1845-1877
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Election 1844: James Polk (D) v. Henry Clay(W)
Whigs: internal improvements, civilizing land
Democrats: continue to expand, believed that
government should have very little interaction
with internal improvements (should be left in
private hands).
Remember: since colonial times- North was
prone to more population/ cities/ community/
industry.
South: less populates, farms, plantations, no
need for industry.
*Different voting patterns/ visions for America.
Close election, Polk won.
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Pledged would only be in office for one term.
Four goals:
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Go back to placing government funds in the Treasury
cut tariffs
Oregon
California
Proposes Annexation of Texas
Demanded the entirety of Oregon County
(balance)
 54-40 or fight
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Oregon Treaty (1846) a more reasonable
American-Canadian border
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Focused on efforts to claim S.W territories
from Mexico
Tries to buy territories- fails
Mexico attacks (already annoyed)
Polk uses attack as excuse
Mexican-American War (1846)
◦ Does not have everyone’s support (North v. South)
◦ Slave Power
◦ Rejection of Wilmot Proviso  Whig’s Split  FreeSoil Party (single issue)
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Mexican War Continues:
◦ Texas easy deep into So. Mexico & West.
◦ Mexico City ends war  Treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo (1848)  Mexican Cession
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Increases the nation’s wealth (gold) also
increases sectional issues (slavery)
Nation already divided on the slavery issue
AND there were states S of Missouri
Compromise, West of the Mississippi were
plantation crops were not allowed.
◦ Threatens Southerners popular sovereignty
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Sectional strife started immediately
Gold rush brought in many settlers (very
populated) & wanted statehood (Free State)
◦ Opposed by South
◦ Threaten with secession
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Immediate response: Stephen Douglas (D) & Henry
Clay (W) work on Compromise of 1850
◦ California free, stronger fugitive slave laws, Utah & New
Mexico – popular sovereignty, abolishes slave trade in D.C
◦ Popular Sovereignty creates problems: very vague- open
interpretation
◦ Fugitive slave acts also creates issues: North feels forced
to comply with slavery
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Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)- Harriet Beecher
Stowe
LITERATURE THAT CHANGES THE COURSE OF
U.S HISTORY!!.... Again!
Propaganda that worked anti-slavery
sentiments in the North grew.
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After California- no admittance until 1858
Status of new territories continue to grow more
problematic
Kansas-Nebraska Territory
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No government at the moment
Order must be imposed
Wanted land security (from Natives)
Construction supervision
Stephen Douglas attempts to fix issue with the
Kansas-Nebraska act (1854)
◦ Popular sovereignty
◦ Repels Missouri Compromise
◦ Who would this upset? Why?
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North’s Direct Response: Personal Liberty Laws
◦ Fugitive slaves would have the right to a trial by jury
◦ Right to a lawyer
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Ends the Free-Soil Party, Enter Republicans
◦ Goes from “political” parties to “sectional” parties
◦ Many joined Northern Democrats or joined FreeSoilers (also defeated by Kansas-Nebraska Act)
Republicans
◦ Not originally abolitionists but dedicated to keep
slavery out of the territories
◦ Also campaigned a larger group of issues
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Other party formed: Know-Nothings
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Met privately
Secretive
Single issue party
Seemed biggest competitor for Democrats
Quick growth
Racist/ nativists
 anti-German & Irish
◦ Party dies on the issues on slavery: N & S wings
disagreements
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Violence erupts at the Kansas-Nebraska
territories
◦ Due to popular sovereignty both sides rush to the
territory with one specific goal.
◦ Border Ruffians  two different constitutions Topeka
(anti-slavery) & Lecompton (pro)
◦ Doughface President Franklin Pierce accepts the
Lecompton Constitution  Kansas slave territory 
demolished free-soil cities
◦ Bleeding Kansas: John Brown’s raid
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More Violence- in Congress
◦ Preston Brooks/ Sen. Andrew Butler beats Senator
Charles Sumner
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Pierce’s career destroyed James Buchanan
(1856)
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Election of 1856
◦ Buchanan wins South
◦ North: Buchanan and Fremont (R)
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Tries to maintain status quo : 1. enforce fugitive
slave law 2. Opposition to abolition in South &
West.
