Chapter 13 Key Terms and Essential Questions
Compromise of 1850
5 separate laws organized by Whig leaders Henry Clay and Daniel Webster and Democrat Stephen A. Douglas. To appease the South, the Compromise included a Fugitive Slave Act to give federal support to slave catchers. To appease the North, the Compromise admitted California as a free state, resolved a border dispute between New Mexico and Texas (favoring New Mexico), and abolished the slave trade (but not slavery) in DC. It also organized the rest of the conquered Mexican lands into New Mexico and Utah and, using popular sovereignty, let the territories decide on the issue of slavery.
John Slidell
A Louisiana congressman secretly sent by Polk to Mexico. He attempted to secure the Rio Grande boundary for Texas and to buy the provinces of California and New Mexico for $30 million but Mexican officials refused to meet with him.
Uncle Tom's Cabin
A novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852 which boosted opposition to the Fugitive Slave Act. It conveyed the moral principles of abolitionism in personal situations (aka sentimental domesticity), it sold 310k copies in the US and double in Britain. It sparked an unprecedented discussion of race and slavery.
Kansas-Nebraska Act
A plan proposed by Stephen A. Douglas, who wanted to free up the Indian Territory above the 36 30' line, allowing a transcontinental railroad to link Chicago and California. He proposed to create a large free territory called Nebraska. In response to Southern protests, Douglas revised the plan so that the Missouri Compromise was repealed. The region would now be decided by popular sovereignty. He also agree to the formation of two, not one, territories, Kansas and Nebraska, suggesting that settlers in the southern Kansas would choose slavery. To the North, Douglas suggested the Kansas was not suited to plantation agriculture and would become a free state. It barely passed.
Oregon Trail
A trail from Independence, Missouri, across the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains, and all the way to Oregon. Farmers traveled along the ___ to get to Oregon. By 1860, 250k Americans had been on the ___, with 65k to Oregon, 185k to California, and others staying In Wyoming. More than 34k migrants died.
Bear Flag Republic
American settlers in the Sacramento River Valley, aided by Captain John C Fremont's forces, staged a revolt, captured the town of Sonoma, and proclaimed the independence of the "___." To cement these victories, Polk ordered army units to capture Santa Fe, New Mexico and then to march to southern Cal, and in 1847 America gained control of California.
Stephen Douglas
Angered by Buchanan's pro-south and pro-slavery policies, the Democratic ___ broke with Buchanan. He endorsed popular sovereignty. He also devised the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which was very controversial.
Californian Gold Rush
The Gold Rush led to a flood of people to California in search of gold. At the mining sites, non-white miners were often ruthlessly expelled and latecomers were left with nothing. They also faced disease and death. Native people were subjugated and suffered from European diseases. Many natives were also systematically exterminated. The Mexicans and Californios were harder to get rid of, by the Americans' clamor for land was so intense and their numbers so large that many Californios sold off their lands at bargain prices. With the discovery that wheat and barley grew well in California, the gold rush turned into a wheat boom. California rapidly became eligible for statehood and in 1850, applied as a free state.
How did the Gold Rush change California?
The Gold Rush led to a flood of people to California in search of gold. At the mining sites, non-white miners were often ruthlessly expelled and latecomers were left with nothing. They also faced disease and death. Native people were subjugated and suffered from European diseases. Many natives were also systematically exterminated. The Mexicans and Californios were harder to get rid of, by the Americans' clamor for land was so intense and their numbers so large that many Californios sold off their lands at bargain prices. With the discovery that wheat and barley grew well in California, the gold rush turned into a wheat boom. California rapidly became eligible for statehood and in 1850, applied as a free state.
Rio Grande / Nueces Rivers
The Nueces was the historic southern boundary of Spanish Texas and the Rio Grande was claimed by the Republic of Texas to be its border with Mexico.
What were objectives of the new Republican and American parties?
