Chapter 13: Western Expansion and Secession

Did President Polk support the Wilmot Proviso?

No

Whigs

Opposed the Annexation of Texas

Democratic Party

Promoted Southern and Western Expansion and was proslavery until the Presidential election of 1861 when it split.

What was the Wilmot Proviso?

Proposed by David Wilmot, it claimed if any new territory should be acquired from Mexico, slavery would be banned in that land (because slavery was already banned in Mexico).

Effect of Wilmot Proviso

Reignited debate over slavery in the West

How did the Civil War begin?

South Carolinians fired at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor SC

Why did Southerners move to Texas and what did they bring with them?

Southerners brought their slaves with them to Texas to grow cotton.

Significance of Uncle Tom's Cabin (by Harriet Beecher Stowe) to the abolitionist movement

Stowe's novel showed the harsh realities of slavery and how they impacted everyone associated with it.

What was President Taylor's strategy for bypassing the issue of slavery when incorporating new states?

Taylor opposed the expansion of slavery and sought to incorporate California and New Mexico as free states, in order to end the stalemate in Congress over slavery.

What does the term "Manifest Destiny" mean?

That the United States had a God- given right to extend its rapidly growing Christian and capitalist civilization across the continent of North America, all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

Background of Dred Scott Case

The Dred Scott case began with a suit filed in the Missouri courts by a Virginia slave named Scott who claimed that residence in Illinois made him free because slavery was outlawed there.

What was the most controversial part of the Compromise of 1850?

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850

Why did it take the US a decade to annex Texas?

The US was determined not to go to war with Mexico and it created more issues with adding another slave state to the nation.

Reason for the ruling of the Dred Scott case

The case went to the U.S. Supreme Court where President Buchanan pressured a judge to rule against Scott. The result was 7-2 against Scott, claiming he did not have legal standing because no former slave could be an American citizen.

Popular Sovereignty (in the context of slavery)

The idea that would allow the people most affected by slavery in a specific region vote on the extent of which it was regulated.

Significance of, "The time has come when even a woman or a child who can speak a word for freedom and humanity is bound to speak"(Harriet Beecher Stowe: Uncle Tom's Cabin)

The quotation epitomized the religious foundation of the abolition movement.

Overland Trails

The trails traveled by pioneers looking to start a new life of prosperity west of the Mississippi. Families traveled in wagon trains to make the 2,000 mile trek.

What did South Carolina consider the "final signal" for the southern state to execute its plan of abandoning the Union?

The victory of Abraham Lincoln in the presidential election

Why did Americans move west of the Mississippi River?

There was a population explosion and people needed more space, and very cheap and fertile land was promised west of the Mississippi

Republican Party views

They favored protective tariffs, the development of national infrastructure (including a transcontinental railroad),

What did the Compromise of 1850 say about slavery in Washington DC?

To retain slavery in DC, but to abolish the SALE of slaves in DC.

How did the Mexican American War begin?

When General Zachary Taylor went as close as possible to the Mexican- American Border, General Santa Ana and his army fired on Taylor and the US army (11 died). President Polk demanded that Congress declare war on Mexico.

Bleeding Sumner

When Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts denounced "the crime against Kansas" in a widely publicized anti slavery speech, a member of Congress from South Carolina, Preston Brooks, attacked him on the Senate floor and beat him senseless with a cane.

How was the Mexican American War ended?

With the defeat of Mexico City and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

Oregon Fever

Word of massive areas of fertile lands ideal for farming spread across the nation causing a mass migration of people westward.

Why was slavery in the western territories so important to southerners and southern society?

1) It was important for southerners to maintain the delicate balance between free and slave states in Congress to protect their slave-centered agricultural economy. 2) Slavery in the West would increase pro-slavery influence in Congress for the South.

Three pledges Lincoln made in his 1861 inaugural address

1) Lincoln insisted that the Union is "perpetual" and that no state could lawfully leave the Union. 2) He pledged not to obstruct the institution of slavery in states where it existed. 3) He pledged to continue seeking a peaceful solution to the conflict.

3 results of the Kansas-Nebraska Act

1) Rival groups, both pro- and anti-slavery, attempted to gain political control of the territory and recruited immigrants to move to Kansas. 2) In the 1855 election, individuals from Missouri entered into Kansas and illegally elected pro-slavery legislatures. 3) Free-state advocates met in Topeka, drafted a free-state constitution, and applied for statehood.

Three facts about the Constitution of the Confederate States of America

1) That it demanded that slavery be acknowledged and preserved 2)It insisted that slavery was in fact beneficial to Africans, who were a dependent race. 3) It was endorsed by representatives of the seceding states, 90 percent of whom were slave owners.

Outcome of Dred Scott Case

A jury decided in Scott's favor, but the decision was overturned by the state Supreme Court.

Bleeding Kansas

After people from Missouri illegally voted for proslavery legislators which would eventually expel antislavery members of the legislature, the territorial governor denounced the election. Anti slavery activists were enraged and set up their own free state legislature and applied for statehood. The dispute further strained the relations of the North and South, making civil war imminent (mini civil war).

Liberty party (1840-1848)

Anti Slavery Party

Why did Mexico ban foreign immigrants in 1830?

Because it did not allow slavery which was being practiced by the US immigrants that came to cultivate Mexican soil. This caused Texans to rebel and gain their independence in the Texas Revolution.

Why did the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 fail to reduce sectional tensions?

Because it overturned the Missouri Compromise of 1820 by allowing the voters of the two states (white males) to decide on the extent to which slavery was regulated in the region.

What did the Compromise of 1850 say about California, Texas, and New Mexico?

California would be admitted as a free state, and Texas had to give up their claim over a massive area of New Mexico.

What happened when the US finally annexed Texas?

Mexico refused to acknowledge the loss of its northern province.

How did the California Gold Rush of 1849 escalate tensions between the North and South of slavery?

Most Californians wanted a free states but southerners feared they would lose federal protection of slavery if free states outnumbered slave states.

Crittenden Compromise

It allowed for slavery south of the line created by the Missouri Compromise of 1820, and permitted the preservation of slavery in places where it already existed.

What was the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo?

It ended the Mexican American War and gave the United States control of Texas (land north of the Rio Grande), in addition to California and New Mexico. The US had to pay Mexico $15 million for this transaction.

What was the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850?

It was a law that reinforced the authority of slave catchers, it made attractive the kidnapping of free blacks in northern "free states" under the pretense that they were runaway slaves. The law forbade fugitives from receiving a jury trial and empowered federal marshals to compel citizens to help locate and capture runaways.

What was the Compromise of 1850?

It was made of eight resolutions that were intended to reduce the tensions over slavery between the north and south.

Why did Crittenden's Compromise fail?

It was not successful because Lincoln opposed anything that allowed for the extension of slavery in Western states (and the Senate later defeated it).

What did the Free Soil Party want?

For slavery to be banned in the new western territories.

Why did Abraham Lincoln change from the Whig to Republican Party?

He said that the Kansas- Nebraska Act changed his view on slavery (he became very opposed to it)

How did Senator Stephen A. Douglas' 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act reignite tensions between the North and the South over the issue of slavery?

His proposal abandoned the Missouri Compromise boundary line and allowed the voters of each territory to decide the status of slavery.

How did President Taylor's strategy for bypassing the issue of slavery when incorporating new states turn out?

His strategy unfolded rather differently as Californians went ahead and constructed a free-state government without consulting Congress.