Renewing the Sectional Struggle

I. The Popular Sovereignty Panacea (cure for ills or remedy)

a. Political Parties

i. Each political party enjoyed support in both the North and South

ii. Both were content to not bring up the slavery issue

iii. Both served as a bond for national unity

b. Democratic Candidate for 1848

i. Polk’s health was failing and didn’t want to run for a second term

ii. For the election of 1848, the Democrats chose General Lewis Cass, a veteran of the War of 1812

iii. He had a lot of experience (was a Senator), but was pompous (self-inflated)

c. General Lewis Cass and Popular Sovereignty

i. Came up with the idea of slavery and popular sovereignty. He thought that the sovereign people of a territory, under the principles of the Constitution, should themselves determine the status of slavery

ii. The people liked it because it was a democratic principle and tradition

iii. Politicians liked it because it was a good compromise between advocates for slavery and advocates against slavery

II. Political Triumph for General Taylor

a. Whig Candidate for 1848

i. Nominated Zachary Taylor, the Mexican War Hero

ii. He didn’t have any political experience and he never voted for president

iii. The Whigs emphasized his rugged frontier nature and refused to take a stand on slavery (he was a wealthy resident of LA, lived on a sugar plantation, and owned many slaves)

iv. Urged territories to organize and seek admission directly as State to avoid the issue of slavery

v. Clay had made too many enemies by this point

b. Free Soil Party

i. Some antislavery people in the North distrusted Cass and Taylor

ii. Platform:

1. Opposed slavery in new territories

2. Supported national improvement programs

3. Small tariffs to raise revenue

iii. They formed this party which made clear their stand on slavery. They condemned slavery not so much for enslaving blacks but for destroying the chances of free white workers to rise up from wage-earning dependence to the esteemed status of self-employment. They argued that only with free soil in the West could a traditional American commitment to upward mobility continue to flourish. If forced to compete with slave labor, more costly wage labor would inevitably wither away, and with it the chance for the American worker to own property

iv. The party appealed to:

1. Democrats who were resentful of Polk’s settling for part of Oregon while insisting on all of Texas (meaning there would be increased southern dominance in the party)

2. Conscientious Whigs who condemned slavery on moral grounds

v. They nominated Van Buren

c. Election of 1848

i. Taylor won –

1. 1,360,000 and 163

ii. Cass –

1. 1,220,000 and 127

iii. Van Buren –

1. 291,000 and 0

iv. Van Buren diverted enough Democratic votes from Cass in NY to give the election to Taylor

III. California Gold Rush

a. Gold Fever

i. In 1848, gold was discovered in CA

ii. 80,000 went to CA, but only a few actually found gold

iii. The most profitable enterprise was the people who cleaned clothes

b. Outlaws In CA

i. Many of the newcomers were lawless men

ii. An outburst of crime resulted. Robbery, claim jumping, and murder were commonplace

c. CA Constitution

i. Law-abiding citizens wanted a good, protective State government

ii. 1849 – Constitution was drafted that outlawed slavery

iii. They then asked Congress for admission, bypassing the territory stage

IV. Sectional Balance and the Underground Railroad

a. Status of the South in the 1850s

i. Had the President (born in VA, but lived in LA)

ii. Majority in cabinet and Supreme Court

iii. Had equal numbers in the Senate, but not in the House

iv. Cotton prices were profitably high

v. No one in the 1850s believed that anything seriously threatened slavery

vi. Slavery existed in 15 States below the Mason-Dixon Line

b. Problems of the South –

i. Admission of CA To Statehood (Mexican Cession)

1. Southerners were worried – it would tip the balance 16-15

2. Slave territory was running short. There had already been strong agitation against slavery in the territories of New Mexico and Utah (Mexican Cession)