The Republican party opposed slavery because it drove down the wages of free workers and degraded the dignity of manual labor. They praised a society based on "the middling classes who own the soil and work it with their own hands." They envisioned a society of independent farmers, artisans, and proprietors, and they celebrated middle-class values. The American party wanted to mobilize native-born Protestants against the "alien menace" of Irish and German Catholics, prohibit further immigration, and institute literacy tests for voting. Northern American party members were strongly antislavery.
How did the Compromise of 1850 resolve the various disputes over slavery, and who benefitted more from its terms?
The compromise resolved the issue of slavery in California by admitting it as a free state, and in DC by prohibiting the slave trade but still allowing slavery. In Utah or New Mexico, still territories, the compromise looked to popular sovereignty and let the people of the territories decide on the question of slavery. It also addressed the issue of fugitive slaves by issuing the Fugitive Slave Act, giving federal support to slave catchers. Though the South benefited from the popular sovereignty in Utah and New Mexico and, mostly, from the Fugitive Slave Act, the North benefitted more. The inclusion of California as a free state meant that the Senate now had a free-state majority, a big victory for the North.
Californios
The name given to the elite Mexican ranchers. These ranchers owned vast properties (averaging 19,000 acres) in California and mostly raised Spanish cattle, prized for their hides and tallow (for soap).
fire-eaters
The southern Democrats divided into two: moderates and ___. The moderates strongly defended southern rights and demanded protection for slavery. The ___ repudiated the Union and actively promoted secession.
Plains Indians
These included the eastern ___ such as the Pawnees and Mandans on the Upper Missouri River who lived primarily on corn and beans, supplemented by buffalo meat. To the south, the nomadic Apaches acquired horses from Spanish in New Mexico and ranged across the plains. The Comanches migrated down the Arkansas river from the Rockies developed a horse-based culture and imperial ambitions, slowly pushing the Comanches to the southern edge of the plains. The Kiowas, Cheyennes, and Arapahos also adopted this horse culture, and along with the Comanches dominated the plains between the Arkansas and Red rivers.
What did conscience Whigs, David Wilmot and free-soilers have in common and why did they all rise to prominence between 1846 and 1848?
They all opposed slavery and expansionism. The conscience Whigs accused Polk of waging a war of conquest to add new slave states and give slave-owning Democrats permanent control of the federal government, the Wilmot Proviso was a ban on slavery in any territories gained from the war, and the free-soilers depicted slavery as a threat to republicanism and to the Jeffersonian ideal of a freeholder society. They rose to prominence after the annexation of Texas and the Mexican-American War.
American (Know-Nothing) Party
This party had its origins in the anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic movements of the 1840s. They were known as the "know-nothings" because they remained shrouded in secrecy. They wanted to mobilize native-born Protestants against the "alien menace" of Irish and German Catholics, prohibit further immigration, and institute literacy tests for voting. Northern American party members were strongly antislavery.
Ostend Manifesto
This urged Pierce to seize Cuba. Secretary of State William L. Marcy arranged in 1854 for American diplomats in Europe to write the ___. It was written because of Pierces assistance to Americans who supplied slaves to Cuba by threatening war with Spain and covertly supporting private military expeditions to Cuba. Very controversial, and quickly shot down.
Manifest Destiny
our "___" is to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions. The belief that God had meant for Americans to to take over North America. It was based in a sense of Anglo-American cultural and racial superiority, and said that the "inferior" peoples - Native Americans and Mexicans - would be subjected to American dominion, taught republicanism, and converted to Protestantism.
What was the relationship between the collapse of the Second Party System and the Republican victory in the election of 1860?
As a result of the collapse of the Second Party System, the Whig Party lost influence and the Democratic Party split into two. The Whigs had lost power, and many of those Whigs that lost power joined the Republican Party. The Democrats had split into North and South, into pro-slavery and pro-popular sovereignty. The collapse of the Party System created a sort of power vacuum, and the Republican Party stepped in to take power. The Republican Party and Lincoln came in the election of 1860 by stepping in and commanding the vast majority of Northern votes (with Lincoln's policy of stopping the spread of slavery) and won the election, taking advantage of the power vacuum left by the collapse of the Second Party System.
personal-liberty laws
As legislators in the North protested that the Fugitive Slave Act violated state sovereignty, they passed ___ laws that guaranteed to all residents, including alleged fugitives, the right to a jury trial.
