Renewing the Sectional Struggle

Popular SovereigntyZachary TaylorCaliforny Gold

Sectional balanceCompromise

Pierce the ExpansionistCuba

Pop Sovereignty

• Northerners support Wilmot Proviso

• Southerners shot it down– 1848 Polk does not seek 2nd term: poor health– Dems nominate Lewis Cass (gen 1812)

• Originator of Popular Sovereignty– Issues should be decided by pop vote

» Ie: slavery» Self determination, but allowed expansion of slavery

Zachary Taylor

• Whig nominee- hero of Buena Vista– No polit baggage– Avoided all issues– Anti slavery northerners form Free Soil Party

• Against expansion of slavery into territories• For federal aid for internal improvements• Free homesteads for settlers

– Supporters: opposed half acquisition of OR– Also opponents of Blacks in territories– And conscience Whigs –oppose slavery on moral grounds– nominated Van Buren

– Taylor won narrowly

Californy Gold

• 1848 Gold discovered in CA– Thousands rush in

• Most didn’t strike it rich• Many lawless men, women• CA drafted constitution, applied for statehood

– Never hit territorial stage– Never became a slave state

Sectional balance• 1850: south well off

– Southerner president (Taylor)– Majority in cabinet, Supreme Ct– Equality in senate

• 15 states could veto any proposed amendment that outlawed slavery

• But worried still• CA would come in as Free

– Other free states could follow• South also worried about slavery in DC being banned• TX claims on disputed territory• Underground RR: secret org that took runaways N. to

Canada– Harriet Tubman freed 300+ in 19 trips– So wants stricter fugitive slave law

1850

• Catastrophe avoided– Henry Clay (73) urged concession from N +

S– Stephen Douglas (Little Giant) agreed– John C. Calhoun (dying of TB) pleads for slavery to

be left alone, return runaways, restore rights of S as minority; return polit balance

– Daniel Webster says new land bad for slavery, too dry for cotton

• 7th of March speech, helps N. compromise• Speech made Webster a traitor to N

Deadlock on Capitol Hill

• Young Guard (new politicians)– Wm Seward, NY, against concession, hates

slavery… Christian legislators must adhere to a ‘higher law’- no slavery! (cost him election 1860)

– Taylor under influence of ‘higher law’ vetoed all compromises

Breaking logjam

• Z. Taylor died suddenly

• Millard Fillmore took over– Impressed by conciliation, signed agreements

aka: Compromise of 1850– Clay, Webster, Douglas argued for

compromise for N.– S. hates it, accepts it grudgingly

Compromise 1850

• N. gets better deal– CA is free– UT, NM could decide via pop sovereignty– TX lost disputed territory to NM, OK but was paid $10

mill– DC could not have slave TRADE but slavery still legal– New Fugitive Slave Law of 1850- drastic:

• Fleeing slaves cd not testify on own behalf• Fed commissioner who handled case gets $5 if slave is free;

$10 if not• People who are ordered to help catch slaves have to

Impact of Comp of 1850

• Northerners pledge not to follow fugitive slave law

• Underground RR steps up timetable

• Fugitive Slave law inflames both N & S– Postponed CW for 10 yrs

• Gave N chance to grow in pop, wealth: crops, factories, foundries, ships, rrs

End of Whigs

• 1852 Dems agree to dark horse: Franklin Pierce: unknown, enemy less– Whigs nom’d Old Fuss ‘n Feathers: Winfield

Scott• Old veteran 1812, MX war• Both parties boast of Comp 1850• Whigs split• Pierce landslide (We Polked ‘em in 48; we’ll Pierce

‘em in 52)– End of Whigs; rise of sectional politics

Pierce: expansionist

• Tried to be Polk. Recited inaugural from memory– Cabinet full of southerners– Jeff Davis

• Tool of the south

– William Walker, 1856, grabbed control of Nicaragua; proclaimed self: president

• Legalized slavery• Coalition of Latin American states overthrew him

Expansion, 2• Britain had gotten 5 treaty ports in China + Hong Kong

due to Opium Wars– Pres Tyler sent Caleb Cushing to get comparable concessions

• 4 warships Macao, S. China– Gifts (tribute)– Treaty of Wanghia- 1st diplomatic agreement w/ China July 1844– Most favored nation status: same trading terms as Britain

• Extraterritoriality: Amers accused of crimes tried before American officials, not

Chinese. • Commodore Matthew C. Perry steamed into harbor:

Tokyo 1853– Presented letters of intro & requests for free trade– Returned next year with larger force

• Gave tribute (gifts)- display of wealth & power• Got treaty of Kanagawa March, 1854

Cuba

• Cuba: coveted, but Spain won’t sell– 3 US 4n ministers met at Ostend, Belgium

• Ostend Manifesto: US wd offer $120 mill to Spain for Cuba

– If it refused & Spain’s ownership of Cuba continued to endanger US, we’d take it

– Secret doc leaked to press – outcry prevented action– S won’t get Cuba; N won’t get Canada

Pacific Railroad promoters & Gadsden Purchase

• Getting to CA & OR difficult; sea routes too long– Wagon overland route dangerous– Transcontinental RR-

• S wants route through S. but best route through MX• Sec of War Davis arranged to have James Gadsden appt’d

min to MX– Gadsden bought land for $10 mill from Santa Anna, back in

power and in need of $$

» Congress passed sale

» Santa Anna driven out by MXs

Route of RR

• S won Gadsden Purchase, but

• N says: if organization of territories is the problem: Nebraska will be organized

Stephen Douglass’ NE scheme

• Proposed KS-NE act:– Slavery in KS and NE wd be decided by Pop

Sov!• MO compromise banned this• Act must repeal MO comp• Southerners had not thought of KS as possible

slave state.. Backed bill• N’s against it• Douglass pushed it through congress

Effect of KS-NE Act

• Wrecked MO compromise

• Indirectly wrecked Comp of 1850

• Northerners no longer enforce Fugitive Slave Law

• Southerners still angry

• Dem party split into two… no more Dem presidents for 28 yrs