3. This southern area was purchased with southern blood during the Mexican War

ii. Texas

1. Texas included half of present-day New Mexico

2. The federal government was proposing to detach this part

3. Texans threatened to forcefully seize what they believed was rightfully their own

iii. District of Columbia

1. Northerners wanted slavery abolished in the capital

2. Southerners didn’t want 10 square miles of free soil inbetween slaveholding Maryland and Virginia

iv. Runaway Slaves and the Underground Railroad

1. Loss of slaves, many of whom were assisted north by the Underground Railroad. This consisted of an informal chain of antislavery homes through which runaway slaves were taken by white and black abolitionists from the slave States to Canada

2. The abolitionists who ran the Underground Railroad did not gain personally from their lawlessness

v. Demand For A More Stringent Fugitive-Slave Law

1. The old one was inadequate because States failed to cooperate

2. By 1850, the South was losing 1,000 runaways each year out of 4 million slaves

3. More blacks probably gained freedom by self-purchase or voluntary emancipation than escape. However, it was the principle of the thing that mattered

4. Southerners believed the Constitution protected slavery and so did the laws of Congress, which provided for slave-catching

V. Twilight of the Senatorial Giants

a. Southerners Meet About Succession

i. Because of the situation at hand, in 1849 southerners announced their intention to convene the following year in Nashville, TN to consider withdrawing from the Union

ii. The failure of Congress to act could easily mean the failure of the U.S. as a country

b. Henry Clay and Stephen A. Douglas

i. Clay (KT) was 73 and not in good health

ii. He again tried to compromise as he had in the Missouri and nullification crisis

iii. He proposed and defended a series of compromises. He wanted:

1. Both the North and South to make concessions

2. The North yield by enacting a better fugitive-slave law

iv. He was aided by 37 year old Stephen Douglas (IL)

1. He broke the legislation offered by Clay down into various pieces, which helped assure that each of its parts would pass

c. John C. Calhoun

i. Was 68 and dying from tuberculosis

ii. He predicted in a speech that if some compromise would not be met on slavery, that it would end in disunion

iii. Calhoun liked the idea of concession, but didn’t think they provided enough safeguards for southern rights. He wanted:

1. Slavery to be left alone

2. Return of runaway slaves

3. Give South rights as a minority

4. Restore the political balance

iv. Plan called for the election of a Northern and Southern president, each with veto power

v. He died in 1850; Clay and Webster died in 1852

d. Daniel Webster

i. Was 68 and not in good health

ii. Urged reasonable concessions

iii. He believed that a plantation economy (and slave economy) could not profitably exist in the Mexican Cession territory (Within 100 years, CA was one of the biggest cotton-producing States)

iv. His speech in March 1850 helped turn the tide in the North toward compromise. Webster printed over 100,000 copies of this speech because it was so popular

1. Friends – Banking and commercial centers of the North were pleased. They stood to lose millions by secession

2. Critics – Abolitionists who assumed Webster was one of them, thought he was a traitor

VI. Deadlock and Danger on Capitol Hill

a. Young Guard From the North

i. Had not grown up with the Union and were more interested in purging and purifying than in patching and preserving it

b. William H. Seward

i. New senator from NY

ii. Was a strong abolitionist

iii. Was against compromise

iv. Argued that Christian legislators must obey God’s moral law as well as man’s law. Therefore, he appealed to an even higher law than the Constitution for excluding slavery in the territories

c. Taylor’s Response To the Crisis

i. Seemed to side with Seward

ii. Took the Jacksonian approach and was ready to lead an army against the Texans who threatened New Mexico

iii. If was would’ve started, the South would’ve gone to Texas’s defense and the Civil War would’ve started in 1850

