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Era Overview
The California Gold Rush of 18491 brought the issues
raised by the Wilmot Proviso to the forefront of
discussion. The admission of California into the Union
was settled by the Compromise of 1850 whereby the
status of the rest of the territory acquired from the
Mexican-American War was to be determined by popular
sovereignty. Debates over the Fugitive Slave Law and
Sectionalism dominated the day.
In 1854, the proposed Kansas-Nebraska Act abrogated
the Missouri Compromisei by providing that each new
state of the Union would decide its stance on slavery. The
Lincoln is often considered
settlement of Kansas by pro- and anti-slavery factions,
America’s most celebrated
and eventual victory of the anti-slavery camp, was
president.
fuelled by convictions signaled by the birth of the
Republican Party.ii By 1861, the admission of Kansas to the Union signaled a break in the
balance of power. It also gave rise to various sundry movements which occasioned many
anti-abolitionist and pro-slavery sentiments that still exist to this day.
After the election of Abraham Lincoln2, eleven Southern states seceded from the union
between late 1860 and 1861, establishing a rebel government, the Confederate States of
America (See http://www.civilwarhome.com/csa.htm for a comprehensive history).on
February 9, 1861. The Civil War began when Confederate General Pierre Beauregard
opened fire upon Fort Sumter.
The next four years were the darkest in American history, as the nation tore itself apart
over the long and bitter issues of slavery and states' rights.3 The increasingly urban and
industrialized Northern states (the Union) eventually defeated the mainly rural and
agricultural Southern states (the Confederacy), but between 600,000 and 700,000
Americans on both sides were killed and much of the land in the South was devastated. In
the end, however, slavery was abolished, and the Union was restored.
The Impending Crisis
Different Societies, Different Cultures
THE DEBATES IN THE PHILADELPHIA
CONVENTION OVER THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW
Brought a lot of “Okies” West.
Lincoln did not carry a single southern state in this election. In fact, his name didn’t even appear on some
states’ ballots.
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In the beginning, the Civil War was more over states rights. As the war went on, slavery became the
single and most dominant issue.
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2
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COUNTRY OF AMERICA SEEMED TO SUGGEST THAT THE
FOUNDING FATHERS OF AMERICA BELIEVED THAT THE MAJOR
STRAIN ON THE NEW COUNTRY WOULD BE BETWEEN LARGE
STATES SUCH AS NEW YORK AND VIRGINIA AND SMALL STATES
SUCH AS DELAWARE AND RHODE ISLAND. BY 1820, HOWEVER,
IT WAS APPARENT THAT THE DIVISIONS WITHIN AMERICA
WOULD BE NORTH-SOUTH. THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE WAS
ONE OF THE FIRST MEASURES TO EXPOSE THESE SECTIONAL
DIVISIONS. IN A FAMOUS LETTER TO JOHN HOLMES, THOMAS
JEFFERSON WROTE:
"I HAD FOR A LONG TIME CEASED TO READ NEWSPAPERS,
OR PAY ANY ATTENTION TO PUBLIC AFFAIRS, CONFIDENT THEY
WERE IN GOOD HANDS, AND CONTENT TO BE A PASSENGER IN
OUR BANK TO THE SHORE FROM WHICH I AM NOT DISTANT. BUT
THIS MOMENTOUS QUESTION, LIKE A FIREBELL IN THE NIGHT,
AWAKENED ME AND SEIZED ME WITH TERROR. I CONSIDERED
IT AT ONCE TO BE THE DEATH KNELL OF THE UNION."
WHEN MISSOURI APPLIED FOR STATEHOOD IN 1819,
SLAVERY HAD ALREADY BEEN A FACT OF LIFE IN THE
TERRITORY. THE REPRESENTATIVE FROM NEW YORK, JAMES
TALLMADGE PROPOSED THAT MISSOURI SHOULD NOT BE
ALLOWED TO ENTER THE UNION AS A SLAVE STATE. A WAY OUT
WAS OFFERED BY THE APPLICATION OF STATEHOOD MADE BY
MAINE LATER THAT YEAR. THE SENATE AGGREED TO COMBINE
THE MAINE AND MISSOURI PROPOSALS FOR ADMISSION INTO A
SINGLE BILL. MOREOVER THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE ALSO
PROHIBITED SLAVERY NORTH OF THE 36° 30' BOUNDARY OF
ARKANSAS.
