The Crisis of the Union: 1844-1860

1. Characteristics • Rapid growth: Area, population, number of states • Economic: Wealth, industry, urbanization • South: influence was waning • Social Criticism: Reform • Literature: • Walt Whitman • Emily Dickinson • Nathaniel Hawthorne • Herman Melville • Frederick Douglas • Sectional Division: • North • South • Slavery and Expansion: Gold Rush, Fugitive Slave Act The Crisis of the Union: 1844-1860

2. San Francisco & Surrounding Areas • First year 100,000 non-natives to region • 2$ billion extracted- peaked in 1852 • Discovery at Sutter’s Mill • Flakes of gold: American River • Discovery of gold/signing of Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo • Chinese & the Canton province • Escaped Civil War • Labor • 1851 first Chinese laundry facility • Merchants, cooks, cigar makers, restaurant owners, veg. farmers • Problems with whites • Yee Fung Cheung: doctor/herbal medicines • Patient was wife of Governor Leland Stanford • Restrictions on Chinese Gold in the Hills…

3. From the Islands • South Sea Islands • Hawaiians- sailors/ Kanaka colonies • Sutter’s many wives: Manaiki, a gift from the Hawaiian king • By Boat • Oregon, • Mexico • Chile • Peru • The 49’ers • 1849- men mortgaged property & left for gold mines • 100,000 non-native population • Gold mining towns Non-Natives in California

4. Diversity of Women • Different countries, statuses, classes, races • Unusual opportunities • Occupations in Mining Towns • Entertainers • Saloon owners • Laundry facility owners • Brothels • Domestic Skills • Boarding Houses • Miners • Gold Prospectors: Jane Gurin, “Mountain Charley” • Mexican and Chilean women: economic gain • Prostitution • Wealth, power, and agency in a patriarchal society • Young girls: China • French prostitutes Women and the Gold Rush

5. Background • Manifest Destiny + Technology (Farming) = Expansion • Promoting U.S. expansion • High birth rates • Two economic depressions • Frontier land is “free” • Commerce and Self-Advancement • Land ownership • West Coast Ports • 1846-1848 • La Fronteria: Gloria Anzaldua, “Contested Borders,”: Land. • Instability of Mexico (1821 Independence from Spain) • Economic system and Colonization • Constant warfare with indigenous • Weak national military system • Lack of authority: Catholic Church/Mexico’s military • Impoverished frontier community: could not support central government • Informal, democratic, self-reliant frontier society VS central government The Mexican American War

6. Background • Lack of records: earliest commerce 1824/ silver • Exports to Mexico: raw cotton, wheat flour finished, cotton products, • Texas, 1825-1848 • English goods to Mexico • Dominated political economy • The Santa Fe Trail • New Mexico-Chihuahua trade • Silver • David Weber: break from Spanish mercantilism to be embraced by American capitalism.” • Cultural Significance • Unequal partnership • Resources benefited Americans • Contested border Trade: U.S. and Mexico

7. Background • Ended war February 1848 • Oldest treaty in affect • 500,000 square miles of territory • Rio Grande: Water border between Texas and Mexico • Shaped international/domestic histories of Mexico & U.S. • U.S.: attitude of moral superiority • Treaty • Nicholas P. Trist and Luis G. Cuevas, Bernardo Couto and Miguel Atristain • Changes to Treaty by U.S. Senate: • Eliminated Article X,which stated that the U.S. government would honor and guarantee all land grants • Ignored Article VIII: guaranteed that Mexicans who remained more than one year in the ceded lands would automatically become full-fledged United States citizen • Modified Article IX: Mexican citizens would be admitted at a later date. • Created debate about slavery in new territories The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

8. Background • Creation of the Contested Border • Ensured that Mexico would remain under-developed • Bitter lesson in U.S. aggression • Reform movement: Benito Juarez La Reforma • Legacy • Implications for international law • Boundaries, mineral rights, civil and property rights • Political struggle: Indigenous and Mexicans • Contradiction between language and praxis • “Just” and “Unjust” War • Defining citizenship • Identity Cultural Interpretations of the Treaty