VII. Breaking the Congressional Logjam

a. Death of Zachary Taylor & New President Millard Fillmore & the Compromise of 1850

i. 1850 – Taylor dies of an intestinal disorder

ii. Vice-President Millard Fillmore became president

iii. Being the President of the Senate, he knew well about the compromises being considered in the Senate and was impressed by them, so he quickly signed them into law. Together, they were called the Compromise of 1850

b. Attitude of the North

i. Union Savers –

1. Clay, Webster, and Douglas spoke on behalf of the compromise

2. Clay gave 70 speeches

3. A spirit of goodwill grew, which was from:

a. Relief through the Compromise of 1850 being passed

b. Prosperity from CA gold

c. Attitude of the South

i. Fire Eaters –

1. Opposed to concessions

2. There was a movement to boycott northern goods, but prosperity prevailed

3. The southerners meeting at Nashville condemned the compromise measures in Congress

4. When they met against when the bills were passed, they reluctantly excepted them

d. Second Era of Good Feelings

i. Talk of secession subsided

ii. People from both sides believed that the compromised should be final and that the issue of slavery be buried

VIII. Balancing the Compromise Scales

a. Who Got the Better Deal In the Compromise of 1850?

i. North –

1. Mexican Cession –

a. CA – Was a free State and made it 16-15 in the Senate

b. NM and UT – Open to slavery on the basis of popular sovereignty

c. The only place left in the South to make new slave States was in the Caribbean

2. Texas

a. Paid $10 million towards its indebtedness (modest sum)

b. The area torn from Texas would probably be free

3. District of Columbia

a. Passed legislation to prevent the outlaw of slavery there

b. New Fugitive Slave Law of 1850

i. Northern States were to return fugitives to the South

ii. Fleeing slaves could not testify on their own behalf

iii. They were denied a jury trial

iv. The federal judge who handles the case would receive $5 if the runaway were freed and $10 if not

v. Northerners who aid the slave to escape were to have heavy fines and jail sentences (“Man-Stealing Law”)

c. Reaction to the Fugitive Slave Law

i. This law was the biggest cause of sectionalism and hatred in the 1850s

ii. Some believed that it could set a dangerous precedent for whites

iii. Many moderates were shocked at the law and driven to the ranks of the abolitionists. People in the North especially hated the “Man-Stealing Law”

iv. The Underground Railroad stepped up its activities

v. Northern mobs rescued slaves from their pursuers

vi. Slaves forcefully taken back to the South was done under protest in the North

vii. Massachusetts made it a offense for any State official to enforce the new federal statute

viii. Some States passed “personal liberty laws” which denied federal officials access to local jails

ix. Northerners would not execute the law

x. Slave-catchers bumped up their efforts

d. Strength of the North

i. Time was on the side of the North. They were gaining more:

1. Population

2. Wealth

3. Crops

4. Factories

5. Foundries (places that make glass or metal)

6. Ships

7. Railroads

8. Moral strength

ii. Industry’s value surpassed agriculture in the 1850s

iii. Compromise of 1850 led to the undoing of the North and South, but led to the victory for the Union through the delay and moral strength that it provoked. Many moderates became resisters of succession and abolitionists

IX. Defeat and Doom for the Whigs

a. Democratic Convention

i. Nominated Franklin Pierce (NH lawyer-politician)

ii. Was a weak and indecisive figure

iii. Served without distinction in the Mexican War

iv. Was a prosouthern northerner (was acceptable to the slavery wing of the Democratic party)

v. Platform:

1. Territorial expansion (like Polk)

2. Compromise of 1850

3. Fugitive Slave Law

b. Whigs Convention

i. With the great Compromise of 1850 passed by President Fillmore and Senator Webster, either of those two would’ve been the obvious nomination

ii. Since they’ve only won in the past with military heroes, they chose Winfield Scott. His personality turned off the masses because they thought he was boastful or arrogant (haughtiness)

c. Whigs Are Split

i. Antislavery Whigs didn’t like Scott’s platform, which endorsed the Fugitive Slave Law

ii. Southern Whigs doubted Scott’s loyalty to the Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Law

d. Election of 1852 Results

i. Free Soil Party candidate John Hale took northern Whig votes that might have gone to Scott. He got 5% of the popular vote

ii. Pierce – 254-42; 1.6 million to 1.4 million

e. Significance of the Election of 1852

i. Marked the end of the disorganized Whig party. Both Clay and Webster died during the 1852 campaign

ii. This ended the national parties and gave rise to the sectional parties

f. Significance of the Whigs

i. Held the Union together

X. Expansionist Stirrings South of the Border

a. Panama Canal Area

i. Win in Mexican War and gold in CA reinvigorated manifest destiny

ii. Many knew the Panama area to be a crucial link from Atlantic to Pacific. Whoever was in control of it would have sway over many nations (even the U.S.)

