1850s: A Decade of Crisis

1. 1850s: A Decade of Crisis Chapter 18-19

2. Objective #1 • Assess the extent to which the idea of Manifest Destiny affected politics within the United States as illustrated by the Compromise of 1850

3. Objective #2 • Trace the increasing sectional hostility of the 1850s as a result of • Slavery • The Fugitive Slave Act • Kansas-Nebraska Act • “Bleeding Kansas” • Dred Scott v. Sanford • John Brown’s Raid

4. Objective #3 • Trace the increasing sectional hostility of the 1850s, as a result of slavery, and the rise of the Republican Party and the election of 1860.

5. North-South Avoids/Compromises Showdown on Slavery • 1787: 3/5 and slave trade compromises • 1820: Missouri Compromise • 1833: Nullification • After war with Mexico: what do we do with the new territory?

6. The Mexican Cession

7. Wilmot Proviso • “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist” in the new territories. • Attached to an appropriations bill for funding the war with Mexico • Passed House, Failed in Senate • Debate by section, not party line

8. Did Congress Have the Right to Dictate Slavery in States? • Precedent said yes • Northwest Ordinance • Missouri Compromise

9. John C. Calhoun’s Argument • Unconstitutional to prohibit slavery • Act of Congress cannot keep slaveholders from taking their property into territories (5th Amendment)

10. Election of 1848 • Dems: Lewis Cass • Dems official stance on slavery: silence • Cass: Popular Sovereignty • Whigs: Zachary Taylor • Taylor had never voted in an election • But was popular war hero • Silent on slavery (owned slaves) • Free-Soil: Martin Van Buren

11. Who were the Free-Soilers? • Northerners • Did not trust Cass or Taylor • Supported Wilmot Proviso • Abolitionists • Keep western land free of blacks (slave and free) so that whites would not have to compete with them • “Free soil, free labor, and free men” • Nationalists who wanted federal money for internal improvements • Advocated free homesteads for farmers • Industrialists against Polk’s reduced tariff • A few Northern Whigs and Antislavery Democrats

12. Results of Election of 1848

13. Issues Taylor has to Solve • 1. California: Free or slave? • 2. Land from Mexico: Free or slave? • 3. Existence of slave trade in Washington D.C. • 4. Lack of enforcement of Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 • Southern states meet in Oct., 1849 to discuss secession.

14. Compromise of 1850 • Written by Henry Clay • 1. California admitted as free state. • 2. New Mexico and Utah territories: popular sovereignty • 3. Texas given $10 million to pay off debts to Mexico. • 4. Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 • 5. Slave trade ended in D.C. (but not slavery)

15. Taylor Threatens Veto • But, Taylor dies unexpectedly in 1850. • VP Millard Fillmore becomes President • Signed into law • Political parties continue to split sectionally

16. Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 • Required federal marshals to help slaveholders seize runaway slaves • Abolitionists: it encouraged kidnapping • Blacks could not testify on own behalf • Federal commissioners in charge of cases were paid more if they ruled person was a slave. • Many Northern states passed laws forbidding local officials from aiding

17. Compromise of 1850

18. HarrietBeecherStowe(1811 – 1896) So this is the lady who started the Civil War. -- Abraham Lincoln

19. Uncle Tom’s Cabin 1852 • Sold 300,000 copies inthe first year. • 2 million in a decade!

20. 1852 Presidential Election Franklin Pierce Gen. Winfield Scott John Parker Hale Democrat Whig Free Soil

21. Major Party Candidates • Democrats (Pierce): • Pro-slavery Northerner (accepted by South) • Pro-territorial expansion (like Polk) • Endorsed the Compromise of 1850 • Whigs (Scott): • War hero (of course) • Pro-Compromise of 1850 • Problem for Whigs: More disorganized • Northerners did not like him for endorsing Fugitive Slave Act • Southerners did not like the Northerner.

22. 1852Election Results

23. Federal Government in 1853 • Executive Branch: • Pro-slavery Northern President (Democrat) • Majority of cabinet was from South (Democrat) • Veto Power • Legislative Branch: • North controls House (Democratic controlled) • North controls Senate (Democratic controlled) • Judicial Branch: • Majority of the justices were Southerners

24. Democrats in Control • Mandate for Manifest Destiny • 1853: Gadsden Purchase for southern railroad link to west coast for $10 million • South also interested in extending further south into Latin American lands

25. Ostend Manifesto (1854) • Pierce approved a secret meeting of American diplomats in Ostend, Belgium • Discussed buying Cuba for $120 million • South could potentially pass North in size and power • Northern free-soilers outraged • At same time Uncle Tom’s Cabin peaking • Pierce was forced to drop issue

26. Commodore Matthew Perry Opens Up Japan: 1853 • Followed Cushing’s treaty with China in 1844 • First formal agreement between US and China • Perry arrives in Japan with warships • Gives Japanese gifts and asks for free trade • Returned in 1854 and received positive response

27. Stephen Douglas • Congressman from Illinois • Pro expansion • Pro popular sovereignty • Invested in railroads • Wanted to capture leadership of Democratic party

28. Nebraska Question • Had to keep southern Democrats happy over slavery • Nebraska territory requests statehood • It is totally above 36 30 line • South wants Nebraska to be a slave state • He risks alienating South and ruining his chance to one day be President.

29. Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854) • Split Nebraska into two territories (Kansas and Nebraska) • Both could decide by popular sovereignty • Assumption: One would be free, one would be slave • Endorsed by President Pierce

30. Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854

31. Results of Kansas-Nebraska Act • Re-opened question of slavery in territories • Split parties further • Killed Whig Party (sectional differences within party) • Split the Union • Most Northerners were against the destruction of Missouri Compromise • Will resist all future southern demands for slave territory • Refused to enforce Fugitive Slave Law • Bleeding Kansas (and later contributed to Civil War)

32. Growing Cities • Increased nativism: job competition, language differences, religion, lowering wages • Immigrants usually supported Democratic Party • Growing belief that immigrants were corrupting politics • American (Know-Nothing) saw little success as third party. • Birth of Republican Party

33. Birth of the Republican Party, 1854 • Northern Whigs. • Northern Democrats. • Free-Soilers. • Know-Nothings. • Other miscellaneous opponents of the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

34. Republican Platform • Would not interfere with slavery where it already existed • Did not support equal rights for blacks • Anti-Catholic • Pro-temperance • Pro-public school • End fugitive slave laws • Support middle class, small business, laborers, Northern farmers • Anti-Kansas Nebraska Act

35. Problems with Kansas • New England Emigrant Aid Society sent free-soilers to Kansas to vote • Missouri sent citizens to Kansas to vote in the election (more of them) • Election results: twice as many people voted than number of registered voters • Pro-slavery government was elected (Shawnee Mission) • Free-Soilers set up government in Topeka • Federal government did nothing to solve problem.

36. “Bleeding Kansas” Border “Ruffians”(pro-slavery Missourians)

37. Violence in Kansas (1856) • Pro-slavery supporters march on free-soil supported Lawrence (Sack of Lawrence) • John Brown and group of abolitionists hack five pro-slavery men in revenge two days later (Massacre of Pottawatomie Creek)

38. “The Crime Against Kansas” Sen. Charles Sumner(R-MA) Congr. Preston Brooks(D-SC)

39. 1856 Presidential Election √ James Buchanan John C. Frémont Millard Fillmore Democrat Republican Know-Nothing

40. 1856Election Results

41. 1857: Call for New Election in Kansas • LeCompton Constitution offered by the pro-slavery government as a “compromise” • Only allowed people to vote on existing constitution with or without slavery • Constitution protected slavery where it already existed

42. 1857 Election results • Only 2000 of 24,000 voters participated • Proslavery government elected • Free blacks barred from state • President James Buchanan endorsed it • Stephen Douglas opposed it: not true popular sovereignty • Persuaded Senate to reject constitution • Hurt his support in the South • Kept Kansas from becoming a state until 1861 • Would become a free state when secessionists left Congress

43. Dred Scott v. Sanford, 1857

44. Dred Scott Case (1857) • Slaves are property and cannot be taken without due process (5th Amendment) • Compromise of 1820 had been unconstitutional all along • Congress did not have power to ban slavery in the territories • Could not sue because he is not a citizen

45. Panic of 1857 • Caused by: • Over-speculation of land • Flood of gold from California caused inflation • Problems in grain market • North hit worst • North favored higher tariff (industrialists) and cheaper land (farmers) • Homestead Act (1860): public land given to farmers for $.25 an acre (vetoed by Buchanan) • Republican party planks in 1860 • King Cotton not impacted • South saw this as proof of economic superiority of cotton production

46. The Lincoln-Douglas (Illinois Senate) Debates, 1858 A House divided against itself, cannot stand.

47. Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1858) • S. Douglas (D) • Dodged slavery issue • Popular sovereignty • Believed to be the front-runner for presidential nomination in 1860.

48. Lincoln-Douglas Debates • Abraham Lincoln (Re) • Anti-slavery but pro-Union first • Believed in political equality of blacks • Challenged Douglas to a series of debates

49. Freeport Doctrine • Douglas stated that people in a territory could vote slavery down despite the Dred Scott decision • Upset South • Further splits Democratic party • Douglas wins election but damages his chances for being President

50. John Brown’s Raidon Harper’s Ferry, 1859