Political Changes of the Mid1800s

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Political Changes of the Mid-1800s

• Ch 10

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MAJOR ISSUES OF THE DAY

• Expansion of Slavery to new territories
• Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote in opposition to the
  war with Mexico, The United States will conquer
  Mexico, but it will be as the man swallows the
  arsenic Mexico will poison us.

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Missouri Compromise

• Maintained balance of free and slave states
• In attempt to prevent future problems established
  the 36 30' N as the boundary for slave states
  below and free above
• Did not address areas that were just territories

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Election of 1848

• The Two Major Parties refused to discuss the
  topic of slavery
• Candidates
• Democrat - Governor Lewis Cass of Michigan
• Whigs - Mexican War general, Zachary Taylor
• Free Soilers Former President Martin Van Buren
• Party rose as an anti-slavery group fed up with
  the lack of attention paid to the slavery issue

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Compromise of 1850

• Build up of the West had begun issue of slave
  and free territories rises again
• Henry Clay proposed this compromise
• 1. Congress would admit California as a free
  state.
• 2. The people of the territories of New Mexico
  and Utah would decide for themselves whether
  slavery would be legal.
• 3. Congress would abolish the sale of slaves, but
  not slavery, in Washington, D.C.
• 4. Texas would give up claims to New Mexico for
  10 million.
• 5. A Fugitive Slave Act would order all citizens
  of the United States to assist in the return of
  enslaved people who had escaped from their
  owners. It would also deny a jury trial to
  escaped slaves.

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Words of Support

• Daniel Webster - nations leading orator
• I wish to speak today, not as a Massachusetts
  man, nor as a northern man, but as an American.
  I speak today for the preservation of the Union.
  Hear me for my cause.
•  Daniel Webster 
• Believed it benefited both and achieved the
  higher goal

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Not everyone liked the idea

• John C Calhoun
• Thought the North was trying to encircle and
  outnumber the South
• Argued that most issues facing the country
  related back to the North controlling the
  government .not slavery

The South asks for justice, simple justice, and
less she ought not to take, he stated. She has
no compromise to offer, but the Constitution and
no concession or surrender to make.
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It Goes to Congress

• President Taylor issues a list of possible
  stipulations
• People fear he may veto
• But

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Taylor Dies Suddenly

• "I have always done my duty, I am ready to die.
  My only regret is for the friends I leave behind
  me." ?

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New President Millard Fillmore

• Congress Passes the Compromise
• And Fillmore allows it to stand!

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Reaction

• 1. Southerners not happy ?
• 2. Truly solved nothing except the admitting of
  California as a free state
• 3. Shook up political parties (More later)
• 4. Fugitive Slave Act inflamed the abolitionist
  movement and led to more hatred of slavery among
  Northerners
• Uncle Toms Cabin

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Political Effects

• Decline of the Whigs
• Alienated most Northerners by supporting slavery
• Protestant ideals were the foundations for the
  party and now many saw slavery as morally wrong

W H I G S
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More Political Effects
KNOWN O T H I N G S

• Rise of the Know-Nothings
• Nativism a policy favoring native-born
  Americans to immigrant
• Rose from the Order of the Star Spangled Banner
  (secret society of anti-immigrant protestors) and
  the American Republican Party

• Always answered I know nothing when questioned
  to maintain secrecy

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Mantra of the Know Nothings

• Every American and naturalized Protestant
  citizen throughout the Union, should use his
  utmost exertions to aid the cause by organizing
  and freeing the country from that monster
  Catholicism which is only waiting to
  approach to plant its flag of tyranny,
  persecution, and oppression among us.

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Sen. Stephen DouglasRaises the Issue Again

• Senator of Illinois
• Had a vested interest in the slave status of his
  two neighboring territories
• KANSAS
• NEBRASKA

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Douglass Dilemma

• Wants them to be States
• Wanted Chicago to benefit from established states
  
• Sooner they were states the Railroad could pass
  thru
• Chicago could use agricultural products from
  those states

• Fears Impact of That
• Wanted to run for President
• If he pushed the new states he knew he would
  risk not being elected
• Knows he needs to broker a deal to achieve both
  goals

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The Kansas Nebraska Act

• Supported popular sovereignty for new states
• They would vote on whether they would be slave or
  free
• Basically asked for repeal of Missouri Compromise
  and 36 30' N divider
• The great principle of self-government is at
  stake, and surely the people of this country are
  never going to decide that the principle upon
  which our whole republican system rests is
  vicious and wrong.
•  Stephen A. Douglas

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Douglass Predictions

• South
• Would be happy ? because of possibility both
  territories could vote for slavery when under
  Missouri Compromise they would have been free

• North
• Would be happy ? because they would realize the
  West did not lend itself to slavery
  agriculturally so they would not vote for slavery
• In the end knew they would be free states

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Real Reaction

• HE WAS WRONG
• Democrats saw it as selling out but supported
  it out of party loyalty
• It passes
• South starts to campaign!
• Will return to this later

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Kansas Nebraska Act
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A New (Revised) Party

• Summer of 1854 Northerners protested the Kansas
  Nebraska Act
• Had meetings and rallies
• At one meeting a political party was formed
• The Republican Party (ancestor of todays party)
• Platform end slavery, fight expansion of
  slavery, repeal Fugitive Slave Act and K-N Act
• Drew supporters from Whigs, Free Soilers,
  Democrats

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Impact of Political Party Changes

• 1. No more Whigs
• 2. Know-Nothings Rise (will hang around)
• 3. Republicans Rise (will hang around)
• 4. Political Parties are being formed for
  specific purposes
• 5. Political Parties reflect regional differences