iii. With the British seizure of the port of Greytown on the coast of Nicaragua, the U.S. and New Granada (later Colombia) made a treaty in 1848. It guaranteed the American right of transit across the isthmus in return for Washington’s pledge to maintain the neutrality of the route so that free trade could continue

iv. Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850 – A war with Britain was avoided by this treaty, which stipulated that neither America nor Britain would fortify or seek control over any future isthmus waterway in the region

b. Cuba

i. Without any territory left in the South to create slavery States, some turned toward the Caribbean

1. Nicaragua –

a. William Walker, an adventurer, tried repeatedly to get control of this country (he earlier tried to seize Baja CA from Mexico and turn it into a slave State, but failed)

b. 1856 – He named himself president and legalized slavery

c. A coalition of Central American nations formed an alliance to overthrow him and President Pierce withdrew diplomatic recognition

d. Walker was executed before a firing squad in 1860

2. Cuba –

a. Spain refused an offer of $100 million

b. The South wanted this sugar-rich area to carve several States

c. 1850-1851 – Two “filibustering” expeditions (a Spanish word meaning “freebooter” or “pirate”) of several hundred men tried to capture Cuba, but failed

d. 1854 – Spanish officials in Cuba seized an American steamer called Black Warrior on a technicality. President Pierce had an opportunity to have war with Spain and Cuba, especially since England, France, and Russia were all entangled in the Crimean War

e. Ostend Manifesto –

i. The American diplomats to Spain, England, and France were directed by the secretary of state to meet in Ostend, Belgium to come to a conclusion on how to acquire Cuba. This became the Ostend Manifesto, a document that urged the administration to offer $120 for Cuba. If Spain refused and if its ownership endangered American interests, the U.S. would be justified in starting a war

ii. The Manifesto quickly leaked out

iii. Northern abolitionists who were already angered by the Fugitive Slave Law, rose up in wrath. As a result, Pierce dropped his any plans for Cuba

XI. Allure of Asia

a. British, America, and China

i. Opium War - The British had beaten China over rights of the British to sell opium in China. By the end of the war in 1842, Britain had gained five ports and Hong Kong

ii. Because Americans feared British domination of trade with China, President Tyler sent Caleb Cushing, a MA lawyer, to make negotiate. Arriving with gifts, Cushing used his charm and largesse (giving of bounty from a superior to inferior)

iii. Treaty of Wanghia (1844) – First diplomatic agreement between the U.S. and China which secured trading rights to China:

1. America had the same privileges as any other nation

2. Extraterritoriality – Americans accused of committing a crime in China would be tried before American courts

iv. The treaty left the profitable Chinese trade open and also created an opportunity for American missionaries

b. About Japan

i. Tokugawa Shogunate – Had a very isolated insularity (island inhabitance) under this warrior dynasty. So isolated, that shipwrecked sailors weren’t allowed to leave and Japanese sailors who landed on foreign soil weren’t allowed to come back

ii. By 1853, Japan was ready to break out of isolationism

iii. Matthew Perry –

1. President Millard Fillmore sent a fleet of warships commanded by Commodore Matthew Perry to Japan in 1853(brother of the hero of the Battle of Lake Erie in 1813)

2. Perry had prepared well for his Japan visit by:

a. Reading

b. Studying pacific currents

c. Collecting American technology with which to impress the Japanese

3. Perry requested free trade and friendly relations with the Japanese. He said he would return in a year for a reply

iv. Treaty of Kanagawa (1854)

