CHAPTER 13 Expansion, War, and Sectional Crisis 1844–1860 James A. Henretta Eric Hinderaker Rebecca Edwards Robert O. Self America’s History Eighth Edition America: A Concise History Sixth Edition CHAPTER 13 Expansion, War, and Sectional Crisis 1844–1860 Copyright © 2014 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

1. Identify the symbols of westward expansion in John Gast’s American Progress. (Answer: Wagons, trains, men traveling by foot and horseback, stagecoaches, telegraph wires and poles, animals and Native Americans being pushed westward.) 2. How does this painting illustrate the notion of Manifest Destiny? (Answer: Americans believed it was their God-given destiny to overspread the continent of North America; here an angelic female figure leads the charge and movement westward.) 3. In your opinion, does this painting depict “progress”? Why or why not? (Answer: Depending on how one defines progress, this question is debatable; from the perspective of Euro-Americans, spreading white culture and institutions westward was progress or improvement for the continent; for Native Americans, this “progress” led to the destruction of culture and a way of life that would never be recovered.)

I. Manifest Destiny: South and North A. The Push to the Pacific 1. Oregon 2. California

I. Manifest Destiny: South and North B. The Plains Indians 1. The Great Plains 2. The Sioux 7

1. Describe this painting—who does it include? Where does it take place? (Answer: The painting illustrates the meeting of U.S. Army dragoons and Comanche Indians in Indian Territory on the southern plains in the 1830s.) 2. Describe the Comanche leader and his followers. How does the painting present the Indians as they meet the American soldiers in this painting? (Answer: The leader is riding a white horse and carrying a white flag, indicating his peaceful intent. Yet he is not intimidated by the soldiers and seems to be displaying his horsemanship. The Comanche followers are numerous, and the image suggests that they might go on and on, past the farthest distance visible in the painting. The group is not only plentiful but well equipped.) 3. What does the painting suggest about how the American soldiers responded to the Comanches at this point of their meeting? (Answer: The Americans look slightly intimidated. The horses seem to be flinching a bit, and the men are leaning slightly backwards as well. They appear to be somewhat afraid and somewhat expectant, as if they are waiting to see what the Comanches will do next. The painting does not insinuate that the meeting would become violent, however.)

I. Manifest Destiny: South and North C. The Fateful Election of 1844 1. “Oregon conventions” 2. “Fifty-four forty or fight!”

II. War, Expansion, and Slavery, 1846–1850 A. The War with Mexico, 1846–1848 1. Polk’s Expansionist Program 2. American Military Successes

II. War, Expansion, and Slavery, 1846–1850 B. A Divisive Victory 1. The Wilmot Proviso 2. Free Soil 3. The Election of 1848 12

II. War, Expansion, and Slavery, 1846–1850 C. California Gold and Racial Warfare 1. The Forty-Niners 2. Racial Warfare and Land Rights

II. War, Expansion, and Slavery, 1846–1850 D. 1850: Crisis and Compromise 1. Constitutional Conflict 2. A Complex Compromise 17

III. The End of the Second Party System, 1850–1858 A. Resistance to the Fugitive Slave Act 1. Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 2. Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)

III. The End of the Second Party System, 1850–1858 B. The Whigs Disintegrate and New Parties Rise 1. Proslavery Initiatives 2. The Kansas-Nebraska Act 3. The Republican and American Parties 4. Bleeding Kansas

III. The End of the Second Party System, 1850–1858 C. Buchanan’s Failed Presidency 1. The Election of 1856 2. Dred Scott: Petitioner for Freedom

IV. Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Triumph, 1858–1860 A. Lincoln’s Political Career 1. An Ambitious Politician 2. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates

IV. Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Triumph, 1858–1860 B. The Union Under Siege 1. The Rise of Radicalism 2. The Election of 1860

1. Describe this image. Who are the people presented, and what are they doing? (Answer: The men in this political cartoon are the four candidates for president in the election of 1860 and they are depicted as four baseball players. From left to right, they are Constitutional Union Party candidate John Bell, Democratic Party candidate Stephen Douglas, the southern Democrat John Breckinridge, and Abraham Lincoln on home plate. There is a skunk in the center of the field.) 2. What symbols did the artist use in this cartoon to illustrate the different candidates’ political agendas? (Answer: Each man’s belt and bat is inscribed with a different message. Lincoln’s large bat is labeled “Equal Rights and Free Territory,” Bell’s “Fusion,” Douglas’s “Non-Intervention,” and Breckinridge’s “Slavery Extension,” illustrating each candidate’s position on slavery in the western states.) 3. What is the cartoonist’s view of the election? Which candidate does he support, and which does he think will win? (Answer: The cartoon is pro-Lincoln. Lincoln is depicted in the most complementary light, advising his opponents saying “Gentlemen, if any of you should ever take a hand in another match at this game, remember that you must have a ‘good bat’ and strike a ‘fair ball’ to make a ‘clean score’ and a ‘home run.’” Lincoln’s position on home plate, his large bat, and his opponents’ responses to him indicate that the cartoonist is counting on Lincoln’s victory.)