Chapter 18 - Renewing the Sectional Struggle

The Popular Sovereignty Panacea

• ==Popular sovereignty== ==was the idea that the people of territory should be the ones to determine that territory’s status of slavery==
• Democrats chose General Lewis Cass as their candidate for presidency at the Democratic National Convention at Baltimore
  • General Cass supported popular sovereignty

Political Triumphs for General Taylor

• Whigs chose Zachary Taylor as their candidates
  • Taylor owned many slaves
• ==Free Soil Party== ==was created by antislavery men of the North that didn’t trust Cass or Taylor==
• Free Soil Party supported federal aid for internal improvements and argued that wage labor would wither away with slavery
• Taylor won the election of 1848

"Californy Gold"

• ==Gold== ==was discovered in California in 1848==
  • Influx of people associated gold rush brought violence and disease which overwhelmed Californian government
• ==Californians== ==drafted their own Constitution in 1848 and applied to Congress for admission into Union==
  • Southerners objected to California’s admission as a free state as it would mess up the balance of free states and slave states in Senate

Sectional Balance and the Underground Railroad

• ==Harriet Tubman== ==was an illiterate runaway slave who helped rescue hundreds of slaves through the Underground Railroad==
  • ==Underground Railroad== ==was a network of anti-slavery homes that passes slaves from the slave states to Canada==
• Southerners started to demand stricter fugitive-slave laws by 1850

Twilight of the Senatorial Giants

• ==Congressional debate of 1850== ==was called to address the admission of California to Union and threat of secession by Southern states==
• Clay, the “Great Compromiser” proposed a series of compromises and suggested that North enact a stricter fugitive-slave law
• ==John Calhoun====, “Great Nullifier” proposed returning runaway slaves, giving South its rights as a minority, and restoring political balance==
  • Hist ultimate plan was for America to have a northern president and a southern president
• ==Daniel Webster== ==called for people to make concessions and support Clay's proposals for the purpose of maintaining the Union==
  • Webster was against slavery but saw Union collapsing as something worse

Deadlock and Danger on Capital Hill

• ==William H. Seward== ==was the Senator of New York who opposed slavery and argued that God’s moral law was higher than the constitution==
• Taylor opposed slavery and was ready to veto an compromise between North and South that went through Congress

Breaking the Congressional Logjam

• Taylor died suddenly in 1850, and Millard Fillmore became President
  • Fillmore signed a series of compromises that were contained within the Compromise of 1850
• California was admitted as a free state with territories of New Mexico and Utah were open to popular sovereignty
• ==Slave trade== ==was outlawed in the District of Columbia, but a stricter fugitive-slave law was enacted==
• A second Era of Good Feelings came to be

Balancing the Compromise Scales

• Senate became unbalanced in favor of the North due to Compromise of 1850 allowing California and New Mexico and Utah territories to be free
• ==Fugitive Slave Law of 1850== ==said that fleeing slaves couldn’t testify on their own behalf and were denied a jury trial==

Defeat and Doom for the Whigs

• Democrats chose Franklin Pierce as candidate with him supporting the Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Law
• Whigs chose Winfield Scott with him also supporting Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Law
  • Votes for Whig party were split between Northern Whigs who hated the party’s platform but accepted the candidate and Southern Whigs who supported the platform but not the candidate
• Pierce won the election
  • Marked the end of the Whig Party

Expansionist Stirrings South of the Border

• Victory in Mexican War only stimulated the spirit of Manifest Destiny leading to Americans starting to take an interest in Central America
• Southern Americans sought new territory to expand slavery because Compromise of 1850 prohibited slavery in the land gained in the war
  • Southerners wanted to annex Cuba and turn it into a set of slave states, as doing so would restore the balance of free and slave states
• Spanish officials in Cuba seized an American ship, which accelerated Pierce's interest in taking Cuba from Spain, either by force or by purchasing it

The Allure of Asia

• The ==Opium War== ==was fought between Britain and China over the rights of British traders to trade opium in China==
  • Britain won the Opium War in 1842 and gained control of Hong Kong
• Treaty of Wanghia was the first diplomatic agreement between America and China, with it expanding trade between the countries
• Treaty of Kanagawa opened a small amount of trade between America and Japan with it being Japan's first real interaction with the West in over 200 years

Pacific Railroad Promoters and the Gadsden Purchase

• ==Transcontinental railroad== ==was proposed after acquiring California and Oregon==
• Secretary of War Davis had Gadsden buy an area of Mexico from Sanata Anna, through which the railroad would pass
• Gadsden Purchase area was ceded to the U.S. for $10 million
• Southerners argued that the railroad should run through Texas and New Mexico territory

Douglas's Kansas-Nebraska Scheme

• Douglas was a senator who tried to break the North-South deadlock over westward expansion
  • Douglas proposed the Territory of Nebraska to be split into two territories, Kansas and Nebraska with their status on slavery being decided by popular sovereignty
• Kansas-Nebraska Act conflicted with the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which forbade slavery in proposed Nebraska territory

Congress Legislates a Civil War

• Kansas-Nebraska Act messed with 2 compromises as the Compromise of 1820 was repealed by the act and the Compromise of 1850 was rejected by northerners

  • Kansas-Nebraska Act hurt the Democratic party

• ==Republican party== ==was formed in the Mid-West and was morally against slavery==

  • The party including Whigs, Democrats, Free-Soilers, Know-Nothings, and other enemies of the Kansas-Nebraska Act

• Southerners hated the Republican Party

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