1. The Civil War Era
Unit Overview ( )

2. Big Picture
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo successfully ended hostilities with Mexico abroad, but opened up a Pandora's box of internal strife at home. The question of slavery’s expansion put much stress on America’s party system that unified North and South.

3. Politics & Popular Sovereignty in 1848
Election of 1848
(D) General Lewis Cass (MI)
Champion of popular sovereignty
People choose
(W) Zachary Taylor (LA)
Noncommittal on issue of slavery
(FSP) Martin Van Buren (NY)
Wilmot Proviso
Taylor wins!
FSP=291,263 votes

5. Gold! Discovery The rush Population boom Applied for statehood in 1849
Sutter’s Mill, CA
1848
The rush
“striking it rich”
Rare
“mining the miners”
Opportunity (e.g. Levi-Strauss)
Population boom
San Francisco
1848-1,000
,000
Applied for statehood in 1849
Bypasses territory status
Free state?

6. The South Politics Grievances
Southern president, majority in cabinet and SCOTUS, equality in Senate, outnumbered in House
Grievances
California would disrupt balance
Potential slave territory waning
Agitation for territories to follow CA model
Mexican Cession procured with Southern blood
Texas boundary dispute
Proposed abolition in District of Colombia
The Underground Railroad
Harriet Tubman
Passage to Canada

8. Political Compromise California logjam—1849 Old Guard
Wanted admission as a free-state
Old Guard
Henry Clay
Proposed compromise
Seconded by Stephen A. Douglas
John C. Calhoun
Defense of slave states’ rights
Daniel Webster
Fugitive Slave Law
Territories?
Convinces North

9. …continued New Guard Zachary Taylor dies
William Seward
Opposed compromise
“higher law”
Opposed Texan expansion
Zachary Taylor dies
Millard Fillmore advocates compromise
Northern sentiment swayed
Fire-Eaters conspire to secede
Moderate Southerners prevail
Compromise of 1850 passes piecemeal
The Georgia Platform
“no further assaults on southern rights”

10. Compromise(s) of 1850 Northern Concessions Southern Concessions
California admitted as a free state
Remaining cession territories open to slavery by popular sovereignty
NM and UT
TX & NM border dispute settled in favor of NM
TX receives $10 million from federal gov’t.
Abolition of slave trade in D.C.
Strengthened Fugitive Slave Act
“The Bloodhound Bill”
“personal liberty laws” denied local jails to federal officials

13. Demise of Whiggery Election of 1852 Pierce wins (doughface)
(D) Franklin Pierce (NH)
Pro-slavery
Endorsed Compromise of 1850
Pro-expansion
(W) Winfield Scott (VA)
Haughty
Regional factions distrusted Scott
(FSP) John P. Hale (NH)
Siphoned votes from anti-slavery Whigs
Pierce wins (doughface)
Electoral vote:
Whigs only had success with generals in prior elections (Harrison and Taylor)
Pierce wins popular vote: 1,601,117-1,385,453
Daniel Webster and Henry Clay die in 1852

15. Expansion: South of the Border
Central America
British influence
Belize, Honduras & Nicaragua
Canal? Control?
Clayton-Bulwer Treaty 1850
“Slavocrats”
Slave expansion
William Walker’s filibuster (1855)
Seizes control of Nicaragua
Legalizes slavery
Cuba
Failed filibusters ( )
Black Warrior incident (1854)
Ostend Manifesto
$120 million to Spain for Cuba or WAR!
William Walker was executed by firing squad in Honduras in 1860
Cuban filibusters ( ) brought the death of Southern men from wealthy families, as a result a southern mob attacked the Spanish consulate in New Orleans

16. Uniting East with West Transcontinental Railroad
Terminus—north or south?
The Gadsden Purchase (1853)
SOW Jefferson Davis (MS)
Appoints James Gadsden as minister
Purchases land south of Mexican border--$10 million
Increases probability for terminus to be in the South
Smaller mountains & organized territories
Northern politicians scramble to organize territories
Southerners—not eager to support expansion of free soil
James Gadsden was a successful railroad man
Gadsden treaty with Santa Anna might have also won access to the Sea of Cortez if it wasn’t hastily won

17. Kansas-Nebraska Act Stephen A. Douglas (IL)
Vested interest in Chicago as terminus
Champions popular sovereignty—southern support
Proposal
Nebraska split into two territories
Northern portion (NE)—closed to slavery
Southern portion (KS)—decided by the people
Contradicts the Missouri Compromise (1820)
Southerners jump at the prospect of another slave state
Bill endorsed by Franklin Pierce
Northerners felt betrayed by Douglas
Whig party fractured
Douglas owned railroad stock and real estate in Chicago
Lewis Cass of Michigan articulated popular sovereignty in the election of 1848
Westward expansion usually moved horizontally…therefore, free soil Iowans would settle Nebraska and slave owning Missourians would settle Kansas.
Kansas-Nebraska Act killed both the Compromise of 1820 and 1850 as northerners now flat out refused to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act.