slave Act was
unconstitutional because it violated the rights of
Wisconsin’s citizens.
III. The End of the Second Party
System, 1850–1858
B. The Whigs Disintegrate and New Parties Rise
1. Proslavery Initiatives
a) As president, Pierce pursued an expansionist foreign policy
b) Gadsden Purchase of 1853 led to the building of a
transcontinental rail line from New Orleans to California
c) supported covert military expeditions to Cuba; criticized for
aggressive diplomacy.
2. The Kansas-Nebraska Act
a) Proposed by Stephen Douglas, who wanted to open
Permanent Indian Territory by allowing a transcontinental
railroad that linked Chicago to California
b) this act repealed the Missouri Compromise, formed the
Kansas and Nebraska territories, and organized region on
basis of popular sovereignty.
3. The Republican and
American Parties
1. Northern Whigs and “anti-Nebraska
Democrats” joined Free-Soilers and
abolitionists in the new Republican Party
2. party leadership was staunchly antislavery
(argued that slavery degraded manual labor
and drove down wages of free whites)
3. advocated republican liberty and individual
enterprise
4. faced strong competition from the American or
Know-Nothing Party (anti-immigrant and antiCatholic).
4. Bleeding Kansas
1. Thousands migrated to Kansas to settle,
supporting both sides of the political debate
2. Missouri residents crossed the border to elect a
proslavery government
3. most Kansas residents supported free soil;
violence erupted
4. to avenge the sack of Lawrence by a proslavery
force of seven hundred strong, abolitionist John
Brown led a free-state militia that murdered five
proslavery settlers
5. these attacks started a guerrilla war in Kansas
that took nearly two hundred lives.
III. The End of the Second Party
System, 1850–1858
C. Buchanan’s Failed Presidency
1. The Election of 1856
a) Republicans denounced Kansas-Nebraska Act and
nominated John Frémont (free-soiler)
b) American Party split over slavery
c) James Buchanan (D-PA) won a three-way race
d) Democrats were now the only national party
e) Republicans split over sectional issues.
2. Dred Scott: Petitioner for Freedom
1. In 1856, Dred Scott had lived with his master in the free state of
Illinois and in part of Wisconsin Territory where slavery was
prohibited
2. argued that he was free as a result; seven of the nine justices
declared that Scott was still a slave, but they disagreed on the legal
rationale
3. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney (a slave owner from MD) argued that
since slaves were not citizens, they had no right to sue in federal
court, that Congress could not prevent a person from “taking” his
property into new territories, that the Northwest Ordinance and
Missouri Compromise were not constitutional, and that Congress
could not give to territorial governments any powers that it did
not possess
4. Republicans accused Taney and Buchanan of being part of the Slave
Power conspiracy; Buchanan recommended Kansas be admitted as
a slave state and resumed negotiations to buy Cuba.
IV. Abraham Lincoln and the
Republican Triumph, 1858–1860
A. Lincoln’s Political Career
1. An Ambitious Politician
a) Born in Kentucky, lived in Indiana and Illinois
b) became a store clerk, read Shakespeare, and studied
law; had volatile relationship with wife, Mary
c) joined the Whig Party; elected to Congress in 1846;
opposed the spread of slavery
d) advocated gradual emancipation and colonization of
freed blacks in Africa
e) was viewed as moderate; lost reelection bid; withdrew
from politics and prospered as a lawyer
f) returned to the political fray because of the KansasNebraska Act.
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates
1. Lincoln quickly emerged as the leading
2.
3.
4.
5.
Republican in Illinois
an against Douglas for Senate in 1858
gave famous “House Divided” speech about
slavery dividing the nation
during series of seven debates, Douglas
supported white supremacy
Lincoln advocated economic opportunity for
black Americans but not political rights;
Douglas won.
IV. Abraham Lincoln and the
Republican Triumph, 1858–1860
B. The Union Under Siege
1. The Rise of Radicalism
a) Southern Democrats divided in 1858 into moderates
(defended “southern rights” and ironclad protection for
slavery) and fire-eaters (repudiated the Union and actively
promoted secession).
b) In October 1859, John Brown led a raid on the federal
arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, hoping to arm slaves and
start a rebellion
c) Republicans condemned Brown; Democrats blamed his
actions on the Republicans
d) northern and southern Democrats split at the party’s
convention.
2. The Election of 1860
1. Republicans chose Lincoln as
candidate
2. courted white voters with a free-soil
platform that opposed both slavery
and racial equality.
3. The Republican strategy worked and
Lincoln was elected.