US_Ch1_info

=**The House Dividing (1848-1860) - Background Information**=
 * Internet Guide:** [[file:Internet Guide U.S. Ch. 1.docx]]

**__Territorial Expansion and Sectionalism__:**
Compromise over slavery would be part of the American fabric since the Constitutional Convention when the Founding Fathers set up a compromise to keep southern states from not ratifying the new Constitution. Slavery was kept out of federal politics until 1819 when Missouri (in the Louisiana Purchase) wanted to become a state. The issue was that if Missouri became a slave state then the balance between free and slave states would be upset. The **Missouri Compromise** was agreed upon, which would admit Missouri as a slave state and Maine (was part of Massachusetts) as a free state. Also, a line at 36 degrees 30 minutes North latitude would be drawn across the Louisiana Territory. North of the line would be free territory. South of the line would be slave territory. Slavery wasn't a major part of federal politics again until the 1840s.

The belief of **Manifest Destiny** was the belief that America had the right to expand its borders to the Pacific Ocean. The Young America Movement of the 1840s viewed America as a continent-wide nation from ocean to ocean. Having won the election of 1844, James Polk set out to expand America's borders to the Pacific. The United States had doubled in size with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. There were several trails into the west - Oregon Trail, California Trail, and Sante Fe Trail were some of the major trails. With Polk in office and Manifest Destiny being the major belief, the United States set its sights on Texas and Mexican land in the west, specifically California. The term Manifest Destiny came from a democratic newspaper supporting the Mexican War in which the writer condemned nations or individuals "//hampering our [American] power, limiting our greatness, and checking the fulfillment of our manifest destiny and overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions//." When Polk was running for office, he called for the annexation of Texas claiming that it was part of the Louisiana Purchase. Polk linked the idea of annexing Texas and gaining the Oregon Territory so not to upset the balance of slave and free territory (concept that is discussed in depth later). Texas would become a state at the end of the Tyler Administration (president before Polk) and Mexico broke off relations with the U.S. Texas had won its independence from Mexico in the 1830s.

There were disputes in the southern part of Texas on which river was the border between Texas and Mexico. The two million bill was being debated, which would offer Mexico $2 million (a later bill offered even more) to negotiate the southern boundary of Texas (which river would be the boundary). A representative from PA named David Wilmot offered an amendment to the bill. This amendment or rider added onto the bill was called the **Wilmot Proviso** and said no slavery or involuntary servitude could exist in any territory bought with the money. As a result, slavery was back into federal politics and so was sectionalism with the North arguing against the spread of slavery and the South arguing for it to spread. When debates on bills took place in the House of Representatives, the Speaker of the House had previously been able to keep slavery from coming up by only recognizing representatives that the Democrat Party could "trust" in terms of avoiding the issue. Wilmot had supported President Polk on tariff reduction and was viewed as one that could be trusted to debate. The problem was, neither the North nor the South would be willing to lose their balance of power (wanted to maintain the same number of free and slave states) even though both sides realized that may not always remain the case.

Polk wanted a war but needed Mexico to start it, so he sent General Zachary Taylor to the Rio Grande with cannons aimed across. Polk got his wish and the Mexicans attacked. Some U.S. Congressmen questioned the spot of the attack (Spot Resolutions) inquiring whether or not Mexico violated U.S. soil. One Congressman who questioned Polk in the Spot Resolutions was a Whig, Abraham Lincoln (you'll hear about him later).

The **Mexican War** was from 1846 to 1848. The **Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo** ended the Mexican War and the U.S. would get the **Mexican Cession** for $15 million, which included the Utah Territory, New Mexico Territory, and California. Polk wanted more land, but his negotiator Nicholas Trist, a Whig, ignored Polk's letter that recalled Trist since Trist didn't go after more land (Polk wanted a large part of what is today Mexico). General Winfield Scott, an anti-slave Whig, was also on-site and agreed with Trist on the treaty. Polk was upset, but had to send the treaty to the Senate for approval. There were enough Senators on both sides of the slavery argument to defeat the treaty, but neither side would come together to defeat it and it passed. As a result, a dismissed diplomat (Trist), a disappointed president (Polk), and a divided Senate brought California and the Southwest into the U.S. and the nation was now a continent-wide nation. Ralph Waldo Emerson equated the Mexican Cession with taking arsenic, knowing that slavery would become an issue.

The Democrat Party under Polk was divided when he left office. In the election of 1848, the Democrat Party went with Lewis Cass. He believed in **popular sovereignty**, or allowing the people in a territory to vote on whether or not slavery should exist in the territory. Cass felt that popular sovereignty would keep slavery out of federal politics and it also seemed like the more democratic approach. However, anti-slave activists argued that it still allowed slavery. The Whig Party knew they needed pro-slavery votes, so they went with Zachary Taylor, a Louisiana slaveholder, who was less Whig than he let on since he opposed a national bank (Whigs supported a national bank) and promised to raise tariffs only for revenue (Whigs wanted higher tariffs on foreign goods). A Free Soil Party formed as a third party against the spread of slavery and nominated Martin Van Buren. Van Buren took some votes from Cass and Taylor won the presidency.

