i. manifest destiny: south and north a. the push to the pacific 1.oregon a)claimed by britan, us,...
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I. Manifest Destiny: South and NorthA. The Push to the Pacific
1.Oregona) Claimed by Britan, US, increased interest due to excellent
harbors, fertile soil
b) “Oregon Fever”
c) Americans headed to the region with wagons, oxen, cattle; 34,000+ died of disease and exposure during the 2,000-mile journey
d) approx. 10,000 migrants settled in the Willamette Valley (Western coast near Portland, Eugene-OR); settlers restricted voting to white men.
2. California1. About 3,000 migrants settled in the Mexican
province of California during the 1840s2. Mexico granted land to the settlers to raise cattle3. New England businesses sent agents to the
area to buy leather for shoes/boots, and they then married the daughters of elite Mexican ranchers (Californios)
4. Thomas Larkin was one of many agents who did not want to assimilate but instead annex California for the United States.
I. Manifest Destiny: South and NorthB. The Plains Indians
1.The Great Plainsa) Vast sea of wild grasses that stretched from Texas north to
Saskatchewan in Canada, and west from the Missouri River to the Rocky Mountains
b) home to nomadic people who hunted buffalo; tribes included Pawnees, Mandans, Apaches, Comanches, Kiowas, Cheyennes, and Arapahos
c) desired European horses, weakened by European diseases
d) smallpox epidemic 1779–1781 killed approximately half the Plains Indians; others were killed by European weapons.
2. The Sioux1) Traded for guns and ammunition with French,
Spanish, and Americans; were buffalo hunters
2) nomadic lifestyle enable them to avoid major outbreaks of disease
3) 1830s, the Lakotas were the dominant tribe in the central and northern plains
4) became very prosperous selling buffalo hides to American Fur Company and Missouri Fur Company
5) herds were declining and Sioux did not understand the market system well enough to demand proper prices; by the 1860s, the number of buffalo herds had declined significantly.
I. Manifest Destiny: South and NorthC. The Fateful Election of 1844
1.“Oregon conventions”a) Election significantly altered U.S. policy in the West
b) southerners wanted Texas annexed to keep the British from making gains in North America
c) 1843, Americans in Ohio River Valley and Great Lakes states organized conventions at which Democrats and Whigs called for U.S. control of entire Oregon Country, from Spanish California to Russian Alaska (which began at 54°40’ north latitude)
d) southerners renewed called for annexation of Texas.
2. “Fifty-four forty or fight!”1. In April 1844, Tyler administration wrote a treaty to
annex Texas
2. Van Buren and Clay (both running for president) opposed because they did not want the Senate to undertake debate on slavery
3. 1844 election then centered on Texas and Oregon
4. James K. Polk (D-TN) used the campaign slogan “Fifty-four forty or fight” to show his support for claiming all of Oregon to the Alaska border
5. Polk won; calls for annexation of Texas increased; a joint resolution of Congress brought it into the Union (28th state) in December 1845.
II. War, Expansion, and Slavery,1846–1850
A. The War with Mexico, 1846–1848
1.Polk’s Expansionist Programa) Texas voted to join Union, and Mexico broke off diplomatic
relations with U.S.
b) Polk began efforts to gain other northern provinces of Mexico (CA, NM)
c) diplomatic relations broke down
d) Polk sent 2,000 soldiers to occupy disputed lands; war began between Mexico and U.S.
e) Polk accepted a negotiated settlement with Britain that divided the Oregon Country at the 49th parallel.
2. American Military Successes
1. Army led by Gen. Zachary Taylor
2. end of 1846, U.S. controlled most of northeast Mexico; secured California early in 1847
3. fighting continued with U.S. attacking Mexico City, seizing the capital in September 1847 and defeating Santa Anna.
II. War, Expansion, and Slavery,1846–1850
B. A Divisive Victory
1.The Wilmot Provisoa) Northern Whigs had opposed the war on moral grounds; split
Democrats across sectional lines
b) Congressman David Wilmot (D-PA) proposed that slavery be prohibited in any territory obtained through the war with Mexico
c) Whigs and anti-slavery Democrats supported Wilmot
d) rejected by Senate; expansionist fervor continued, but not without hesitation by some who feared more war
e) in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848), U.S. paid Mexico $15 million in return for more than one-third of its territory; agreements were reached on granting land in Oregon.
2. Free Soil
1. Fear increased of a “Slave Power” conspiracy growing in the U.S. to dominate national life
2. to thwart any such plan, northerners started a “free-soil movement” and organized the Free-Soil Party
3. claimed slavery threatened republicanism and Jeffersonian ideals.
3. The Election of 1848
1. Polk did not run for reelection
2. Whigs nominated Gen. Taylor (LA slave owner) who did not support expansion of slavery to the new territories
3. Taylor won 47 percent of the popular vote and an electoral majority.
II. War, Expansion, and Slavery,1846–1850
C. California Gold and Racial Warfare
1.The Forty-Ninersa) In 1848, gold was discovered in California
b) rush of men, ships, and wagons to the West began—more than 80,000 men by end of 1849
c) lived in cramped quarters amid gambling, alcohol, and prostitution
d) ruthless treatment of Indians, Mexicans, Chileans, and Chinese; disease killed many; many men were disillusioned by failure to find wealth.
2. Racial Warfare and Land Rights
1. Indians received no protection from what little law enforcement existed in California, faced disease
2. settlers murdered Indians to take their land
3. creation of a slave-like trade among whites taking Indians as labor
4. despite treaties with Mexico, whites wanted to push Californios off their land
5. many sold their land to whites simply to leave the region
6. whites who settled in the northern part of California had more success with crops.