WHILE THE CRISIS WAS AVERTED, THE DEBATES IT
TRIGGERED EXPOSED SECTIONAL TENSIONS ALREADY
PRESENT IN THE NEW UNION. THE NORTH AND SOUTH WERE
FOUNDED IN DIFFERENT MANNERS AND DEVELOPED QUITE
DIFFERENTLY OVER THE YEARS. A TRANSPORTATION
REVOLUTION CREATED AS A RESULT OF THE CONSTRUCTION
OF THE ERIE CANAL SPURRED ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND
INDUSTRIALIZATION IN THE NORTH. THE DEVELOPMENT OF
STEAMBOATS AND, MORE IMPORTANTLY, RAILROADS HELPED
FURTHER THIS ECONOMIC EXPANSION. THIS PROCESS OF
INDUSTRIALIZATION LARGELY IGNORED THE SOUTH WHICH
REMAINED PRIMARILY BASED IN AGRICULTURE. SLAVERY
DROVE SOUTHERN ECONOMIC LIFE. AS A RESULT, THE TWO
GEOGRAPHIC REGIONS WERE CONSTANTLY AT ODDS IN THE
SENATE AND HOUSE.
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The Mexican War and the Wilmot Proviso
The administration of President Polkiii expanded the
country by two thirds despite being a one-term president. Texas was annexed on March 1,
1845 and the Oregon boundary was settled at the 49th parallel. Moreover, America went
to war with Mexico in 1848. The official causus belli was Mexico's refusal to sell the
United States the Mexican provinces of California and New Mexico. Acquisition of
Mexican territory was Polk's war aim and what he could not buy, he conquered. The war
lasted two years and resulted in the loss of over half of Mexico's territory.
The acquisition of new territory renewed the sectional debate that had gripped the nation
during the admittance of Missouri. Congressmen either feared (if they were Northern) or
hoped (if they were Southern) that slavery would be extended into the new territories.
Soon after the war had begun, Representative David Wilmot proposed that the territory
that would be won from Mexico should be free from the institution of slavery. Wilmot's
Proviso was as much about the extension of slavery as it was about party politics within
the Democratic Party. Northern Democrats were upset that Martin Van Buren was not
given the presidential nomination because he would not endorse the annexation of Texas.
They were also fed up with Southern domination of the Democratic Party. The bill was
never passed, but Southerners were upset at what they saw as an attack upon their social
system.
Embedded spreadsheet from Excel with presidents of the period
FIRST NAME
Martin
John
James K.
Zachary
Millard
Franklin
James
Abraham
Andrew
LAST NAME
Van Buren
Tyler
Polk
Taylor
Fillmore
Pierce
Buchanan
Lincoln
Johnson
IN OFFICE
1837-1841
1841-1845
1845-1849
1849-1850
1850-1853
1853-1857
1857-1861
1861-1865
1865-1869
ORDER State
8
NY
10
VA
11
NC
12
VA
13
NY
14
NH
15
PA
16
KY
17
NC
Age elected
54
51
49
64
50
48
65
52
56
The California Gold Rush and the Compromise of 1850
THE ELECTION OF 1848 PRODUCED A NEW PRESIDENT
FROM THE WHIG PARTY, ZACHARY TAYLOR. PRESIDENT POLK,
DUE TO DECLINING HEALTH AND, HAVING GAINED ALL HIS
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OBJECTIVES IN HIS FIRST TERM DID NOT SEEK RE-ELECTION.
THE ELECTION WAS SIGNIFICANT BECAUSE IT SAW THE
EMERGENCE OF THE FREE SOIL PARTY, A GROUP OF
ABOLITIONISTS WHO SUPPORTED WILMOT'S PROVISO. THE
CREATION OF THE FREE SOIL PARTY FORESHADOWED THE
COLLAPSE OF THE SECOND PARTY SYSTEM IN THE 1850'S; THE
EXISTING PARTIES COULD NOT CONTAIN THE DEBATE OVER
SLAVERY FOR MUCH LONGER.
THE QUESTION OF SLAVERY BECAME ALL THE MORE
URGENT WITH THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN CALIFORNIA IN
1848. THE NEXT YEAR SAW A MASSIVE INFLUX OF
PROSPECTORS AND MINERS LOOKING TO STRIKE IT RICH. MOST
MIGRANTS TO CALIFORNIA (SO-CALLED 'FORTY-NINERS')
ABANDONED THEIR JOBS, HOMES, AND
FAMILIES LOOKING FOR GOLD. IT ALSO
ATTRACTED SOME OF THE FIRST
CHINESE AMERICANS TO THE WEST
COAST OF THE UNITED STATES. MOST
FORTY-NINERS NEVER FOUND GOLD,
BUT INSTEAD SETTLED IN THE NEW
STATE AND FLOCKED TO THE URBAN
CENTER OF SAN FRANCISCO. THE
INFLUX OF POPULATION LED TO
CALIFORNIA'S APPLICATION OF
STATEHOOD IN 1850.
John Brown led the raid
on Harper’s Ferry hoping
to stimulate a slave revolt.
THIS CREATED A RENEWAL OF
SECTIONAL TENSION AS CALIFORNIA'S
ADMISSION INTO THE UNION THREATENED TO UPSET THE
BALANCE OF POWER IN CONGRESS. THE IMMINENT ADMISSION
OF OREGON, NEW MEXICO, AND UTAH ALSO THREATENED TO
UPSET THE BALANCE. MANY SOUTHERNERS ALSO REALIZED
THAT THE CLIMATE OF THOSE TERRITORIES DID NOT LEND
THEMSELVES TO THE EXTENSION OF SLAVERY. DEBATE RAGED
IN CONGRESS UNTIL A RESOLUTION WAS FOUND IN 1850.