9. Background • Significant to Civil War • Influence of Leaders • Zachary Taylor (12th president for 16 months) • Ulysses S. Grant (Union) • Robert E. Lee (Confederate) • Winfield Scott • Robert E. Lee (Confederate) • Military Lessons & Traits • Audacity: Boldness • Scott’s campaign • Lee used in every battle • Stonewall Jackson (lieutenant, Shenandoah Valley, Second Manassas • William T. Sherman: “March to Sea” in Atlanta. Scorched Earth • Reconnaissance • Flank Attack • Change in Military Strategy • Abandoned supply and communication lines • Lee used strategy in North Military Lessons and Leaders

10. Background • Early years: Sectional crisis/ used grey area of federalism to pursue interests • 1850s: government was an art form • Older verses new generations • “Quick fix” remedy • U.S. Constitution: Amendment 10 • Missouri Compromise 1820 • First Draft of Compromise • Henry Clay, 29 January 1850 Proposal • CA admitted as free state * • Utah and New Mexico- without any restriction to slavery* decide for themselves • Denying Texas claim to extend borders beyond Rio Grande* • Compensating $10 million to Texas (New provision- state debt added to federal) • Ending practice of trade/sold slaves to pass through D.C. • Slavery is legal in D.C. • Rewriting the Fugitive Slave Act • Denying Congress any future authority to regulate slavery The Compromise of 1850

11. Background • The Great American Desert: 36-30 proviso. Compromise of 1820- Reservations/Major destination of European immigrants. • Railroads • Illinois Senator Stephen Douglas • “Douglas was a man who refused, on principle, to stand on principle.” • His proposal • Splitting Nebraska into two • Kansas- slave state. Nebraska- free-soilers • Outright appeal of Missouri Compromise (1820) • Bleeding Kansas • Nebraska voted free-soil/ Kansas- pro-slavery supporters and violence • Open transportation of arms • Pro-slavery supporters from Missouri voted as Kansas citizens • New “pro-slavery” legislators: draft of Fugitive Slave Act/crime to speak out against slavery • May 1856: Violence begins/ 200 killed/$2 million worth of property damaged The Kansas Nebraska Act

12. Background • October 1859 • “Provisional Army of the Unites States” • United States Armory and Arsenal, Harpers Ferry, Virginia • The Raid • Wanted to arm a slave uprising • Took possession of armory and arsenal for three days • 12 Marines commanded by Robert E. Lee • Seventeen killed- two enslaved, three townspeople, a slave-holder, one Marine, ten of Brown’s men. • The Trial • October 27th. Five days. • 45 minutes to reach decision of guilty. • Sentence of execution by hanging • Issued prophetic warning: South would be forced to settle the “Negro Question” • Mary Brown: wife, buried him in North Elba, New York John Brown’s Raid

13. Background • 1857 finally decided • Dred Scott • Sold to U.S. Army surgeon: left St. Louis to a fort in Wisconsin Territory • Scott: returned to St. Louis upon owners death • Court ruled in favor • On Appeal • Overturned by Missouri Supreme Court • 11 years: U.S. Supreme Court • Chief Justice Roger Taney: appointed by Andrew Jackson • Interests of Southern people: not Dred Scott • Supreme Court Ruling • Slaves were property: regardless of where travelled • 1820 Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional • Slaves, not being citizens, could not bring suit to court. The Dred-Scott Decision

14. Background • Harriet Tubman • December 1821, Maryland • Head injury- periodic fainting spells • The Conductor • Underground Railroad to Freedom • Philadelphia, Maryland • Strategic Plans • 1856- $40,000 bounty on head • 1860- Nineteen successful journeys, 300 slaves freed • During Civil War: Union • Cook • Nurse • Spy Araminta “Minty” Ross

15. Background • November 1860: frayed ties holding country together broke loose • Nation: fight over extension of slavery • December 1860: South Carolina left Union • June 1860: 11 Southern states seceded from Union • Claimed Constitutional right to leave Union • Thoughts on Leaving the Union • Secession was unlawful • States were physically unable to separate • Fears of weakened government lead to anarchy • Secession would destroy democracy • The South • Establishment of the Confederate States of America • Jefferson Davis The Election of Abraham Lincoln

16. Economic and Social Differences Between North and South • States versus Federal Rights • Fight Between Slave and Non-Slave State Proponents • Growth of the Abolition Movement • The Election of Abraham Lincoln Five Reasons for the Civil War