1. Returning with 7 warships and more gifts, he persuaded the Japanese to sign this treaty

2. It did the following:

a. Provided for proper treatment of shipwrecked sailors

b. American coaling rights in Japan

c. Establishment of diplomatic relations

v. Meiji Restoration –

1. Perry cracked the door of Japan’s isolationism

2. It would lead to the end of the era of the Shogunate and isolationism

3. Japan would modernize and eventually clash with the U.S.

XII. Pacific Railroad and the Gadsden Purchase

a. Transportation Problems

i. People were having trouble getting to CA and OR

1. Going thru the isthmus of Panama or around South America was too long

2. Wagon travel was slow and dangerous

ii. Camels were originally the best answer

iii. A transcontinental railroad was the real solution

b. Railroads

i. Could only afford to build one at the time, either in the North or South (one would get the riches)

ii. The South was losing the economic race with the North and was eager to extend a railroad through adjacent southwestern territory to CA

iii. The best railway route would run south of the Mexican border

1. Easiest place to build in the South – less mountains

2. Wouldn’t pass through unorganized territory, as in the North

c. Gadsden Purchase

i. James Gadsden (a railroad businessman) was appointed minister to Mexico by Secretary of War Jefferson Davis (from MI)

ii. Purchased the area from Santa Anna for $10 million (he needed the money – the Mexican people were upset with the purchase and led to his final downfall)

iii. Northerners objected, but it passed in Congress

d. Nebraska

i. Nebraska was an unorganized territory, so people were hesitant building a railroad through it

ii. There were enough people in it, but proposals in Congress were turned down by southerners because they didn’t want it to be a free State

XIII. Douglas’s Kansas-Nebraska Scheme (1854)

a. Stephen A. Douglas

i. Senator Stephen A. Douglas (IL) favored the West and wanted to break the North-South deadlock over westward expansion. He also invested heavily in Chicago real estate and railway stock, so he wanted to have the railroad be built in the North

ii. He proposed that the Territory of Nebraska be split into two territories, Kansas and Nebraska. Their status regarding slavery would be settled through popular sovereignty

iii. Kansas – slave State (west of slave-holding Missouri)

iv. Nebraska – free State (west of free State Iowa)

v. He was the one who, during a Senate campaign, participated in debates against Lincoln

b. Conflict With the Missouri Compromise

i. Forbid slavery north of the 36 degrees 30 minutes line (in the Nebraska Territory)

ii. Congress would have to repeal this law for Douglas’ proposal to take effect

iii. Southerners and President Pierce supported the bill

iv. Northerners were against the bill (regarded the Missouri Compromise as sacred as the Constitution)

v. Debate was very heated in Congress, but Douglas was able to get the Nebraska-Kansas Act passed

c. Reaction To Douglas

i. People thought he was doing it out of personal interests

ii. He acted impulsively and recklessly – he didn’t care whether slavery was voted up or down in the territories

iii. Many of his fellow citizens in the North felt deeply on the moral issue, which he did not believe. They believed that he was a traitor

iv. He predicted a “hell of a storm” to follow the law, but not to the degree that actually happened

XIV. Congress Legislates a Civil War

a. Results of the Kansas-Nebraska Act

i. Repealed Fugitive Slave Law & Repealed Missouri Compromise –

1. Wrecked both of these

2. North and South diverged more

a. North – Became upset that Kansas would be a slave State

b. South – Got upset that the abolitionists were getting upset over making Kansas a slave State

ii. Democrats Split –

1. Became split over the issue of slavery

2. Didn’t get another Democratic president from 1860-1884

iii. New Republican Party –

1. Sprang up in the Mid-West, as the moral protests against slavery increased

2. Included:

a. Former Whigs (including Abraham Lincoln)

b. Democrats

c. Free-Soilers

d. Know-Nothings

e. Other foes of the Kansas-Nebraska Act

3. This party quickly dwarfed the Know-Nothing Party

4. It was mainly based in the north

iv. Sectional Parties –

1. Democrats – Predominantly Southern party

2. Republicans – Northern party