GOAL # 3

1. GOAL # 3 Crisis, Civil War, and Reconstruction, 1848-1877

2. Which economic, social, and political events contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War?

3. Runaway slaves

4. Southerners believed they had the right to go North and recapture runaway slaves • Article 4 section 2 of the Constitution, any person charged in any state with treason, felony, or other crime who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another state, shall on demand of the executive authority of the state from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the state having jurisdiction of the crime

5. Northern citizens thought differently • They gave shelter to runaways and helped them escape

6. Victory in the Mexican War • US victory in the war with Mexico made the slave issue more troublesome-led to greater sectional division • The victory added new land for settlement • Territorial expansion brought the issue of slavery in the territories to national attention • Should slavery expand westward? • Southerners asked for new laws to help them recapture runaway slaves in free territories

7. Polk’s Viewpoint

8. Polk, Southern Democrat and a slaveholder • Slavery in the Southwest not an issue • The dry climate not conducive to growing the types of crops that made slavery profitable • There was heated debate in Congress about the issue • Polk could not dismiss the slave issue, was afraid it would divide the Democratic Party and possibly divide the Union

9. Wilmot Proviso

10. August 1846, Representative David Wilmot, (D), Pa. • Proposed an addition to a military spending bill • Wilmot Proviso, any territory gained from Mexico would not allow slavery or involuntary servitude • Wilmot and a group of Northern Democrats felt Polk was pro-Southern

11. 1. Polk supported a new tariff that helped the South at the expense of the Northern manufacturers • 2. Polk had compromised on the Oregon Territory with the British where slavery was likely to be banned • 3. Polk had gone to war with Mexico for land Southerners would occupy

12. The Wilmot Proviso upset Southerners, no slavery in the new territories would threaten slavery everywhere • The Proviso passed the House with a coalition of Northern Democrats and Whigs • The Senate refused to vote on it

13. Calhoun Resolutions

14. Senator John C. Calhoun from SC presented a series of resolutions (Calhoun Resolutions) to counter the Wilmot Proviso • The Senate refused to consider them • Calhoun argued: • The states owned the territories of the US in common • Congress had no right to ban slavery in the territories

15. Calhoun warned of political revolution, anarchy, and civil war if the North did not address Southern concerns

16. Popular Sovereignty

17. Slavery divided the nation along sectional lines- North against the South • Moderates in Congress looked for a way to settle the issue without Congressional involvement • Senator Lewis Cass of Michigan: • The citizens of each new territory would be allowed to decide for themselves if they wanted to permit slavery or not = popular sovereignty

18. Popular sovereignty was a popular idea in Congress • It would remove slavery as a national issue • It was more democratic, the people would decide • Abolitionists argued it denied African Americans their right not to be enslaved • Northerners in the Midwest supported popular sovereignty

19. They felt most settlers in the new territories would come from the North and would ban slavery in their states

20. Conscience Whigs

21. 1848 election the Whigs nominated Zachery Taylor, this split the Whig Party in the North • Northern Whigs called Conscience Whigs opposed slavery • They believed Taylor would expand slavery westward

22. Cotton Whigs

23. Other Northern Whigs supported Taylor, voted with Southern Whigs • They were tied to the Northern cloth manufacturers who needed Southern cotton’

24. Liberty Party/Free Soil Party

25. Conscience Whigs quit the party with Taylor’s nomination • Joined with anti-slavery Democrats from New York who were angry over the nomination of Lewis Cass over Martin Van Buren • Joined with abolitionists to form the Liberty Party • They then formed the Free Soil Party

26. Opposed to slavery in the Western territories • Some Free Soilers against slavery, felt it was immoral, most wanted to keep western land for white farmers • If slavery expanded west, it would be hard for free men to find work • Party slogan; “Free soil, free speech, free labor, and free men”

27. The Election of 1848

28. lewis Cass, Democrat • Zachery Taylor, Whig • Martin Van Buren, Free Soil • Cass, popular sovereignty • Van Buren, against slavery in the territories • Taylor avoided the slave issue • Election day, Free Soilers split the Whig vote, and the Democratic vote in New York, allowed Taylor to win

