Unit something (10?) USHIH flashcards

Whig vs. Democrat ideals (1840)

Whig vs. Democrat ideals (1840)

• Both are national parties

• Whigs wanted national bank, low tariffs, and low land prices

• Democrats wanted no national bank (treasury system), protective tariffs (high) and static land prices

John Tyler

• Democrat by ideology, but he despised Jackson → man w/o party

• Clay wanted national bank, but Tyler vetoed, so Tyler's cabinet all resigns (except for Daniel Webster who's negotiating a treaty)

• Annexes TX in lame duck presidency

Manifest Destiny

• Idea that God wanted Americans to expand (mostly out west)

• Led to frontiersmen, herds, then farmers in that order

Main issues in the election of 1840

Slavery. Natives. Foreign conflicts. Internal improvements. Land Reform.

Aroostock War/Lumberjack War

• Dispute w/ Canada over the border of Maine, the British wanted to use it to build a road, Maine lumberjacks wanted to chop the wood

• Originally Ben Franklin drew a red line on a map, but no one could find the map → Webster fabricates a map

Texas independence/Lone Star Republic

• Mexican government was very weak, so they thought that by inviting Americans with free land, they could control them (backfired)

• Santa Anna (dictator) takes over Mexico and kills a bunch of people (Alamo)

• 1836 Sam Houston takes Santa Anna by surprise and forces him to sign a treaty (Rio Grande Border), however, the actual Mexican gvt. doesn’t recognize this treaty

Annexation? (Texas)/Key Issue in 1844 election

• Lone Star Rep. lasts for 9 years before annexation, it was like a hot potato for presidents bc. of the slavery question

• South and West favor annexation, North thinks it will disrupt the balance

• Texans also pushed for annexation, asking Calhoun to draft a treaty annexing TX, but it gets rejected

James Polk

• Campaign motto was 54’40’’ or fight - Oregon territory

• Four point plan - acquire CA, settle Oregon, lower tariff, and bring back independent treasury system

• Easily elected, like JQA is a master negotiator and accomplishes most of his goals (Oregon ended up at 49’)

New political parties

• Liberty party from Northern Whigs, want complete abolitionism, nominate James Burney in 1844

• Free Soil Party - more moderate, just want no slaves in new territories

Mexican War

• Rio Grande v. Nueces river, in between, some fighting occurred and 11 US soldiers died, news of this reached DC the same day that Polk gave his speech asking for war

• Spot Resolution - Abraham Lincoln wanted to know the spot of the fighting, northerners didn’t like this war

• 1848 Treaty of Guadeloupe ends the war, US gets almost everything, we pay only $15 million

Wilmot Proviso

• Proposed @ beginning of Mexican war by David Wilmot, slavery is to be banned in new territories, not going to let slavery expand

• South/West people who fought in Mexican war hated it, breakdown of party systems (sectional interests trump party interests) → fistfights on the floor of congress

Election of 1848

• Key issue was if slavery should persist in territories

• Southern Dem.’s choose Lewis Cass from Michigan to “balance” votes, he coins the term “popular sovereignty”

• Whigs nominate Zachary Taylor, Liberty runs Salmon Chase, and Free Soil run Van Buren (barn burners, since they burn down the democratic party)

• Taylor wins, war hero who avoided all of the key issues

Problems w/ popular sovereignty

• States were just as divided on the slavery issue, and when would territories hold their vote?

Compromise of 1850 (Henry Clay)

• CA gets admitted as a free state

• Some organization things between Utah and New Mexico

• Claim of Texas to a portion of New Mexico was satisfied by a payment of $10 million

• Prohibits slave trade (but not slaves) in Washington DC

• Establishes new Fugitive Slave Act

• is voted on one by one instead of all together (make sure you know why)

Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

• Slaves were denied trial by jury, federal commissioners were paid $10 to send a slave back, but only $5 to set them free

• Harboring slaves was now a crime and could lead to fines or imprisonment

• Northern states kinda just let things slide, and MA even makes it illegal to enforce the fugitive slave act

Election of 1852

• Dems favor compromise but don’t wanna talk about slavery, they choose Franklin Pierce from NH (will be dominated by a pro-slavery cabinet)

• Whigs split on slavery, timid support for compromise, nominate another war hero - Winfield Scott

• Free Soil Party opposes the compromise, they dislike popular sovereignty because it leads to a possibility of slavery - nominate John P. Hale

• Democrats win big, public likes compromise

Steven Douglas

• Famous for being a railroad advocate, from Chicago, which was a railroad center

• Wanted to build the railroad in the north, but also wants to be president so he doesn’t want to alienate the south (important)

• Ends up alienating the south not once but twice, with Le Compton/Topeka (Kansas) and with Freeport Doctrine (Dred Scott)

• Debates against Lincoln in (you guessed it) the Lincoln-Douglas debates on slavery

