Renewing the Sectional Struggle
1848-1854
AMH2010
Chapter 18
Themes
• Effect of the Mexican War on the slavery question
• Compromise of 1850
• New political party alignments
• Kansas- Nebraska
Popular Sovereignty Panacea
• By 1848, the two major political parties in America were the
Democrats and Whigs.
• The dealt with slavery by not dealing with it, swept under the rug.
• Acquisition of the Southwest had upset the regional balance of the
country.
-Would new states be slave or free?
- Southern view: slavery must expand or die.
- Northern view: slavery must not expand so it will die.
Meanwhile… Popular Sovereignty
• Lewis Cass (D)– father of popular sovereignty: citizens of territory
should decide the slavery issue.
• Shifts the pressure from Congress and the President to the territories.
• Whigs– Zachery Taylor, war hero of the Mexican-American War.
• His popularity won the day.
• Whig supporters were pro-tariff and pro-expansion.
• Free Soil Party– no slavery in territories, internal improvements.
California
• 1848– gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill, California.
- thousands of “49-ers” descend on California to get rich.
- the influx of people overwhelmed the small government
of the territory.
- Transient population of treasure hunters brought anarchy
- Crime was rampant, so was prostitution
• 1849– California applied for statehood as a free state.
Sectional Balance
• The South dominated politics during this time
- Southern President
- majority of the cabinet
- 7 justices on the Supreme Court were Southern
• California would upset that balance
• New Mexico and Utah were agitating to be free states
• Texas claimed half of New Mexico.
• Southerners were angered by the proposition that the District of
Columbia would abolish slavery.
Runaway Slaves
• The Underground Railroad was also a concern to many Southerners.
- System of safe houses that moved runaway slaves north
to Canada.
• Harriet Tubman a “conductor” on the Underground Railroad, made
19 forays into the South and rescued over 300 slaves.
• The South demanded a stronger fugitive slave law, 1793 was the last
time one was passed.
• The South was losing 1,000 slaves per year by 1850, out of total
population of 4 million.
Out with the old, In with the New
• In 1849, Southerners announced their intention to debate leaving the
Union.
• The “old guard” of compromisers were gone
- Webster
- Clay
- Calhoun
• A “new guard” appeared on the political stage
- Douglas, Seward, and Lincoln
• Extremist versus compromisers
Compromise of 1850
• Clay proposes a solution over California
- Slave trade, not slavery, prohibited in D.C.
- Fugitive Slave Law passed
- California as a free state, regional balance upset
- N.M. and UT: popular sovereignty would decide
• A second Era of Good Feelings started
• Kept the peace for now.
Fugitive Slave Act
• Northerners seen as slave catchers
• Abhorrent requirements of the law
- could not testify on their own behalf
- no jury trial
• Federal commissioner who handled the case of a fugitive slave would
get 5 dollars if the fugitive was freed and 10 if convicted.
• Called the “Bloodhound Bill”
• Some states, such as Massachusetts, decided to nullify the law.
Election of 1852/ End of the Whigs
• The Democrats nominated Franklin Pierce, the Whigs nominate war hero
Winfield Scott.
• The Whigs were split into two sections North, and South.
• Northern Whigs were anti-slavery, while the Southern Whigs backed
Winfield Scott but not his platform(Fugitive Slave Law).
• The Whigs disintegrated.
• Franklin Pierce(D) won the election
- Supported Manifest Destiny
- trade with Japan
- will not limit slavery
Gadsden Purchase
• The new lands to West such as California and Utah might as well have
been on an island.
• Transportation was severely lacking
• Pacific Railroad
- North favored Chicago to San Francisco
- South favored New Orleans to San Francisco
• Best south route through north Mexico
- Santa Ana needed money– sold land for railroad for 10 million.
• Regional controversy
Gadsden Purchase
Kansas-Nebraska 1854
• Stephen Douglas (Ill.) proposed a compromise
- If the South would support a Chicago RR route
- North would support popular sovereignty in the
Missouri Territory( free by the Missouri Compromise.)
• Opportunity to add slave state to balance out California
- South took the bait
• In reality, Douglas could care less about slavery.
Fallout from Kansas- Nebraska
• The Kansas-Nebraska Act greased the slippery slope to Civil War.
• Kansas Nebraska wrecked the two separate compromises: 1820,1850.
• The Democratic Party elected a president in 1856, but not gain for
another 28 years.
• 1854– Republican Party was formed in Wisconsin and Michigan to
stop the extension of slavery into the territories.
• Whig Party split
- Northern Whigs joined the Republican Party
- Southern Whigs joined the Democratic Party.