1. Renewing the Sectional Struggle
American Pageant Chapter 18

2. Election of 1844 James K. Polk—pledged one term (sick)
Democrats: General Lewis Cass
“Father of popular sovereignty”
Territories make own decision on slavery
Whigs: General Zachary Taylor
Hero of “Buena Vista”—Mexican American War
Dodged issues—focused on “homespun” candidate
Free-Soil Party: Martin Van Buren
“Free soil, free speech, & free men
Issue: competitive labor more than morality of slavery
Outcome: Taylor 163, Cass 127
(Van Buren diverted votes from Cass)

3. California Goldrush Sutter’s Mill, CA—1848 Influx--“Gold Fever”—1849
C.A. drafts constitution
Asks for admission as a “free” state

4. Southern Worries Keep balance in Senate 15 free, 15 slave, but…
New Mexico & Utah territories
Wanted admission as non-slave states
Federal government wanted parts of Texas
(parts of NM and CO)
Washington, D.C.—movement to ban slavery

5. Runaway Slaves 1000/year (more purchased or voluntarily freed)
Underground Railroad to Canada
Harriet Tubman
“Loss of honor” felt more than property
By 1850—Wanted stronger fugitive slave law

6. Compromise of 1850 Aging “immortal trio” Concessions to North
Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, Daniel Webster
All support compromise
Webster “God already passed the Wilmot Proviso”
New land not made for plantation economy
Concessions to North
Concessions to South
California admitted as free state
Disputed territory in Texas go to New Mexico
Abolition of slave TRADE in Washington, DC
Rest of Mexican Cession determined by popular sovereignty
Texas received $10 million for land
More stringent fugitive slave law

7. Compromise Deadlock “New Guard” President Taylor—determined to veto
William H. Seward
Anti-slavery God’s moral laws a “higher law”
Stephen A. Douglas “Little Giant”
Wanted compromise
President Taylor—determined to veto
Dies in office
Millard Fillmore (VP) signs Compromise into law
Northerners—felt relieved
“Fire eater” Southerners—some talk succession
Peace returns—temporarily
North had better end of deal

8. New Fugitive Slave Law--1850
Nickname: “Bloodhound Bill”
Escaped slaves must be returned to the South
Slaves could not testify in own behalf
Denied a jury trial
Northerners worried—dangerous precedent
Those who helped a runaway—fined and/or jailed

9. New Fugitive Slave Law--1850
Northern reaction?
Turned many moderates to abolitionists
“Personal Liberty Laws”—many states denied jails to federal officials
Massachusetts made it a penal offense to enforce the law
Overall—Southern mistake

10. Election of 1852 & Death of Whigs
Democrats: Franklin Pierce
Pro-southern northerner
Endorsed Compromise of 1850
Territorial Expansion
Whigs: General Winfield Scott
“Old Fuss & Feathers”—seemed imperious
For Compromise of 1850
Whigs—split sectionally on candidate & platform
Franklin Pierce won 254 to 42 E.V.
Whigs legacy—kept Union together
Henry Clay & Daniel Webster both died in 1852

11. Southerners look further South
Wanted future slave holding territory
Central America
British encroachment in area
Treaty of 1848
American right of transit across isthmus
Leads to Panama Canal in future
Clayton-Bulwer Treaty—1850
Neither country would seek for monopoly of water transit
Southerner William Walker
attempted colony in Nicaragua

12. Cuba debacle & Ostend Manifesto
U.S. tried to buy
Southern adventurers tried twice to take
Spanish seize Black Hawk—U.S. steamer
Ostend Manifesto—top secret--$120 million for Cuba or fight
Leaked out—Northern free-soilers call it “manifesto of brigands”
Franklin Pierce dropped schemes for Cuba

13. Allure of Asia--China Rivalry w/British
1842 Opium War--access to 5 ports in China
Caleb Cushing—sent by Pres. Tyler
Treaty of Wanghia, July 3, 1844
“Most favored nation” trading rights
Extraterritoriality—U.S. in China tried by Americans
Trade & American missionaries

14. Allure of Asia--Japan Commodore Matthew C. Perry--1852
Sent by Millard Fillmore
Terrifying steamships to closed-off, backward Japan
Treaty of Kanagawa
Proper treatment of shipwrecked sailors
coaling rights
consular relations

15. Pacific Railroad & Gadsden Purchase
Transportation issue in Mexican Cession land
Transcontinental railroad
In the North or the South?
Gadsden Purchase—1853
James Gadsden sent to buy tract of land from Mexico that was easier to build a railroad on.

16. Douglas’s Kansas-Nebraska Scheme
Senator Stephen A. Douglas
Alternative to Gadsden
Wanted western railroad—stop in Chicago
Owned property in Chicago
Pushed through Kansas-Nebraska Act 1854
Divide Nebraska territory into two: Kansas & Nebraska
Slavery decided by popular sovereignty
Repealed Compromise of 1820 (36º 30’ line)

17. Congress Legislates a Civil War
Douglas underestimated growth of antislavery movement on moral grounds in the North
Areas possibly open to slavery that had been promised not to be
Stopped any enforcement of Fugitive Slave Act
Overall—Broke both Compromise of 1820 AND 1850
Devastated Democratic party
Last president elected in 1856 for 28 years
Created the new Republican Party
Whigs, Free Soilers, Know-Nothings, Liberty, & disgruntled democrats