The year 1848, highlighted by a rash of revolution in
Europe, was filled with unrest in America. The treaty of
Guadalupe Hidalgo had officially ended the war with
Mexico. The acquisition of this huge domain raised a new
and the burning issue of extending slavery into the
territories.
 Northern antislavery had rallied behind the Wilmot
Proviso, which prohibited slavery in the land acquired in
the Mexican War. Southern Senators had blocked the
passage of the proviso, but the issue would not die. The
debate over slavery in the area of the Mexican Cession
threatened to disrupt the ranks of both Whigs and
Democrats and split national politics along North/South
sectional lines.
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Each political party was a vital bond
of national unity, for each enjoyed
powerful support in both the North
and the South. To politicians, the
wisest strategy seemed to be to sit
on the lid of slavery issue and ignore
the boiling beneath.
 President Polk, now in 1848, was
broken in health by overwork and
chronic diarrhea, had only pledged
to a single term. The democrats
chose Lewis Cass, who was a
veteran of the war of 1812. Cass
himself had not been silent; his
views on the extension of slavery
were well known because he was
the father of popular sovereignty.
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Under popular sovereignty
under each territory they should
determine for themselves the
status of slavery.
Popular sovereignty had a great
appeal. The problem of slavery
was tossed into the laps of the
people in the territories.
Advocates of the principle thus
hoped to dissolve the most
stubborn national issue of the
day into a series of local issues.
Yet popular sovereignty had one
fatal defect: it might serve to
spread the blight of slavery.
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The Whigs cashed in on the
popularity of Zachery Taylor.
Taylor had never held civil office
or even voted for president. Clay
should have been nominated,
but he made to many enemies.
Antislavery men in the North,
distrusting both Cass and Taylor,
organized the Free Soil Party.
They came out for the Wilmot
Proviso and against slavery in
the territories. They broadened
their appeal by advocating
federal aid for internal
improvements and by urging
free government homesteads
for settlers.
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With the slavery issue officially
shoved under the rug by the two
major parties, the politicians on
both sides opened fire on
personalities. Taylor’s wartime
popularity pulled him through.
He harvested 1360342 popular
and 163 electoral votes, and
compared to Cass’s 1222342
popular and 127 electoral votes.
Free-Soilers Van Buren, although
winning no state, polled 291,263
ballots and diverted enough
Democratic strength from Cass
in the crucial state of New York
to thrown the election to Taylor.
President Taylor- He had stumpy
legs, rough features, heavy jaw,
black hair, ruddy complexion, and
squinty gray eyes. He was a military
square peg in a political round hole.
He would have been okay if he
continued to sit on the slavery lid.
The discovery of gold on the
American River near Sutter’s Mill,
California, early in 1848, blew the
cover off.
 A horde of people poured into these
valleys of California. A fortunate few
of the bearded miner struck it rich
at the diggings, probably would
have been money will ahead if they
had stayed at home unaffected by
the gold fever.
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The California gold rush attracted tens of
thousands of people to the future Golden
State almost overnight, completely
overwhelming the one-horse territorial
government. A distressingly high
proportion of the newcomers were lawless
men, accompanied or followed by virtueless women.
An outburst of crime and this resulted from
the presence of so many outcasts. Robbery,
claim jumping, and murder were
commonplace, and such violence was only
partly discouraged.
A majority of Californians wanted a decent
and law abiding citizens needing
protection, and dealing with the problem of
having a providing an adequate state
government. Privately encouraged by
President Taylor, they drafted a constitution
in 1849 that excluded slavery, and then
boldly applied to Congress for admission.
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The South of 1850 was relatively well off. It
then enjoyed more than its share of the
Nations leadership. Zachery Taylor was the
President. It boasted a majority in the cabinet
and on the Supreme Court. If outnumbered in
the House, the South had equality in the
Senate, where it could at least neutralized
northern maneuvers.
The cotton fields were expanding, and the
prices were high. Few sane people, North of
South, believed that slavery was threatened.
There were fifteen slave state and fifteen
Free states. The admission of California would
destroy the balance in the Senate.
Even more disagreeable to the South was the
loss of runaway slaves, many of whom were
assisted north by the Underground Railroad.
This virtual freedom train consisted of an
informal chain of stations (antislavery
homes), in which these passengers were
led by these conductors. The most
amazing of these conductors was from
Maryland, who was Harriet Tubman.
 Harriet Tubman rescued more than 3
thousand slaves, including her aged
parents, and deservedly earned the title
of Moses.
 By 1850 southerners were demanding a
new and more stringent fugitive slave
law. The old one, passed by Congress in
1793, had proved too inadequate.