Republican Party
Composed of ex-Whigs, Free-Soilers, abolitionists, and "anti-Nebraska Democrats". A new party that opposed slavery because it drove down the wages of free workers and degraded the dignity of manual labor. They praised a society based on "the middling classes who own the soil and work it with their own hands." They envisioned a society of independent farmers, artisans, and proprietors, and they celebrated middle-class values.
free-soil movement
Consisted of thousands of ordinary northerners who thought that slavery was an institution of "aristocratic men" and a danger to "the great mass of the people [because it] ... threatens the general and equal distribution of our lands into convenient family farms." They founded the Free-soil Party. Instead of focusing on the sinfulness of slavery and the natural rights of African-Americans, they depicted slavery as a threat to republicanism and to the Jeffersonian ideal of a freeholder society, arguments that won broad support among white farmers.
Conscience Whigs
Consisting of Whigs such as Charles Francis Adams of Massachusetts and Chancellor James Kent who opposed the war on moral grounds, calling it "causeless & wicked & unjust." They accused Polk of waging a war of conquest to add new slave states and give slave-owning Democrats permanent control of the federal government.
Freeport Doctrine
Created by Douglas in response to Lincoln's question of how could Douglas accept the Dred Scott decision, protecting slave property in the territories, yet advocate popular sovereignty, allowing settlers to exclude slavery. It said that a territory's residents could exclude slavery by not adopting laws to protect it. This pleased neither proslavery nor antislavery advocates.
James Buchanan
Nominated by the Democrats in the election of 1856, affirming their support for popular sovereignty and the Kansas-Nebraska Act. He was staunchly pro-southern. He won the race with 45.2% of the popular vote and 174 electoral votes. He won as the candidate of the only National party left. If John C Fremont, a Republican, had won, disunion would have ensued. In the Dred Scott decision, he opposed Scott's appeal that he wasn't a slave. In Kansas, he ignored reports that anti-slavery residents had a clear majority and strongly urged Congress to admit Kansas as a slave state, angering Stephen Douglas, who split from Buchanan. Buchanan also resumed negotiations to buy Cuba. Through his thoroughly pro-south policies, Buchanan split the Democratic party.
Christiana Riot of 1851
Occurred in September 1851 in response to the Fugitive Slave Act. Twenty African-Americans exchanged gunfire with Maryland slave catchers, killing two of them. Federal authorities indicted thirty-six blacks and four whites for treason and other crimes, but a PA jury acquitted one defendant, and the government dropped charges against the rest.
Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
One of the parts of the Compromise of 1850. This gave federal support to slave catchers, and was included in the Compromise to appease the South. It proved to be the most controversial element of the compromise, as it required federal magistrates to determine the status of alleged runaways and denied them a jury trial or even the right to testify. Using the FSA, southern owners re-enslaved 200 fugitives, along with some free blacks. Many northerners responded with violent rescues of blacks captured by slave-catchers.
President Santa Anna
Originally in exile, he returned to Mexico to lead his nation against the US. In February 1847 at the Battle of Buena Vista, he nearly defeated Taylor's troops in Northeastern Mexico. When the American army seized the Mexican capital, he lost his presidency again.
Why did party politicians initially oppose the annexation of Texas and how did this view change during the election of 1844?
Party politicians initially opposed the annexation of Texas because they didn't want the expansion of slavery. Eventually, politicians like Henry Clay decided to support annexation in order to gain invaluable southern votes.
Election of 1848
Polk died three months after his term. Democrats - Senator Lewis Cass of Michigan, an expansionist who advocated buying Cuba, annexing the Yucatán Peninsula, and taking all of Oregon. He promoted squatter sovereignty --> northern Democrats still weren't happy --> they joined the Free-Soil Party. Free-Soil Party - Martin Van Buren, with Whig conscience Charles Francis Adams as VP. Whigs - General Zachary Taylor - committed to defense of slavery in the South but not in the territories --> northern support; also a popular war hero "Old rough and ready" --> narrow victory for Taylor.
