Free Soil Movement

• Following the Mexican American War issue of slavery in the territories becomes the key cause of sectional tension

• Free Soil Party formed in 1848: "free soil, free labor, and free men"

  • Wanted no slavery in new land to the west

  • Keep West an opportunity for whites only

  • Not against slavery in the south

• Many southerners saw any attempt to restrict the expansion of slavery as a violation of their constitutional rights

1848 Presidential Candidates

• Whigs took no position or slavery in the election

• Cass supports popular sovereignty:

• People in the territory should decide whether or not to allow slavery

• Free Soil Party opposed extension of slavery in the territories (Wilmot proviso position)

GOLD is discovered in California: Near Sutter’s Mill

California Gold Rush, 1849

• Sectional tension between the north and south.

• California creates a constitution banning slavery and ask Congress for admission as a free state

Crisis over Mexican Cession

• Until California tried to become a free state, equal balance of power in the Senate

  • 15 free states

  • 15 slave states

• Southerners increasing defensive over the institution of slavery

  • Tallmadge Amendment (1819)

  • Wilmot Proviso (1846)

  • Underground Railroad

Threats of Secession and then Compromise

• Radical southerners "Fire- eaters" talk openly of secession

• Could there be another compromise?

  • Missouri Compromise (1820)

  • Nullification crisis (1828-1833) Force Bill and Compromise Tariff of 1833

• Henry Clay and Stephen Douglas favor compromise

Compromise of 1850

• CA admitted as free State

• Mexican Cession land Utah and New Mexico setup as territories Slavery determined by Popular sovereignty

• Ban slave trade in Washington D.C.

• New Fugitive Slave Law for the South

• Settles border dispute between NM and TX in NM favor

President Fillmore called the Compromise of 1850 the “final settlement” of sectional division

Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

• Huge increase in sectional tension in the 1850s as a result of the Fugitive Slave Act

• Fugitive Slave Act turned the north into a hunting ground for fugitive slaves

• Northerners who assisted runaways could be arrested

• Slaves could not testify in court, denied a jury trial

Northern Resistance

• Moderate northerners are suddenly sympathetic to the abolitionist movement

  • Growth in the abolitionist movement

• Underground Railroad: helped escaped slaves reach the north or to Canada

• Personal Liberty laws:

  • Did not allow use of local jails for housing fugitive slave

• Vigilance Committees: goal to protect fugitive slaves from the slave catchers

• Anthony Burns: 1853 escaped from slavery

The 1850's saw the nation becoming more and more polarized.

Whigs divided over slavery issue

National Expansion Challenged

• Debate over slavery slowed any attempts at national expansion (Manifest Destiny)

• Free Soil supporters had suspicion of any expansion attempts under President Pierce

• Ostend Manifesto: plan for the U.s. to buy Cuba from Spain

• Free Soilers denounced this plan

• Northerners increasingly fear that the south was attempting to create a slave empire or "slaveocracy”

Gadsen Purchase

• Although most attempts at expansion fail under President Pierce, the U.S. does agree to purchase a strip of land for $10 million dollars from Mexico in 1853

Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1854

• Stephen Douglas wants too secure a RR route and encourage western settlement

• To win southern approval: Set up two territories 1) Kansas 2) Nebraska

• Slavery would be decided by popular sovereignty

• Repeal's the Missouri Compromise of 1820 Slavery can go north of 36 30

• Huge opposition in the north - Republican party formed

  • Gave south an opportunity to expand slavery