Estimates indicated that the South in
1850 was losing perhaps 1,000 runaways
a year out its total of some 4 million
slaves. In fact, more blacks probably
gained their freedom by self-purchase or
voluntary emancipation than ever
escaped.
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Southerners fears were such
that Congress was confronted
with catastrophe in 1850.
Congress was failing to act when
it came to admitting states and
even some states was wanting
to withdraw from the Union.
The immortal trio Clay,
Calhoun, and Webster appeared
together for the last time on the
public stage.
Henry Clay, who is now 73 years
old now is urging with all of his
persuasion that the North and
South both make concessions
and that the North partially yield
by enacting a more feasible
fugitive slave law.
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Calhoun died in 1850, before the
debate was over. Calhoun had
labored to preserve the Union
and had taken his stand on the
Constitution, but his proposals in
their behalf almost undid both.
Webster took the Senate
spotlight in a last ditch effort
which lasted 3 and a half hours.
Speaking he urged all
reasonable concessions to the
South, including a new fugitive
slave law with teeth.
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At the height of the
controversy in 1850,
President Taylor helped the
cause of concession by dying
suddenly, probably of an
acute intestinal disorder.
Millard Fillmore now took
over the reins. As presiding
officer in the Senate he had
been impressed with the
arguments and he gladly
signed the series of
compromise measures that
passed Congress after 7
months of debate.
Concessions to the North
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California admitted as a free state
Territory disputed by Texas and New Mexico to be surrendered to New
Mexico.
Abolition of the slave trade, (but not slavery), in the District of Columbia.
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Concession to the South
 The remainder of the Mexican Cession area was to be formed into the
territories of New Mexico and Utah, without restriction on slavery, hence
open to popular sovereignty.
 Texas to receive 10 million from the federal government as
compensation
A more stringent fugitive slave law going beyond that of 1793.
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Peace loving people both North and South, were determined that the
compromises should be final and that the explosive issue of slavery
should be buried. This period of peace was and is to be short lived.
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The North got the better end of
the deal. With the balance of
the Senate is now in the North
because of the admission of
California as a free state.
Something that did change
was the drastic new Fugitive
Slave Law of 1850. This stirred
up a storm of opposition in the
North. The fleeing slaves could
not testify on their own behalf,
and they were denied a trial by
jury. Freedom loving
northerners who aided the
slave to escape were liable to
heavy fines and jail sentences.
They might even be ordered to
join the slave catchers.
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The Democrats picked Franklin Pierce. The Whigs tried to
jeer him back into being nothing.
Pierce was weak and an indecisive figure. He was
youngish, handsome, militarily, smiling, and he had served
without real distinction in the Mexican War.
The Whigs turned to Winfield Scott, perhaps the ablest
American general of his generation. Scott’s personality
repelled the masses.
General Scott met defeat at the ballot box. His friends
stabbed him in the back. Pierce won in a landslide, 254
electoral votes to 42, although the popular count was
closer, 1,601,117 to 1,385,453.
The election of 1852, the Whig party will eventually die.
Their slave law act was the death of this party.
Douglas threw himself behind a legislative scheme
that would enlist the support of the reluctant South.
The purposed Nebraska territory would be sliced
into two territories. Their status would be decided on
popular sovereignty.
 Douglas’s scheme flatly contradicted the Missouri
Compromise of 1820, which had forbidden slavery in
the Nebraska Territory. The only way was to repeal
this law. The President, under the thumb of southern
advisers, threw his full weight behind the KansasNebraska Bill. But the Missouri Compromise, then 34
years old could not be brushed aside lightly.
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The truth seems to be that Douglas acted
somewhat impulsively and recklessly. His heart
did not bleed over the issue of slavery, and he
declared repeatedly the he did not care whether
it was voted up or down in the territories.
What he failed to perceive was that hundreds
and thousands of his fellow citizens in the North
did feel deeply on this moral issue. They did not
want to repeal the Missouri Compromise.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act was one of the most
momentous measures ever to pass Congress. By one way
of reckoning, it greased the slippery slope to Civil War.
 Antislavery Northerners were angered by what they
condemned as an act of bad faith, and all future
compromise with the South would be immeasurably more
difficult, and without compromise there was bound to be
conflict.
 At long last the dreaded sectional rift had appeared. The
new Republic party would not be allowed south of the
Mason-Dixon Line. Countless southerners subscribed
wholeheartedly to the sentiment that it was a Negro
stealing, stinking, putrid, abolition party. The Union was
in peril.
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