The Great Debate- The Compromise of 1850

Transcription

1 Chapter 18

2 The Great Debate- The Compromise of 1850

3 The 1850 Crisis & Compromise 1. Nov CA ratified a constitution that banned slavery. 2. The admission of California as a state threatened the balance of slave states versus non-slave states in the Senate. (15 free /15 slave) 3. Southern leaders decided to block California s entry unless the federal govt guaranteed the future of slavery. 4. Calhoun warned of possible secession by slave states & civil war; he claimed that Congress had no constitutional authority to regulate slavery in the territories. 5. Whigs & Democrats desperately sought a compromise to preserve the Union 6. Result- Whigs organized the Compromise of 1850.

4 John C. Calhoun Great Debate- Compromise of 1850 North should honor Constitution & enforce the Fugitive Slave Law South wanted California to be slave state threatened to secede from U.S. U.S. should have 2 Presidents---one from the North & one for the South Daniel Webster Secession is impractical & impossible How would we split the land? Military? We must compromise at all cost to preserve the Union Henry Clay The Great Compromiser, with John C. Calhoun, Daniel Webster & Stephen Douglas, propose this compromise.

5 The California Revolt The Revolt June 14, 1845 John C. Frémont In October 1845, Polk s sent Thomas O. Larkin encouraged the leading Mexican residents of Monterey, CA, to declare independence & support peaceful annexation. Naval commanders in the Pacific were told to seize California s coastal towns in case of war, & Captain John C. Frémont s troops were sent deep into Mexican territory.

6 John C. Frémont The Bear Flag Republic

7 Wilmot Proviso, 1846 The Wilmot Proviso was intended to prohibit slavery in any new territories acquired from Mexico; the Senate killed the proviso. But the Wilmot Proviso s call for free soil was the first antislavery proposal to attract broad popular support. Provided, territory from that, as an express and fundamental condition to the acquisition of any the Republic of Mexico by the United States, by virtue of any treaty which may be negotiated between them, and to the use by the Executive of the moneys herein appropriated, neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any part of said territory, except for crime, whereof the party shall first be duly convicted. Congr. David Wilmot (D-PA)

8 General Zachary Taylor at Palo Alto Old Rough and Ready

9 GOLD! At Sutter s Mill, 1848 John A. Sutter

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11 II. Compromise of 1850 Henry Clay 1. North wanted to contain slavery 2. South wanted to expand slavery everywhere Decision: A. California enters the Union as a free state. B. Mexican Cession states decide the slavery issue for themselves. Popular sovereignty used in the Utah Territory (NV & UT) & in the New Mexico Territory (AZ & NM). C. The Fugitive Slave Act strengthened D. Slave Trade ended in Washington D.C.

12 Compromise of 1850 Popular Sovereignty Allow the people in a territory to vote on whether they want slavery to exist or not in their state. Map Comp of 1850

13 Compromise of 1850 Proposed by Henry Clay ( Great Peacemaker ) California enters the Union as a free state. In the remainder of the Mexican Cession the states would decide the slavery issue for themselves. Popular sovereignty would decide the issue in the Utah Territory (Nevada and Utah) and in the New Mexico Territory (Arizona and New Mexico). Stricter fugitive slave laws were passed No slave trade in the District of Columbia

14 Compromise of 1850

15 California wants to enter as free state Arkansas enters as slave state Michigan enters as free state Florida & Texas enter slave states Iowa & Wisconsin enter free states

16 California enters free, Senate now 16 to 15 for free Mexican Cession is decided by popular sovereignty Abolition of slave trade in the District of Columbia Henry Clay New Fugitive Slave Law to be enforced

17 The Whigs Decline & the Democrats Diplomacy 1. Conflict over fugitive slaves split the Whig Party into sectional wings. Democrats swept the election, & their party was reunited. 2. Franklin Pierce elected president. He pursued an expansionist foreign policy: A. Helped northern merchants B. Gadsden Purchase- got railroad rights in n. Mexico C. Ostend Manifest (1854)-Tried to seize Cuba. 3. Northerners opposed the manifesto & forced Pierce to stop efforts to take Cuba. This led to the northern fears of a Slave Power conspiracy.

18 The Whigs Decline & the Democrats Diplomacy 1. Conflict over fugitive slaves split the Whig Party; 1/3 of the Whigs gave their support to the Democrats in the 1852 election. 2. Democrats were divided at their convention & no candidate could secure the necessary 2/3 majority, so they settled on a compromise nominee, Franklin Pierce. 3. Democrats swept the election, & their party was reunited; the Whig Party split into sectional wings. 4. Pierce- expansionist foreign policy to assist northern merchants, secured railroad rights in northern Mexico with the Gadsden Purchase, & tried to seize Cuba, issuing the Ostend Manifesto (1854). 5. Northern opposition to the manifesto forced Pierce to halt efforts to take Cuba, but it revived the northern fears of a Slave Power conspiracy.

19 End of the Second Party System, Kansas-Nebraska Act, (made by Democrat Stephen Douglas), divided the northern Louisiana Purchase into 2 territories, Kansas & Nebraska, & voided the Missouri Compromise line by opening the area to slavery through the principle of popular sovereignty. 2. Kansas-Nebraska Act (passed 1854) & marked the end of the Second Party System. 3. Antislavery northern Whigs & Anti-Nebraska Democrats formed a new party, the Republicans. 4. The American ( Know-Nothing Party) had its origins in the antiimmigrant & anti-catholic organizations of the 1840s Pierce admin. recognized the territorial legislature in Lecompton, Kansas (adopted proslavery legislation). 6. Free-Soilers rejected the legitimacy of the Lecompton government; proslavery & antislavery sides turned to violence.

20 The Party System Fragments 1. Southern Democrats divided into 2 groups: Moderates (Southern Rights Democrats) pursued protection of slavery in the territories, & the Radicals promoted secession. 2. October John Brown led a raid that temporarily seized the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia; his purpose was to supply the arms for a slave rebellion. 3. Brown was charged with treason, sentenced to death, & hanged. He was a martyr to abolitionists northern Democrats rejected Jefferson Davis s program to protect slavery in the territories; Republicans opposed both slavery & racial equality. 5. Election of 1860 had 4 candidates: Stephen Douglas, John C. Breckinridge, John Bell, & Abraham Lincoln. 6. Lincoln garnered a majority in the electoral college; the Republicans had united the Northeast, the Midwest, & Far West behind free soil & had seized national power.