Kansas-Nebraska Act

• Would allow for popular sovereignty in the two states

• Slavery wasn’t profitable in Nebraska, but it was in Kansas → Bleeding Kansas

• Kansas makes two different legislatures, the Le Compton (pro slaves) and Topeka (anti slaves), the Le Compton one is voted but only due to “Border Ruffians” from MO

Bleeding Kansas

• Sacking of Lawrence (anti slavery town), sacked by pro-slavery settlers

• Pottawatomie Creek Massacre - led by John Brown, killed a bunch of pro-slavery whites

• Charles Sumner (northern senator) talks smack about a southern senator, and promptly gets caned

• Harriet Beecher Stowe writes Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which was a big success by showing the emotional and moral wrongs of slavery

Election of 1856

• 3 Parties - Democrats, Republicans, and the Know-Nothings

• Whigs were split by the Wilmot Proviso and then completely shattered by the Kansas-Nebraska Act

• Democrats hold it together, and Republicans are formed from a few whiggy fragments (sectional)

• Republicans wanted to repeal fugitive slave act, and prohibit slavery’s expansion, but they were not abolitionists, democrats wanted the opposite

• Know-Nothings targeted immigrants, wanted to reduce their rights (think nikhil)

• Buchannan & democrats win because they’re the only national party left (oops)

Panic of 1857

• wow another panic

• Overspeculation in land, railroads, inflation due to gold rush, this time the north gets hit harder because cotton is expensive in foreign nations

• South wrongly sees this as a show of their economy’s strength, they are more likely to secede now (oops)

• Result? people want cheaper land and higher tariffs

Dred Scott facts

• 1852-1857, this BLACK MAN Dred Scott is raised a slave w/ the Blow Family (ik horrible name) and sold to John Emerson, and he was moved to Illinois and Wisconsin (free states)

• Scott sues for freedom, shoulda been an open-and-shut case (easy freedom), but is denied due to some legal technicality

• Second trial 3 years later - Scott is freed

• This John Sanford guy was hella greedy → third trial and MO Supreme Court, Scott is a slave again

• Wanted to appeal to US Supreme Court, but previous precedents set in Strater v. Grahm would cause the SCOTUS to defer to judgement of state courts → new trial in fed. court system

Dred Scott decision

• Roger Taney (chief justice) declares that Dred Scawt was a slave, past, present, and future

• Blacks could be state citizens, but couldn’t be citizens of US

• MO compromise was unconstitutional, right to property didn’t care about state boundaries

• Some began to wonder if the same logic could be applied to states → no more notion of a “free state”

• North is (once again) outraged, says that Buchannan influenced the court, compromise is no longer an option

• Republicans commit to changing the decision through another, begins w/ Lincoln campaign

Lincoln-Douglas Debates

• Douglas was a master(de)bater, Lincoln challenges him for the clout

• Lincoln gives his famous “House Divided” speech

• Douglas wants to frame Lincoln as an advocate for racial equality (ew)

• Lincoln wants to frame Douglas as a Dred Scott supporter

• Douglas wins re-election to Illinois senate, important

Freeport Doctrine (Douglas)

• Argues that if there are no laws supporting and maintaining slavery, then slaves will just run away (really fast) and slave owners can’t hold on to their property

• No one will bring slaves into “free” territories, same result as if slavery was just banned outright

• Alienates the south

• Holy shit we’re almost done

John Brown back at it again (Harper’s Ferry)

• Brown holds some hostages at Harper’s ferry, wanted slaves to come join him to revolt

• No slaves came (oops)

• John Brown captured and executed for treason (double oops)

• Some northerners see him as a martyr, southerners see him as a murderer

Election of 1860

• South feared that a republican president would lead to economic downturn in the south, they thought the republicans were funding John Brown and other revolters (not entirely untrue)

• Most northen moderates/republicans condemn Brown, but the south doesn’t buy it

• Southern Dems called the “fire eaters,” they walk out of the convention - democratic party gets fragmented

• Rest of the dems nominate Douglas, who promises popular sovereignty and enforcement of fugitive slave law

• The fire eaters nominate John c. Breckenridge, who wants to expand slavery and annex Cuba

• Another party, the Constitutional Union Party, wants to keep the country together, nominate John Bell, barely get any votes (oops)

• Republicans nominate Donald Trump, who promises not to allow slavery in territories, protective tariffs, free land, and immigrant rights (wait that sounds like Lincoln, not Trump)

Southern success! Secession

• Four days after Lincoln is elected, SC secedes, followed by GA, FL, AL, MS, LA, TX, form Confederate States of America in Feb. 1861, draft a similar constitution, but the government cannot regulate tariffs or slavery

• Happens when Buchannan is president, he’s lazy so he lets it slide

• Lincoln takes a “wait and see” attitude at first, South thinks he’s also gonna let it slide, but Lincoln’s not gonna let it slide