"Fifty-four forty or fight!"
Polk's campaign slogan to emphasize his pro-expansionist outlook. The 54-40 line represented the boundary of the Oregon territory, and Polk wanted the US to defy British claims and occupy all of Oregon to the Alaskan border.
"Young Hickory"
Polk's nickname because he was a protege of Andrew Jackson and shared his mentor's iron will, boundless ambition, and determination to open up lands for American settlement.
Wilmot Proviso
Proposed by 1846 by David Wilmot, an antislavery Democratic congressman from Pennsylvania, it was a ban on slavery in any territories gained from the war. Whigs and antislavery Democrats in the House of Representatives quickly passed the bill, dividing Congress along sectional lines. It was rejected by the Senate.
"squatter sovereignty"
Proposed by Lewis Cass. Under this plan, Congress would allow settlers in each territory to determine its status as free or slave. This doctrine failed to persuade northern Democrats who opposed any expansion of slavery.
squatter sovereignty
Proposed by Lewis Cass. Under this plan, Congress would allow settlers in each territory to determine its status as free or slave. This doctrine failed to persuade northern Democrats who opposed any expansion of slavery.
Gadsden Purchase (1853)
Purchased by Pierce on order to appease southern expansionists, who wanted a plantation empire. The land is now part of Arizona and New Mexico. It opened the way for his negotiator, James Gadsden, to build a transcontinental rail line from New Orleans to Los Angeles.
What was the nature of the territorial conflict over Oregon and how was it resolved?
Since 1818, both British and Americans had settled Oregon quite sparsely. In 1842, American interest in Oregon increased dramatically, and a group of a hundred farmers journeyed along the Oregon trail. "Oregon fever" ensued, with thousands of farmers braving floods, dust storms, livestock deaths, and armed encounters with natives to make it to Oregon. The 10k migrants that made it to Oregon mostly settled in the Willamette Valley. Many families squatted and hoped Congress would legalize their claims so they could sell land. They quickly created a race- and gender-defined polity by restricting voting to a "free male descendant of a white man."
Why did the Fugitive Slave Act fail?
The Fugitive Slave Act failed because the North refused to enforce it and fought against it in a variety of ways. They responded in violence, by forcibly freeing captured blacks, for example in Christiana, where African-Americans exchanged gunfire with Maryland slave catchers. They responded with Uncle Tom's Cabin, which increased resistance to the Fugitive Slave Act by conveying the moral principles of abolitionism. They responded with personal-liberty laws passed by Northern legislators which guaranteed the right to a jury trial to all. And lastly, the Wisconsin Supreme Court responded with a decision in Ableman vs. Booth that the Fugitive Slave Act was unconstitutional because it violated the rights of Wisconsin's citizens.
General Winfield Scott
His plan was approved by Polk: to capture the port of Veracruz and march 260 miles to Mexico City. An American army of 14,000 seized the Mexican capital in September 1847, costing Santa Anna his presidency and leading to a forced peace with the new Mexican government.
Bleeding Kansas
In order to decide the question of slavery in Kansas, thousands of settlers rushed into the Kansas territory. Missouri citizens were encouraged to cross temporarily into Kansas to vote in the slavery elections. The abolitionist New England Emigrant Aid Society dispatched free-soilers to Kansas to vote against slavery. Both sides turned to violence as different cities become pro-slavery and anti-slavery, including John Brown, an abolitionist who murdered five pro-slavery settlers.
Captain John C. Fremont
Instructed by President Polk, along with an exploring party of soldiers, to explore Mexican territory, and made it to California's Sacramento River Valley. He assisted American settlers there in a revolt, capturing the town of Sonoma, where they proclaimed the independence of the "Bear Flag Republic."
What was Lincoln's position on slavery and people of African descent during the 1840s and 1850s?