In 1848, gold was discovered at John Sutter's sawmill in California by James Marshall, one of Sutter's workers. Word reached the east and numerous Americans started to move west. Many went west to mine gold while others went to get wealthy by other means. One example of entrepreneurship was Levi Strauss who developed a better pair of mining pants that used rivets on a sturdy fabric called denim. Strauss invented jeans...Levi jeans. With the California 1849 **Gold Rush**, there would be a mass movement to California. The population was around 14,000 in 1848 and up to around 250,000 in 1851. With such an increase in population, the citizens of California wanted to become a state and sent a state constitution to Congress to be approved, one that would make California a free state. Of course, slavery would be a central issue in the argument over California statehood. Territorial expansion led to sectionalism and slavery being argued in federal politics, even though that wasn't the intention of the westward movement. There was some talk by Southern politicians about leaving the United States and forming a separate nation if California became a state and upset the free state-slave state balance.

Westward expansion would provide more opportunity for Americans in terms of business and natural resources. Territorial expansion should have been a booming time for America with plenty of job opportunities especially with railroads and factories expanding, new resources in the west, and an expansion spirit. However, the negative about territorial expansion was that slavery would become an issue each time the U.S. expanded westward and soon political debates and differences over slavery (North free and South slave) would lead to **sectionalism**, or differences between sections or regions of the nation over the slavery issue.

**__Spirit of Reform__:**
The **Second Great Awakening** was a religious movement in the mid-1800s in the U.S. that saw an increase in church membership and began to combat social problems. **Temperance** was one of the issues, which was a push for moderation in the consumption of alcohol. Temperance groups existed since the 1700s, but were energized in the Second Great Awakening. A national association was formed in 1833. This would be an issue that was pushed clear into the 1900s. Women were heavily involved in the temperance movement as well as a push for the universal right of women to vote. In 1848, activists Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton organized the **Seneca Falls Convention** in New York and came up with the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions (better known as the Seneca Falls Declaration) adding to the Declaration of Independence that all men AND WOMEN are created equal. The major social problem was of course slavery. Quakers in Pennsylvania were some of the original abolitionists who wanted to end slavery. They're responsible for beginning the **Underground Railroad**, which was a network of escape routes from the South into the North in an attempt to get runaway slaves into Canada where they would be completely free.

Various viewpoints emerged over slavery. The South took a **States' Rights** viewpoint that slavery was a state by state issue since slaves were property and property is a state issue. The **Free Soil** view was that of stopping the spread of slavery (not ending it where it already exists). The **Abolitionists** were those who saw slavery as a moral evil and believed it should end everywhere.

**__The 1850s and a Worsening Crisis__:**
In an attempt to solve the slavery argument, Henry Clay developed a compromise. He wanted to develop a compromise with several parts in one big bill. Clay hoped that his compromise would end the turmoil over slavery and keep it out of federal politics forever. This **Compromise of 1850** suggested: (1) Admission of California as a free state - major part that appealed to the North due to growing population in CA. (2) Rest of the Mexican Cession - popular sovereignty - appealed to South since possibility of slavery spreading. (3) Texas would give up some territory - popular sovereignty - appealed to North since TX was already a slave state. (4) Texas would get $10 million to pay off debt from when they were an independent nation - small appeal to the South. (5) Federal **Fugitive Slave Act** - runaway slaves would have to be returned - major part that appealed to the South. (6) Abolition of slave trade in D.C. - small appeal to North (slave trade still happened outside of D.C.).

The compromise did not pass. An Illinois Senator, Stephen Douglas, was rising in the government and had presidential aspirations. Douglas was able to get all six parts of the compromise passed through the Congress with different deals. President Taylor had announced though that he planned to veto all of the parts except the admission of California. Mysteriously, President Taylor died. Vice President Millard Fillmore became president and signed all parts of the Compromise of 1850. It appeared that disunion and/or war was avoided. However, there were several unintended consequences, including the increase in abolitionists and an increase of the Underground Railroad. Frederick Douglass was a runaway slave who spoke out against the Fugitive Slave Act and often gathered crowds in the North. Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote //**Uncle Tom's Cabin**//, which became a top seller. It portrayed blacks as having feelings and families like whites and led more and more people into seeing the problems of slavery. Harriet Tubman was a runways slave who went back into the South several times to help other slaves escape on the Underground Railroad and became known as the "Moses of her people." William Lloyd Garrison wrote a famous abolitionist newspaper, //The// Liberator. The compromise also had unintended consequences in the South where there were talks of secession (though not near as much as in 1860). As the 1852 election approached, anti-slave Whigs abandoned Fillmore and went with Winfield Scott, an anti-slave Whig, which would hurt him in the election. The Democrats went with Franklin Pierce, a Mexican War hero as well and a northerner with southern principles. Neither Scott nor Pierce took secession talk seriously. Pierce would win the presidency.