II. War, Expansion, and Slavery,1846–1850
D. 1850: Crisis and Compromise
1. Constitutional Conflict
a) California ratified an antislavery constitution, opening debate for admission to Union
b) debate ensued about whether California to be admitted free or slave
c) Senator Stephen Douglas (D-IL) called for “popular sovereignty,” which gave power of choice to the people.
2. A Complex Compromise
1. Douglas achieved passage of five law “Compromise of 1850”
• (1) new Fugitive Slave Act• (2) California admitted as a free state• (3) settled boundary dispute between New
Mexico and Texas in favor of New Mexico• (4) abolished slave trade in District of Columbia• (5) established New Mexico and Utah with
popular sovereignty on the slavery issue.
III. The End of the Second Party System, 1850–1858
A. Resistance to the Fugitive Slave Act
1.Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
a) required federal judges in the North to determine the status of alleged fugitive slaves
b) denied blacks a jury trial or even the right to testify
c) northerners almost immediately resented the sight of slave catchers in their states; abolitionists assisted runaways.
2. Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) 1. Aided opposition to the Fugitive Slave Act
2. increased the northern public’s outrage to slavery on moral grounds
3. sold millions of copies and increased antislavery action in Britain
4. northerners called for “personal-liberty laws” to enhance their rights, including the rights of fugitives in free states
5. Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled in Ableman v. Booth (1857) that the Fugitive Slave Act was unconstitutional because it violated the rights of Wisconsin’s citizens.
III. The End of the Second Party System, 1850–1858
B. The Whigs Disintegrate and New Parties Rise
1.Proslavery Initiativesa) As president, Pierce pursued an expansionist foreign policy
b) Gadsden Purchase of 1853 led to the building of a transcontinental rail line from New Orleans to California
c) supported covert military expeditions to Cuba; criticized for aggressive diplomacy.
2. The Kansas-Nebraska Acta) Proposed by Stephen Douglas, who wanted to open Permanent
Indian Territory by allowing a transcontinental railroad that linked Chicago to California
b) this act repealed the Missouri Compromise, formed the Kansas and Nebraska territories, and organized region on basis of popular sovereignty.
3. The Republican and American Parties
1. Northern Whigs and “anti-Nebraska Democrats” joined Free-Soilers and abolitionists in the new Republican Party
2. party leadership was staunchly antislavery (argued that slavery degraded manual labor and drove down wages of free whites)
3. advocated republican liberty and individual enterprise
4. faced strong competition from the American or Know-Nothing Party (anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic).
4. Bleeding Kansas1. Thousands migrated to Kansas to settle, supporting
both sides of the political debate
2. Missouri residents crossed the border to elect a proslavery government
3. most Kansas residents supported free soil; violence erupted
4. to avenge the sack of Lawrence by a proslavery force of seven hundred strong, abolitionist John Brown led a free-state militia that murdered five proslavery settlers
5. these attacks started a guerrilla war in Kansas that took nearly two hundred lives.
III. The End of the Second Party System, 1850–1858
C. Buchanan’s Failed Presidency
1. The Election of 1856a) Republicans denounced Kansas-Nebraska Act
and nominated John Frémont (free-soiler)
b) American Party split over slavery
c) James Buchanan (D-PA) won a three-way race
d) Democrats were now the only national party
e) Republicans split over sectional issues.
2. Dred Scott: Petitioner for Freedom1. In 1856, Dred Scott had lived with his master in the free state of
Illinois and in part of Wisconsin Territory where slavery was prohibited
2. argued that he was free as a result; seven of the nine justices declared that Scott was still a slave, but they disagreed on the legal rationale
3. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney (a slave owner from MD) argued that since slaves were not citizens, they had no right to sue in federal court, that Congress could not prevent a person from “taking” his property into new territories, that the Northwest Ordinance and Missouri Compromise were not constitutional, and that Congress could not give to territorial governments any powers that it did not possess
4. Republicans accused Taney and Buchanan of being part of the Slave Power conspiracy; Buchanan recommended Kansas be admitted as a slave state and resumed negotiations to buy Cuba.
IV. Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Triumph, 1858–1860
A. Lincoln’s Political Career
1.An Ambitious Politiciana) Born in Kentucky, lived in Indiana and Illinois
b) became a store clerk, read Shakespeare, and studied law; had volatile relationship with wife, Mary
c) joined the Whig Party; elected to Congress in 1846; opposed the spread of slavery
d) advocated gradual emancipation and colonization of freed blacks in Africa
e) was viewed as moderate; lost reelection bid; withdrew from politics and prospered as a lawyer
f) returned to the political fray because of the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates
1. Lincoln quickly emerged as the leading Republican in Illinois
2. an against Douglas for Senate in 1858
3. gave famous “House Divided” speech about slavery dividing the nation
4. during series of seven debates, Douglas supported white supremacy
5. Lincoln advocated economic opportunity for black Americans but not political rights; Douglas won.
IV. Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Triumph, 1858–1860
B. The Union Under Siege
1.The Rise of Radicalisma) Southern Democrats divided in 1858 into moderates (defended
“southern rights” and ironclad protection for slavery) and fire-eaters (repudiated the Union and actively promoted secession).
b) In October 1859, John Brown led a raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, hoping to arm slaves and start a rebellion
c) Republicans condemned Brown; Democrats blamed his actions on the Republicans
d) northern and southern Democrats split at the party’s convention.
2. The Election of 1860
1. Republicans chose Lincoln as candidate
2. courted white voters with a free-soil platform that opposed both slavery and racial equality.
3. The Republican strategy worked and Lincoln was elected.