Lincoln believed that human bondage was unjust but he doubted that the federal government had the constitutional authority to tamper with slavery. He wanted the ban of slavery in any acquired territories and the gradual (and compensated) emancipation of slaves in DC. To avoid future racial strife, he favored the colonization of freed blacks in Africa or South America. He was criticized by both abolitionists and proslavery activists for his middle-of-the-road policies. After the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Lincoln returned and reaffirmed his opposition to slavery in the territories.
Election of 1844
Main issue: annexation of Texas (southern expansionists especially) and Oregon. John Tyler: proslavery, called for annexation of Texas, ran independently (Whigs didn't like him anymore), for northern support he supported Oregon claims. Democrats - Governor James K. Polk of Tennessee, pro-slavery and very aggressively pro-expansion. Whigs - Henry Clay - advocated American System, ultimately supported annexation. Result - narrow win for Polk because northern Whigs who opposed a new slave state didn't vote for Clay.
Lincoln-Douglas debates
Debates between Republican Abraham Lincoln and Democrat Stephen A. Douglas in the 1858 Illinois Senate election. Lincoln suggested that the pro-slavery Supreme Court might soon declare that the Constitution does not permit a state to exclude slavery. He said that American society could not prevail half free and half slave, and said it would become all one thing. Douglas declared his support for white supremacy and attacked Lincoln for supporting "negro equality." Lincoln responded by saying that free blacks should have equal opportunities but not equal political rights. Lincoln asked Douglas how could he accept the Dred Scott decision, protecting slave property in the territories, yet advocate popular sovereignty, allowing settlers to exclude slavery, and Douglas responded with the Freeport Doctrine, which pleased neither proslavery nor antislavery advocates. Douglas narrowly won the election.
Dred Scott vs. Sanford
Decided in 1857. It raised the controversial issue of Congress's constitutional authority over slavery. Dred Scott was a slave who had lived for a time with his owner in the free state of Illinois and at Fort Snelling, where the Missouri Compromise prohibited slavery. He claimed that residence in a free state and a free territory had made him free. Buchanan opposed his appeal and pressured the two justices from PA to side with the southern justices. 7 of 9 declared that Scott was still a slave, but they disagreed on why. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney said that all blacks, enslaved or free, could not be citizens and therefore could not sue. He also endorsed Calhoun's argument that the 5th amendment which prohibited taking of property without due process, meant that Congress could not prevent southerners from moving their slaves into the territories and owning it there. He also said that Congress could not give to territorial governments any powers that it did not possess, such as the authority to prohibit slavery, implicitly endorsing popular sovereignty.
Why did some Great Plains peoples flourish between the 1750s and 1860 while others did not?
European peoples brought in weapons, altering the geography of the native peoples. The Crees and Assiniboines, on the northern plains, acquired guns by trading wolf pelts and beaver skins with the British, and then drove the Blackfoot people westward into the Rockies. When the Blackfeet obtained guns and horses, they emerged from the mountains and pushed the Shoshone and Crows to the south. The Lakota Sioux acquired guns and remained buffalo-hunters and became dominant. The emergence of guns helped some Great Plains tribes but hurt others.
Free-soil Party
Founded by the Free-soil movement. Instead of focusing on the sinfulness of slavery and the natural rights of African-Americans, they depicted slavery as a threat to republicanism and to the Jeffersonian ideal of a freeholder society, arguments that won broad support among white farmers. Frederick Douglass joined the organization, but William Lloyd Garrison condemned the Free-soilers' stress on white freehold farming as racist.
General Zachary Taylor
General of the US army; instructed by Polk with 2k soldiers to occupy disputed land between the Nueces (historic southern boundary of Spanish Texas) and the Rio Grande, which the Republic of Texas had claimed as its border with Mexico. He was there to provoke the Mexican forces into war. He experienced early success, occupying the Mexican cities of Matamoros and Monterrem as well as Tampico. He nearly lost to President Santa Anna at the Battle of Buena Vista in 1847.