The Kansas Territory would become a major problem spot. Stephen Douglas, still trying to increase his popularity with aspirations of becoming president one day, wanted to organize the Kansas and Nebraska Territories in order to have a transcontinental railroad go through his home state of Illinois. Such a railroad was necessary due to the growth of California and the Oregon Territory. He proposed the **Kansas-Nebraska Act** in 1854, which proposed organizing the territory with popular sovereignty (the settlers would decide whether or not there would be slavery). Northerners were very upset since the Kansas and Nebraska Territories were north of the Missouri Compromise line and therefore already anti-slave territories. If the Kansas-Nebraska Act passed, it would repeal the Missouri Compromise line and slavery would have the possibility of spreading into territories north of the line. Douglas thought it was a good move because he thought northern territories would vote to be free states anyways. The act passed despite opposition in Congress and signed by President Pierce who supported the act. There would be three major impacts: (1) It set off the "race to Kansas" in which pro-slave and anti-slave advocates were going to Kansas to vote for their cause. This would spark a series events known as "**Bleeding Kansas**." There would be gun fights between pro-slave and anti-slave groups in Kansas as America got to see a small version of what the future would hold. Senator Charles Sumner gave a speech on the Senate floor called "The Crime Against Kansas" after President Pierce refused to recognize an anti-slave constitution for Kansas. Sumner ridiculed Douglas and South Carolina Senator Andrew Butler who had a speech impediment. A congressman from South Carolina, Preston Brooks, came into the Senate and attacked Sumner with his cane. Sumner was severely beaten and his seat remained vacant for two years. Furthermore, John Brown led a vigilante style assassination of pro-slavery men along Pattawatomie Creek. The real symbolism was that if a white man could be caned on the Senate floor, then what chance did a slave in the field have? It also reinforced the abolitionists' claim that a society that tolerated slavery would be a society in which no one's rights were safe. (2) A new political party, the **Republican Party**, formed with the goal of ending slavery. They also adopted some old Whig views of internal improvements, tariffs, and a national bank. Horace Greeley said the Kansas-Nebraska Act created more free soilers and abolitionists in two months than William Lloyd Garrison did in 20 years (Garrison owned an abolitionist newspaper). Two of the party's leaders were William Seward and Salmon Chase. The 1856 election would be their first and they nominated John C. Fremont. The Democrats would go with James Buchanan from PA, another northerner with southern principles who ran on the issue of keeping the union together. A third party, the anti-immigration American Party, put Millard Fillmore on the ballot. Buchanan would win, but the Republicans saw that if they won only free states, they could win the presidency. (3) Slavery was back into federal politics with little (in reality no) chance of a compromise.

The Buchanan Administration would face two major problems. The first came when Buchanan announced his support of a key Supreme Court case in his inaugural address without knowing what the result complete was. Dred Scott was a slave owned by U.S. Army surgeon John Emerson who moved to Illinois and then the Wisconsin Territory (both were north of the Missouri Compromise line). When Emerson died, friends of Scott brought a suit for his freedom. Scott would become the property of John Sanford and a new suit was brought forth. In the **Dred Scott Case**, the Supreme Court ruled that blacks were not citizens (slave or free) and therefore couldn't sue. The endorsement of the case would cripple the Buchanan Administration from the start. One of the unintended consequences was the Panic of 1857 in which railroad bonds tumbled. Business hates uncertainty and the court ruling destabilized the markets since there was the possibility of John Brown style of raids everywhere. There would be conspiracy theories on both sides with the South believing the North was promoting industry at the South's expense and the North believing that slave power was controlling the presidency and courts and rigged elections and prohibited open debates.

The Illinois Senate race of 1858 between Stephen Douglas (D) and Abraham Lincoln of the newly formed Republican Party would show future debates over slavery. In one of the debates, Lincoln made his famous statement when he said "a house divided against itself cannot stand." Douglas stood by his popular sovereignty belief. Lincoln said slavery was a moral, social, and political wrong. Douglas was able to retain his Senate seat (the people didn't elect senators at the time; senators were chosen by state legislatures).

In 1859, John Brown made national news against when he led a group to take over a federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry in Virginia in hopes of starting a slave uprising. Brown was captured and executed, but became a martyr for the anti-slave cause. Going into 1860, Buchanan wasn't popular and the Congress was almost completely ineffective (Senate controlled by Democrats although 10% of Democrats wouldn't vote for pro-slavery aspects and the House was controlled by Republicans). Going into 1860, the mood in the South was leaning disunion and the mood in the North was leading abolition of slavery.

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