Ch 18

(debates of 1850) Senator William H. Seward, as a representative of the northerners Young Guard, argued that

Christian legislators must obey God's moral law

Presidential candidates in the 1848 election:

Martin Van Buren, Lewis Cass, and Zachary Taylor

the man who opened Japan to the US

Matthew Perry

US' scheme to gain control of Cuba was stopped when

N free soilers fiercely protested the effort

For a short time in the 1850s, an American seized control of

Nicaragua

(Seventh of March speech) Webster called for

a new, more stringent fugitive-slave law

Free Soldiers argued that slavery would

cause more costly wage labor to wither away

Southern delegates met at a convention in Nashville in the summer of 1850 to

condemn the compromises being worked out in Congress

most American leaders believed that the only way to keep the new Pacific Coast territories from breaking away from US control was to

construct a transcontinental railroad

Southerners insisted that the first transcontinental railroad should run through the Southwest because

construction would be less difficult there and the railroad would pass through already organized territory of the US

(debate of 1850) William H. Seward argued that there was a "higher law" than the Constitution that compelled him to

demand the exclusion of slavery from the territories

In light of future evidence, it seems apparent that in the Compromise of 1850 the South made a tactical blunder by

demanding a strong fugitive-slave law

Fugitive Slave Law included:

denial of a jury trial to runaway slaves; denial of fleeing slaves' right to testify on their own behalf; the penalty of imprisonment for northerners who helped slaves to escape; and a higher payment if officials determined blacks to be runaways

Free Soilers condemned slavery because it

destroyed the chances of free white workers to rise to self-employment

president Zachary Taylor unknowingly helped the cause of compromise in 1850 when he

died suddenly and Millard Fillmore became president

event that brought turmoil to the administration of Zachary Taylor

discovery of gold in CA

The new Free Soil party in 1848 found major support from those who

favored high tariffs, had wanted all of Oregon up to the 54 40' line, condemned slavery as immoral, wanted to keep slavery out of the territories and believed that slavery harmed white labor

the public liked popular sovereignty because it

fit in with the democratic tradition of self determination

Harriet Tubman gained fame by

helping slaves to escape to Canada

of those people going to CA during the gold rush, a distressingly high proportion were

lawless men

election of 1852 was significance

marked the end of the Whig party

most alarming aspect of the Compromise of 1850 to northerners was the decision

new Fugitive Slave Law

key issue for the major parties in the 1848 presidential election

personalities

(Compromise of 1850) Congress determined that slavery in the New Mexico and Utah territories decided by

popular sovereignty

Stephen Douglas proposed that the question of slavery in the Kansas-Nebraska Territory be decided by

popular sovereignty

Wilmot Proviso, if adopted, would have

prohibited slavery in any territory acquired in the Mexican War

In order to maintain the two great political parties as vital bonds of national unity, early 19th century politicians avoided

public discussion of slavery

Young Guard from the North were most interested in

purging and purifying the Union

by 1850, the South was

relatively well off, politically and economically

in the 1848 presidential election, the Democratic and Whig parties

remained silent on the issue of slavery

US victory in the Mexican War resulted in

renewed controversy over the issue of extending slavery into the territories, a possible split in the Whig and Democrat parties over slavery, the cession by Mexico of an enormous amount of land to the US, and a rush of settlers to new American territory in CA

Douglas's plans for deciding the slavery question in the Kansas-Nebraska scheme required

repeal of the Missouri Compromise

(1850s) slaves gained their freedom most frequently by

self-purchase

Webster's famed Seventh of March speech in 1850 result

shift toward compromise in the North

fatal split in the Whig party in 1852

slavery

debate over slavery in the Mexican Cession threatened to

split national politics along North-South lines

(1848) the Free Soil party platform advocated all of the following:

support of the Wilmot Proviso; free government homesteads for settlers; opposition to slavery in the territories; and an end to slavery in the District of Columbia

Many N states passed "personal liberty laws" in response to

the Compromise of 1850's provision regarding runaway slaves

most brazen scheme for territorial expansion in the 1850s was expressed in

the Ostend Manifesto

(1850) the South was deeply worried because

the Underground Railroad was carrying away hundreds of slaves each year and CA sought admission as a free state

Calhoun's plan to protect the South and slavery involved

the election of two presidents, one from the North and one from the South

According to the principle of "popular sovereignty"

the question of slavery in the territories would be determined by the vote of the people in any given territory

S route for the transcontinental railroad seemed the best because

the railroad would be easier to build in this area

One of Stephen Douglas's mistakes in proposing Kansas-Nebraska Act

underestimating the depth of N opposition to the spread of slavery

For his position in his Seventh of March speech, Webster was

viciously condemned by abolitionists

prime objective of Manifest Destiny(1850s)

Cuba