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Chapter 18

Chapter 18. Renewing the Sectional Struggle. 1848-War with Mexico Ends. Mexico forced to relinquish vast lands Northern antislaveryites back the Wilmot Proviso Southerners blocked the passage of the proviso What to do with the New Territory?. Parties Provide National Unity.

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Chapter 18

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  1. Chapter 18 Renewing the Sectional Struggle

  2. 1848-War with Mexico Ends • Mexico forced to relinquish vast lands • Northern antislaveryites back the Wilmot Proviso • Southerners blocked the passage of the proviso • What to do with the New Territory?

  3. Parties Provide National Unity • Try to ignore the slavery issue • Northern abolitionist and Southern fire eaters kept issue alive

  4. Election of 1848 • Polk decides not to run • Democrats nominate General Lewis Cass • Pompous • Rhymed with jackass • Father of Popular Sovereignty (people can choose slavery or not in their state)

  5. Popular Sovereignty • People of the territory can choose the issure of slavery themselves • Goes with self-determination tradition • Political compromise • Moved issue into the laps of people of the territory • Might serve to spread slavery

  6. Political Triumphs for General Taylor

  7. Taylor Nominated by Whigs • Cash in on his popularity • Hero of Buena Vista • Never held office

  8. Clay had too Many Enemies

  9. Taylor did Not Let His Views be Known • Owned slaves in Louisiana

  10. Free Soil Party • Organized by those who did not trust Taylor or Cass • For the Wilmot Proviso • Against slavery in the territories • Federal aid for internal improvements • Urged free homesteads

  11. Attracted Industrialists Miffed at Polk’s Reduction of Tariff • Democrats resentful of Polk’s settling on part of Oregon and all of Texas • Attracted northerners who did not want to share new territories with blacks • Conscience Whigs who condemned slavery on moral grounds

  12. Nominated Martin Van Buren

  13. “Free soil, free speech, free labor” • Condemned slavery for the esteemed status of labor, not for blacks • America could only grow if land was given to white Americans in the West • Built around slavery and sectionalism • Foreshadowed the growth of the Republican Party

  14. Campaign Ignores Slavery Issue and Focuses on Personalities

  15. Taylor’s Wartime Record Pulls Him to Victory • 163-127

  16. Californy Gold

  17. Discovery of Gold Opens up the Issue of Slavery Again • “The diggings” - only a few struck it rich • Many should have stayed home • More profits in taking care of miners • Tens of thousands travel to California • Frontier violence broke out extensively in California

  18. California Applies for Statehood in 1849 • People need protection • No slavery in constitution • By-pass territorial status

  19. Sect

  20. Sectional Balance and the Underground Railroad

  21. Southern Balance of Power in 1850 • Economically well off • Southerner in White House • Majority in the Cabinet • Majority on the Supreme Court • Equality in the Senate to block legislation • Cotton prices high • Slavery did not seem seriously threatened

  22. Southern Worries • Political balance of power tipping • Admission of California would tip balance of power • Potential slave territory dwindling • California would be a dangerous precedent • Texas was laying claim to New Mexico • Threatened to invade Santa Fe • North agitating for the end of slave trade in D.C. • Loss of runaway slaves • Underground railroad • Assisted runaways to the North • Informal chain of stations to help slaves run away to the North

  23. Harriet Tubman - Moses • Rescued many slaves, even her parents • 19 days - rescued over 300

  24. Southerners Want a More Stringent Fugitive Slave Law • Old law of 1793 inadequate • State authorities did not cooperate • Abolitionists who ran underground railroad did not profit • Blatant unlawful activity

  25. Only about 1,000 Runaways Per Year • More gained their freedom by self-purchase and voluntary emancipation • Constitution protects slavery • Southerners felt more loss of honor

  26. Twilight of the Senatorial Grants

  27. 1850’s Crisis Brought Together the Most Noteworthy Statesmen in American History • Immortal trio of Clay, Webster, and Calhoun appear for the last time • New young gladiators

  28. Clay • 73 years old • Is to lead American through one more great compromise

  29. Stephen Douglas of Illinois - Little Giant • Helps lead America and supports Clay’s compromises

  30. John C. Calhoun • Great Nullifier • 68 and dying of tuberculosis • Last formal speech • Approves Clay’s proposed concessions • Leave slavery alone • Return runaways slaves • Give the South rights as a minority • Restore political balance

  31. Dies in 1850 • “The South, The South! God knows what will become of her!” • “Truth, Justice, and the Constitution”

  32. Daniel Webster • 68 • Tries to uphold Clay’s compromises • Urged all reasonable concessions to the South - even a new fugitive slave law

  33. Seventh of March Speech • Calls for compromise and concessions • Supports the Wilmot Proviso • Slavery could exist in the Mexican Cession because of climate, topography, and geography • Helped turn the North toward compromise with the South • Strengthened the Union sentiment • Had debts cancelled

  34. Abolitionists label Webster a traitor • Webster disliked slavery, but disunion worse

  35. Deadlock and Danger on Capitol Hill

  36. New Young Guard • More interested in purging and purifying it than patching and preserving the Union

  37. William H. Seward • New York Senator • Against concession • Did not realize that compromise had kept Union together • Appealed to a “higher law” than the Constitution (God’s law) to end slavery in the territories • May have cost him the presidential nomination in 1860

  38. President Taylor • Did not want to compromise • Texas threatens to seize Santa Fe and Taylor talked of leading troops against Texas

  39. Breaking the Congressional Logjam

  40. President Taylor Dies Suddenly in 1850 • Helped cause the concession • Millard Fillmore becomes President and signs concessions

  41. Union-Savers of the North Help North Accept Compromise • Good will feeling and upsurge in prosperity by discovery of gold

  42. Southerners Still Heated in Debate and Began to Hate North • Pro-Union Southerners prevailed

  43. Nashville Convention of Southern Extremists Met to Condemn Compromise • Met Again after the bill had passed and meeting became a dud

  44. 2nd Era of Good Feelings • Peace-loving people hoped the compromise would end the controversy

  45. Balancing the Compromise Scales

  46. Who Got the Better Deal in the Compromise of 1850? • North • Balance of power in the Senate • New Mexico and Utah were not to become slaves states for a while • Southern gains weak • Texas to be paid $10 million to give up claims to New Mexico • Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 • Bloodhound Bill • North opposes this strongly • Runaway slaves did not get a fair trial and could not testify in their own behalf • Dangerous precedent • Federal judge get $5 if slave freed and $10 if not • Those who helped slaves escape were liable to heavy fines and jail • Many moderates driven to the ranks of antislaveryites • “We went to bed one night old-fashioned and conservative, Compromise Union Whigs and waked up stark mad abolitionists”

  47. Underground railroad stepped up its rescues • Massachusetts makes it a law to stop state officials from enforcing federal statutes • Personal liberty laws- denied local jails to federal officials • William Lloyd Garrison - “We execrate it, we spit upon it, we trample it under our feet” • Fugitive Slave Law angers both sides, further split North and South, and made both antagonistic

  48. Delay in Fighting - What Did it Mean? • Time on side of North • Growing in economic power • Growing in population • Added moral strength and its will to fight for the Union • Compromise helped win the war for the North by giving them time to get prepared

  49. Defeat and Doom for the Whigs

  50. Democrats nominate young Franklin Pierce in 1852

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