Renewing the
Sectional Struggle
1848 - 1854
Popular Sovereignty
The Mexican War and the
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
rekindled the issue of
territorial expansion of
slavery.
Democrats and Whigs
were national political
parties.
If they split along
sectional lines it would
threaten the union.
Both parties were split
over the slavery
expansion issue - no true
geographic sectionalism
in the parties.
Most people wanted to
ignore the issue of slavery.
Northern abolitionists
favored the Wilmot Proviso.
Southern “fire eaters”
condemned Abolitionism.
The Democrats
Democrats
choose General
Lewis Cass in
1848 - the father
of popular
sovereignty.
The goal of popular
sovereignty was to allow
the citizens of the
territories to decide the
issue of slave or free.
The Whigs
Henry Clay, the
leading Whig, had
many too many
enemies.
Taylor Fever
Whigs chose General
Zachary Taylor, the
“Hero of Buena
Vista.”
Taylor was a slave
owner but had not
come out on either
side of Slavery
Zachar
y
Taylor
Election of 1848
President Polk, in
bad health, chose
not to seek
reelection.
Free Soilers
Anti-slavers in the north
organized the Free-Soil
Party - nominated Martin
Van Buren.
Free Soilers
supported the Wilmot
Proviso, internal
improvements and
homesteads.
“Free soil, free speech,
free labor and free men.”
Condemned slavery
because it limited the
ability of whites to gain
upward mobility.
Slavery became a nonissue - mudslinging
prevailed.
Taylor won 163 to 127
electoral votes.
California - Gold and
Statehood
1848 - Gold
discovered at
Sutter’s Mill
in California.
John Sutter
Yerba Buena - becomes
San Francisco
Tens of thousands flooded
into the territory - California
applied for Statehood as a
free state - bypassing
territorial status.
California reopened the
issue of sectional
balance - Utah and New
Mexico also sought to
enter as free states.
U.S. Territorial Expansion
Compromise of 1850
15 free and 15 slave states
in 1850.
South dominated the
executive and judicial
branches and had a
balance in the Senate.
Texas claimed territory in
the west,
Abolitionists wanted
slavery out of the District
of Columbia,
South wanted
tougher fugitive
slave laws.
Senators and Compromise
Clay, Calhoun and Webster
have a last hurrah - speak in
favor of compromise.
Henry Clay, aided by
Stephen Douglas,
proposes a series of
compromises.
Calhoun sought
to gain
concessions for
the south and
protection of
slavery - died
during the
debate.
Webster’s
7th of March
speech stated
that slavery
could not exist
in the west - as
cotton could not.
Deadlock to Compromise
William Seward of
New York led the
fight against
slavery and
compromise.
Seward believed in a
“higher law” influenced president
Taylor.
Taylor threatened to
use troops against
Texas if they moved
against New Mexico.
At the height of the
debate President Taylor
dies (of Cholera?) and
Millard Fillmore takes
over.
Millard
Fillmore
The Compromise of 1850
For the North:
California entered the
union as a free state
Territory claimed by Texas
went to New Mexico.
Slave trading was
abolished in the
District of Columbia.
For the South:
Remainder of the Mexican
Cession would be divided
into two territories (New
Mexico and Utah) and be
open to popular
sovereignty.
Texas would receive
$10 million in
compensation
A strong Fugitive
Slave Law was
passed.
The Fugitive Slave Law
The Fugitive
Slave Law led to
protests by the
Abolitionists who
refused to abide
by the law and
tried to free
recaptured slaves
The Underground
Railroad and Harriet
Tubman continued to
help slaves escape to
the north and into
Canada.
Massachusetts
sought to nullify the
law and some states
passed “personal
liberty laws.”
Southern Reaction
The South was upset
about northern refusal to
carry out the law.
Why did delaying war
aid the North?
Election of 1852
Democrats nominate dark
horse candidate Franklin
Pierce in 1852.
Pierce was a weak former
military officer in Mexican
War, but was without
enemies.
He was a pro-southern
northerner and agreed
with the Compromise of
1850, including the
Fugitive Slave Law.
The Whigs
Whigs nominate
Winfield Scott
over president
Fillmore and
Daniel Webster.
Whig party split over
the issues of the
Compromise of 1850.
Pierce won 254 - 42
Election marked the
death of the Whig Party it was unable to survive
choking down the fugitive
slave law.
President Franklin Pierce
Young
America
Fillibusters and
Expansionism
West coast ports create
interest in a Trans-Isthmus
Canal.
Nicaragua is considered to be
the ideal site.
British also have interest in a
Canal in conflict with the
Monroe Doctrine.
US and Britain sign the
Clayton - Bulwar Treaty
agreeing to no exclusive
control.
1854 - Commodore Matthew
Perry sails his black ships
into Tokyo Bay - “opening”
Japan.
Commodore Matthew Perry
Slave owning
adventurers send
“filibusters” to Cuba in
failed attempt to gain the
island for the US.
US ministers to France,
England and Spain meet in
Ostend, Belgium to send an
ultimatum to Spain - sell
Cuba or lose it by force.
Ostend Manifesto is
leaked and northern
outcry embarrasses the
Pierce administration.
Railroad Dreams
Mexican Cession
acquisitions create a drive to
build a transcontinental
railroad.
Debate begins between
supporters of southern vs.
northern route.
Sec. of War Jefferson Davis
sends James Gadsden as
Minister to Mexico to
purchase land south of the
Gila River.
Santa Anna agrees to sell for
The Gadsden Purchase
upsets many
northerners.
The southern route was
flatter and the territory
already organized.
Northern railroaders
now seek to organize
Kansas to make a
northern route
feasible.
Douglas and KansasNebraska
Senator Stephen A.
Douglas of Illinois,
the “Little Giant,”
wanted a northern
train route
terminating in
Chicago.
He proposed legislation that
would split the Nebraska
Territory into two sections
Kansas and Nebraska and
open them to popular
sovereignty.
This was in direct violation of
the Missouri Compromise of
1820.
Douglas’s oratory and the
support of Pierce rammed the
bill past northern opposition.
Many in the west and south
supported popular sovereignty
but anti-slavery reactions
would lead to the first “civil
war.”
The Fugitive Slave Law of
1850 was now truly dead in
the North.
The law weakened the
Democrats and gave rise to
the new Republican Party that
would quickly sweep the