THE COMPROMISE OF 1850 WAS BROKERED BY ILLINOIS
SENATOR STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS AND SUPPORTED BY "THE
GREAT COMPROMISER," HENRY CLAY. IT ADMITTED
CALIFORNIA AS A FREE STATE, TEXAS WAS FINANCIALLY
COMPENSATED FOR THE LOSS OF ITS WESTERN TERRITORIES,
THE SLAVE TRADE (NOT SLAVERY)WAS ABOLISHED IN THE
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW WAS
PASSED AS A CONCESSION TO THE SOUTH, AND, MOST
IMPORTANTLY, THE NEW MEXICO TERRITORY (INCLUDING
MODERN DAY ARIZONA AND THE UTAH TERRITORY WOULD
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DETERMINE THEIR STATUS (EITHER FREE OR SLAVE) BY
POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY. THE COMPROMISE OF 1850
TEMPORARILY DIFFUSED THE DIVISIVE ISSUE BUT THE PEACE
WAS NOT TO LAST LONG.
1830s
1840s
1850s
1860s
1870s
Effects of
Missouri
Compromise.
Mexican War.
California
admitted to
the Union.
Lincoln wins
first term.
Rise of the Ku
Klux Klan.
Andrew
Jackson’s
presidency.
Acquisition of
Oregon.
KansasNebraska Act.
Confederacy
born.
Indian Wars.
The Trail of
Tears.
54 40 or fight
Compromise
of 1850.
Civil War.
The Gilded
Age begins.
Nullification
Crisis.
Compromise
reached with
England.
Stowe’s Uncle
Tom’s Cabin
read by a
wide audience.
Reconstruction Huge waves of
begins.
immigration
from Europe.
Embedded spreadsheet from Excel with presidents of the period
FIRST NAME
Martin
John
James K.
Zachary
Millard
Franklin
James
Abraham
Andrew
LAST NAME
Van Buren
Tyler
Polk
Taylor
Fillmore
Pierce
Buchanan
Lincoln
Johnson
IN OFFICE
1837-1841
1841-1845
1845-1849
1849-1850
1850-1853
1853-1857
1857-1861
1861-1865
1865-1869
ORDER State
8
NY
10
VA
11
NC
12
VA
13
NY
14
NH
15
PA
16
KY
17
NC
Age elected
54
51
49
64
50
48
65
52
56
Abolitionism and the Cryptic Nature of the Debate
Over Slavery
The debate over slavery in antebellum America has several sides. Abolitionists grew
directly out of the Second Great Awakening and the European Enlightenment and
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saw slavery as an affront to God and/or reason. Abolitionism has similar roots as
the temperance movement. The publishing of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's
Cabin in 1852 galvanized the abolitionist movement.
Slave "patrollers," mostly poor whites, were given the authority to stop, search,
whip, maim, and even kill any slave who violated the slave codes. Abolitionists cited
the slave codes as example of the barbarism of Southern society.
Most debates over slavery, however, had to do with the constitutionality of the
extension of slavery rather than its morality. The debates took the form of
arguments over the powers of Congress rather than the merit of slavery. This was
the so-called "Free Soil Movement." Free-soilers believed that slavery was
dangerous because of what it did to whites. The "peculiar institution" ensured that
landed elites controlled most of the land, property, and capital in the South. The
Southern United States was, by this definition completely undemocratic. In order to
fight the "slave power conspiracy," the nation's democratic ideals had to be spread
to the new territories and the South.
In the South, however, slavery was justified in a number of ways. The Nat Turner
Uprising of 1831 had terrified Southern whites. Moreover, the expansion of "King
Cotton" into the Deep South further entrenched the institution into Southern society. John
Calhoun's treatise, The Pro-Slavery Argument wrote that slavery was not simply a
necessary evil, but a positive good. Slavery was a blessing to so-called African savages.
It civilized them and provided them with the lifelong security that they needed. Under
this argument, the pro-slavery proponents believed that the African Americans were
unable to take care of themselves because they were biologically inferior. Furthermore,
white Southerners looked upon the North and Britain as soulless industrial societies with
little culture. Whereas the North was dirty, dangerous, industrial, fast-paced, and greedy,
pro-slavery proponents believed that the South was civilized, stable, orderly, and moved
at a 'human pace.’
Public domain text courtesy of http://www.wikipedia.org.
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Several hyperlinks.
i
The Missouri Compromise was one of the first attempts at appeasing both the North and the South. Many
other forms of legislation were attempted later.
ii
The Republican Party’s birth began with Thomas Jefferson who appealed to farmers and the working
class. The original name of the party was the Democratic-Republicans.
iii
Polk’s presidency was highlighted by his strong drive for western expansion and his belief in Manifest
Destiny.
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