Transcript Manifest Destiny/Sectional Crisis

Manifest Destiny/Sectional
Crisis
1848-1860
Politics of Expansion
Question of Texas
To help settle the Texas frontier Spain gave land grants
to American empresarios (land speculators)
Sold off their land to Southern farmers
Most new residents were slave owners
Conflicted with Mexican law
Mexico attempted in 1830 to cut future American
immigration to Texas (unsuccessful)
Closing the border didn’t work, so they decided to raise
taxes instead
New policies resulted in a rebellion
Politics of Expansion
Texas Revolution
Mexican President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna
attempts to crush Texas uprising
Texans armed themselves for a fight
Battle of the Alamo (4,000 vs. 200)
“Remember the Alamo” becomes U.S.
rallying cry
Battle of San Jacinto
Santa Anna captured & forced to sign over
Texas to the U.S. in 1836 (treaty never
ratified)
Fight over the National Bank (Jackson) keeps national
attention from focusing on the annexation of Texas until
the mid 1840’s
Politics of Expansion
Whig Ascendancy of the early 1840’s
Dominated the Presidency and Congress from 1840-1844
(Harrison and Tyler)
Whig issues
Replacement of the national bank
Creation of “revenue” tariffs
Whig agenda falls apart under Tyler
Desperate for an issue Tyler pushes for the annexation of
Texas
Instantly divides the nation
Politics of Expansion
Election of 1844
Henry Clay (Whig) vs. James K. Polk (Democrat)
Clay opposed annexation
Polk favored annexation
Voters clearly chose Polk & “Manifest Destiny”
Manifest Destiny
Oregon
Polk had pushed for the seizure of the Oregon territory
Campaign slogan: 54 40 or fight
Polk attempted to secure the Oregon territory all the way
to the Alaska border
Problem: British claimed the same territory
Solution: Compromise at the 49th parallel
Both sides wanted to avoid war
Manifest Destiny
Mr. Polk’s War/Mexican War (1846-1848)
Polk successfully oversaw the annexation of Texas
(1845)
Annexation/Texas Revolution had severely strained
U.S. relations with Mexico
Polk chose to provoke war with Mexico with hopes of
expanding U.S. territory all the way to CA
Sent Zachary Taylor into Texas
Sent John C. Fremont to California
Taylor was successful in provoking a war with Mexico
and Fremont leads an uprising in CA
U.S. wins the war despite Mexican numerical superiority
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo 1848
U.S. acquires most of the current Southwest to CA
The Problem of New Territory
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo added a significant amount of
territory to the United States below the 36 30 line
established by the Missouri Compromise
Northerners feared the effect this new territory would have
on the sectional balance of the U.S.
Wilmot Proviso
Proposed by Northern Democrat David Wilmot
Served to further divide the country
Alienated Southern Democrats
Allowed Whigs to retake Presidency in 1848 (Taylor)
Dividing issue: Whether or not Congress had the power to
regulate slavery
Country is split on sectional lines
The Problem of New Territory
Popular Sovereignty
Took the issue of slavery out of the hands of Congress
Proposed by Democratic candidate Lewis Cass
Fails to prevent the split in the Democratic party
Free-Soil Party
California Gold Rush
Gold is discovered in California in 1848
Creates a national frenzy
# of settlers bound for CA up 6,000% from previous year
Abundance of settlers and lawless atmosphere created the
immediate push for statehood
Gold miners feared competition & rejected the notion of
a slave state
California also created a problem with the existing 36 30
line
Created need for a new system for determining free
vs. slave states
Compromise of 1850
Henry Clay authors a multipart compromise rolled into one
enormous omnibus bill
Bill fails as a package but is later passed in individual parts
7 Part Compromise
Growing Suspicion of the North
Southerners saw the failure to enforce the Fugitive Slave
Act as part of a growing Northern hostility towards
slavery
Weakens Whig party, leaving the Democrats the only
true national party (1852, Pierce, Dem. elected)
Abolitionist movement gained substantial momentum
Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Sold over 2 million copies (burned in the South)
Radical abolitionists like Garrison frightened the South
Primary Southern fear: Slave rebellion
Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)
Most Americans naively assumed the Compromise of 1850
put an end to sectional problems
Proposed by Stephen A. Douglas to grant territorial status
to Nebraska territory
Assumption: Kansas-slave, Nebraska-free
Invalidated the Missouri Compromise (some saw as a
broken promise)
Creates national chaos
Final straw for Whig party (Republican party bornuniting antislavery factions)
Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854)
Act results in “Bleeding Kansas”
Proslavery voters “fixed” the first territorial election in
Kansas
Open warfare between slave-state and slave-state
factions
“Sack of Lawrence”
Pottawatomie Massacre (John Brown)
Lecompton Constitution
Drafted by pro-slavery factions
Eventually voted down after much controversy
Clearly displayed that fair elections were impossible as a
result of the slavery issue
Last gasps of the Union
Election of 1856
Buchanan (Dem.) defeats Fremont (Rep.) and Fillmore
(Know Nothing)
Moderate Buchanan will attempt to try and keep the
union together despite disastrous circumstances
Dred Scott Case (1857)
Showed that nonpartisan solutions to slavery
were impossible
Harper’s Ferry (1859)
Confirmed Southern fears/Aroused Northern
sympathy
Election of 1860
By 1860 South is contemplating succession from the Union
Escalating conflict with the North convinced the South
that Union was unsalvageable
Return to Calhoun’s philosophy of nullification
Lincoln is elected
Made famous by his debates with Douglas
Confirmed fore to the expansion of slavery
Fails to win any state outside the North
Result is Southern secession (SC first)
• Big Picture: What factors had gradually
pushed the nation apart over time?
• Was the Civil War inevitable?