Road to civil war 1820 - 1861

1. Road to civil war 1820 - 1861 Slavery and the West

2. The Missouri Compromise • Many Missouri settlers brought enslaved African Americans. • By 1819 the Missouri Territory included 50,00 whites and 10,00 slaves. • In 1819, 11 states permitted slavery and 11 did not. • The Senate was therefore tied. • The admission of a new state would upset the balance. • The differences between the North and South grew into sectionalism an exaggerated loyalty to a particular region of the country.

3. Clay`s Proposal • The Senate suggested a way to resolve the crisis by admitting Missouri as a slave state while at the same time admitting Maine as a free state. • The Senate also wanted to end the issue of slavery in the territories for good. • It proposed prohibiting slavery north of the 36’30’N latitude. • Speaker of the House Henry Clay skillfully maneuvered the Senate bill to passage in 1820 by dividing three proposals. • The Missouri Compromise preserved the balance between the slave and free states in the Senate and brought a lull in the debate in congress over slavery.

4. New Western Lands • The territories of Texas, who just won their independence from Mexico in 1836, New Mexico and California once again caused dispute over slavery in the Senate. • Many Southerners hoped to see Texas join the Union. • The annexation of Texas became a main issue in the presidential election of 1844. • James Polk won the election and acquired Texas in 1845. • Support by the south to annex New Mexico and California also grew in the South. • The federal governments actions on these lands led to a war with Mexico.

5. Conflicting Views • David Wilmot from Pennsylvania proposed in Congress to not allow any slavery for land acquired from Mexico. • This became known as the Wilmot Proviso. • Southerners protested furiously. • Senator John C. Calhoun of South Carolina countered with another proposal. • It stated neither Congress nor any territorial government had the authority to ban slavery from a territory or regulate it in any way. • Neither Wilmot`s nor Calhoun's passed, but both caused bitter debate. • By the time of the 1848 presidential election , the United States had gained the territories of New Mexico and California but took no action on the issue of slavery in those areas.

6. The Free-Soil Party • In 1848 the Whigs chose Zachary Taylor, a Southerner and a hero of the Mexican War, as their presidential candidate. • The Democrats selected Senator Lewis Cass of Michigan. • Neither candidates took a stand on the issue of slavery in the territories. • Many antislavery voters angered by this left the Whig and the Democrat parties and joined the members of the old Liberty Party to form the Free-Soil Party. • The new party proclaimed “Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labor, and Free Men,” and endorsed the Wilmot Proviso. • The party nominated former president Martin Van Buren as its presidential candidate. • Whig candidate Zachary Taylor won the election by successfully appealing to both slave and free states. • Several candidates from the Free-Soil party did win seats in Congress.

7. California • President Taylor urged the leaders of California and New Mexico to apply for statehood. • California did in 1850, but New Mexico did not. • At the same time Antislavery forces wanted to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, the nations capital. • Southerners wanted a strong national law requiring states to return fugitive, or runaway, slaves to their master. • Another dispute involved the New Mexico – Texas border. • In 1849 the Nation included 15 slave states and 15 free states. • If California, entered as a free state – and New Mexico Oregon, and Utah followed as free states, the South would hopelessly be out voted in the Senate. • As tension grew, some Southerners began talking about having their states sucede from, or leave the United States.

8. A New Compramise • In January of 1850, Henry Clay, presented a multi-part plan to settle all the issues dividing Congress. • First, California would be a free state. • Second, New Mexico would have no restrictions on slavery. • Third, the New Mexico-Texas border would favor New Mexico. • Fourth the slave trade, but not slavery itsself, would be abolished in D.C. • Finally, Clay pushed for a stronger fugitive slave law. • Clay`s proposal brought much debate for 7 months. • Opening that debate was John C. Calhoun, Henry Clay, and Daniel Webster of Massachusetts. • Calhoun opposed Clay`s plan. • Calhoun warned Congress if California was admitted as a free state, the Southern States would leave the Union. • Webster argued that antislavery forces would lose little in agreeing to Clay`s compromise. • What was most important was to preserve the Union.

9. The Compramise of 1850 • Clay`s plan could not pass as a complete package. • President Taylor threatened to use force against the South is the states tried to sucede. • In July Taylor suddenly died. • Millard Fillmore became the new president and he supported the compromise. • Stephan A Douglas, from Illinois took charge of the efforts to resolve the crisis. • Douglas divided Clay`s plan into a series of measures that Congress could vote on seperately. • President Fillmore persuaded several Whig representaives to abstain – not cast votes – on measures they opposed. • Congress finally passed a series of five separate bills in August and Spetember if 1850. • Taken together these laws known as the Compramise of 1850, contained the five main points of Clay`s original plan.