Dred Scott v. Sandford
◦ Not considered citizen, therefore, can’t sue
◦ Considered private poverty, unconstitutional for
government to get involved.
◦ Nullifies: N.W Ordinance, Missouri Compromise, KansasNebraska
◦ Major victory for Southerners/ turning point
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Lincoln Douglas debates for Illinois Senate Seat.
Douglas wishy-washy on his stance on popular
sovereignty
Lincoln: House Divided Speech
Douglas: Freeport Doctrine (defending popular
sovereignty)
◦ “Slavery could not exist where certain laws won’t protect
it”. Hmmm… what about the Dred Scott decision?
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Lincoln does not win this election but sure wins
the presidential election (1860)
John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry (1859)
◦ Hopes to spark a slave revolt, fails
◦ Martyr for the cause
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Democrats: split North (Douglas) and South (John
Breckinridge)
North: Lincoln & Douglas
South: Democrat- Breckinridge & Constitutional
Union Party (John Bell). Lincoln didn’t even appear on
the Southern ballot.
Lincoln wins without a single southern vote.
Southerner’s immediate response: secession.
South proposes Crittendon Compromise: Lincoln
refuses to compromise
Dec. 1860 South Carolina secedes
◦ Eventually six states follow  Confederate States of
America.
◦ President: Jefferson Davis
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Lincoln decides to wait until South makes first
move.
◦ April 12, 1861 Fort Sumter
◦ Lincoln then declares war
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Although slavery was the issue that caused
Civil War, War not purely about slavery
initially. (not until emancipation)
◦ Border States (Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland &
Delaware)
◦ Took place on economical, social and political
“battlefields”
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Confederacy fighting for state’s rights
◦ Irony behind it all:
◦ central government (Davis) took control of much of
the land’s economy.
◦ Martial law
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Economic progress and downfall
◦ Poverty
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Draft greater poverty
Class conflict
◦ Exemptions for the rich
◦ Hmmm… Another Quartering Act?
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Economic boost  war goods produced in the
North (manufacture)
Corruption (precursor to the Gilded Age)
Inflation occurred (not as bad as the So.)
Unions are formed (another precursor). Some
blacklisted  violence
Central Government’s power increases
◦ Implemented programs without approval
◦ Suspends habeas corpus drafts, P.O.Ws
◦ Control of economy (Salmon P. Chase greenbacks)
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Initially war was not fought on the basis of
ended slavery.
Some sought gradual emancipation and
colonizing free slaves in Africa
Progressive group in North: Radical
Republicans- immediate emancipation
◦ Confiscation Acts: (1861) government has the right
to seize any slaves used for revolutionary
reasons.(1862) liberate slaves owned by any
supporter of the rebellion (Confederacy)
◦ Lincoln refused to enforce  cautious towards
emancipation.
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Slaves indirectly supported the South.
◦ Influenced some main strategies used by North
◦ Freed slaves = many positive effects for North.
 Keeps outside countries out of the war
 New source of troops for the Union
 Lincoln would not make first move until Northern
victory  Antietam Emancipation
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Changes focus of war  NOW fought for slavery.
(Kind of like the Declaration of Independence in
the Revolutionary War)
Does not free ALL slaves only those held in the
states of “rebellion”
Gives the South a chance to come back into the
Union without actually ending slavery.
Even then, Lincoln’s goal was not to actually end
slavery but to preserve the Union.
Until campaigning for re-election
◦ Thirteenth Amendment  Hampton Roads Conference 
settlements with the South.
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Lincoln v. General George McClellan (North)
Public opinion: against war
◦ South: less than 1% actually owned slaves
◦ North: War Democrats v. Copperheads
◦ NYC Draft Riots of 1863: nativism. Irish Immigrants
resented being drafted into war  job competition.