29. California

30. Gold discovered in 1848 • The population increased so much that the California Territory applied for statehood • End of 1849 over 80,000 forty-niners in California searching for gold • Mining towns appeared overnight • Chaos and violence • To keep order in California a strong government was needed

31. Congress was urged to create territorial governments for California and New Mexico • Congress divided over sectional lines, could not decide whether or not to allow slavery in the territories • Taylor to avoid a fight in Congress let the people of California make their own decision • The population of California great enough to apply for admission as a free state in December 1849, the Gold Rush forced national decision making on the slave issue

32. The California Debate • California admitted as a free state • The slaveholding states a minority in the Senate • The South was fearful of losing political power • This would open the door to limits on slavery and state’s rights • Talk of secession begins

33. Henry Clay’s Solution

34. 1850, Senator Henry Clay attempts to find a compromise to let California in as a state • Clay, “The Great Compromiser”, Missouri Compromise, nullification crisis, proposed 8 resolutions to solve the problem • The resolutions were grouped in pairs, this offered concessions on both sides

35. 1. California admitted as a free state but organized the remainder of the Mexican Cession without restrictions to slavery • 2. Settled the border dispute between Texas and New Mexico in the favor of New Mexico, but compensated Texas, the federal government would take on the debts of Texas, this gained Southern support, many Southerners held Texas bonds

36. 3. Outlawed the slave trade in Washington, D.C. but not slavery • 4. Congress could not interfere in the domestic slave trade and would pass a new fugitive slave act • Concessions needed to ensure that after California was admitted to the Union the North could not use the advantage it gained in the Senate to abolish slavery

37. Calhoun’s Response

38. Clay’s resolutions sparked debate, any compromise would require Calhoun’s approval • Calhoun read a prepared speech in reply to Clay • 1. Northern agitation against slavery was a threat to the South • 2. Clay’s compromise would not save the Union

39. 3. The South needed acceptance of its rights • 4. The return of fugitive slaves • 5. A guarantee of a balance between sections

40. Daniel Webster’s Response

41. Daniel Webster replied to Calhoun three days later • 1. called for national unity above sectional loyalties • 2. voiced support for Clay’s plan as the only way to save the Union

42. Changes in leadership • Clay’s bill did not pass Congress, due in part to president Taylor who was opposed • Taylor died in office that summer • VP Millard Fillmore became president • End of the Summer Calhoun was dead, Webster now Secretary of State, and Clay had given up leadership of the Senate

43. Senator Stephen A. Douglas, Illinois divided Clay’s large compromise into several smaller bills • Members of Congress now from different geographical sections could abstain or oppose parts of the bills they did not like and support the other parts • All of the parts of the compromise proposed by Clay had been approved by the fall and Fillmore signed them into law

44. The Compromise of 1850

45. The Compromise of 1850 would for a short time ease the tension caused by slavery • A permanent solution would not be accomplished by compromise • 1. California admitted as a free state • 2. Popular sovereignty would be used to settle the issue of slavery in Utah and New Mexico

46. 3. The Texas border dispute with New Mexico was resolved, Texas received $10 million • 4. The slave trade in Washington, D.C. was abolished, but not slavery • 5. Strong federal enforcement of a new Fugitive Slave Act

47. Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin

48. Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s account of slavery • Brought the slave issue to many households • Changed the Northern perception of African Americans and slavery • Sold 300,000 copies the first year • Depicted slaves as real people imprisoned in horrible circumstances

49. Touched readers, emotions ran from pity to outrage where national arguments could not • Southerners attempted to have the novel burned • Attacked it as a false portrayal of slavery • Southern outrage did not stop sales, ultimately sold millions of copies • Uncle Tom’s Cabin had a profound impact on public opinion- many consider it one of the causes of the Civil War

50. The effects of the Fugitive Slave Act