Renewing the
Sectional Struggle
1848 - 1854
Popular Sovereignty
Intense
debate occurred
over what to do with
slavery in the Mexican
Cession lands
Wilmot
Proviso (1848)
Northern
abolitionists
favored
Southern “fire-eaters”
condemned
Brought slavery into
forefront of American
politics until Civil War
Democrats
& Whigs
split over slavery
expansion issue
Both
were national
political parties
No true geographic
sectionalism in parties
Most
people wanted to
ignore the issue
But, a split along
sectional lines would
threaten the Union
“Popular
Sovereignty”
emerged as way to
avoid the issue
Lewis
Cass: “Father”
Sovereign people of the
territories should decide
for themselves
Election of 1848
President
Polk, in bad
health, chose not to
seek reelection
The Democrats
Choose
General
Lewis Cass
“father
of
popular
sovereignty”
Henry
The Whigs
Clay, the leading
Whig, had too many
enemies
Chose General Zachary
Taylor, the “Hero of
Buena Vista”
Taylor Fever
Taylor
was a slave
owner but had not come
out on either side of
slavery extension
Zachary
Taylor
Free Soil Party
Party
organized by Antislavers in the North
Nominated Martin Van
Buren
Free-Soilers
supported:
Wilmot
Proviso
Internal improvements
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
to 0 in the electoral vote
California - Gold
& Statehood
1848
- Gold
discovered
at Sutter’s
Mill in
California
John
Sutter
Yerba Buena - became
San Francisco
Tens
of thousands
flooded into the territory
1849: California applied
for Statehood as a free
state - bypassing
territorial status
California
reopened
the issue of sectional
balance
Utah & New Mexico
also sought to enter as
free states
Compromise of 1850
15
free & 15 slave states
in 1850
South dominated the
executive & judicial
branches & had a
balance in the Senate
Southern
issues
threatening Union:
Texas’
claim to territory
in the west
North wanted abolition
of slavery in the Wash.
DC
South
wanted tougher
fugitive slave laws
California’s statehood
threatened balance in
Senate
Clay,
Calhoun, &
Webster speak in favor
of compromise
Clay,
aided by Stephen
Douglas, proposed a
series of compromises
Supported
a more
effective fugitive slave
law
Calhoun
sought
to protect
slavery, return
runaways, &
restore
political
balance
 Died
during the
debate
Webster’s
Speech:
Slavery
th
7
of March
could
not exist in the
West since
cotton could
not
Supported
compromise
with South
William
Seward of New
York led fight against
slavery & compromise
Believed
in a “higher
law” (God’s moral law)
Influenced President
Taylor against
compromise
Taylor
threatened to use
troops against Texas if
they moved against New
Mexico
At
the height of the
debate, President Taylor
died (of Cholera?)
VP Millard Fillmore took
over
Signs
compromise
measures
President
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 trade abolished in
DC
For the South:
Remainder
of the
Mexican Cession divided
into two territories
(New Mexico & Utah) &
open to popular
sovereignty
Stronger
Fugitive
Slave Law passed
Texas received $10
million in
compensation for land
Fugitive Slave Law (1850)
Abolitionism given huge
boost
Seen as appalling by
North
Slaves
could not testify
& denied jury trial
Heavy
fines & jail time
for aiding & abetting
runaways
Harriet
Tubman &
Underground Railroad
continued to help
slaves escape to the
North & into Canada
Massachusetts
sought
to nullify the law
Some states passed
“personal liberty laws”
South upset about
northern refusal to carry
out the law
Why
did delaying war
aid the North?
10
year window to
expand economy &
sentiment for Union cause
1850s controversies
convinced northerners to
resist secession
Election of 1852
Democrats
nominate
dark horse candidate
Franklin Pierce
Weak
former military
officer in Mexican War,
but without enemies
Pro-South
northerner &
agreed with the
Compromise of 1850,
including the Fugitive
Slave Law
Whigs
nominates
Winfield
Scott over
President
Fillmore &
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
1852 Presidential Election
Franklin Pierce
Democrat
General Winfield Scott
Whig
John Parker Hale
Free Soil
1852
Election
Results
President
Franklin
Pierce
Pierce & Expansionism
Trans-Isthmus
West
Canal
coast ports created
the interest
Nicaragua considered
the ideal site
Clayton-Bulwar
(1850)
British
Treaty
also have interest
in a canal
Conflict with the Monroe
Doctrine
US & Britain agreed to no
exclusive control of a
canal
Asia
1854
- Commodore
Matthew Perry sailed his
black ships into Tokyo
Bay “opening” Japan to
trade
Commodore
Matthew
Perry
Cuba
Spain
turned down Polk
1850-51: Slave owning
adventurers send
“filibusters” to Cuba in
failed attempt to gain the
island for the US
Ostend
US
Manifesto (1854)
ministers to Fr., Engl. &
Sp. sent an ultimatum to
Spain – sell Cuba or lose it
by force
Info leaked out & northern
outcry embarrassed Pierce
administration
Railroad Dreams
Mexican
Cession created
a drive to build a
transcontinental railroad
Debate: Should there be
a southern or northern
route?
1853:
Sec. of War
Jefferson Davis sent
James Gadsden to
Mexico to purchase land
south of the Gila River
Santa Anna sold area for
$10 million
Gadsden
Purchase
upsets many
northerners
Southern route was
flatter & the territory
already organized
Northern
railroaders
now sought to organize
Kansas to make a
northern route feasible
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Senator
Stephen A.
Douglas of Illinois
wanted a northern train
route terminating in
Chicago
“The Little
Giant”
Proposed
legislation to split
the Nebraska Territory into
two sections: Kansas &
Nebraska
Slavery open to popular
sovereignty
Violated Missouri
Compromise of 1820
Douglas’s
oratory &
Pierce’s support rammed
the bill past northern
opposition
Missouri Compromise
repealed in the process
Northern
Missouri
Reactions:
Compromise was
sacred pact
Fugitive Slave Law died
Abolition movement grew
No longer willing to
compromise later
Southern
Angry
Reactions:
at North for trying
to control Kansas
Shattered Democratic
party
Law
wrecked
Compromises of 1820 &
1850
Considered to be main
short-term cause of Civil
War
Republican
Formed
Party
in response to
Kansas-Nebraska Act
2nd political party
overnight
Not allowed in South
Birth of the Republican Party, 1854
 Northern Whigs
 Northern Democrats
 Free-Soilers
 Know-Nothings (Nativists)
 Other miscellaneous opponents
of the Kansas-Nebraska Act
QUICKWRITE
Assess the moral arguments and
political actions of those opposed
to the spread of slavery in the
context of TWO of the following:
Missouri Compromise
Mexican War
Compromise of 1850
Kansas-Nebraska Act