Only because

Julie Nguyen
Period 3
October 30, 2013
Chapter 18: Renewing the Sectional Struggle

The Popular Sovereignty Panacea
Popular sovereignty- the sovereign people of a territory should determine the statues of slavery. This was popular with politicians because it was a comfortable compromise between the abolitionists and the slaver-holders
National Convention at Baltimore, Democrats chose General Lewis Cass as their candidate of presidency (pro-slavery)
Political Triumphs for General Taylor
Whigs met in Philadelphia and chose Zachary Taylor as their candidate for presidency, Henry Clay was not chose because he had many enemies
The Free Soil Party emerged from antislavery men on the North who didn’t trust Cass or Taylor. (supported internal improvements) They argued that with slavery wage labor would wither away and with it, the chance for the American worker to own property
Zachary Taylor won the election of 1848
“Californy Gold”
1848, gold was discovered in Cali. The Gold Rush brought violence and disease that the small gov. in Cali couldn’t handle. Californians bypassed the territorial stage of a state, drafted their own Constitution (excluding slavery) in 1849, and applied to Congress for admission into the Union.
The southerners objected to California's admission as a free state because it would upset the balance of free and slave states in the Senate
Sectional Balance and the Underground Railroad
Harriet Tubman- conductor of the Underground Railroad who rescued hundreds of slaves
1850, southerners were demanding a new and strict fugitive-slave law. The slave owners rested their argument on the Constitution, which protected slavery.
Twilight of the Senatorial Giants
Congressional Debate of 1850- called to address the possible admission of California to the Union and threats of secession by southerners
Immortal Trio- Henry Clay, John Calhoun, and Daniel Webster
Henry Clay: “Great Pacificator” he suggested that the North enact a stricter fugitive-slave law
John Calhoun: "Great Nullifier" he proposed to leave slavery alone, return runaway slaves, give the South its rights as a minority, and restore the political balance. His view was that two presidents would be elected, one from the South and one from the North, each yielding one veto
Daniel Webster: proposed that all reasonable compromises should be made with the South and that a new fugitive-slave law be formed
Deadlock and Danger on Capital Hill
William H. Seward- senator of New York; antislavery and argued that God's moral law was higher than the Constitution
President Zachary Taylor seemed bent on vetoing any compromise between the North and South that went through Congress
Breaking the Congressional Logjam
1850, President Taylor died suddenly and Vice President Millard Fillmore took the presidency
During this time period, a second Era of Good Feelings came about. Talk of succession subsided and the Northerners and Southerners were determined that the compromises would end the issue of slavery.
Balancing the Compromise Scales
Compromise of 1850- California was admitted as a free state and the territories of New Mexico and Utah were open to slavery on the basis of popular sovereignty (unbalanced)
Fugitive- Slave Law of 1850- Bloodhound Bill, said that fleeing slaves could not testify on their own behalf and they were denied a jury trial. Northerners who aided slaves trying to escape were subject to fines and jail time.
Defeat and Doom for the Whigs
Democratic Convention of 1852 in Baltimore, the Democrats chose Franklin Pierce as their candidate for presidency (supported Compromise of 1850 and Fugitive Slave Law)
The Whigs chose Winfield Scott as their candidate for presidency
The votes for the Whig party were split between Northern Whigs, who hated the party's platform but accepted the candidate, and Southern Whigs, who supported the platform but not the candidate
Franklin Pierce won the election of 1852 which marked the end of the Whig party
President Pierce the Expansionist
Americans were looking ahead to possible canal routes and to the islands near them, notably Spain's Cuba.
William Walker installed himself as the President of Nicaragua in July 1856. He legalized slavery, but was overthrown by surrounding Central American countries and killed in 1860
Nicaragua- world’s leading marine and commercial power
Clayton-Bulwer Treaty said that neither America nor Britain would fortify or secure exclusive control over any isthmian waterway (waterway between two bodies of land).
1854, Japan was persuaded to sign a treaty that started the trade of America with Japan
Coveted Cuba: Pearl of the Antilles
Cuba was prized by Southerners who saw it as the most desirable slave territory available
President Polk had offered $100 million to buy from Spain, but Spain refused. In 1850-1851, two expeditions full of Southern men descended upon Cuba
Spanish officials in Cuba seized an American ship, the Black Warrior, in 1854. It was now time for President Pierce to provoke a war with Spain and take Cuba.
Ostend Manifesto- stated that if Spain didn't allow America to buy Cuba for $120 million, then America would attack Cuba on grounds that Spain's continued ownership of Cuba endangered American interests (eventually leaked out and the Northerners foiled the President's slave-driven plan)
Pacific Railroad Promoters and the Gadsden Purchase transcontinental railroad- where to have the railroad begin- the North or the South
Secretary of War Jefferson Davis had James Gadsden buy an area of Mexico from Santa Anna for which the railroad would pass, Gadsden negotiated a treaty in 1853 and the Gadsden Purchase area was ceded to the United States for $10 million
The railroad ran from California to Houston, Texas
Douglas's Kansas-Nebraska Scheme
Stephen A. Douglas- longed to break the North-South deadlock over westward expansion; proposed the Territory of Nebraska be sliced into two territories, Kansas and Nebraska
Kansas: Slave State
Nebraska: Free State
Kansas-Nebraska Act ran into the problem of the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which forbade slavery in the proposed Nebraska Territory. Douglas was forced to propose the repealing of the Missouri Compromise
Congress Legislates a Civil War
Kansas-Nebraska act wrecked two compromises: the Compromise of 1820 which the act repealed; and the Compromise of 1850, which northern opinion repealed indirectly
Democratic Party was shattered by the Kansas-Nebraska Act
Republican Party was formed in the Mid-West and it had moral protests against the gains of slavery. It included Whigs, Democrats, Free-Soilers, Know-Nothings, and other foes of the Kansas-Nebraska Act (Southerners hated this party)