The Mexican Cession
1) The vast territory ceded by Mexico under the Treaty of
Guadalupe-Hidalgo increased the size of the United
States by 1/3. The Mexican Cession included Texas to
the Rio Grande, the New Mexico territory, the Utah
territory, and California.
The Mexican Cession
2) Despite the fulfillment of Manifest Destiny, the Mexican
Cession revived the intense debate over the extension of
slavery in the territories. Southerners felt that their military
service in the Mexican-American War ensured that any
ceded territory would be open to slavery. Anti-slavery
northerners opposed the Mexican War because they
considered it a southern scheme to expand the
“slaveocracy.”
The Mexican Cession
3) Many Northerners believed that the Missouri Compromise
had settled the boundaries of slavery in 1820. However,
after eleven years as an independent republic, slaveholding Texas was annexed by the United States in 1845.
Southerners argued that the acquisition of new territory
renewed the prospect for the extension of slavery in the
West.
The Mexican Cession
4) At the outbreak of war in 1846, Congressman David Wilmot
of Pennsylvania added an amendment to a war
appropriations bill that prohibited slavery in any territory
gained from Mexico. The “Wilmot Proviso” passed the
House of Representatives twice, but the bill was defeated
in the Senate.
The Mexican Cession
5) Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson
commented that, “Mexico will poison us.” Even
Senator John C. Calhoun of South Carolina
prophetically warned that, “Mexico is to us the
forbidden fruit…the penalty of eating it would be
to subject our institutions to political death.”
The Election of 1848
3) Poor health led President James K. Polk not to seek reelection and the Democrats nominated War of 1812
veteran, General Lewis Cass. The Democratic platform
remained silent concerning the issue of slavery, but Cass
was known to support the extension of slavery through a
policy known as “popular sovereignty.” This process
gave the people of a given territory the power to vote on
the issue of slavery within their own borders.
The Election of 1848
4) The Whigs nominated
General Zachary Taylor
and campaigned on his
reputation as the “Hero of
Buena Vista.” The Whig
platform was also silent
concerning slavery, but
the fact that Taylor was
the owner of a large sugar
plantation in Louisiana
left little doubt concerning
his stance on the issue.
The Election of 1848
5) Anti-slavery voters in the North distrusted both
candidates and formed the Free-Soil Party in
protest. The new third party strongly opposed
the extension of slavery in the western
territories.
The Election of 1848
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8) Zachary Taylor’s status as a recent war-hero
naturally made him the most popular candidate.
The Free Soil Party also increased Taylor’s
margin of victory by taking northern Democratic
votes away from Lewis Cass.
The Gold Rush
1) Regardless of the raging free-soil debate,
the Mexican Cession proved to be
immensely profitable when a California
pioneer discovered shiny specks of gold in
the American River in early 1848.
The Gold Rush
5) In an effort to erect an effective government, the
citizens of California drafted a Constitution and
applied to Congress in 1849 as a free state. The
California Gold Rush renewed the free-soil
debate and resulted in a fierce sectional battle
over the question slavery in the west.
The Gold Rush
6) The question of California statehood produced a
severe sectional crisis in 1850.
A) Southerners argued that the defeat of the Wilmot
Proviso ensured that the territories of the
Mexican Cession would be open to slavery.
The Gold Rush
B) Southerners also felt that their military service in
the Mexican-American War ensured that any
territory gained from Mexico would be open to
slavery.
The Gold Rush
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C) The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was in question
because the extension of the 36*30’ line would divide
California. Southerners feared that a “free soil”
California would inevitably lead to the prohibition of
slavery in the rest of the Mexican Cession. (The New
Mexico and Utah territories)
The Gold Rush
D) The addition of free California was also
opposed by Southerners because it would
upset the delicate balance of power in the
U.S. Senate of 15 slave states and 15 free
states.
The Immortal Trio
1) The eruption of so many sectional issues related
to slavery seemed to increase the possibilities of
secession, disunion, and even Civil War. The
growing divide between North and South made
the prospect of political compromise much less
likely.
The Immortal Trio
2) The sectional crisis of 1850 brought together the greatest
assemblage of distinguished statesmen since the
Constitutional Convention of 1787. The “Old Guard” of
this dying generation brought the “Immortal Trio” of
Henry Clay (Kentucky), Daniel Webster (Massachusetts),
and John C. Calhoun (South Carolina) together on the
public stage for the last time.
The Immortal Trio
3) The Immortal Trio would be joined and assisted
by the new generation of leadership known as
“Young Gladiators.” This group included
Senators, Stephen A. Douglas (Illinois), Charles
Sumner (Massachusetts), and William H. Seward
(New York).
Henry Clay’s Role (Kentucky)
1) “Great Compromiser”
Henry Clay of Kentucky
played a pivotal role in
the increasingly
sectional debate raging
in Congress. The aging
Whig leader came out of
retirement in order to
construct a complex
series of compromises
that would appease both
northern and southern
grievances.
The Compromise of 1850
1) The Compromise of
1850 was a series of
five different
compromises on a
variety of sectional
issues:
A) California was
accepted into the
Union as a free state.
The Compromise of 1850
B) The territories of Utah and New Mexico
would determine slavery though the
process of “Popular Sovereignty” (where
the residents of a territory vote to
determine their state’s policy on slavery).
The Compromise of 1850
Plus $10 Million
C) The Texas border dispute was settled in
favor of New Mexico, but the federal
government paid Texas $10 million dollars
in order to eliminate its foreign debts.
The Compromise of 1850
D) Slavery was allowed to continue in
Washington D.C., but the slave trade was
abolished within the nation’s capital.
The Compromise of 1850
E) The major concession to the South was the
passage of a much more stringent fugitive slave
law. This gave Southerners considerable power
to enter northern free-states in order to
recapture their fugitive property.
The Fugitive Slave Law
1) Under the Fugitive Slave Law, accused blacks
were not given the right to testify in their own
behalf and were denied a jury trial. Federal
commissioners who handled a fugitive slave
case were awarded five dollars if the runaway
was freed and ten dollars if they were found
guilty.
The Fugitive Slave Law
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Gerrit Smith
2) Northerners that violated the law by assisting runaways
now faced federal prosecution, strict fines, and even jail
sentences. Northern resentment of the law helped
transform many former moderates into vocal opponents
of slavery.
The Fugitive Slave Law
6) William Lloyd Garrison denounced the new law
declaring, “We execrate it, we spit upon it, we
trample it under our feet.”
The Fugitive Slave Law
7) Southerners felt betrayed by the northern defiance of
the Fugitive Slave Law. The sectional divide proved
too great for Clay’s delicate compromise of 1850.
Both political parties would be hopelessly divided in
the election of 1852, but the ruling Whig Party
imploded as a result of the so-called compromise.