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Lincoln wins re-election
◦ 1865 Union Victory assured Freedman’s Bureau
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April 1865: Robert E. Lee surrenders to
Ulysses S. Grant at the Appomattox Court
House
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3 million men fought in the war  500,000
killed  another 500,000 wounded
Economy for North and South ruined
◦ Sherman’s March
◦ Southern resources gone
◦ Politically: expands the role of government,
permanently
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5 days after Lee surrenders, Abe Lincoln killed by
Booth
Andrew Johnson (V.P becomes President)
Had to deal with the three major questions:
◦ What conditions would the Southern states be
readmitted to the Union?
◦ What would be the status of blacks in postwar nation?
◦ What would be done with rebels?
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Reconstruction 1865-77
◦ Process begun even before War ended.
◦ Lincoln wanted to preserve the union (main goal)
◦ Ten Percent Plan
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Congress had another vision:
◦ Radical Republicans saw the South as “conquered
territory”
◦ Harsh punishment
◦ Lincoln to lenient: Wade-Davis Bill
 Confederates be ruled by military governor
 50 %
 State convention would abolish slavery and repeal
ordinance if necessary
 Lincoln pocket-vetoes
 Assassinated following year
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Strong supporter of Lincoln’s views
War ends, congress in recess for 8 months 
Johnson deals with first part of Reconstruction on
his own.
◦ Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan:
◦ Provisional government will run states until ready to
enter union
◦ Loyalty oath
◦ Prohibited Slave owners/ Southern elite from re-entry
◦ Did not require states to enfranchise blacks.
◦ Pardoned many Southern elite
Congress reconvenes, not pleased with Johnson’s plan
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Radical Republicans Harsh punishment
revenge?
Special Field Order No. 15; land taken from
Confederates given to new freedmen
Johnson rescinded order; 40 acres and a mule
Much tensions between Congress and
President
Radical Republicans Congressional
Reconstruction 14th Amendment
(citizenship) also a loop for Jim Crow laws.
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14th Amendment: clarified status of the freed
slaved and hoped it will force suffrage.
Johnson’s response: Swing Around the Circle
tour  campaigned against amendment
1866  Congress heavily weighed on the
radical end of the spectrum
◦ Military Reconstruction Act (1867)  Martial Law in
South, forced to allow blacks to vote (conventional
delegates), ratify 14th Amendment
◦ Passed laws limiting President’s power
◦ Johnson impeached (tenure of office act) but
acquitted
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15th Amendment proposed (1869)- suffrage
◦ Only passed because Southern States forced to vote
in favor of it.
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Unfortunately his administration was heavily
packed with scandals.
No political experience but war hero
Spoils system
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SOME success: ALL men could now vote, not just
property owners
Many appointed government positions replaced
with elected ones.
Stimulated industrial growth
However, ultimately failed
◦ Plans to help rebuild south very costly
◦ More hostility towards reconstruction due to high taxes
◦ Propaganda War: Scalawags (Southerners who
cooperated) & Carpetbaggers (Northerners who ran
programs)
◦ Corruption (selling votes for $ and favors)
◦ North as well as the South (political machines & “bosses-
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Ku Klux Klan
White League
Attorney General Amos Akerman
Southern officials failed to do anything to protect
blacks
Reconstruction did nothing to redistribute
South’s wealth
1869 Government sends signals that would ease
restrictions
Slaughter House Cases: United States v. Reese:
grandfather clauses
Grant’s corruption taints everything
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1872- Liberal Republicans hoped to end
control of the South (angered by corruption)
Candidate: Horace Greeley. Gains
congressionally & State elections
Grant moves farther away from radicalism
Amnesty Acts of 1872
Panic of 1873
1876 Southern Democrats regained control:
Redeemers (reverse Republican
Reconstruction)
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Most contested election.
◦ Fraud
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Samuel J. Tilden  went after “Boss” Tweed.
Won the popular vote but not electoral vote
Congress creates bipartisan electoral
commission Compromise of 1877
Rutherford B. Hayes wins
Back to normal in the south
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Several “interpretations” of freedom
Many became sharecroppers, searched for
family, freedman’s bureau (new jobs &
housing, education) although eventually died
down.
Found communities and formed bonds within
black churches
Many moved away after reconstruction (Great
Migration- after WWI)
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Pg. 168-169