1. California was given to the US in the Mexican Cession in 1848
In the 1830s, Mexico offered cheap land to American ranchers & farmers to move to California
California was given to the US in the Mexican Cession in 1848

2. The discovery of gold in San Francisco led to a flood of Americans to California in 1849
“Forty-Niners” hoping to strike it rich came from the East, Latin America, Europe, & Asia

3. The California gold rush led to a population boom in the West
But as America spread West, sectional issues over slavery grew

4. Regional differences increased sectionalism – placing the interests of a region above the interests of the nation
: Sectionalism was mild and resolved by compromise

5. Missouri Compromise

6. Tariff of Abominations and the Nullification Crisis

7. Nat Turner Rebellion

8. Texas Annexation and the Mexican American War

9. In 1848, the Free Soil Party was formed to keep slavery from spreading West
Free Soilers were not abolitionists; they did not think Congress had the power to end slavery; they were against the expansion of slavery West

10. In 1850, California asked to enter the Union as a free state
Southerners did not want more free states and wanted slavery to be allowed in the southwest territories

11. Northerners wanted to keep slavery out of the SW and wanted other laws to protect runaway slaves who made it to freedom in the North

12. California entered as a free state
The Compromise of 1850 solved the sectional dispute between North and South
California entered as a free state
The slave trade ended in Washington DC
The people of Utah and New Mexico could vote to allow or ban slavery (popular sovereignty)

13. A stronger Fugitive Slave Law was created that allowed Southerners to recapture slaves in the North